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Before the apostle had left
for Tabuk he had been approached by some men who said, 'We have built a
mosque for the sick and the needy, for wet and for cold nights, and we are
anxious that thou shouldst come and pray therein.' He had replied, 'I am
on the verge of leaving, but when we return, we shall, if Allah willeth,
pay you a visit and pray in the mosque.' When he alighted at Dhu‑Awan,
an hour's ride from
Medina
, on his return, information was sent down to him from Allah about the
mosque. He called two of his followers and said, 'Go to this mosque, whose
people are unrighteous; destroy it; burn it.' So they departed in haste
and took a blazing date‑branch to the mosque. Although there
were people in it, they burned and destroyed it. This was the verse of the
Koran revealed concerning this matter: 'And those who erected a mosque
out of opposition and unbelief and to cause a schism among the Believers
‑they will say "We desired nothing but good". Allah knows
they lie. Enter no such mosque.'
The apostle of Allah was
greatly displeased with those who had remained behind and evaded the
expedition. He dismissed the false excuses of the Hypocrites, and dealt
sternly with three staunch Believers who had remained behind through
procrastination, not ill will. He prohibited the people from speaking to
these three, who included the poet Kab, who had told the truth and made no
excuses for himself. 'The people avoided us and changed their behaviour,
so that I seemed to have become a stranger even to myself, and the country
seemed to me to differ from the one I had known. We remained fifty days in
this condition. My companions remained secluded and sat in their houses,
but I, being the youngest and most active, used to go out and attend
prayers and walk about in the public bazaars. But nobody spoke to me. I
went also to the apostle and saluted him while he was sitting in his
assembly after prayers; I would ask myself whether he had moved his lips
to return my greeting. Then I prayed near him and kept glancing at him,
and saw that he watched me while I prayed, but looked away when I turned
towards him.
'After this estrangement
had lasted some time, I became impatient and climbed over the
garden‑wall of my cousin, whom I loved more than any other man, and
saluted him. But he took no notice of me. Then I said, "Do you not
know that I love Allah and His apostle?" He remained silent, and only
replied after I had thrice repeated this question. "Allah and His
apostle know best!" he said. Now my eyes overflowed with tears and I
went to the bazaar and walked about. A Nabati trader from
Syria
came to me and handed me a letter from the king of Ghassan. It was wrapped
in a silken envelope, and said, "We hear your master has slighted
you; come instead and be welcomed by us." Then I said to myself,
"Here is a further ordeal, that an idolater should hanker for my
company!" And I burned the letter.
'We remained thus for forty
days, when a messenger came to me and said, "The apostle orders you
to separate from your wife!" I asked, "Am I to divorce
her?" but he said, "No! Only separate from her, and do not
approach her!" So I told my wife to go to her family until Allah
decided the matter according to His pleasure.
'In this condition we
remained for ten days more, so that fifty days had elapsed from the time
the apostle of Allah forbade the people to speak to us. On the morning of
the fiftieth day I made my prayers at the top of the house as Allah
decreed, and life was a burden to me. I had pitched a tent on the hill
near
Medina
and I was there when I heard a man shouting, "Here are glad
tidings!" Then I prostrated myself, because I knew that deliverance
was at hand. When the apostle had dismissed the people after morning
prayers he announced that Allah had pardoned us, so they ran to tell us.
Some ran to my two companions; one man came to me on horseback, but
another hastened up the mountain, and his voice reached me faster than the
horse. When he arrived with the good news I took off my garments and gave
them to him in gratitude. But by Allah! I had no others there that day and
was compelled to borrow garments to cover myself!
'I went to pay my respects
to the apostle and was met by many who congratulated me on the pardon,
saying, "May the forgiveness of Allah bring you fortune!" At
last I reached the mosque, where the apostle was sitting among the people.
Talha rose, saluted me, and congratulated me; but no other Emigrant did
so. (I never forgot this kindly act of Talha.) When I saluted the apostle
his face was lit up with joy, and he said, "Rejoice at thy happiest
day since thou wast begotten!" I asked, "Is the forgiveness from
thee or from Allah?" and he replied, "It is from Allah!"
