The Life of Mohammad Part 19

He said the same thing to the Ghatafans, his fellow-countrymen, and was just as successful with them. The Quraish and the Ghatafans swore they would be on their guard.

One night, on the eve of a Sat.u.r.day in the month of Shawwal, Abu Sufyan and the chieftains of the Ghatafans sent Ikrimah to the Banu Quraizah, charging him to say to them: 'We can no longer sojourn in these parts, so unsuitable to our horses and camels. Be ready to fight Mohammad to-morrow. We must get done with him!' They made answer: 'To-morrow is a Sat.u.r.day, the Sabbath day, which means obligatory repose in our religion. But, at any rate, we cannot fight by your side unless ye grant us hostages chosen from the most n.o.ble among you, as a guarantee that ye will not abandon us before having crushed our common enemy.' When Ikrimah repeated these words, the Quraish and the Ghatafans cried out: 'By all our G.o.ds, what Naim told us concerning the Banu Quraizah was perfect truth!' The Confederates immediately sent another message, declaring plainly: 'By our G.o.ds, we'll not give you a single hostage!'

It was now the turn of the Banu Quraizah to find out how correct was the information vouchsafed by Naim and they came to a rupture with the Confederates. This piece of news, reported by Naim, made the Prophet rejoice exceedingly; but being desirous of knowing the effect produced by this rupture in the ranks of the Quraish and the Ghatafans, he said to Huzaifah: 'Make thy way, this very night, into the enemy's camp and find out what they may be planning. Come back and tell me without letting anyone know.'

Thanks to the pitchy darkness of that wintry night, Huzaifah glided among the enemies' tents. A high, icy wind had put out all the fires and blown down all the cooking-pots. The whistling gusts deafened all ears; and the shivering idolaters huddled together, wrapped up in the folds of their mantles. 'Keep an eye on your companions!' was the watchword shouted by Abu Sufyan, meaning: 'Beware of spies!' Huzaifah, with great presence of mind, seized the hand of an Infidel standing close to him and demanded in threatening accents: 'Who art thou?'--'Such an one; son of such an one.' Huzaifah let him go, and the Infidel, forced to exonerate himself, never thought of putting questions as well.

The relinquishment of the Banu Quraizah; the difficulties with regard to feeding camels and horses; and, above all, the disorder arising from that calamitous night, caused Abu Sufyan to be discouraged. After a short discussion between him and the other Quraish chieftains, in the hearing of invisible Huzaifah, the return of the besiegers to their dwellings was decided.

Having got to know all he wanted, Huzaifah went back to his camp. He found the Prophet praying and he beckoned to his disciple to approach.

When Huzaifah was close to him, to warm his messenger, he covered him with part of the mantle spread out on the ground in lieu of a praying carpet. When Mohammad had finished his devotions, he listened to the intrepid scout and congratulated him on the success of his mission.

Next day, the plain was clear of the enemy; and the Prophet, leaving the ditch, led his troops back to Al-Madinah. 'The Quraish came here to attack us for the last time,' he declared. 'Henceforward it will be for us to go and beard them in their dens.'

[Sidenote: THE TREATY OF AL-HUDAIBIYAH (_Year VI of the Hegira A.D.

628_)]

The Prophet dreamt that he entered Makkah in the midst of his companions and then marched to Mina, in the Valley of Sacrifices. This vision embodied the greatest desire of his heart; and all the Believers felt the same, as they suffered from not being able to visit the Holy Places since the Hegira. So Mohammad determined to satisfy their craving.

In the month of Zu'l-Qa'dah, he went out of Al-Madinah, and took the road to Makkah at the head of fourteen hundred pilgrims, driving seventy camels for sacrificial purposes. To show that his intentions were peaceful, he caused garlands to be hung round the victims' necks.

