Major events of the seerah

Before prophethood · 570–610 CE

Before prophethood

1. Birth and the Year of the Elephant

   Key lesson: The Monday report is firm; the exact birth date and reported signs are not equally certain.

   What happened

   He ﷺ was born in Makkah, in the quarter of Banū Hāshim, on a Monday morning in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, in the Year of the Elephant. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm gives the ninth of the month, following a later calculation; other historians give other days. The Monday is the firmest part, because he ﷺ himself said in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim that he was born on a Monday. His father ʿAbdullāh had died before he was born, so he came into the world an orphan

   That same year, Abrahah's army had marched on Makkah with an elephant to destroy the Kaʿbah, and Allah destroyed the army before it reached the House. Sūrat al-Fīl describes it: birds in flocks, stones of baked clay, and an army left like chewed-up straw. So he was born in a year when Makkah had just watched Allah protect His House without any help from Quraysh

   His mother Āminah sent word to his grandfather ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, who came happily, carried the baby to the Kaʿbah, prayed to Allah and thanked Him, and named him Muḥammad, a name that was not common among the Arabs at the time. Ibn Saʿd records Āminah describing a light at his birth that lit up the palaces of Syria. Stories of other signs that night, such as cracks in the Persian king's palace and the sacred fire of the Magians going out, are mentioned in ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm only as disputed reports, and they are not relied on here

   The first woman to nurse him after his mother was Thuwaybah, a woman of Abū Lahab's household, who had also nursed his uncle Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه. That made Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه his foster brother as well as his uncle, a bond that would matter years later

2. Desert childhood and opening of the chest

   Key lesson: Keep the historical nursing account distinct from the authenticated opening of the chest.

   What happened

   It was the custom of town families in Makkah to send their babies to nurses in the desert, where the air was healthier and the Arabic was purer. Ḥalīmah bint Abī Dhuʾayb of the tribe of Banū Saʿd ibn Bakr took him into her household, together with her husband al-Ḥārith

   Ibn Isḥāq preserves Ḥalīmah's own account of how it happened. It was a year of drought. She came to Makkah on a weak donkey with an old she-camel that gave no milk, and her own baby cried all night from hunger. Every nurse in her group was offered the Prophet ﷺ and turned him down, because he was an orphan and they hoped for gifts from a child's father. When everyone else had a baby and she had none, she told her husband she would not go home empty-handed and would take the orphan. He said there was no harm in it, and perhaps Allah would bless them through him

   She said that as soon as she held him, she had milk enough for him and for her own son, and both of them slept. Her husband found the old camel full of milk. On the way home her weak donkey outpaced the others, and back in the dry land of Banū Saʿd their animals came home full and gave milk. Her husband told her she had taken a blessed child. This is the historical report as Ibn Isḥāq gives it, not an authenticated hadith

   She kept him for two years until he was weaned and then brought him back to his mother, but begged to keep him longer, partly because of an illness then going around Makkah. Āminah agreed, and he stayed in the desert until he was about four or five

   While he ﷺ was a small boy playing with other children, Jibrīl عليه السلام came to him, laid him down, opened his chest and took out his heart. He removed a clot from it and said, 'This was Shayṭān's share of you.' Then he washed the heart in a golden basin with the water of Zamzam and put it back. The children ran to his nurse crying that Muḥammad had been killed. They found him safe, but pale. This is narrated by Anas رضي الله عنه in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. A separate opening of his chest is reported before the Night Journey, many years later, and the two should not be confused

3. Bereavement, family care and early work

   Key lesson: Family care sustained an orphan, and shepherding trained patience; the caravan story remains disputed.

   What happened

   Ḥalīmah was alarmed by what had happened and returned him to his mother, and he lived with Āminah until he was six. Āminah then set out to visit his father's grave in Yathrib, the town later called Madinah, about five hundred kilometres away, taking her son, her servant Umm Ayman رضي الله عنها and ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. They stayed for a month. On the way back she fell seriously ill and died at al-Abwāʾ, on the road between Makkah and Madinah. At six, he ﷺ had lost both parents

   ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib brought him home to Makkah and loved him more than his own sons. His early biographers record that a mat was laid for ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib in the shade of the Kaʿbah, and out of respect his sons sat around it, never on it. The young Muḥammad ﷺ would sit on it, and when his uncles tried to move him, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib would say, 'Leave my grandson. By Allah, this boy will have a great standing.' He would sit him beside him, pat his back and take pleasure in everything he did

   When he ﷺ was eight, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib died. His care passed to his uncle Abū Ṭālib, his father's full brother. Abū Ṭālib brought him up among his own children, honoured him above them, and went on protecting him for about forty years, judging other people by how they treated his nephew. Ibn ʿAsākir records that in a year without rain Abū Ṭālib took the boy to the Kaʿbah to pray for rain and the rain came; it is a historical report and is mentioned here as one

   Like many boys of Makkah, he ﷺ looked after sheep, first among Banū Saʿd and then in Makkah. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records him saying that every prophet Allah sent had herded sheep, and that he had herded them for the people of Makkah for a few small coins. Herding asks for patience, watchfulness and care for the weak, the same qualities a prophet needs with people

   When he was twelve, he ﷺ went with Abū Ṭālib's trading caravan to Syria. At Buṣrā, in the region of Ḥawrān under Roman rule, a monk named Baḥīrā, who normally paid the caravans no attention, prepared a large meal for them. The story says he took the boy's hand and called him the master of humankind, whom Allah would send as a mercy, said he recognised the seal of prophethood below his shoulder from what was in their books, and urged Abū Ṭālib to take him home for fear of the Jews, so Abū Ṭālib sent him back to Makkah. The story is well known and ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm tells it, but scholars of hadith dispute parts of it, so it is presented as a historical report rather than an authenticated hadith

   When he ﷺ was about fifteen, the Sacrilegious Wars broke out between Quraysh and Kinānah on one side and the tribe of Qays ʿAylān on the other. They were called sacrilegious because the fighting broke into the sacred months, when war was supposed to stop. In one of the battles he went with his uncles but did not fight. He picked up the arrows the enemy shot and handed them to his uncles

4. Ḥilf al-Fuḍūl, honest trade and marriage

   Key lesson: Stand with the wronged and value trustworthy conduct; the pact's date and marriage-age reports vary.

   What happened

   When peace returned, several clans of Quraysh, Banū Hāshim, Banū al-Muṭṭalib, Banū Asad, Banū Zuhrah and Banū Taym, met in the house of an elderly, respected man, ʿAbdullāh ibn Judʿān, and swore to stand with anyone wronged in Makkah, local or stranger, until his right was returned. This was Ḥilf al-Fuḍūl. Its exact date is not securely fixed

   The story behind it, as ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm gives it, began with a trader from the tribe of Zubayd who sold goods to al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil and was never paid. No clan would help him, so he climbed a hill and called out a poem about the wrong done to him. Az-Zubayr ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, took up his case, the clans made their pact, and they forced al-ʿĀṣ to pay

   Long after he became a prophet, he ﷺ said, in a well-known report, that he had witnessed that pact in the house of ʿAbdullāh ibn Judʿān, that it was dearer to him than a herd of fine camels, and that if he were called to something like it in Islam, he would answer. Even before revelation he stood with the weak, and Islam did not cancel that good; it honoured it

   As a young man he ﷺ was known for good sense, long silences and careful thought. He took no part in drinking, never ate meat sacrificed to idols on stone altars, and never joined the idol festivals. He disliked the idols intensely and could not bear to hear anyone swear by al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā. A report recorded by Ibn al-Athīr has him say that twice he set out to join the young men's night entertainment in town, and both times he fell asleep on the way and woke only with the heat of the sun, and he never tried again. Its chain is weak, so it is mentioned only as a report

