Victory of Islam

the Muslims and the Quraysh had agreed to curtail hostilities for ten years. The Quraysh would no longer be able to take reprisals against people becoming Muslims. There was nothing now to stop people from accepting Islam. It was as if a large crowd had gathered at its gates. With the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, those gates were thrown open and the crowds flocked in. As Ibn Shahab al-Zahri and others have pointed out, the Muslims gained more from the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah than from any of their campaigns. The Prophet returned to Makkah two years later with 10,000 men, whereas, previously, the Muslims had numbered no more than 3,000. This was the direct outcome of the greatest obstacle to the acceptance of Islam—the anger and hostility of the Quraysh which would result from such conversions. Bara’a was one of the Muslims present at Hudaybiyyah. Bukhari relates how he used to say to latter-day people, who considered the Conquest of Makkah to be the great victory of Islam, that the Companions of the Prophet considered the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah as the victory. The economic blockade of Makkah was now lifted. Caravans from that city were now permitted to pass freely through Makkah. But Abu Jandal, Abu Baseer, and others who had accepted Islam, had to be returned to the Quraysh under the terms of the treaty. Before long, however, they escaped and took refuge in Zul-Marwa. So many Muslim converts assembled in that place that it became a new, flourishing centre of Islam. From there they used to play havoc with the Quraysh’s trading caravans. Finally the Quraysh were forced to give up insisting that anyone deserting the Quraysh for the Muslim camp would have to be returned to them. The great lesson of Hudaybiyyah is that one should avoid impatience and should not judge solely by appearances. The outwardly unfavourable Treaty of Hudaybiyyah held great opportunities for the Muslims, which only people of insight could perceive. Abu Bakr commenting on the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, observed: “It was the greatest Islamic victory, though on that day people were too shortsighted to realize the divine wisdom