Furthermore, at Zu'l Halifah, he solemnly put himself in the state of "Ihram," which consists in a.s.suming the pilgrim's garb of double cloths without seams, and abstaining from all that is forbidden during the visit to the holy places: approaching women; the use of perfumes; cutting the beard, hair or nails; fighting or quarrelling; and the slaying of animals others than those sacrificed. His disciples followed his example and he gave out the "Talbiyah": "_I stand up for Thy service, O Allah!_" which they all repeated in chorus.

At Osfan, he met with Bishr ibn Al-Kaab on his return from Makkah whither he had been sent to glean information, and who told him: 'O Prophet! the Quraish know that thou art on the way. They have called upon the Saquifs and the Habash who are coming to face thee, bringing with them their wives and children, to stop themselves from even thinking of flight. They also lead their she-camels and the young camels, so as to be certain not to suffer from lack of meat or milk; and the warriors have covered their bodies with skins of panthers as a token that they will never give in, but fight to the last gasp. At this moment, they are encamped at Zu Sua. Khalid ibn Walid, at the head of their cavalry, is in ambush at Kurrat-ul-Ghamin.'

'Who can guide us along some other road than that by which they expect us?' asked the Prophet. A guide of the Aslams proffered his services and led the army of the Believers through an unknown path, but it was frightful to look upon. It meandered through an inextricable chaos of wild ravines, jagged rocky heights, abrupt ascents and descents, strewn with pointed pebbles that cut the feet of men and animals.

After having mastered exhaustion and fatigue, the Believers debouched in the sandy bed of a broad wadi which seemed to their bruised and bleeding feet like a carpet of the richest pile. They offered up thanksgivings to the Compa.s.sionate, and obeying the commands of their inspired leader, they cried out: "_We implore the forgiveness of Allah and we repent in His Presence!_"

Then they went through the pa.s.s of Al Morar, and arrived at the foot of the hill of Al-Hudaibiyah, situated partly on holy ground and partly in ordinary territory, a day's journey from Makkah. At this spot, Qaswa, the Prophet's she-camel, suddenly knelt and refused to get up. 'Is she restive?' asked his companions.--'No, she is not restive,' replied Mohammad; 'but she is stopped by Him who formerly stopped the elephant of the Negus Abrah, and prevented him entering Makkah.' And the Apostle gave orders to pitch the tents.

The enemy, surprised at not having met Mohammad, and knowing he was not far off, soon found out that he had taken a new road. They turned back in the greatest haste, sending their hors.e.m.e.n on in front to bar the way to their city. They despatched Budail and several Arabs of the Khuzzah tribe, to sound the Prophet as to his intentions.

Budail, having heard from the Prophet's own lips that all he wanted was to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Places and not to wage war against his fellow-countrymen, returned to inform the Quraish. But they had no faith in the Khuzza men whose secret sympathy for Mohammad was known, so they sent him another messenger, Al Halis ibn Alqamah.

'Let the victims be paraded in front of him,' ordered the Prophet when he saw him arrive. When Al Halis had seen the long rows of victims going by with garlands round their necks which were shorn at the parts where their throats would be cut, he thought it would be useless to continue and went back to the Quraish to give them an account of his observations.

'Sit down,' they told him. 'Thou art naught else but a simpleton of the Bedouin tribes and thou dost not understand the cunning of Mohammad who haileth from our part of the country.' Al-Halis got out of temper. 'O a.s.sembly of the Quraish! Ye do not respect the terms of our compact. No one hath a right to drive away from the Temple of Allah the man who cometh to glorify the Most High! By Him who holdeth in His hands the soul of Al-Halis, ye will let Mohammad finish his pious visit in peace; or else we Confederates will break off with you--and at once!' They shrugged their shoulders. 'Pshaw! Let us be until we have achieved what we have planned.' And they charged Ora ibn Masud, a chieftain of the Saquifs, with the mission which, in their judgment, had been badly carried out by the previous messengers. 'O a.s.sembly of the Quraish!' he objected; 'I have hearkened to the bitter words with which ye welcomed the return of your men sent to the enemy.