   At twenty-five he ﷺ took the goods of Khadījah bint Khuwaylid رضي الله عنها to Syria. She was a respected merchant of good family and wealth who hired men to trade for her for a share of the profit. Having heard of his truthfulness, honesty and good manners, she offered him more than she paid others and sent her servant Maysarah with him

   When he came back, Khadījah رضي الله عنها found more profit and blessing in her goods than ever before, and Maysarah told her about his manners, honesty and seriousness. Many leading men had proposed to her and she had refused them all. She told her friend Nafīsah bint Munyah, who went to him with the proposal. He agreed, his uncles spoke to her uncle, and they married before the leaders of Banū Hāshim and Muḍar. He gave twenty camels as her dowry

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm gives her age then as forty; some other reports give a younger age. Khadījah رضي الله عنها was the first woman he married, and he married no one else while she lived. She bore all his children except Ibrāhīm: al-Qāsim, Zaynab رضي الله عنها, Ruqayyah رضي الله عنها, Umm Kulthūm رضي الله عنها, Fāṭimah رضي الله عنها and ʿAbdullāh, who was also called aṭ-Ṭayyib and aṭ-Ṭāhir. The sons all died young. Every daughter lived to accept Islam and emigrate to Madinah, and all except Fāṭimah رضي الله عنها died in his lifetime

5. Rebuilding the Kaʿbah, the Black Stone and retreat

   Key lesson: Shared participation resolved a dangerous dispute; a trustworthy life preceded revelation.

   What happened

   When he ﷺ was thirty-five, Quraysh rebuilt the Kaʿbah. It was a low building of stones with no roof, cracked with age, thieves had stolen from inside it, and a great flood had nearly brought it down. Quraysh agreed to use only clean money, nothing from prostitution, usury or injustice. They were afraid to start pulling it down until al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah began; when nothing happened to him, the others joined in, down to the foundations laid by Ibrāhīm عليه السلام. Each clan rebuilt its own section

   Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records that he ﷺ carried stones for the building alongside his uncle al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه. When al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه told him to put his waist-cloth over his shoulder to protect it from the stones, he fell to the ground, and after that he was never seen uncovered. Allah was guarding his modesty even before prophethood

   When the walls reached the place of the Black Stone, the clans quarrelled over who would have the honour of setting it in place. The dispute lasted four or five days and they came close to fighting. The oldest of them, Abū Umayyah ibn al-Mughīrah, proposed that they accept the judgement of the first person to enter the Sanctuary. It was the Prophet ﷺ. When they saw him they said, 'Al-Amīn has come; we accept him'

   He asked for a cloak, spread it out, placed the Stone in the middle, and asked a leader of each clan to hold the edge and lift it together. When it reached its place, he set it there with his own hands. Because their clean money ran short, Quraysh left out part of the original foundations on the north side, the area called al-Ḥijr or al-Ḥaṭīm, and raised the door high so that they could control who went in

   The sources agree on his character in these years. He was the most honest in speech, the gentlest in temper, the most generous to guests and the most faithful to his word, and his people gave him the name al-Amīn, the trustworthy, by common agreement. These are the same qualities Khadījah رضي الله عنها would name on the night revelation began, when she told him Allah would never disgrace him

   As he neared forty, he ﷺ came to love being alone. He would take barley and water and go to the cave of Ḥirāʾ, on the mountain later called Jabal an-Nūr, about two miles from Makkah, a small cave about four yards long. There he spent nights in worship and in thinking about the creation, especially in Ramaḍān, and shared his food with travellers who passed. He was troubled by the idol worship and the wrongs around him but had not yet been shown a way to change them

   True dreams came first. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها describes in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that whatever he saw in a dream came true like the break of day. Then he would stay in the cave for several nights at a time, returning to Khadījah رضي الله عنها for more food before going back. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm says these years of solitude lasted about three years and the true dreams about six months

   Before a single verse came, Makkah already knew him as an orphan who had been cared for, a young man who had herded sheep, a trader no one could accuse, a judge both sides accepted, and a man who stood with the wronged. When he later called them to Allah, the people who called him a liar had no story of a lie to point to. Allah had prepared him, and prepared his people's knowledge of him, for forty years

Year 1 · 13 BH · 610 CE

The first revelation

1. First revelation at Ḥirāʾ

   Key lesson: Revelation brought a weighty responsibility; the exact night in Ramaḍān remains disputed.

   What happened

   He ﷺ was forty. For some time his habit had been to take provisions to the cave of Ḥirāʾ and spend nights there in worship, then come back to Khadījah رضي الله عنها for more. It was Ramaḍān, and he was in the cave

   ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrates that the angel came to him suddenly and said, 'Read.' He answered, 'I am not one who reads.' The Prophet ﷺ described what happened next: the angel took hold of him and pressed him until he could bear no more, then let him go and said again, 'Read.' Again he said he could not read. The angel pressed him a second time, and then a third, and then said: Read in the name of your Lord who created; created the human being from a clinging clot. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous

   These first words of Sūrat al-ʿAlaq carry the whole message in small. Reading and knowledge begin with Allah's name. Allah is the Creator, and the human being, for all his later pride, began as a tiny clinging thing. And Allah is the Most Generous, who, as the verses that follow say, taught by the pen and taught people what they did not know. The first command of the final revelation was to read, and it was given to a man who could not read

   That he could not read is itself part of the proof. The Qur'an later says to him: you did not recite any book before this, nor write one with your right hand, for then those who wanted to deny it would have had grounds to doubt. A man who had never read a scripture brought a book that corrected the scriptures before it

   The angel pressed him three times before giving him the verses. Scholars explained that this showed him the weight and seriousness of what was coming, and made him fully attentive to it. Later the Qur'an would describe what was given to him as a heavy word, and the first meeting was already heavy

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm works out a date for that night, the twenty-first of Ramaḍān, by looking for a Monday in that month, since he ﷺ said in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim that revelation first came to him on a Monday. Other scholars give other nights, so the month is certain and the exact night is the author's own calculation

2. Reassurance at home

   Key lesson: Comfort someone in fear with known evidence of their goodness and practical help.

   What happened

   He ﷺ repeated the verses and went home with his heart trembling. He came in to Khadījah رضي الله عنها saying, 'Cover me, cover me,' and they wrapped him until the fear left him. Then he told her everything and said, 'I fear for myself'

   Khadījah رضي الله عنها answered with certainty: 'No, by Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep ties with your relatives, you carry the burden of the weak, you give to those who have nothing, you honour your guests, and you help people through the hardships that come with truth.' Her proof was his own life. She had lived with him for fifteen years and knew that Allah does not abandon someone like this

   Through all of this, Khadījah رضي الله عنها was the first person to believe in him. She believed on the night he came home trembling, before anyone else, before any argument and before any miracle, because she knew him

   Her answer that night is worth learning by heart. She did not argue from dreams or signs. She listed what he did for others: family, the weak, the poor, guests, people in hardship. Her reasoning was that a man who lives for others in that way is not someone Allah throws away. Then she did the practical thing and took him to the one person she knew who understood the earlier scriptures

3. Waraqah recognises the mission

   Key lesson: Recognising truth includes recognising the opposition its bearer may face.

