Muhammad (16 page)

Finally Muhammad went to confront ‘A’isha, who had taken refuge in her parents’ home. She had wept for two days but her tears dried like magic as soon as her husband entered the house and she faced him calmly. Muhammad urged her to confess her sin honestly; if she repented, God would forgive her. But with great dignity, the fourteen-year-old girl stood her ground and gazed steadfastly at her husband as she made her reply. There seemed little point in her saying anything at all, she said. She could not admit to something she had not done, and if she protested her innocence, nobody—not even her own parents—would believe her. She could only repeat the words of the prophet Jacob: “Patience in adversity is most goodly in the sight of God; and it is to God [alone] that I pray to give me strength to bear the misfortune which you have described to me.”
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She then turned silently and lay down on her bed.

Muhammad knew ‘A’isha through and through, and she must have convinced him, because as soon as she had finished speaking, he fell into the deep trance that was so often a prelude to revelation. He swooned and Abu Bakr put a leather cushion under his head, while he and his wife waited, terrified, for God’s judgment. “Good news, ‘A’isha!” Muhammad cried at last: God had confirmed her innocence. Overcome with relief, her parents urged her to get up and come to her husband but ‘A’isha remained implacable. “I shall neither come to him nor thank him,” she replied. “Nor will I thank the both of you, who listened to the slander and did not deny it. I shall rise and give thanks to Allah alone!”
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Duly chastened, Muhammad humbly accepted the rebuke, and went to recite the new revelation to the crowd that had gathered outside.
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A personal and political tragedy had been averted, but doubts remained. The distressing incident had shown how vulnerable Muhammad was. Was he—as Ibn Ubayy had so cruelly suggested—a spent fire?

But in March 628, the month of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Muhammad made a startling announcement that proved to be an extraordinary demonstration of his prophetic genius.
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It seems that he had no clearly defined plan at the outset, but only a dimly perceived insight. He told the Muslims that he had had a strange, numinous dream: he had seen himself standing in the Haram of Mecca, with the shaven head of the pilgrim, wearing the traditional hajji costume and holding the key to the Kabah, filled with a serene assurance of victory. The next morning, he announced that he intended to make the hajj and invited his companions to accompany him. It is easy to imagine the fear, wonder, and uncertain joy that filled the Muslims when they heard this startling invitation. Muhammad made it clear that this would not be a military expedition. Pilgrims were forbidden to carry weapons during the hajj and he had no intention of violating the Meccan sanctuary where all fighting was forbidden. ‘Umar objected. The Muslims would go like lambs to the slaughter! It was essential that they were able to defend themselves! But Muhammad was adamant. “I will not carry arms,” he said firmly. “I am setting out with no other end than to make the pilgrimage.” The pilgrims would wear no armour, but simply the traditional white robes of the hajji; at the beginning of the journey, they could carry a small hunting knife to kill game, but they would have to lay these aside once they had made their formal consecration. They would have to march unarmed into enemy territory.

None of the Bedouin who had joined Muhammad’s confederacy was prepared to take the risk, but about a thousand Emigrants and Helpers volunteered. Even Ibn Ubayy and some of the Hypocrites decided to go; two women Helpers, who had been present at the Pledge of ‘Aqabah, were allowed to join the party, and Umm Salamah accompanied Muhammad.

The Muslims set off with the camels that they would sacrifice at the climax of the hajj. At the first stop, Muhammad consecrated one of these camels in the traditional way, making special marks on it, hanging the ritual garments around its neck, and turning it in the direction of Mecca. He then uttered the pilgrim cry: “Here I am, O God, at your service!” The news of this audacious expedition spread quickly from one tribe to another, and the Bedouin followed their progress intently as the hajjis made the long journey south. Muhammad knew that he was placing the Quraysh in an extremely difficult position. Every Arab had the right to make the hajj and if the Quraysh, the guardians of the Haram, forbade a thousand pilgrims who were punctiliously observing the rites to enter the sanctuary, they would be guilty of a gross dereliction of duty. But it would also be intolerably humiliating for the Quraysh if Muhammad
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enter the city, and it soon became clear that the Qurayshan leadership was determined to stop Muhammad at any price. In an emergency meeting of the Assembly, Khalid ibn al-Walid was dispatched with two hundred cavalry to attack the defenseless pilgrims.