Ye know me by my mother; I am on your side, for I belong to the folks dwelling in the Makkan valley. If ye suspect me in the least, lay your hearts bare ere I depart.'--'Thou art in the right. We know thee. We are not at all distrustful of thee.'

Ora came into the presence of the Prophet and bowed down to him. 'O Mohammad,' he said, 'thou hast gathered together a horde of people of all countries and thou dost come back to thy egg (birthplace) to smash it with their a.s.sistance! Now the Quraish have sworn a most solemn oath, to the effect that never, so long as their eyelashes quiver on their eyelids, shalt thou set foot again in Makkah, unless by force of arms. And, by our G.o.ds! the sc.u.m surrounding thee must flee from thy side, before the sun setteth on another day!'

At these words, a flame of indignation lit up the eyes of the companions standing, the lower half of their faces veiled, behind the Prophet. From out of the group, strode Abu Bakr. He went up to the Infidel and shouted to him: 'Begone and bite the belly of Lat, thine idol! Dost thou think for a moment that we could abandon Allah's Messenger?'--'Who is this man, O Mohammad?' queried Ora.--'The son of Abu Kuhafah.'--'By our G.o.ds!' Ora went on, turning to Abu Bakr, 'if I were not bound to thee by a debt of grat.i.tude, I would have rewarded thee according to thy deserts. But, by thine insult, we are quits for the future.'

The messenger now went up to Mohammad, and while speaking to him, plucked familiarly at his beard, as was the custom in those days between people engaged in discussion. 'Take thy hand away from the Prophet's face before I come to rid thee of thine arm!' cried another of the companions. 'Who is this boor?' asked Ora.--'Dost thou not know him?' replied the Prophet with a smile. 'He is thy brother's son, Al Mughairah Shuba.'--'O traitor!' exclaimed Ora to his nephew, 'hast thou so soon forgotten thy crimes that were pardoned thanks to my intervention?' He then continued his conversation with Mohammad who treated him with the respect due to his rank. The Prophet reiterated his statement that his intentions were purely pacific. During his sojourn in the camp of the Believers, Ora was able to see how boundless was their veneration for their chieftain. When the Prophet performed his ablutions, his companions rushed to share the water he had used. If he had his head shaved, not a hair fell to the ground without being picked up and treasured. So Ora, on his return, said to those who had sent him forth: 'I have seen Chosroes in the midst of his sumptuous Persian court; Caesar, in the proud Senate of Roman patricians; the Negus, at the head of his formidable bodyguard of Abyssinian warriors. Well then, I swear that I have never met with a monarch who, surrounded by the n.o.blemen of his court, held the same position as Mohammad among his companions. And what is more remarkable, contrary to what taketh place round about the mighty, Mohammad's followers expect nothing from him; neither favours, riches, nor honours! That is what I have ascertained. Now act as it pleaseth you.'

Although the Quraish were deeply affected by his declaration, they persisted in their delusion and sent forty or fifty of their partisans to prowl round the Believers' army, with the idea of surprising and capturing a few soldiers of Islam. The Believers were on their guard and it was they who took a certain number of the Infidels prisoners.

They were led before the Prophet, but resolved not to belie his own words of peace, he pardoned and freed them, although by having been caught attacking perfidiously, they deserved death.

Just then, Mohammad wanted to send Umar with a message to the n.o.blemen of Makkah, but he made the following reply: 'O Prophet! the Quraish know my feelings towards them as manifested by many inimical acts of mine. I have everything to fear from them, because there is no longer any member of my family in Makkah. But I can show you a man whose influence will be much more efficacious than mine. I mean Usman ibn Affan.'