   What happened

   She took him to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal ibn Asad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā, an old man who had become a Christian before Islam, could write scripture in Hebrew and had gone blind. Khadījah رضي الله عنها said, 'Cousin, listen to your nephew.' Waraqah asked what he had seen, and the Prophet ﷺ told him

   Waraqah said, 'This is the Nāmūs, the keeper of secrets, whom Allah sent down to Mūsā عليه السلام.' Then he said, 'I wish I were young. I wish I could be alive when your people drive you out.' The Prophet ﷺ asked, 'Will they drive me out?' Waraqah said yes: no one had ever brought what he had brought without being treated with hostility, and if he lived to see that day he would support him with all his strength

   That was the first time anyone told him plainly what lay ahead. The same people who loved and trusted him would turn on him, not because he had changed, but because of the message. Not long afterwards Waraqah died, and the revelation paused

   Waraqah, for his part, is remembered for recognising the truth at once and wishing he could live long enough to help. He did not live to see the call made public. His words gave the Prophet ﷺ a clear picture of the road ahead: the angel was the one sent to Mūsā عليه السلام, the message was the same in kind, and the reaction of his people would be the same as well

4. The pause in revelation

   Key lesson: Revelation was not produced at will; the pause's length and some associated reports remain uncertain.

   What happened

   Aṭ-Ṭabarī and Ibn Hishām add details that are not in the authenticated narration. In their account he ﷺ went back to the cave to complete his stay, and on his way he heard a voice from the sky saying, 'O Muḥammad, you are the Messenger of Allah, and I am Jibrīl,' and saw Jibrīl عليه السلام filling the horizon in whichever direction he turned. He stood still until the people Khadījah رضي الله عنها sent had searched Makkah for him and come back. At home she reassured him and went again to Waraqah, who told her to tell him to be patient, because he was the prophet of this nation. Parts of this account, including words of despair, have no authenticated chain, so it is told only as a historical report

   Then revelation stopped for a time. Ibn Saʿd reports from Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما that the pause lasted only a few days, and ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm judges this the most likely after study. The claim that it lasted three and a half years, the author says, is not correct. Other scholars gave other lengths; what is certain is that there was a pause

   A version in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī adds that he ﷺ grieved so much during the pause that he went more than once to mountain tops, and each time Jibrīl عليه السلام appeared and said, 'O Muḥammad, you are truly the Messenger of Allah,' and his heart settled. Hadith scholars point out that this addition is not part of ʿĀʾishah's رضي الله عنها connected narration; it is a remark of the narrator az-Zuhrī, introduced with the words 'as we have heard', so it does not carry the strength of the rest of the hadith

   Ibn Ḥajar explained the wisdom of the pause. It let the shock of the first meeting pass, and it made him long for revelation to return. When the questions faded, he knew for certain that he was the Messenger of his Lord and that what had come to him was the angel of revelation. The waiting itself prepared him to meet the next revelation steady and ready

   The pause also showed something everyone around him would need to understand. Revelation came when Allah sent it, not when the Prophet ﷺ wanted it and not when people demanded it. The Qur'an was never something he could produce at will

   The year's page links Sūrat aḍ-Ḍuḥā to this time because its message fits a heart waiting for revelation: by the morning light, and by the night when it grows still, your Lord has not left you and is not displeased with you, and what comes later will be better for you than what came first. The authenticated report about its revelation in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī describes a short pause of two or three nights, and scholars differ over which pause it answered, so the link is a fitting reading of the sūrah, not a fixed fact of this year

   By the end of this year, the Prophet ﷺ had received the first words of the Qur'an, had been told by a man who knew the earlier scriptures that he was sent like Mūsā عليه السلام and that his people would drive him out, and had waited through a silence that taught him revelation was in Allah's hands. What came next would turn this private experience into a duty: to stand up and warn

Year 2 · 12 BH · 611 CE

Arise and warn

1. Revelation resumes: arise and warn

   Key lesson: The renewed revelation turned private fear into a responsibility to warn others.

   What happened

   Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه heard the Prophet ﷺ describe how the pause ended. He was walking when he heard a voice from the sky. He looked up and saw the same angel who had come to him in Ḥirāʾ, seated on a chair between the sky and the earth. He was so frightened that he fell to the ground. He went home saying, 'Cover me, cover me'

   Then Allah revealed the opening of Sūrat al-Muddaththir: O you wrapped in your cloak, arise and warn. Your Lord, declare His greatness. Your clothing, purify. Uncleanness, keep away from it. Do not give in order to receive more. And for your Lord, be patient

   Sūrat al-ʿAlaq had made him a prophet. These verses gave him a task. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm explains each command in turn, and taken together they are the whole programme of the call

   Notice how the sūrah addresses him. It does not call him by name. It calls him by the state he was in at that moment, the one wrapped in his cloak, frightened and seeking comfort. The address is gentle, but what follows is not a comfort. It is a call to stand up, leave the warmth behind and begin

2. The call's moral programme

   Key lesson: Calling others requires purity, unselfish giving, accountability and patience.

   What happened

   Arise and warn: the purpose of warning is that no one who goes against what pleases Allah should be unaware of where it leads. A warning also means accountability, and since this life does not settle every account, it points to another day, the Day of Resurrection

   Your Lord, declare His greatness: the only greatness to be honoured on earth is Allah's. Every idol, every tribe's pride and every chief's standing is placed beneath Him. This was the part of the message Quraysh would find hardest, because their honour was tied to the idols they guarded

   Purify your clothing and keep away from uncleanness: the outside and the inside both had to be clean. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm reads this as purity of body and dress together with purity of the soul, staying far from idols and every kind of wrongdoing, so that the Prophet ﷺ would be an example people could see

   Do not give in order to receive more: he was not to treat his effort for Allah as a favour that earned him something, or count it up with pride. He was to give everything without thinking of himself, and without expecting thanks from the people he was calling

   For your Lord, be patient: the last command already pointed to what was coming. People would mock him, insult his followers and in time plot against their lives, and he would have to hold firm for Allah's sake alone

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm draws out what these few verses contain. Calling people to account means there is a life after this one. Declaring Allah's greatness means testifying that He alone is worshipped and handing every affair to Him. Purity means good character and righteous deeds. And all of it rests on believing in the Prophet ﷺ and following his guidance. Tawḥīd, the Hereafter, purity of the soul and following the Messenger: the whole Makkan message is already here in seed form

   These commands were simple to say and calm in their rhythm, but the author describes them as the spark that set off a storm across the world. Everything that followed in Makkah, from the first believers to the boycott and the Hijrah, was these few verses being lived out

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm describes the words 'arise and warn' as calling him out of rest and comfort. To live for oneself is easy; he was being given a heavy trust, and there would be little sleep or ease in his life from then on. He ﷺ rose to it, and carried it for more than twenty years

3. The first believers

   Key lesson: Trusted relationships carried the early call; the exact conversion order is not fully fixed.

   What happened

   The call began quietly. Makkah was the centre of Arabia and the keeper of the Kaʿbah, and the idols that all the Arabs honoured were in Makkan hands. Calling openly for an end to idol worship in that city, at once, would have provoked the whole town before a single believer was ready. So the first stage was private, person by person

   He ﷺ began at home and with the people closest to him, calling those he expected to recognise the truth. Khadījah رضي الله عنها, the Mother of the Believers, was the first to enter Islam. Then came his freed slave Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه, his young cousin ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه, who had lived in his household since childhood, and his close friend Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه, known as aṣ-Ṣiddīq. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm says all four accepted Islam on the first day of the call

   Each of them had lived close to him. Khadījah رضي الله عنها had been his wife for fifteen years. Zayd رضي الله عنه had lived in his house. ʿAlī رضي الله عنه had grown up in his care. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه had been his friend. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm describes the early converts as people who had not the least doubt about him. The ones who knew him best were the quickest to believe him

   Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه is known as aṣ-Ṣiddīq, the one who confirms the truth. His readiness on the first day matched that name: he did not ask for time, and he did not keep his faith to himself

   Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه began working for Islam from the day he accepted it. He was wealthy, generous, gentle and upright, and people liked to visit him for his knowledge, his company and his trade. He invited the people he trusted, quietly and one at a time, and his standing in Makkah meant that people listened when he spoke about something serious

   Through him, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه, az-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām رضي الله عنه, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf رضي الله عنه, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ رضي الله عنه and Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydillāh رضي الله عنه accepted Islam. With the first three men, these eight are counted as the forerunners of the faith. Their order and the exact time of each one's acceptance come from the historical sīrah accounts, not from individually dated authenticated reports

   Look at who they were: a wife, a freed slave, a boy, a merchant, and through the merchant, five younger men from different clans. Islam did not start with the chiefs of Quraysh. It started with people who knew the Prophet ﷺ closely and trusted him, and it spread through friendship

4. Early prayer and private training

   Key lesson: Prayer supported the small community; early prayer details and revelation timing require care.

