Life of the Prophet

sending of dawah letters to the rulers and kings whose kingdoms lay around the borders of Arabia, for instance, to the rulers respectively of Syria and Egypt. The Prophet’s companions were sent to deliver a dawah letter to each of these rulers, only one of whom showed any adverse reaction to its receipt, namely, the King of Persia. He considered it beneath his dignity to accept such a letter, so he tore it apart. When the Prophet received this news, he said: “The Emperor of Persia has himself torn his kingdom in pieces.” With this one exception all the kings and rulers showed due respect to the letters sent by the Prophet. Many rulers sent the messengers back with gifts for the Prophet and some of them even accepted Islam, like for instance, Negus the king of Abyssinia. The Hudaybiya treaty, although apparently in favour of the Makkans, proved of tremendous benefit to Islam. This was so, because when people came to know that a no-war pact had been arrived at between the Quraysh and the Prophet of Islam, an atmosphere of peace prevailed between the two parties. As a result, people began moving from place to place without any obstacle in their way. The Makkan and other Arabian tribes began visiting Madinah, while the Madinans began visiting other non-Muslim tribes. During this free interaction Islam inevitably became a subject of general discussion. Consequently, the call of Islam spread rapidly everywhere. The Arabs, becoming acquainted with the virtues of Islam, began to enter its fold in large numbers. Eventually within a mere two years, the number of Muslims increased enormously. Now, two years after the signing of this treaty, the Quraysh of Makkah committed an act of aggression against an ally of the Prophet, and in so doing violated the Hudaybiya treaty. After this incident the Prophet announced that the peace agreement had been repealed. Later, along with ten thousand of his companions, he left for Makkah. It is worth noting that there were only fourteen hundred Muslims to accompany the Prophet on his earlier journey to Hudaybiya, whereas on the present journey his companions numbered ten thousand. Faced with this strength in numbers, the Makkans found themselves helpless. Therefore, they conceded their defeat without any resistance. Makkah was thus conquered in 8 A.H. without any armed encounter. The Makkan idolaters had formerly put up severe resistance to the Prophet of Islam. They had even planned to kill him. They had contrived to involve him in many battles and had many heinous crimes to their credit. They were the worst types of criminals. Therefore, even if all these people had been put to death, this punishment would have been fully justified. But the Prophet of Islam, thanks to his sublime character, did not take any action against them. He did not even reproach them. He unilaterally declared a general amnesty, saying: “Go, you are all free.” Given those circumstances, this was an extraordinary treatment. The Makkan idolaters were sure that, after the victory of Makkah, they would all be slaughtered on account of their unpardonable