Whenever the apostle gave good news his face would glow like the moon. I
sat in front of him and said, "One sign of my penitence shall be that
I shall divest myself of all my goods for the sake of Allah and His
prophet!" but the apostle replied, "Keep some of thy property
for thyself; it will be better for thee." I said, "Then I shall
retain only the share I received in Khaybar. Allah has forgiven me because
I invented no excuses; therefore another sign of my penitence will be that
I shall never speak anything but the truth as long as I live." Since
I uttered those words to the apostle I know of no man whom Allah can have
found more truthful than myself. From that day to this I have uttered no
untruth, and I pray that Allah will always find me so.'
The apostle returned from
Tabuk in the month of Ramadan. In the same month he received a deputation
from the Hawazin who had been besieged in the fortress of al‑Taif.
After their discussion, they parted, and the apostle was followed by one
of the deputation, a leader named Urwa, who then made profession of
Islam. He asked that he be permitted to return to his tribe, who remained
idolaters, but the apostle replied, 'They will kill thee’ Urwa said, 'I
am dearer to them than their firstborn sons', and indeed he was much
beloved by them. So he went back to al‑Taif to invite his people to
Islam, hoping they would not resist him, but when he made his appearance
in the upper part of one of his houses and invited them to Islam, they
shot arrows at him from every direction and one struck and killed him.
Thus he became a martyr.
After this, the people at
al‑Taif deliberated several months, and arrived at the conclusion
that they were not strong enough to fight all the Arabs around them who
had paid homage to Muhammad and made profession of Islam. Then they
determined to send another deputation to the apostle of Allah and proposed
that Abdu Yalil should go; but he refused, because he feared that when he
returned he might be treated as Urwa had been. As he refused to go alone,
they decided to send with him six men representing the several tribes.
When the emissaries came to
the apostle he had a tent pitched for them near his mosque, and Khalid
acted as intermediary until agreement was concluded. They would not eat of
any food sent them by the apostle unless Khalid had tasted it first, until
the time when they professed Islam and settled their treaty. One of the
emissaries' stipulations was that the apostle should permit them to keep
their goddess al‑Lat for three years; but he refused. Then they
insisted upon one year, but he again refused. Then they pleaded for a
single month, but he refused. They said that they merely wished to spare
the feelings of the weaklings, the women and the children among them, and
that they were nervous of frightening their people by destroying the
goddess before Islam was fully established in al‑Taif. But the
apostle still refused, and insisted on sending Abu Sufyan and al‑Mughira
back with them to destroy her.
The Hawazin further asked
to be excused from prayers and from destroying their idols with their own
hands. The apostle replied, 'We shall excuse you from breaking your idols
with your own hands. But as for prayers! What is there good in a religion
which has no prayers!' They said, 'We shall comply even though it be a
humiliation!'
When they had made their
profession of Islam the apostle appointed over them Uthman b. Abul‑As,
the youngest of them in years, but the most diligent in learning the
religious doctrines of Islam. He said to Uthman, 'Be brief in prayers, and
estimate the people according to the weakest of them; among them thou wilt
find old ones, and young ones, weak ones and needy ones.'
The document which the
apostle gave to the deputation permitted certain privileges to the
inhabitants of al‑Taif. 'In the name of Allah, the merciful, the
compassionate. From Muhammad the prophet, who is the apostle of Allah,
to the Believers!
The forests of Wajj and the
game therein shall not be injured, and any man found disobeying this shall
be scourged and stripped of his garments. Any who transgress this command
must be brought to the prophet, Muhammad, for this is a matter which
concerns him who is the apostle of Allah.'
The apostle spent the
remainder of the month of Ramadan and the next two months in
Medina
, and then dispatched Abu Bakr in command of the pilgrimage in the ninth
year of the Hijra. The idolaters also made their customary pilgrimage.
When Abu Bakr and the
Muslims who accompanied him had departed the Declaration of immunity was
sent down by Allah. It proclaimed that Allah and His apostle, after this
pilgrimage, were absolved from observance of all treaties which they had
previously made with idolaters. 'Therefore if you [the idolaters]
repent, this will be better for you; but if you turn your backs, know that
you cannot weaken Allah! And warn those who disbelieve that there will be
grievous punishment. An exception shall be made for those idolaters who
have not infringed treaties, and who have given no one aid against My
prophet. Their treaties shall be observed until their terms expire,
because Allah loves those who are pious.