   What happened

   Prayer began early. Muqātil ibn Sulaymān said that at first it was two units in the morning and two in the evening. Ibn Ḥajar said it is certain the Prophet ﷺ prayed before the Night Journey, though scholars differ over whether any prayer was obligatory before the five daily prayers. A report with a chain of narrators says that when the first revelation came, Jibrīl عليه السلام taught him how to make wuḍūʾ

   Ibn Hishām records that at prayer time the Prophet ﷺ and his companions went out to the valleys around Makkah to pray in secret. Once Abū Ṭālib came across him and ʿAlī رضي الله عنه praying and asked what they were doing. When he learned it was the prayer of their religion, he told them to keep at it. He did not accept Islam himself, but he would not stand in its way

   The year's page also places Sūrat al-Muzzammil in this early period. It told the Prophet ﷺ to stand in prayer at night, reciting the Qur'an slowly and clearly, because a heavy word was about to be laid on him. Scholars discuss its exact place in the order of revelation, so it is linked here to the early training, not to a single day

   So the second year turned a private revelation into a mission with a programme, and the first small community gathered around it: a household, a friend and the friend's friends, praying in valleys out of sight, learning short sūrahs and getting ready for the day the message would have to be said aloud

Year 3 · 11 BH · 612 CE

The circle widens in secret

1. The circle widens

   Key lesson: Faith gathered people from different clans and social positions.

   What happened

   The circle around the Prophet ﷺ widened beyond the first eight. Among the early Muslims, ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm names Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ رضي الله عنه, the Abyssinian; Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ رضي الله عنه, whom the Prophet ﷺ would later call the trustworthy one of this nation; Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Asad رضي الله عنه; and al-Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam رضي الله عنه of the clan of Makhzūm

   It also names ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn رضي الله عنه and his two brothers, Qudāmah رضي الله عنه and ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه; ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنه; Saʿīd ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه and his wife Fāṭimah bint al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنها, the sister of ʿUmar رضي الله عنه; Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt رضي الله عنه; and ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه. Ibn Hishām counted the early Muslims at more than forty

   The description of Abū ʿUbaydah رضي الله عنه as the trustworthy one of this nation comes from the Prophet ﷺ himself in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. It shows the kind of people this quiet stage was gathering: people whose character the Prophet ﷺ would one day hold up as an example to everyone

   They came from many different clans of Quraysh and from very different positions. Some, like Saʿīd ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه and Abū ʿUbaydah رضي الله عنه, belonged to established families. Others had no tribe to defend them: Bilāl رضي الله عنه was a slave, and Khabbāb رضي الله عنه was a blacksmith with no clan of his own in Makkah. When pressure came, those without protection would suffer most

   Some of these conversions would matter later in ways no one could see yet. Fāṭimah bint al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنها and her husband kept their Islam hidden, even from her brother ʿUmar رضي الله عنه, and it was in their house, years later, that ʿUmar رضي الله عنه would hear the Qur'an and change

   Ibn Isḥāq said that people then entered Islam in groups, men and women, until it was spoken about in Makkah and could no longer be kept completely secret

2. Private teaching and the house of al-Arqam رضي الله عنه

   Key lesson: Protect vulnerable learners without assigning the meeting house an unsupported early date.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ met the new Muslims and taught them privately, because the call was still person to person. They gathered in small numbers and prayed out of sight in the valleys around the town, careful not to draw attention while the community was still small and had no one powerful to defend it

   Many sīrah writers describe the believers meeting in the house of al-Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam رضي الله عنه at the foot of Ṣafā during the early years. It was a careful choice: al-Arqam رضي الله عنه was young and from Makhzūm, a clan hostile to the Prophet ﷺ, so Quraysh were unlikely to look there. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm, however, dates the use of his house as the main meeting place to the fifth year, after the persecution began, so the exact year is not settled

   Several of the people named in this stage would soon be tested far from home. When the persecution grew heavy, Abū Salamah رضي الله عنه and ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn رضي الله عنه were among those who left for Abyssinia, and Saʿīd ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه and Fāṭimah bint al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنها held to their faith in the house of a man who would come to them with a sword. None of that had happened yet. In this year they were simply learning, praying and keeping quiet, building the faith that would later carry them through hunger, exile and loss without letting go of it

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm divides the Makkan call into stages to make this clear. First came about three years of secret calling. Then came the open call in Makkah, from the start of the fourth year to almost the end of the tenth. Finally came the call beyond Makkah, from the end of the tenth year until the Hijrah. This lesson belongs to the first stage, and to its closing months

3. Revelation trains the early believers

   Key lesson: Early teaching stressed purification and the Hereafter; thematic links do not establish exact years.

   What happened

   Revelation kept coming after the opening of Sūrat al-Muddaththir. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm describes the sūrahs and passages of this time as short, with strong endings to their verses and a beautiful rhythm that suited the quiet, almost whispered setting in which they were learned

   Their main subject was purifying the soul and warning the believers not to be fooled by the shine of this world. They also described Paradise and Hell in vivid detail, and that picture of the Hereafter led the believers down a road opposite to the habits of the people around them

   The year's page links Sūrat al-Aʿlā to this period. It opens: glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High, who created and shaped, who measured and guided. It promises the Prophet ﷺ that Allah will make him recite and he will not forget, and it says that success belongs to the one who purifies himself, remembers his Lord's name and prays, while people prefer this life even though the Hereafter is better and lasts longer

   For a small group meeting in secret, a sūrah like this did real work. It told them that their Lord was the Most High, above every idol in the Kaʿbah. It told the Prophet ﷺ that what he was given would be kept safe. And it told them that the reward they were choosing was better and longer lasting than whatever they were giving up

   Sūrat al-Layl is linked to this time as well. It sets two kinds of people side by side: one who gives, is mindful of Allah and believes in the best, for whom Allah will make the way to ease easy; and one who is stingy, thinks himself self-sufficient and denies the best, for whom Allah will make the way to hardship easy. Its closing verses describe the one who gives his wealth to purify himself, repaying no one's favour, seeking only the face of his Lord. Many commentators, Ibn Kathīr among them, connect those verses to Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه, who spent his wealth freeing believing slaves

   These two sūrahs are linked to the early Makkan period by their content and by the usual lists of revelation order. The source does not date them to this exact year, so they are offered as the kind of Qur'an the believers were learning, not as claims about the day each was revealed

4. Preparing for the public call

   Key lesson: Quiet learning and cooperation prepared believers for open opposition.

