Expulsion from the Tribes

Seerah as a Movement faith was by ‘conciliating people’s hearts.’ (Quran, 9:60). The generosity that the Prophet showed to win people over to his cause was without parallel. No one before or after him can lay claim to such boundless munificence. After the Muslim conquest of Makkah, Safwan ibn Umayya, a noble of Makkah, went and hid himself in a mountain ravine. The Prophet extended an amnesty to him, and asked to see him. After the Hawazin had been subdued at the battle of Hunain, 8 a.h., the Pr ophet was over seeing the distribution of spoils at Jir’ana, and Safwan ibn Umayya was with him. As yet he had not accepted Islam. Standing on the side of a gully, he gazed in wonderment at the goats and camels swarming beneath him. “Abu Wahab,” the Prophet enquired on seeing him, “would you like all these cattle?” Safwan said that he would. “They are all yours,” the Prophet told him. “No one but a prophet could be so generous,” Safwan replied. He immediately accepted Islam, and testified that there was no one worthy of being served save God, and that Muhammad was His servant and Prophet. (Kanzul Ummal, Vol. V, p. 294). The Prophet’s several marriages were also part of his policy of gentleness in approach to the issue of conciliation of the hearts. The prime importance attached in the tribal system to relationships through marriage, explains the rationale behind the marriages entered into by the Prophet after his emigration to Madinah. Through them bonds were established with countless people, whose hearts then mellowed towards his mission. The Prophet’s first marriage was with Khadija, a widow almost twice his age. Except for that one alliance his other marriages were entered into for the political and missionary advantages that accrued to Islam from them. The year after the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyyah (628 a.d.), the Prophet—along with 2000 Muslims—went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Kabah. During his three-day stay in Makkah, he married a widow by the name of Maymuna bint al-Harith. She had eight sisters, all of whom were married into distinguished Makkan families. By marrying her, the Prophet became related to all these