When he heard this grave news, Muhammad was filled with anguish for his tribe. The Quraysh were so blinded by the sterile hatred of warfare that they were prepared to violate the sacred principles on which their entire way of life depended. What was the point of such intransigence? “Alas Quraysh!” he cried, “War has devoured them! What harm would they have suffered if they had left me and the rest of the Arabs to go our own ways?” The expedition was going to be quite different from what he had imagined. Because of his dream, Muhammad had probably expected to be admitted to Mecca, and have the opportunity to explain the principles of Islam to the Quraysh in the peaceful conditions imposed by the hajj. But he could not turn back now. “By Allah,” he resolved, “I will not cease to strive for the mission with which God has entrusted me until he makes it victorious or I perish.”
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His first task was to get the pilgrims safely into the sanctuary. The Muslims found a guide from the friendly Bedouin tribe of Aslam, who led the party by a circuitous, rugged path into the area where all violence was forbidden. As soon as he entered the sacred zone, Muhammad reminded the pilgrims that they were engaged in a strictly religious activity. They must not allow themselves to be carried away by the excitement of homecoming; there must be no facile triumph; and they must put their sins behind them. Now they should make their way to the nearby well of Hudaybiyyah, getting their camels to kick up the sand so that Khalid and his men would know exactly where they were.

When they reached Hudaybiyyah, Muhammad’s camel Qaswa’ fell to her knees and refused to budge. The pilgrims yelled at her, trying to make her get up, but Muhammad reminded them of the elephant who had knelt before the Kabah during the Abyssinian invasion all those years ago—a divine “sign” that had persuaded the enemy army to turn back without a fight. Something similar was happening today. “The One who restrained the elephant from entering Mecca is keeping Qaswa’ back,” he explained, and yet again he reminded the pilgrims that they were coming in a spirit of reconciliation: “Whatever condition the Quraysh make in which they ask me to show kindness to kindred, I shall agree to.”
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Muhammad had never planned to overthrow the Quraysh but had simply wanted to reform the social system, which, he was convinced, would bring the city to ruin. The Quraysh thought that their pilgrimage amounted to a declaration of war but, like Qaswa’, Muhammad was determined to prostrate himself humbly before the holiness of Mecca. The war had achieved nothing of lasting value and both sides had committed atrocities. This was to be a peaceful offensive, not an invasion.

But very few of the Muslims took Muhammad seriously. Keyed up by the excitement and drama of the occasion, they were expecting something spectacular. Perhaps there would be a miracle! Maybe they would enter Mecca in triumph and drive the Quraysh from the city! Instead, Muhammad calmly ordered them to water their camels and sit down beside them. What followed was what used to be called a “sit-in.” Waiting obediently for permission to enter the city, refraining from violence, Muhammad was demonstrating that he was more in line with Arab tradition than the Quraysh, who had been prepared to kill him while he was making his way unarmed toward the sacred ground.

And, indeed, the Bedouin got the message. A chief of Khuza’ah who was visiting Mecca rode out to Hudaybiyyah to see what was going on. He was horrified to hear that the pilgrims had been denied access to the holy places, and went back to the city to protest angrily to the Quraysh. Mecca had always been an inclusive city; it had welcomed all Arabs to the Haram and this pluralism had been the source of its commercial success. What did they think they were doing? They had no right to bar a man who had clearly come in peace, he complained. But the Qurayshan elders laughed in his face. They were prepared to stand between Muhammad and the Kabah and fight him until their last man had been killed. “He may not have come wanting war,” they cried, “but by Allah he shall never come in against our will, nor shall the Arabs ever say that we have allowed it.”
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At this point, the Meccan resistance to Muhammad was led by Suhayl, the pious pagan whom Muhammad had hoped to attract to Islam, and the sons of some of Islam’s earliest opponents: ‘Ikrimah, who like his father, Abu Jahl, was implacably opposed to any compromise; and Safwan ibn Umayyah, whose father had died at Badr. Interestingly, Abu Sufyan seems to have played no part in the events of Hudaybiyyah. A man of outstanding intelligence, he probably realized that Muhammad had wrong-footed the Quraysh and that it was no longer possible to deal with him with the conventional defiance of jahiliyyah.