   What happened

   Even though the call was quiet, word got out. At first the leaders of Makkah paid little attention. They assumed the Prophet ﷺ was one more thinker talking about God and religion, like Umayyah ibn Abī aṣ-Ṣalt, Quss ibn Sāʿidah and Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl, men known for speaking about such things

   That indifference did not last. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm says it turned into real worry, and the leaders of Quraysh began to watch the Prophet ﷺ closely and anxiously, afraid that his call would spread and change the way people thought

   By the end of these three years a group of believers had formed, bound together by brotherhood and cooperation, with one aim: to establish the call and spread it. They had learned the Qur'an, they prayed, and they had been taught what they believed before anyone forced them to defend it

   That is why these quiet years matter even though they have no dramatic event. When the public call began, and then the persecution, many of the people who held firm under the heaviest pressure, Bilāl رضي الله عنه and Khabbāb رضي الله عنه among them, were people formed in this stage

   Then, after three full years of teaching within a narrow circle, the time came to preach openly. Jibrīl عليه السلام brought a new command to confront the people with the truth and call them away from their idols, beginning with the Prophet's ﷺ own relatives

   So the third year teaches something easy to overlook: before a message can survive public opposition, it needs people who understand it and live it. The Prophet ﷺ spent these years building those people one by one, out of sight, and the Qur'an he taught them was about the soul, the Hereafter and Allah's greatness before it was about anything else

Year 4 · 10 BH · 613 CE

Going public

1. Warning the family

   Key lesson: Begin with those nearest; family protection is not the same as acceptance of faith.

   What happened

   The first command came in a single verse of Sūrat ash-Shuʿarāʾ: and warn your tribe of near kindred. The source points out what surrounds that verse. The sūrah tells the story of Mūsā عليه السلام from his first call through his struggle with Pharaoh, and the end of the peoples who rejected their messengers: the people of Nūḥ, ʿĀd, Thamūd, the people of Ibrāhīm, the people of Lūṭ and the Companions of the Wood. Before he was told to speak publicly, he was shown how messengers before him had been treated

   He obeyed by gathering his own family first. He brought together Banū Hāshim with a group of Banū al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Manāf. The source gives the gathering as forty-five men. Before he could speak, Abū Lahab took the floor. These are your uncles and cousins, he said, so speak to the point, but know that your family cannot stand against all the Arabs. Follow their ways and it will be easier for them. I have never heard of anyone who brought more harm on his own family than you

   The Prophet ﷺ kept silent and said nothing at that meeting. He did not argue with his uncle in front of the clan. Instead he invited them a second time, and this time he was able to speak

   He began by praising Allah and asking for His help, and declared that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah alone. Then he said: a guide never lies to his people. By Allah, besides whom there is no god, I have been sent as a Messenger to you in particular and to all people in general. By Allah, you will die just as you sleep, and you will be raised just as you wake. You will be called to account for what you did, and then it is either the Garden forever or the Fire forever

   Abū Ṭālib answered for himself. He said that they loved to help him, accepted his advice and believed his words, and that he would be the quickest to do what his nephew wanted. Do what you have been commanded, he said, and I will protect and defend you, but I cannot leave the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. So the man who would shield him for years to come promised protection without accepting the message

   Abū Lahab told Abū Ṭālib that this was a bad thing and that he must stop his nephew before others did. Abū Ṭālib replied: by Allah, I will protect him as long as I live. The wording of these two family meetings comes through the historical sīrah account rather than one authenticated chain, but the shape is clear: the family heard the message first, and the family split over it

2. The public warning at Ṣafā

   Key lesson: Family standing cannot replace personal accountability before Allah.

   What happened

   Once he was sure of his uncle's protection, he climbed the hill of Ṣafā one day and called out loudly, the cry an Arab used to raise the alarm. Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما narrates in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that he called the clans by name: O Banū Fihr, O Banū ʿAdī. People came, and those who could not come sent someone to bring back the news. Abū Lahab was there too

   He asked them: if I told you there were horsemen in the valley about to raid you, would you believe me? They said yes, we have never known you to tell a lie. Then he said: I am a warner to you before a severe punishment. Abū Lahab shouted back: may you perish for the rest of the day, is this what you gathered us for? Sūrat al-Masad was revealed on that occasion, answering him by name

   Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه narrates another part of the same warning in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. The Prophet ﷺ called all of Quraysh, warned them generally, and then named them group by group: O Quraysh, save yourselves from the Fire; O Banū Kaʿb, save yourselves from the Fire. Then he named his own daughter: O Fāṭimah رضي الله عنها, daughter of Muhammad, save yourself from the Fire, for I cannot protect you from Allah in anything, though I will keep the ties of kinship with you

   The source draws out what this meant in that society. Arabian life was built on blood ties, and here the most respected man of the clan was saying that belief in the message, not lineage, would decide everything that mattered. Kinship would still be honoured, but it would save no one

3. Open preaching and organised opposition

   Key lesson: Acknowledged honesty did not prevent resistance to a message challenging inherited authority.

   What happened

   Then came a further command, in Sūrat al-Ḥijr: proclaim openly what you are commanded, and turn away from those who associate others with Allah. He began to speak plainly about idol worship, showing that the idols had no power, and that using them as a way to reach Allah was false

   Makkah reacted with outrage. The source explains why the reaction was so strong. The chiefs understood what it meant to say there is no god but Allah and to believe in the Hereafter: their own authority over themselves, their wealth and the people beneath them would answer to Allah. Their privileges would end, and they would have to stop wronging those they treated as weak. The source cites Sūrat al-Qiyāmah: man wants to keep on sinning. Yet they faced a man they themselves knew to be honest and of the best character, and they were at a loss what to do

   Their first move was to go to Abū Ṭālib. They appealed to the thing Arabs held most sensitive, the honour of their forefathers. Your nephew curses our gods, finds fault with our way of life, mocks our religion and calls our forefathers misguided, they said; either you stop him or you let us deal with him. Abū Ṭālib calmed them with a polite reply, and the Prophet ﷺ carried on preaching

   Within a few months the pilgrimage season was coming, and Arab delegations would soon arrive. Quraysh met with al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah to agree on one thing to tell the visitors about him. Some said call him a soothsayer, but his words did not have a soothsayer's rhyme. Some said possessed, but he showed none of its signs. Some said a poet, but what he recited fitted no form of poetry. Al-Walīd admitted that his speech was sweet through and through, and that he did not blow on knots like a magician

   Even so, al-Walīd settled on magic as the most believable charge: a magic so strong that it separated a son from his father, a man from his brother, a wife from her husband and a man from his clan. The source notes that sixteen verses of Sūrat al-Muddaththir were revealed about him: he thought and plotted, then frowned and scowled, then turned away in pride and said: this is nothing but magic handed down, nothing but the word of a human being. Abū Lahab followed the Prophet ﷺ through the gatherings, shouting: do not listen to him, he is a liar. Even so, the message stirred the whole region, and some people accepted it

4. Mockery, distraction and proposed compromise

   Key lesson: Insults and attractive compromises did not change the call to worship Allah alone.