Mohammad, recognising this to be sound advice, despatched Usman to Abu Sufyan and the n.o.blemen of the city, to a.s.sure them that he was actuated by pacific sentiments, and to inform them of his wish to do honour to the "House of Allah" by a pilgrimage. When the Prophet's envoy had finished explaining the object of his mission to the men of Makkah, they replied: 'O Usman! if thou dost desire to perform the ritual circuits of the "Tawaf," we authorise thee to do so.'--'I will not accomplish them unless following in the footsteps of Allah's Messenger.' This answer exasperated the citizens of Makkah who threw Usman into a prison, despite his quality of amba.s.sador. Finding that Usman did not return, the Believers concluded that he had been murdered and they were overwhelmed with the most profound indignation.

Mohammad hesitated no longer and proclaimed: 'We will not go away until we have punished the "qawm" of the Infidels for the abominable crime they have just committed!' Umar, acting under the Prophet's orders, cried out with all the strength of his lungs: 'O Believers!

come and take the Oath--the Oath! Come while ye invoke the name of Allah!'

The Prophet, seated in the shade of a gum-tree, awaited the coming of the Faithful who went in haste to him. They quivered with enthusiasm, and resolved to follow him blindly even if they had to make war in holy territory. They struck their palms against his to swear fidelity till death. Just then, the news of Usman's murder being denied on the best authority, the Prophet clapped his hands together, so as to take the oath in place of Usman and acknowledge it.

Meanwhile, the intense agitation manifested on this occasion, in the ranks of the Believers, was notified by spies to the Quraish. They grew uneasy and sent Sohail ibn Amr with a flag of truce, giving him the following instructions: 'Offer peace to Mohammad, but claim as condition that he turneth back this year, for never could we put up with the sarcasms of the Arabs who will maintain that he came into our city in spite of all we said or did. Next year, at the same epoch, he may accomplish his pilgrimage to the Holy Places, and it pleaseth him.'

Sohail went back with these proposals and the Prophet accepted, despite Umar's vehement protestations. 'I am the servant of Allah,'

Mohammad told him. 'He leadeth me not astray, and I cannot disobey the orders He sendeth me. How now, O Umar? I decide; and thou must perforce oppose my decision?' Umar, hearing these words, was overtaken by such confusion that he trembled in every limb, and icy sweat poured off him....

Quoth Umar: "From that day forth, I have never ceased praying, fasting, giving alms, and freeing slaves, so as to be granted pardon for my error."

'O Ali!' said the Prophet, at this juncture, 'write: in the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compa.s.sionate!'--'I cannot accept that wording,' protested Sohail. 'Write simply: in Thy name, O Allah!'--'So be it! Write: in Thy name, O Allah! It hath been agreed between the undersigned, Mohammad, Prophet of Allah, and--'--'If I acknowledged that thou art the Prophet of Allah,' interrupted Sohail. 'I should not be at war with thee!'--'Well then, write: between Mohammad ibn Abdullah and Sohail ibn Amr: Hostilities shall be suspended for a period of ten years. Anyone escaping from Makkah and taking refuge with Mohammad shall be given up to the Quraish. Mohammad and his followers will turn back, and not attempt to enter into Makkah this year, against the will of the Quraish. Next year, the Quraish will cease all opposition to the visit of the Mussulmans to the Holy Places where they may sojourn for three days, but only carrying the arms permitted to pilgrims: sheathed sabres.' Hearing these clauses, seemingly so disadvantageous for them, the Mussulmans were roused and shouted: 'O Prophet! is it thou who signeth such a compact?'--'a.s.suredly!' replied Mohammad with a smile. 'Those among us who take refuge with the idolaters being insincere, we need not regret them; and Allah will have rid us of them. As for those of the Makkan Mussulmans who take refuge with us, if we give them up, Allah will not abandon them, for He will know how to succour them.'

The treaty had scarcely been signed by the leading Believers and princ.i.p.als among the idolaters, when Abu Jindal, son of Sohail, who had become converted and kept a prisoner, suddenly made his appearance, still dragging round his ankles the links of his broken chains. He rushed into the midst of his Moslem brethren who welcomed him with transports of joy.