The Meccans had tried to kill the pilgrims, but Muhammad had eluded them; their next ploy was to try to cause dissension among the Muslims, by inviting Ibn Ubayy to perform the rites at the Kabah. But to everybody’s surprise, Ibn Ubayy replied that he could not possibly perform the tawaf before the Prophet. He would clash with Muhammad again in the future, but at Hudaybiyyah, Ibn Ubayy was a loyal Muslim. Safwan and Suhayl persuaded ‘Ikrimah to agree to negotiation, and sent one of their Bedouin allies, Hulays, chief of al-Harih, an extremely devout man, as their representative. When Muhammad saw him coming, he sent the sacrificial camels out to greet him, and when Hulays saw them trotting towards him, beautifully decked out in their garlands, he was so impressed that he did not even bother to interrogate Muhammad but returned immediately to the city. These were bona fide pilgrims, he reported, who must be admitted at once to the Haram. Safwan was furious. How dared Hulays—an ignorant Bedouin—give them orders! This was a grave mistake. Hulays rose and replied with great dignity:

You men of Quraysh, it was not for this that we made an alliance with you. Is a man who comes to do honor to the house of Allah to be excluded from it? By Him who holds my life in his hand, either you let Muhammad do what he has come to do or I shall take away my troops to the last man.
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Safwan hastily apologized and asked Hulays to bear with them until they found a solution that was satisfactory to everybody.

Their next envoy was ‘Urwah ibn Mas‘ud of Ta’if, a crucial ally of Mecca. ‘Urwah immediately put his finger on Muhammad’s weak spot. “So you have gathered this medley of people, O Muhammad, by whom you came back to break the might of your own tribe,” said ‘Urwah, gesturing contemptuously at the pilgrims. “By Allah, I could see these disbanding against you tomorrow!”
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Muhammad knew that despite this apparent show of strength and unity, he had very few dependable allies. His Bedouin confederates, who had refused to accompany him on the pilgrimage, had only a superficial commitment to Islam; his position in Medina was still desperately insecure; and he knew that some of his closest companions would not understand what he was about to do. How could he realistically oppose the Quraysh—his own tribe—with this motley rabble? The Quraysh, on the other hand, were solidly united and armed to the teeth, ‘Urwah told him; even the women and children had vowed to prevent him entering Mecca. Nevertheless, almost in spite of himself, ‘Urwah was impressed by the Muslims’ devotion to the Prophet during this crisis, and he told the Quraysh that—at least for the time being—Muhammad held the winning cards and they would have to make some kind of agreement with him.

Muhammad decided to send an ambassador of his own into Mecca. First he dispatched one of the Helpers, thinking that this would be less inflammatory, but the Quraysh hamstrung the man’s camel and would have killed him had not Hulays’s tribesmen intervened. Next Muhammad approached ‘Umar, but none of his clansmen in the city was strong enough to protect him, so it was decided that the well-connected ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan should undertake the mission. The Quraysh heard him out, but were not convinced by his exposition of Islam, though they gave him permission to perform the rites of the pilgrimage. ‘Uthman, of course, refused so the Quraysh decided to keep him as a hostage, but sent word to the Muslims that he had been killed.

This was a terrible moment. It seemed as though the expedition had horribly misfired. In this extremity, Muhammad fell into a trance but this time there was no message from Allah, and he had to find a solution himself, listening, as he always did, to the under-current of these fearful events in order to discover what was really going on. Finally, he asked the pilgrims to swear an oath of fealty. One by one, they took his hand and swore the Oath of Good Pleasure. The sources all have different interpretations of this event, but Waqidi’s account is probably the most persuasive. He says that the Muslims vowed to obey Muhammad implicitly and to follow what was “in his soul” during this crisis.
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Muhammad had never been able to command absolute obedience, but, shaken by the report of ‘Uthman’s murder, even Ibn Ubayy and the Hypocrites were ready to take the oath. Muhammad had resolved, at a deep instinctual level, to take a course of action that he knew many would find intolerable and he wanted to ensure their loyalty in advance. After everybody had taken the pledge, things began to improve. First came the good news that ‘Uthman had not been killed after all, and then Muhammad saw Suhayl, whom he had always respected, approaching the camp, and realized that the Quraysh were now seriously prepared to negotiate.