   What happened

   When the warnings did not stop him, Quraysh turned to mockery aimed at weakening the believers' spirit. They called him mad and possessed, a sorcerer and a liar; Sūrat al-Ḥijr, Sūrah Ṣād and Sūrat al-Qalam each record what they said, the last describing how they looked at him as if their eyes would make him slip. Believers without a strong clan were jeered at, winked at in public and called fools who had lost their way. Sūrat al-Muṭaffifīn describes exactly this, and promises that in the Hereafter the tables will be turned

   They also spread doubt about the Qur'an. They said it was tales of the ancients written down for him morning and evening, a lie he had made up with others helping him, and asked why a messenger would eat food and walk in the markets. Sūrat al-Furqān records these claims and answers them. A teacher for people, the source says, is one who shares their life

   An-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith tried another way. The source records him admitting to Quraysh that the Prophet ﷺ was none of the things they called him. Later he went to al-Ḥīrah, learned the stories of the kings of Persia, Rustam and Isfandiyār, and came back to follow the Prophet ﷺ from gathering to gathering, telling those stories straight after him and asking whether his were not better. Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما reports that he also bought singing girls to draw people away, and the source connects Sūrah Luqmān's verse about buying idle talk with him

   Finally they offered a compromise. Sūrat al-Qalam says they wished he would soften so they could soften too. Reports from Ibn Jarīr and aṭ-Ṭabarānī describe an offer to worship each other's gods in alternate years. Ibn Isḥāq names al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, Umayyah ibn Khalaf and al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil stopping him in the sanctuary with this proposal. Sūrat al-Kāfirūn answered at once: I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship; to you your religion, and to me mine

   So this year moved the message from a hidden circle into public argument. Quraysh had admitted on Ṣafā that he never lied; their resistance was to what he said about worship and accountability. Warnings, a council, mockery, doubt and a bargain all failed. The next part of the story is what they turned to when words were not enough: organised persecution

Year 5 · 9 BH · 614 CE

The persecution

On the dating: This page groups accounts from the early public preaching period. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm begins the organised campaign in the fourth year of the call; these incidents are not all securely dated to Year 5 (614 CE).

1. Harassment and attacks during prayer

   Key lesson: Clan protection limited danger but did not prevent abuse.

   What happened

   Quraysh gathered a committee of twenty-five leading men, with Abū Lahab as chairman. They agreed to attack the Prophet ﷺ and torture those who accepted his message. Their earlier methods had not stopped the call. They now used threats, public humiliation and physical violence. A believer with powerful relatives could be insulted or threatened through their trade. Someone without such protection could be beaten with little fear of anyone intervening

   Abū Ṭālib and his clan stood behind the Prophet ﷺ. That made attacking him more difficult, but did not make him safe from harm. Opponents continued to abuse him, including people from his own family and neighbourhood. The persecution was not confined to enslaved believers, and clan protection did not mean that the Prophet ﷺ was never physically attacked

   Abū Lahab was the Prophet's ﷺ uncle and lived close to him, yet led the campaign. The historical account describes him throwing stones, following the Prophet ﷺ during pilgrimage gatherings and fairs to deny his message, and turning visiting tribes against him. He forced his two sons to separate from the Prophet's ﷺ daughters, Ruqayyah رضي الله عنها and Umm Kulthūm رضي الله عنها. When a son of the Prophet ﷺ died, Abū Lahab mocked his loss and spoke of him as cut off from descendants

   His wife, Umm Jamīl bint Ḥarb, was Abū Sufyān's sister. She joined the campaign with insults and efforts to stir hostility. The historical account describes her tying bundles of thorns with twisted palm-leaf ropes and placing them in paths used by the Prophet ﷺ. It also relates that she came to the sanctuary carrying stones after hearing the condemnation associated with Sūrat al-Masad, which describes her as carrying firewood. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه was beside the Prophet ﷺ, but she told Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه that she intended to strike the Prophet ﷺ in the mouth with her pebbles, without seeing the Prophet ﷺ. She also recited a defiant line rejecting his call and religion. The account describes this as Allah protecting him from her sight. This episode is preserved as a historical report; we do not give it the same established strength as the authenticated accounts that follow

   Other neighbours also harmed the Prophet ﷺ. The account describes goat entrails being thrown on him while he prayed, and his complaint about their treatment. A separately authenticated incident took place at the Kaʿbah. While the Prophet ﷺ was prostrating, Abū Jahl urged the men with him to put the remains from a slaughtered camel on his back. ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ carried them over and placed them on him. The men laughed while he remained in prostration

   Fāṭimah رضي الله عنها came and removed the filth from her father's back. The Prophet ﷺ then prayed against the men responsible. Those named include Abū Jahl, ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah, Umayyah ibn Khalaf and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ. The source connects their later deaths with Badr. ʿUqbah was executed after being taken prisoner, rather than killed in the fighting

   Insults and slander were also weapons. Umayyah ibn Khalaf was among those who used them. The source connects this behaviour with Sūrat al-Humazah. It also relates that ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ once listened to the Prophet ﷺ, but his friend Ubayy ibn Khalaf reproached him and demanded that he spit in the Prophet's ﷺ face. The account says that he did so, and that Ubayy also blew powdered decayed bones towards the Prophet ﷺ. These are historical reports in the chapter, not independently authenticated hadith here

   Al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq ath-Thaqafī is another opponent named in the chapter. The author connects his conduct with the warnings against slander, obstructing good and aggression in Sūrat al-Qalam. This is an identification given in the source; the verses themselves do not name him. A discussion of someone's behaviour is not, by itself, proof that a verse was revealed about that person at that moment

   Abū Jahl tried to prevent the Prophet ﷺ from praying at the sanctuary. In one confrontation he threatened him and boasted of the strength of his supporters. The source places this beside the closing passage of Sūrat al-ʿAlaq. It also records another account of a confrontation in which the Prophet ﷺ seized him by the neck and warned him, alongside the warning in Sūrat al-Qiyāmah. The chapter presents these as versions of the same confrontation, not as two independently dated events

   In an authenticated account, Abū Jahl swore that he would tread on the Prophet's ﷺ neck while he prayed. But when he approached, he suddenly turned back and shielded himself with his hands. Asked why, he spoke of a trench of fire, terror and wings between himself and the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said that if he had come closer, the angels would have seized him. Abū Jahl's threats did not give him control over Allah's Messenger ﷺ

2. Economic pressure and freeing enslaved believers

   Key lesson: Use available resources to give oppressed people practical protection.

   What happened

   The chapter then turns to the believers. Abū Jahl insulted people of standing who became Muslim and threatened merchants with damage to their business. Against people with less protection, he used beatings and torture. Opposition also entered believers' own homes. In the historical account, the uncle of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه wrapped him in a palm-leaf mat and lit a fire beneath it. That particular detail is a report in the source, not an independently authenticated hadith here

   Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه had lived in comfort. When his mother learned that he had become Muslim, the account says she deprived him of food and drove him out of her home. The change affected his health and appearance. These accounts show that wealth and family connections did not always protect a believer: relatives themselves could become the people applying pressure

   Bilāl رضي الله عنه ibn Rabāḥ was enslaved by Umayyah ibn Khalaf. His persecution was not limited to the familiar scene under a stone. The chapter describes beatings, a rope around his neck, and boys dragging him through Makkah and over its hills. He was denied food and water, bound on burning sand, and weighed down with heavy stones. The purpose was to make him abandon Islam. He remained firm in belief in Allah's oneness

   Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه encountered his suffering, bought him from Umayyah and set him free. His help was practical: he used his wealth to take an oppressed believer out of the ownership of the man torturing him

3. A persecuted family's ordeal

   Key lesson: Words forced by torture must not be confused with freely held belief.

