A tribal strife
Sirat p. 542 Tabari VIII p. 162
This story starts with a complicated string of tribal strife with roots long before the Hudaybiya treaty, the Kab clan seeks help from Muhammad:
When Quraysh and B. Bakr had combined against Khusaa and killed some of them, thereby breaking their covenanted word with Muhammad in violating Khuzaa who were in treaty with him, Amr b. Salim al-Khuzai of the clan of B. Kab went to Muhammad in Medina.
This is what alliances are for - getting help when you are unjustly violated.
He stood by him as he was sitting among the men in the mosque and said:
O Lord, I come to remind Muhammad
Of the old alliance between our fathers.
You are sons for whom we provided the mother,
Then we made peace and have not changed our minds.
[...]
[By this he was saying that they had killed them after they had become Muslims.]
When Muhammad heard this, he said: "You have received help, Amr b. Salim!" Then a cloud appeared to Muhammad in the sky, and he said: "This cloud signals the beginning of the help for the Banu Kab."
Probably the clear signal that the tribe has converted firmly to Islam is the key incentive for Muhammad promising help without hesitation or further questions.
Then Budayl b. Warqa set out with a group of men from Khuzaah. They had come to Muhammad in Medina and told him what had befallen them and how Quraysh had backed the Banu Bakr against them; then they departed to return to Mecca. Muhammad had told them: "I think you will see Abu Sufyan come to strengthen the pact and extend the term."
The comment has a strange twist. While strenghtening the pact makes sense in a moment of crisis, extending it should not be needed. It has another 8 years of validity.
As Budayl b. Warqa and his companions traveled, they met Abu Sufyan at Usfan: Quraysh had sent him to Muhammad to strengthen the pact and extend the term, for they had become fearful of what they had done.
As expected and foretold, the Quraysh are aware that some of what happened needs some diplomatic salvaging.
When Abu Sufyan met Budayl, he said: "Wher have you come from, Budyal?" - for he guessed that he had gone to Muhammad. Budayl said: "I traveled with the Khuzaah along this shore and along the bottom of this valley." Abu Sufyan asked: "Didn't you go to Muhammad?" "No," he replied.
What can one say about this? "War is deceit" (Bukhari:V4B52N267) would be unappropriate, as a treaty of peace still exists between Muhammad and the Quraysh, a state of affairs the Quraysh try to protect.
When Budayl set out for Mecca, Abu Sufyan said: "If in fact he went to Medina, he will have fed his camel date pits there." So he went to the place where his camel had rested, picked up some of its droppings, crumbled them, and saw date pits in them. "I swear by Allah," he said, "Budayl went to Muhammad!"
The vigilance that saved Abu Sufyan's caravan before the battle of Badr is still with him.
Abu Sufyan then set out and went to Muhammad in Medina. Abu Sufyan first visited his own daughter, Umm Habibah bt. Abi Sufyan. When he was about to sit on the bed of Muhammad, she folded it up to stop him. He said: "My daughter, by Allah, I don't know whether you think I am too good for this bed, or you think it is too good for me." She said: "It is the bed of the Messenger of Allah, and you are an unclean polytheist. I did not want you to sit on the bed of the Messenger of Allah." He replied: "My daughter, by Allah, evil came over you after you left me."
This is the first of a series of disappointments for Abu Sufyan in his attempt to mend the situation. It is remarkable how Islam supercedes even the closest bonds of family and clan. The reply he gets everywhere is that the matter is already settled by Muhammad, and nobody is interested in going to him to make him change his mind. Eventually Abu Sufyan gets one suggestion:
Ali said to him: "By Allah, I know of nothing that will be of any good to you. However, since you are the lord of the Banu Kinanah, go and make peace among the people, and then return to your country." Abu Sufyan asked: "Do you think that will be of any use to me?" "No, by Allah," replied Ali, "I do not think so, but I can find nothing else for you to do." So Abu Sufyan stood up in the mosque and said: "People, I hereby make peace among the people." Then he mounted his camel and parted.
Abu Sufyan has talked to his best contacts, and even taken the extra effort of asking for peace in public, all to no avail. Abu Sufyan inadverently made a dangerous implicit admission: That the conflict is serious enough to break the treaty. That was probably not his intention.
When Abu Sufyan came to Quraysh, they asked: "What is your news?" He said: "I went to Muhammad and spoke to him; and, by Allah, he gave me no reply. Then I went to Ibn Abi Quhafah and got nothing good from him. Then I went to Ibn al-Khattab, whom I found to be the most hostile of them. Then I went to Ali b. Abi Talib, whom I found to be the mildest of them. He advised me to so something that I have done, but, by Allah, I do not know whether it will be of any use to me or not." They asked: "What did he command you?" He replied: "He commanded me to make peace among the people, and I did it." They asked: "Has Muhammad approved it?" "No," he said. "Woe to you!" they said. "By Allah, he did no more than play with you. What you have said is of no use to us." Abu Sufyan replied: "No, by God, I found nothing else to do."
Thus ends the Quraysh diplomatic peace mission, in complete humiliation and failure. Muhammad has no interest in upholding the treaty and preserving peace.
Then Muhammad informed the people that he would travel to Mecca. He commanded them to prepare themselves quickly, and he said: "Oh Allah, keep spies and news from Quraysh until we take them by surprise in their territory." So the people make preparations for travel. Hassan b. Thabit al-Ansari composed the following verses to rouse the people, mentioning the killing of the men of Khuzaah:
I recieved word, though I was not present, that in the plain of Mecca
are the men of the Banu Kab whose necks were cut
At the hands of men who did not unsheathe their swords [the Quraysh],
and many slain men whose graveclothes were not hidden [were not buried].
Would that I knew whether my help [to Khuzaah] will harm
Suhayl b. Amr - with its heat and its punishment -
And Safwan, an old camel the edge of whose anus has been cut.
For this is the time for war - its milking girth has been firmly tied.
You will not be safe from us, son of Umm Mujalid [Ikrimah b. Abi Jahl],
when it is milked, yielding pure milk, and its teeth become strong.
So do not become impatient with it! Our swords
have a fall the gate of which opens to reveal death.
This poem is a bit complex, as it's ripe with symbolic references. The Arabs would understand them, but the message is clear also to those who do not understand the details: This is a call to war.
Muhammad went on his journey and left Abu Ruhm Kulthum b. Husayn in charge of Medina. He departed on the tenth day in the month of Ramadan. Muhammad fasted, and the people fasted with him.
Religious rituals aside, there is something strange about starting an attack on Mecca in the holy month.
Under construction
Tabari YY p. XXX
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