'When four months have elapsed, the instruction to Muhammad
continued, 'kill the idolaters wherever you find them; make them
prisoners, surround them, and besiege them wherever they may be. But if
they repent and pray according to the command of Allah and pay the tax,
then set them free, because Allah is forgiving and merciful.'
When the Declaration of
immunity was revealed to the apostle, he sent for Ali and said to him,
'Go with this account of the first part of the Declaration of immunity,
and proclaim it among the people on the day of sacrifice when the
pilgrims assemble in Mina. Say "No infidel can enter paradise, and
after this year no idolater will be allowed to make the pilgrimage, or
walk around the Kaba naked; he who has a treaty with the apostle of Allah
may depend on it, until its appointed span!" '
Ali mounted the apostle's
she‑camel and pursued Abu Bakr and went with him to
Mecca
. When the day of sacrifice arrived Ali rose and made his proclamation to
the people as he had been commanded. Then he gave four months' grace from
the day of this proclamation, so that every tribe might return home in
security.
Allah said, 'Fear no
idolaters; rather fear Allah. Attack them! Allah desires to punish them by
your hand, to put them to shame and give you the victory over them.
.'The Quraysh have said,
"We are the people of the sacred city, providers for the pilgrims,
and builders of the Kaba; and there is none more excellent than we."
But only he shall visit the mosque of Allah who believes in Allah and in
the day of judgement. . . . Do you imagine that giving drink to pilgrims
and visiting the holy mosque is the same as believing in Allah, and
fighting for the word of Allah? . . . The idolaters are impure; let them
not approach the holy mosque after this year.'
Then Allah promised to
recompense the Believers for the trade they would lose through pursuing
this course, and assigned to them tax and tributes levied from the Jews
and Christians. He spoke of the wickedness and superstition of those who
lived according to the Old and New Testaments, saying, 'Priests and monks
devour the property of men, in vanity, and obstruct the way of'Allah. For
those who lay up gold and silver, and spend it not in furthering the word
of Allah, there will be grievous chastisement.' Then he said, 'The
number of months is twelve in the book of Allah since the day He created
the heavens and the earth, and four of these months are sacred [war is
forbidden in them]. This is the true religion. Do not therefore act
unrighteously in them as the idolaters have done. . . .'
Then he spoke of the
distribution of property. 'Alms are due to the poor, and the needy; to
those whose hearts are to be won over; for the redemption of slaves, and
the freeing of debtors; to further the word of Allah, and to give to
travellers. This is an ordinance from Allah, and Allah knows all and is
wise. ''
'0,
prophet! Wage war against the Unbelievers
and against the Hypocrites who utter belief but have none, and be severe
unto them, for their abode shall be in hell. The apostle and those who
truly believe went to the
holy war [the Tabuk expedition] with their wealth and their lives; they
will enjoy good fortune and be happy. . . .' The first of the Emigrants
and the first of the Helpers have special favour in the sight of Allah and
their reward in paradise will be great.
When the apostle of Allah
had conquered
Mecca
and completed the campaign of Tabuk, and when al‑Taif had
surrendered and made profession of Islam, deputations of Arabs arrived
from all directions. This, the ninth year after the Hijra, was called the
Year of Deputations. The Arabs had delayed professing Islam until they saw
how the affair between the apostle and the Quraysh would end, because the
Quraysh were the leaders of men, the people of the Kaba and of the sacred
territory, and they were acknowledged as the descendants of Ishmael, son
of Abraham. Not one chief of the Arabs denied this. But when
Mecca
was conquered and the Quraysh submitted to Islam, the Arabs knew that they
themselves were not strong enough to wage war or to show enmity to the
apostle of Allah. So they entered into the religion of Allah in droves,
arriving from all directions.
When a deputation from the
Banu Tamim arrived they entered the mosque and shouted to the apostle to
come out from his private apartments. This shouting displeased the
apostle, but he went out to them, and they said, 'We come to contend with
you for glory! Allow our poet and orator to speak’ Then Utarid, their
orator, rose and declaimed the virtue and greatness of the Banu Tamim:
'Who is like us among men? Are we not chiefs of the human race and most
excellent of all?' and more to similar effect.