   What happened

   ʿAmmār رضي الله عنه ibn Yāsir رضي الله عنه, his father Yāsir رضي الله عنه and his mother Sumayyah رضي الله عنها accepted Islam early. They were taken onto the burning sand, beaten and tortured. The account also describes ʿAmmār رضي الله عنه being put on embers. The Prophet ﷺ encouraged the family to be patient and gave them hope of Paradise. This encouragement is reported in the Seerah account

   Yāsir رضي الله عنه died under the torture. Abū Jahl killed Sumayyah رضي الله عنها with a spear. The chapter calls her the first woman martyr in Islam. Her suffering and steadfastness belong at the centre of this account, not merely in a list of names. The persecutors also demanded that ʿAmmār رضي الله عنه abuse the Prophet ﷺ and renounce his faith in favour of al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā. Under coercion he said what they demanded, although his heart remained firm in faith

   He returned to the Prophet ﷺ, who comforted him. The source links his experience with verse 106 of Sūrat an-Naḥl. The association with his ordeal is a reported occasion of revelation; it does not establish a precise date for this lesson. Read the verse itself for Allah's guidance concerning a person forced to speak disbelief while remaining faithful in the heart. We should not confuse words extracted through torture with a willing rejection of belief

4. Other persecuted believers and promised relief

   Key lesson: Patient faith and practical liberation answered persecution faced by men and women.

   What happened

   Abū Fukayhah رضي الله عنه, also called Aflaḥ, was a freed slave of Banū ʿAbd ad-Dār. The chapter describes his feet being tied with a rope and his persecutors dragging him through the streets. His case is another named example of what people without strong protection endured

   Khabbāb رضي الله عنه ibn al-Aratt also suffered severe torture. The historical account describes his hair being pulled, his neck twisted, and his body forced onto burning coals with a heavy rock holding him down. It also mentions other believers whose names are not given: some were wrapped in raw camel skins, while others were made to wear armour and left on the burning sand. The chapter does not identify these other believers by name

   A separate authenticated hadith tells how Khabbāb رضي الله عنه approached the Prophet ﷺ while he rested in the shade of the Kaʿbah. He asked whether he would seek Allah's help and pray for them. The Prophet ﷺ reminded him that earlier believers had endured being sawn in two and having their flesh combed with iron without abandoning their faith. He said Allah would complete this matter until a rider could travel from Ṣanʿāʾ to Ḥaḍramawt fearing only Allah and a wolf attacking his sheep. He also told them that they were being hasty. This hadith supplements the chapter; it is not another version of the same torture scene

   Women were among those persecuted. The chapter names Zinnīrah رضي الله عنها, an-Nahdiyyah رضي الله عنها and her daughter رضي الله عنها, and Umm ʿUbays رضي الله عنها. It also notes that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه was among those who persecuted believers before he accepted Islam. His later conversion does not erase that earlier part of the account

   Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه bought and freed some of these enslaved women, just as he freed Bilāl رضي الله عنه and ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah رضي الله عنه. The chapter closes with this practical response to suffering. The people named in it are not interchangeable examples: men and women, people with wealth and people in slavery, endured different pressures, and some believers could use their resources to help others

   The written lesson also links to Al-Burūj and Al-Balad for related Qur'an study. These are thematic reading connections, not claims that those sūrahs were revealed in this exact year or in response to these particular incidents. Read Al-Burūj's account of persecuted believers and Al-Balad's passage about freeing an enslaved person alongside their sourced explanations. The chapter itself also refers to Al-Masad, Al-Humazah, Al-Qalam, Al-Qiyāmah, Al-ʿAlaq and An-Naḥl. Their texts and meanings remain available in the Qur'an reader

   Three points emerge from the accounts. First, the pressure took several forms: public insults, attacks during prayer, threats to trade, punishment at home and torture. Second, the Prophet ﷺ and the believers continued despite it, while Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه used his wealth to free people. Third, coercion must not be confused with what someone freely believes. The next source section describes the protected meeting place at the house of al-Arqam رضي الله عنه, followed by the migration to Abyssinia. We will follow that next part without pretending every incident has an exact date

Year 6 · 8 BH · 615 CE

Abyssinia, Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه

On the dating: ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm dates the first migration to Rajab in the fifth year of the call, and the conversions of Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه to Dhū al-Ḥijjah in the sixth. This page groups them as the Abyssinia year; the months are the source's own dating, not a unanimous scholarly verdict.

1. First migration to Abyssinia and a mistaken return

   Key lesson: Seek safety under just protection; do not mistake rumour for changed conditions.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ told the believers that Abyssinia was ruled by a king beside whom no one is wronged, and directed them there. The choice was not random. It was a Christian kingdom with a reputation for fairness, far enough from Makkah that Quraysh could not simply reach in and take people back

   In Rajab a small group left Makkah in secret, slipping out under cover of a dark night to the port of Shuʿbah. They were twelve men and four women. Among them were ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه and his wife Ruqayyah رضي الله عنها. The source records that they were the first people to migrate in Allah's cause after Ibrāhīm and Lūṭ عليهما السلام. Two ships carried them across, the officers let them land, and they settled where they could worship without fear

   Two passages shaped this decision. Sūrat al-Kahf had come down with its long accounts — the sleepers of the cave, Mūsā and Al-Khiḍr, and Dhū al-Qarnayn — and the source reads them as guidance for believers who must leave their homes to keep their faith. Sūrat az-Zumar carries the verse that the reward for the patient is without measure, and the statement that Allah's earth is spacious. Patience and permission to move were taught together

   In the same year, in Ramaḍān, the Prophet ﷺ recited Sūrat an-Najm in the sanctuary within hearing of Quraysh. When he reached the verse of prostration he prostrated, and the Muslims prostrated with him. The source then records that the polytheists also fell prostrate, and afterwards fabricated the claim that he had mentioned their own gods favourably. That claim was a fabrication of Quraysh, not a fact about the revelation

   Word reached Abyssinia that Quraysh had embraced Islam. It was misreported news. The emigrants came home and discovered the truth while still on the approach to Makkah, in Shawwāl. Some entered the city under the protection of a prominent clansman, others simply returned, and the pressure they met was harsher than before

2. Second migration and the king's hearing

   Key lesson: A fair hearing protected refugees when opponents sought their return.

   What happened

   Because conditions worsened, the Prophet ﷺ permitted a second migration. This group was far larger: the source gives eighty-three men and eighteen or nineteen women, and notes that the inclusion of ʿAmmār رضي الله عنه among them is doubtful in the accounts. How many people were willing to leave everything was itself a measure of how unbearable life had become

   Quraysh could not bear that the believers had found safety. They sent two envoys, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Rabīʿah, both still before Islam, carrying gifts for the king and his bishops. They won the courtiers over first, and then asked the king to hand the refugees back, saying these people had abandoned their fathers' religion and were preaching something new

   The king summoned the Muslims and asked what they believed. Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه spoke for them. He described life before Islam: worshipping idols, indecency, eating dead meat, speaking abominations, neglecting neighbours and relatives, and a society that knew no law but that of the strong. Then he described the man Allah had raised among them, someone whose birth, truthfulness, honesty and purity they already knew, and what his teaching demanded: worship of Allah alone, truthfulness, keeping trusts, mercy, the rights of neighbours and kin, protection of orphans, prayer, fasting and almsgiving

   The king asked them to recite something of what had been revealed. Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه recited the opening of Sūrah Maryam, with its accounts of Zakariyyā, Yaḥyā and Maryam. The king began to weep, and his bishops wept with him until the water wet his beard. He said these words and those brought to ʿĪsā seemed to shine from the same source, and he refused to hand them over

   The next day the envoys returned and said that Muhammad and his followers spoke badly about ʿĪsā. The Muslims were summoned again. Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه said only what the Prophet ﷺ had taught them: ʿĪsā is the servant of Allah, His Messenger, His spirit and His word breathed into the virgin Mary. The king answered: even so do we believe, and blessed is your master; and told his bishops they could fret and fume as they liked. He returned the gifts to the envoys and sent them away. The Muslims lived in Abyssinia unmolested until they returned to Madinah

3. Ḥamzah's رضي الله عنه conversion

   Key lesson: Support from a strong defender changed the believers' exposed position.

