The Personality of the Prophet of Islam

Sunnah Hudaybiya After the Prophet of Islam received prophethood he worked to propagate the message of monotheism for the initial period of thirteen years in Makkah. Makkah was his hometown, but the Makkans turned his direst enemies. They inflicted all sorts of persecution upon him and ultimately, they decided to kill him in order to remove him from their path. At this juncture the Prophet and his companions left Makkah for Madinah at the command of God. This amounted to being exiled, for, apparently, there was no hope of the Makkan people ever letting him enter Makkah again. It was under such difficult circumstances that the Prophet had a dream in Madinah that he, along with his companions, was entering Makkah peacefully and was freely performing umrah (minor pilgrimage) sacrifices. In accordance with this dream the Prophet and his 1500 companions set off for Makkah from Madinah on the first of Dhu Al-Qada in 6 A.H. As this caravan headed towards Makkah everyone felt great excitement. But when it reached a place known as Hudaybiya near Makkah, the Makkans stopped them from going forward. They said that at all costs they would prevent the Muslims from entering Makkah. The Prophet and his companions stayed at Hudaybiya for two weeks. During this period negotiations went on and, finally it was settled that the Prophet and his companions would not enter Makkah that year. Instead they were to return from Hudaybiya to Madinah and come the following year for a stay of only three days, during which they were to quietly perform umrah and then go back without delay. According to this treaty the Prophet and his companions, in spite of the Prophet’s dream, left Hudaybiya for Madinah. The following year they came again and performed umrah as stipulated by the treaty of Hudaybiya. This incident of Hudaybiya tells us a special sunnah of the Prophet, that is, not clashing with others unnecessarily; refraining scrupulously from turning any difficult situation into a prestige issue; rather taking the problem as it is and keeping oneself free, from any complexes; attempting to understand matters by rising above sentiments and emotions, and solving problems wisely by giving concessions to the other party. This policy can also be termed status quoism. This does not simply mean accepting the status quo without attempting to change it. Status quoism is not passivity or inaction, but rather the highest form of action. Whenever a confrontational situation builds up between two parties, the controversy comes to a standstill at a certain point. Now apparently there is only one way to proceed for both the parties, and that is, to break the status quo and find a way to go ahead. On such occasions, the foolish turn such matters into a prestige issue. They believe that accepting the status quo would amount to losing face. To protect their egos, they take to the path of confrontation. But one who is God-fearing never turns anything into a prestige issue. Taqwa for him becomes a guarantee of keeping himself away from any such confrontation as will result