Sohail flew into a pa.s.sion at this sight. He lashed his son's face with a th.o.r.n.y twig; and, seizing him by his garments, drove him into the Prophet's presence, saying: 'O Mohammad! here is the first fugitive: I call upon thee to give him up to me; the treaty having been concluded before he arrived.'--'Thou hast right on thy side.'--'O my Mussulman brethren!' cried Abu Jindal, 'am I thus given back to the idolaters who persecute me on account of my religion? See to what state they have reduced me!' The whole of the stoical Believer's body was indeed covered with traces of the ill-usage from which he had suffered. 'Be resigned, O Abu Jindal,' said the Prophet; 'and put thy trust in Allah. He will not abandon thee; nor you; nor the "Mustazifin" (those who are oppressed like thee); and He will deliver thee when the time cometh.... But we have concluded a treaty on these terms, with the "qawm" of the Quraish, and on no account can we break our word.'

Nevertheless, the Prophet made overtures to Sohail, asking him to give up Abu Jindal in exchange for a ransom; but Sohail refused unmercifully. Umar, in his turn, approached the ill-fated Mussulman, saying: 'Patience, O Abu Jindal! Thou art in the power of infidels whose blood hath no more value than that of dogs,' and he showed him his sword, hoping thereby to incite him to murder his father. Despite everything, the son loved his father tenderly and thus did he reply: 'Why dost thou not slay him thyself?'--'The Prophet hath forbidden us to do so.'--'Well then, must not I also observe the conditions imposed by Mohammad?'

When Muqirris ibn Hafz, one of the Makkans who had accompanied Sohail, witnessed this distressing scene, he was overcome with pity, and swore to protect Abu Jindal against his father and all his persecutors.

But whilst their companion was dragged away in the direction of Makkah, the Believers were heartbroken.... Their sanguine enthusiasm, arising from the fact of their expedition, gave place to gloomy discouragement; and when the Prophet, to show them that all was finished, sent forth his order: 'Sacrifice the victims and shave your heads!' it seemed as if they had suddenly lost their hearing.

Loudly invoking the name of Allah, Mohammad slew the first victim with his own hand. He then sat down and was shaved by Khurash ibn Umaiyah.

Recovering from their state of prostration by this example, the Believers repented, and ashamed at having shown such little eagerness in obeying their leader, they imitated him at once by sacrificing the victims and cutting off their own hair. Allah (Glory be to Him!) sent a high wind that whirled away the shorn locks and carried them within the precincts of the Holy Temple....

The sojourn of Mohammad at Al-Hudaibiyah extended over nineteen or twenty days. He gave the signal to return; and his soldiers who, until the last moment, secretly hoped to march on the enemy, obeyed him without murmuring, despite their deep disappointment. On arriving at Al-Madinah, fresh scenes of the kind they had just witnessed, produced a heartbreaking effect. Nothwithstanding, they were much gratified to find that the Prophet refused to give up to the idolaters several Moslem women who had fled from Makkah, such as: Ummi-i-Kulsum bint Ogbah, Sabiyah bint Al-Haris, etc., a Revelation having taught him that women were not to be included in the treaty: "_O Believers! when believing women, fleeing from idolatry, come over to you as refugees, then make trial of them ... and if ye have ascertained them to be Believers, let them not go back to the unbelievers; they are not lawful for them, nor are the unbelievers lawful for these women. But give the husbands back what they have spent for their dowers._" (THE QUR'AN, LX, 10.) By way of compensation, the clauses of the treaty concerning men were scrupulously respected.

Like Abu Jindal, there was a Believer named Abu Basir who had escaped from his persecutors and he was given back to a tribesman of the Banu Amar, accompanied by a slave; these two having been sent to Al-Madinah to claim the refugee. They took him away in full view of the Believers who would have preferred to sink into the earth sooner than be forced to remain powerless and witness such a sight. Alone, among them all, the Prophet who saw what they could not see, remained unmoved and promised freedom by the aid of the Almighty to his ill-fated disciples.