He sat down, and the
apostle called on his own orator, Thabit, to reply to the harangue. Thabit
rose and extolled the 'most noble descent, most high dignity, and most
favoured reputation of the Muslims'.
Then the poet of the Banu
Tamim rose in his turn to enter the contest of words, and when he had done
the apostle sent for Hassan. Hassan waxed long and eloquent, and when he
fell silent at last, one of the Banu Tamim exclaimed, 'This poet is more
poetical than ours, and this orator more eloquent than ours; and their
voices are clearer than ours.' So they made profession of Islam, and the
apostle gave them valuable gifts.
After many such tribes had
come to Islam and others had given submission to the apostle, he sent out
a number of his followers to instruct people in Islam and collect the
public taxes. He placed Muadh over these collectors. When he sent Muadh
out he gave him instructions and the following injunction, 'Be gentle and
not harsh; announce the good tidings; give no offence. When thou arrivest
among people who are of the scripture [Christians and Jews], they will ask
thee, "What is the key to paradise?" Say, "The testimony
that there is no God but Allah alone, and he has no associate." '
Accordingly, Muadh departed, and when he reached
Yemen
he acted as the apostle had ordered him.
Certain tribes still
remained who had not accepted Islam, so the apostle sent Khalid to the
Banu al‑Harith in Najran, with orders to give them three days to
embrace Islam, and thereafter to subdue them if they refused. Khalid sent
out mounted parties in every direction to invite the people to Islam,
shouting, 'Make profession of Islam and you will be saved!' The people
responded to the call and entered the religion, and Khalid remained among
them to teach them the doctrines of Islam, the Koran, and the ordinances
of the apostle of Allah. After a time, Khalid brought a deputation of the
Banu al‑Harith to meet the apostle at
Medina
.
When they arrived the
apostle at first asked, 'Who are these people? They look like men from
India
’ Then they stood before him and saluted him, and said, 'We testify that
thou art apostle of Allah, and that there is no God but Allah!' Then they
returned to their people and the apostle appointed Qays to be their
leader, and sent Amr to instruct them in Islam and teach them the doctrine
and collect alms from them. Amr was given detailed orders concerning what
the al‑Harith should be taught.
'He [Amr] is to prohibit
any man from praying in a small garment unless it be such that both its
extremities may be wrapped round the shoulders; nor may anyone perform his
prayers in such a garment as will expose his private parts. He must also
prohibit men from plaiting their hair and allowing it to hang down their
backs. He must prohibit the people, in case of a quarrel, from calling out
their tribes to help them ‑ they should invoke the aid of Allah
alone; and those who fail to call upon Allah, but call instead upon their
tribes, must be visited by the sword until they call upon Allah. He is to
command the people to perform religious ablution before their prayers, by
washing their faces, and their hands as far as the elbows and their feet
as far as the ankles; they must likewise wipe their heads as Allah has
ordained. He commands that the prayers be held at their due seasons, with
bowing and prostration, when the morning dawns and at noon when the sun
begins to decline; the afternoon prayers are to be held when the sun
declines, and the evening when the night sets in, but they are not to be
delayed until the stars begin to appear; and the night devotions are to be
held during the first part of the night. The presence of the people at
Friday prayers, when the call goes forth, is incumbent upon them as is the
ablution beforehand.'
The apostle gave many other
instructions. And he commanded Amr to take one‑fifth of any booty
for Allah, as well as the legal alms from the land. These consisted of
'one‑tenth from land irrigated by springs and rains;
one‑twentieth from land irrigated with buckets. For every ten
camels, two sheep; for every twenty camels, four sheep; for every forty
horned cattle, one cow; for every thirty, one male or female calf entering
its third year; for every forty sheep, a young one old enough to graze
alone. This is an ordinance from Allah ordained to Believers as the
required alms; but he who is more generous will win merit. Any Jew or
Christian who persists in his religion is not to be turned away from it,
but must pay one golden dinar or its equivalent in cloth. He who pays this
will be protected by Allah, and His prophet; he who refuses is an enemy of
Allah and His prophet, as well as of all Believers. The grace of Allah be
upon Muhammad; and salutation to him with the mercy and blessings of
Allah.'
