QURANIC WISDOM

So, under a great planning, the Prophet decided to go to Makkah with his Companions to perform the umrah, or the lesser pilgrimage. In 628 CE, the Prophet left Madinah for Makkah with a number of his Companions. This was not acceptable to the Makkans. When they learnt that Muslims were approaching their city, they went forward and stopped the Muslim advance at a place called Hudaibiya, about ten miles from Makkah. This was followed by two weeks of negotiations for peace. The Makkan opponents were bent on their conditions being accepted for peace to be concluded between the two sides. Their conditions were unilateral and did not take into consideration Muslims’ interests. The Prophet accepted all of the conditions of the Makkans. After this the Prophet began to dictate the terms of the agreement to Ali to write on paper. He said: “O Ali write: ‘This is what has been concluded between Muhammad the Messenger of God and…” At this, Suhayl ibn Amr, the representative of the Makkans, immediately said: “We do not believe that you are a messenger. You will have to remove the words ‘Messenger of God’ and write instead ‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah.” It is very astonishing that the Prophet did not waste even a second and said to Ali: “O Ali write: ‘This is what has been concluded between Muhammad, son of Abdullah…’” Ali was not prepared to erase the words ‘Messenger of God’, thus the Prophet asked where these words had been written and erased them himself. In this way, the peaceful agreement, known as the Hudaibiya Treaty was signed. There were many among the Companions of the Prophet who thought that the treaty was a humiliation. But the Prophet remained firm on the agreement he had entered into with the Makkans and returned from Hudaibiya. He had not yet reached Madinah when the Chapter alFath was revealed in the Quran. The first verse of this chapter declares: “Truly, We have granted you a clear victory” (48: 1). What everybody had considered to be a unilateral defeat and humiliation was declared by the Quran to be a clear victory. What was this clear victory? The Prophet ignored the irrelevant aspect and focused on the relevant aspect. The irrelevant aspect was to temporarily have ‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah’ written on a piece of paper instead of the words ‘Muhammad, Messenger of God’. This would have not changed the course of history. The Prophet knew that changing words on paper would not change The greatest practice of the Prophet that we need to revive today is to discover prophetic wisdom and apply it to our present circumstances.