In 628, a year after the Battle of the Trench, Muhammad dreamed that he entered the Ka’abah with a pilgrim’s shaved head. Based on this dream, he and a group of companions decided to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, although it was not the official Hajj time to do so. They called a religious trip to Mecca at any other time the lesser pilgrimage or in Arabic, umrah. They would take along a large herd of 70 camels to be sacrificed, and at the start of the trip, the camels would be dedicated and decorated with garlands. Within Mecca, the camels would be sacrificed, and they would shave their heads (or cut some of their hair) and walk around the Ka’abah seven times.
The problem was that although Mecca hosted pilgrim groups like this often, they were specifically at war with Muhammad. What would they do when the pilgrim group arrived? Muhammad insisted on not going armed, apart from basic daily-wear swords, but no real war gear. They were to wear the simple robe of a pilgrim and just act as if it were all normal. The pilgrim’s robe was made of two pieces of cloth, without any stitching, I suppose just tucked around the body with folds or a belt. When the Muslims heard that Mecca had sent a body of cavalry to stop them, they chose a different road. And so they came near to Mecca.
They stopped at a place just outside Mecca called Hudaybiyah, because there Muhammad’s camel stopped walking and knelt for him to dismount. He had used this method to choose his house in Medina, too. The Bedouin tribes in the area were friendly; they provided animals to eat, and they took a message into the city for him. The Prophet told the men of Quraysh that while he was prepared to fight them, he was also prepared to wait outside the city as long as they liked. This was a serious concession and reassured them that it was not an invasion.
The Quraysh leaders in the city deliberated what to do. They couldn’t attack a pilgrim party without the whole region being scandalized, but neither could they stand for everyone to see their enemy walking around the Ka’abah. At last, they invited a Muslim to come in as an envoy, to talk. Muhammad chose to send Uthman, the early convert from Mecca’s powerful Umayyad clan. Both sides were very uneasy. The pilgrims felt that at any time, a surprise attack might come from the city, and days went by with no word from Uthman. Had even his status been insufficient to protect him?
One day Muhammad called them to where he sat under an acacia tree. He asked them to swear personal allegiance to him, one by one. Most of them felt that it was the prelude to a battle, and as they were unarmed, they knew it wouldn’t go well. Muslim records say that about 1400 people, all men except for three women, were present to make this oath. It is known as the Pledge of Ridwan, or the Pledge of the Tree. The solemn drama of it may have impressed the Quraysh leaders with their seriousness.
In the end, a small party of Quraysh negotiated a treaty with Muhammad, and he signed it on behalf of all. He was unusually compliant with Mecca’s demands, for example, he referred to himself as the Messenger of God, but when they objected, he told the scribe to rewrite it as “son of Abd Allah.” The treaty obliged the Muslims to return to Medina without entering the city or seeing the Ka’abah, which was maddening to the men who had just walked 100 desert miles. Some of them were angry, and they let Muhammad know. Other terms made them madder, because the treaty provided that if any sons of Mecca ran off to Medina to become Muslims without their father’s permission, and Mecca sent a messenger to bring them home, Muhammad would see to it that they went. But on the other hand, disaffected Medinans who took refugee at Mecca would not be sent home!
But the meat of the treaty was a ten year truce. That itself was worth a great deal, and time showed its value. Both Medina and Mecca would be free to keep on making alliances, so Muhammad could use the truce period to reach out into any part of Arabia. And the following year, Muslims could come to Mecca on pilgrimage, just not right now. Of course, the treaty also provided that any deceit or treachery would void the agreement. Could it last ten years?
While the Muslims were still camped at Hudaybiyah, their first Meccan runaway showed up in chains. His father was the lead negotiator of the truce on the Meccan side, but his older brother was already a Muslim and was among the pilgrims! Son and father faced each other, each wanting to claim the younger brother. Suhayl, the father, demanded Muhammad fulfill the truce’s terms since it had just been signed, and Muhammad agreed. He told the younger brother to be patient and trust God that it wouldn’t be long until he would have permission to join them.
The Muslims couldn’t believe it when they saw Suhayl’s son sent back. Umar, the Companion who always advocated for violence, grew very angry. He shouted at Muhammad that he was wrong to agree to all of their enemies’ demands. He had no intention of going home without the pilgrimage! Nothing came of his outburst and later he was ashamed. It’s worth noting because it’s part of Umar’s behavior pattern, and as a later Caliph he shaped Muslim history.
When the Meccan men went back into the city, the Prophet told his band to sacrifice the camels and shave their heads as if they had actually made it to the Ka’abah. They threw their cut hair onto a tree, and a wind came to carry it toward Mecca. As they returned, Muhammad received a new surah that told him the trip had been completely successful and should be counted as a victory.
- Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. Martin Lings. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1983.
- Revelation: The Story of Muhammad, by Meraj Mohiuddin and Sherman Jackson.