The apostle of Allah sent
his Amirs [representatives] and officials to collect the poor‑tax of
all the districts subject to Islam. A man named Musaylima, who claimed he,
too, was an apostle of Allah, wrote to the apostle the following letter.
'From Musaylima, the apostle of Allah, to Muhammad the apostle of Allah!
Greetings! I am thy partner in authority. One half of the earth will
belong to us and the other half to the Quraysh, but the Quraysh people are
sinners.' With this letter he sent two messengers, and the apostle of
Allah, having read the letter, asked them, 'What do you say to this?' They
replied, 'We say what he says.' The apostle exclaimed, 'If it were not
that messengers are guaranteed their safety, I would strike off your
heads.' Then he wrote these lines, 'In the name of Allah, the merciful,
the compassionate! From Muhammad the apostle of Allah to Musaylima the
liar! Salutations to him who follows the true guidance! The earth belongs
to Allah, and He bestoweth it upon those of His servants whom He will. The
pious will meet with a happy destiny.'
In the next year, the tenth
of the Hijra [AD 630], the apostle made preparations for the pilgrimage,
and ordered his people to do the same. He took with him sacrificial
animals, and ordered that all the people (except those who had brought
sacrificial animals) should, after visiting the holy places, divest
themselves of their pilgrim habit. Then he entered
Mecca
, and all the people who had brought no sacrificial animals divested
themselves of their pilgrim habit.
The apostle of Allah had
sent Ali to Najran, and Ali returned to
Mecca
to rejoin the apostle during the pilgrimage. He gave him a report on the
journey to Najran and the apostle then said, 'Go and walk round the Kaba;
then divest thyself of the state of pilgrim as thy friends have done.' But
Ali said, 'When I assumed the state of a pilgrim, I said, "I dedicate
myself to Thee, Allah, as Thy apostle Muhammad has done." ' Ali had
no sacrificial animals, so the apostle of Allah gave him part of his own.
And the apostle of Allah slaughtered the sacrifices in both their names.
During this pilgrimage the
apostle of Allah clarified sacred usages and ceremonies to the people He
preached a sermon, in which he explained many things. After giving praise
to Allah, he said, 'Listen to my words, because I do not know whether I
shall meet you again here after this occasion. Your blood and your
property shall be sacred to you until you meet your Lord. You will meet
your Lord and He will examine you about your deeds. Whoever has charge of
another person's wealth, let him return it to the man who has deposited
it. Usury is forbidden, but capital belongs to you. Do no wrong, and none
shall wrong you. Time has come full circle since the day when Allah
created the heavens and the earth. The number of months with Allah amounts
to twelve months, four of which are sacred.
'You have rights over your
wives, and they have rights over you. Your rights over them are that they
shall allow no one of whom you disapprove to enter your bed, nor must they
commit open fornication; if they commit it, Allah permits you to exclude
them from your beds, and to beat them (with moderation). Treat your wives
well, because they cannot fend for themselves; you have taken them on
trust from Allah, and they are yours by the grace of Allah.
'Ponder my words. I have
left with you knowledge which, if you follow it, will preserve you for
ever from going astray; the words of Allah and the injunctions of His
apostle. Know that every Muslim is brother to every Muslim. No man may
take anything from his brother save what is freely given.'
Thus the apostle terminated
his pilgrimage. This was the pilgrimage of instruction and valediction,
because after it the apostle of Allah went no more on pilgrimage. It was
'The Farewell Pilgrimage'.
When the apostle returned
to
Medina
he dispatched envoys from among his companions to various rulers, and sent
letters in which he invited them to accept Islam. He said to his
companions, 'Do not resist me as his disciples resisted Jesus.' His
companions asked, 'How did the disciples resist?' He said, 'He sent them
as I send you; but those whom he sent to a place near by were pleased, and
obeyed, whereas those whom he sent to a distance, went unwillingly and
considered it a hardship. Jesus complained to Allah; and everyone who had
considered it a hardship was the next morning able to speak the language
of the nation to whom he had been sent.'
The apostle of Allah sent
envoys to the Caesar of Rome, the king of Persia, the Negus of Abyssinia,
the Byzantine emperor, the kings of Alexandria, of Uman, and of Bahrein
and to many others.
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