At Zu'l Holifah, the three men sat down in the shade of a wall to rest awhile. The tribesman of the Banu Amar, priding himself on the success of his mission, thought he would act the part of an invincible hero and, unsheathing his sabre, he flourished it, bawling: 'With this good sword, I could cut down Ansars from daybreak to nightfall and never feel tired!'--'Is thy blade really so sharp as all that?' asked Abu Basir. 'Let me see if it is, O my brother!'

Blinded by pride, the man of the Banu Amar cast all distrust from his mind. He allowed the edge of the steel to be examined by Abu Basir who, suddenly pulling it out of the conceited wretch's hands, brandished it over the Infidel's head and with a single blow, stretched him dead at his feet. Seeing this, the slave, overcome by terror, fled to Al-Madinah where he implored Mohammad's protection. At the same moment, Abu Basir arrived, bestriding his victim's she-camel which he had captured. He made the animal kneel before the Mosque and, with the sabre in his grasp, he went and addressed the Prophet, saying: 'Thou canst not be blamed for what hath occurred, for thou didst remain true to thy word in giving me into the hands of my enemies. But Allah hath delivered me from their persecution! Here are the spoils. A fifth part is due to thee, Take it!'--'I can touch no plunder coming from that foe without being false to my oath. Away with thy booty; and now, go whither it pleaseth thee.' When Abu Basir was gone, after taking leave of him, the Prophet added: 'Woe to his people! That man is a brand of war! Would that he were accompanied by a few comrades as determined as he!'

Abu Basir went to Al-Aish, near the seash.o.r.e, on the road to Syria trodden by the Quraish caravans. Once there, he was met by Abu Jindal and seventy other Mussulmans who, having heard that the Prophet could not be held responsible for those who freed themselves without his a.s.sistance, had made good their escape from the idolaters. These refugees were quite as determined as Abu Basir. They elected to remain in that part of the country because it was very woody and well suited to the irregular warfare of partisans in ambush. They captured all the convoys venturing in those regions and their success and the enticement of booty caused them to be joined by many Arabs of the Ghifar, Aslams, and Buhaunah tribes, etc., who became converts to Islam and formed a "jihsh" of more then three hundred highwaymen.

It was then that the Believers began to fathom the reasons for the Prophet's placidness when he accepted the paragraph, seemingly so unfavourable, concerning the rest.i.tution of fugitives. Hungered by the stoppage of all revictualling caravans, the Quraish finished by sending written entreaties, begging him to suppress the very clause which at first pleased them so much. They informed Mohammad that all Mussulmans who should get out of Makkah to join him, could remain under his protection; and he was begged to recall Abu Basir and his fellow-raiders. So it turned out that when Mohammad gave the Quraish satisfaction, he had the advantage of doing a generous act at the same time as he increased his fighting strength to a most appreciable extent.

The results, therefore, of the expedition of Al-Hudaibiyah, to all appearances so poor, were of great importance. In the Qur'an, it is set down as being almost equal to the battle of Badr. In fact, at the moment when the Mussulmans thought they ought to attack the Holy City, all of them, whether Makkan Mohadjirun, or Ansars of Al-Madinah, took the oath of fealty without hesitation. After the Prophet's death, the tree under which he accepted the pledge was so celebrated that numerous were the Faithful who came to pray in its shade; and Umar was obliged to have it felled, because he feared lest it became the object of a cult tainted with fetichism.

To crown all and complete these results, the following verses came down: "_Well pleased now hath Allah been with the Believers when they plighted fealty to thee under the tree; and He knew what was in their hearts: therefore did He send down upon them a spirit of secure repose, and rewarded them with a speedy victory. * And with the rich booty which they took._" (THE QUR'AN, XLVIII, 18, 19.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Calligraphy) _Nay rather Allah is your liege lord, and He is the best of helpers._]