The Treaty of Hudaibiyah

In reference to the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, it is recorded – and as mentioned in previous sermons – that the Holy Prophet (sa) saw a dream in which he and his companions were performing circuits of the Holy Ka‘bah. On the basis of this dream, the Holy Prophet (sa), along with a party of 1,400 companions, set forth from Madinah to perform Umrah. He set out early in the morning at the beginning of Dhu Al-Qa‘dah, 6 AH.

(Sirat Khatamun-Nabiyyin, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), pp. 749-750)

When the Holy Prophet (sa) realised that the Quraish were preparing to prevent him from entering into Mecca, the Holy Prophet (sa) sought the counsel of his companions. Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) humbly submitted, “O Messenger (sa) of Allah! We have only come to perform Umrah. We have not come to engage in a battle with anyone. My suggestion is that we continue on our route to our destination, and if anyone hinders our path to the Holy Ka‘bah, then we will fight against them.”

(Mustafa ‘Abd al-Wahid, Subul al-Huda wa al-Rashad fi Sirat Khair al-‘Ibad, Vol. 5 [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1993], p. 37)

On the occasion of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, when negotiations with representatives of the Quraish began, Urwah came to the Holy Prophet (sa) and said, “O Muhammad (sa), tell me, if you are intending to destroy your own people, do you know of anyone else before you amongst the Arabs who destroyed their own? If the second instance comes to pass (in other words, if the Quraish are victorious), then by God, I see the faces of your companions who have gathered from here and there, they will run away and leave you.” Upon hearing this, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) addressed Urwah bin Mas‘ud and said sternly, “Go back from here and kiss your idol Lat.” (That is to say, go and continue worshipping it) Upon this, Urwah asked, “Who was that?” The people told him that it was Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra). Urwah replied, “By Him in Whose hands is my life if I was not indebted to you owing to your favour upon me, I would have surely responded to you.” Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) once assisted Urwah by giving him 10 pregnant she-camels when he had to pay blood money in some matter. Nonetheless, this is what Urwah said and then continued discussing terms with the Holy Prophet (sa).

During the occasion of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, a pact was being drawn up between the Holy Prophet (sa) and the Quraish. Hazrat ‘Umar (ra) states, “I went to the Holy Prophet (sa) and asked, ‘In reality, are you not the Prophet of Allah?’ He replied, ‘Yes’. I then asked, ‘Do we not stand on the truth and does our enemy not stand on falsehood?’ The Holy Prophet (sa) answered, ‘Yes’. I asked, ‘Then why should we accept such humiliating conditions with regards to our religion?’ The Holy Prophet (sa) then stated, ‘I am the Messenger of Allah, and I shall not disobey Him. He shall grant me His help (that is to say, if I accept these conditions I am not disobeying the command of Allah the Almighty and He shall help me).’ I (i.e. Hazrat ‘Umar (ra)) then asked, ‘Did you not say that we shall soon reach the House of Allah and perform the circuit around it?’ The Holy Prophet (sa) said, ‘Indeed, I did say so, but did I say that we shall reach the House of Allah this year?’” The Holy Prophet (sa) told him, “I did not say that we would certainly reach the House of Allah this year.”

Hazrat ‘Umar (ra) states, “I replied, ‘No’. The Holy Prophet (sa) stated, ‘You shall most certainly reach the House of Allah and perform the circuits around it.’ Having heard this, I went to Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) and said to him, ‘O Abu Bakr, is the Holy Prophet (sa) not truly the prophet of Allah?’ He replied, ‘Yes, of course.’ I then asked, ‘Do we not stand on the truth and our enemy on falsehood?’ He replied, ‘Yes, of course.’ I asked, ‘Then why should we accept such humiliating conditions with regards to our religion?’ Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) then said, ‘O servant of God! Indeed, the Holy Prophet (sa) is the Messenger of Allah. Messengers do not disobey the commands of their Lord, and Allah shall most certainly help him (he repeated almost the same words which the Holy Prophet (sa) said).’”

Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) then said to Hazrat ‘Umar (ra), “Adhere firmly to the pact of the Holy Prophet (sa), by Allah, the Prophet is truthful.”

[Hazrat ‘Umar (ra) states,] “I then asked, ‘Did the Holy Prophet (sa) not used to tell us that we shall indeed reach the House of Allah and perform the circuits around it?’ Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) answered, ‘Of course. But did the Holy Prophet (sa) mention that we shall reach this very year?’ I answered, ‘No’. Upon this Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) said, ‘You shall certainly reach there and perform the circuits around it.’”

The narrator Zuhri relates that Hazrat ‘Umar (ra) would say, “I have carried out a number of good deeds as an expiation for this one mistake.” This has been taken from Sahih al-Bukhari.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Shurut, Bab al-Shurut fi al-Jihad…, Hadith 2731-27312) (Badr al-Din Mahmud Ibn Ahmad Aini, ‘Umdat al-Qari, Vol. 14 [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, 2003], p. 16)