   What happened

   In Makkah the pressure moved to Abū Ṭālib. Quraysh came to him again and warned that he must stop his nephew or face them all. He told the Prophet ﷺ to spare himself and his uncle. For a moment it looked as if the last protection had fallen, and the Prophet ﷺ answered: if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course, I will not abandon it until Allah makes it victorious or I perish in it. He turned to leave, and Abū Ṭālib called him back: go and preach what you please, for I will never forsake you

   The turn came in Dhū al-Ḥijjah. The Prophet ﷺ was sitting on the hill of Ṣafā when Abū Jahl passed and insulted the religion he preached. He kept silent. Abū Jahl went on, took a stone and cracked his head until it bled, then went and sat with the Quraysh leaders. Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was coming back from a hunting trip, his bow hanging from his shoulder, when a slave-girl of ʿAbdullāh ibn Jadʿān who had seen the attack told him the whole story

   Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه went straight to the sanctuary, found Abū Jahl sitting with his company, and struck his head violently with the bow, saying that he too now followed what his nephew followed. Banū Makhzūm moved to defend Abū Jahl and Banū Hāshim moved to defend Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه, and a fight nearly broke out — but Abū Jahl sent them away, saying: let Abū Ummārah alone, for by Allah I did revile his nephew shamelessly. The source is honest about what moved Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه at first: it was the pride of a man who would not accept that his own nephew had been humiliated. Allah then purified his nature, and that pride became conviction. He proved a source of great strength to the believers

4. ʿUmar's رضي الله عنه conversion

   Key lesson: A former opponent strengthened the community; detailed conversion scenes retain their reported status.

   What happened

   Three days later came the conversion that changed the mood of the city. The Prophet ﷺ had prayed: O Allah, give strength to Islam through whichever of two men You love more — ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه or Abū Jahl. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه was a man of dauntless courage, feared and respected in Makkah, and until now a bitter opponent

   He had already been shaken. Passing the sanctuary he had heard the Prophet ﷺ reciting Sūrat al-Ḥāqqah and was struck by its composition; the passage he heard says that the Qur'an is not the word of a poet, little as you believe, nor the word of a soothsayer, little as you remember, but revelation from the Lord of all the worlds. Something had reached him, but the bigotry of his forefathers lay over it, and he went on in his hostility

   One day he left his house with his sword, meaning to destroy the Prophet ﷺ. Halfway he met Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbdullāh, who asked who the fury was aimed at, and then said: you have deceived yourself if you think Banū ʿAbd Manāf will let you walk the earth after killing him — look to your own family first, for your sister and her husband have abandoned your religion. That turned his footsteps aside

   As he drew near his sister's house he heard Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt رضي الله عنه reciting Sūrat Ṭā-Hā to Fāṭimah bint al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنها and her husband Saʿīd ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه. Khabbāb رضي الله عنه slipped into a hiding place and the sheet was hidden, but ʿUmar رضي الله عنه had heard the voice. He demanded what he had heard, swore that they had changed their religion, threw himself on his brother-in-law and beat him, and struck his sister's head. When the two of them said openly that they believed in Allah and His Messenger, and he saw blood on his sister's face, he stopped. Show me what you were reading, he said. She answered: you are unclean because of your idolatry and none but the pure may touch it, so go and wash

   He washed, took the sheet and read from the opening of Sūrat Ṭā-Hā until he reached the words: none has the right to be worshipped but Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance. He said: how excellent this is, and how graceful — guide me to Muhammad. Khabbāb رضي الله عنه came out of hiding and said: I hope Allah has answered the Prophet's ﷺ prayer for you

   ʿUmar رضي الله عنه went to the house at Ṣafā where the Prophet ﷺ was meeting the believers secretly. One of them looked through a chink in the door and drew back, saying it was ʿUmar رضي الله عنه with his sword. Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه said: let him in — as a friend he is welcome, as an enemy he will have his head cut off with his own sword. The Prophet ﷺ came out, took him by the garment and the scabbard and asked why he had come. He said: I have come to believe in Allah and His Messenger and what he has brought. The Prophet ﷺ and his Companions cried out: Allāhu Akbar

   The effect was immediate. The believers who had worshipped behind closed doors now assembled and performed their rites openly at the Kaʿbah, and dread seized Quraysh. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه asked the Prophet ﷺ why they concealed what was true, and went out with the believers in two groups, Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه leading one and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه the other, heading for the sanctuary in broad daylight until the polytheists saw them and their faces went pale. On that occasion the Prophet ﷺ gave him the name al-Fārūq, the one who distinguishes truth from falsehood

   The believers themselves measured the change. Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه said they had never been able to observe their rites inside the sanctuary until ʿUmar رضي الله عنه accepted Islam, and that they had been strengthened greatly since he did. Suḥayb ibn Sinān رضي الله عنه said that only after his conversion did they proclaim the call, assemble freely and circle the Sacred House, and even answer some of the harm done to them. When Quraysh marched towards ʿUmar's house intending to kill him, al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil of Banū Sahm, who had been their allies before Islam, went out to them and declared that no one would touch him, and the crowd withdrew

   Not everything here carries the same weight. The migration, the demand for extradition and the king's refusal are the backbone of the account. The wording of Jaʿfar's speech and the details of the scene at ʿUmar's sister's house — the beating, the hidden sheet, the washing — belong to the standard sīrah account rather than a single authenticated chain. The dates are the source's own: the first migration in Rajab of the fifth year, both conversions in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of the sixth. What is certain is the direction of the year: the community was no longer a hunted minority that had to pray indoors

   The passages read in this lesson are Sūrat al-Kahf, Sūrat az-Zumar, Sūrat an-Najm, Sūrah Maryam, Sūrat al-Ḥāqqah and Sūrat Ṭā-Hā. They appear here because the source attaches them to these events — recited before the Negus, heard at the sanctuary, or the verses that turned a man's heart. Their texts and meanings are in the Qur'an reader, and the connection between a verse and an occasion is a reported association rather than a claim about the exact year

   Three things carry forward. Safety was found by leaving, and this became the first migration in Islam. A king who owed the Muslims nothing protected them because the truth was spoken to him plainly. And in Makkah two of the strongest wills turned from enemies to defenders, after which the believers prayed openly at the Kaʿbah for the first time. The next part of the story is Quraysh's attempt to bargain, and then the boycott

Year 7 · 7 BH · 616 CE

Offers, threats, and the boycott begins

On the dating: ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm places the start of the boycott in Muḥarram of the seventh year of prophethood; some accounts place it slightly later.

1. ʿUtbah's offer and the answer

   Key lesson: Wealth and rank were not substitutes for the mission; versions of the meeting differ.

   What happened

   With two such men among the believers, Quraysh saw that torture was no longer working, so they tried temptation. The chiefs had decided that he must be driven by ambition, and the source says that, according to the reliable records of the sīrah, they tried to tempt him not once but again and again. One day, while they sat together in the enclosure of the Kaʿbah, ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, one of their leaders, offered to go to him with a bargain, and they agreed

   ʿUtbah told him that no man of Arabia had ever brought such trouble on his people: he had insulted their gods and religion, called their forefathers misguided and divided the community. If it is wealth you want, ʿUtbah said, we will make you richer than any of us. If you want honour, we will make you our chief. If you want kingship, we will make you king. And if a spirit has taken hold of you that you cannot shake off, we will bring physicians to cure you

   The Prophet ﷺ let him finish, then asked: have you said everything, Abū al-Walīd? When ʿUtbah said yes, he recited the opening of Sūrah Fuṣṣilat: Ḥā Mīm, a revelation from the Most Merciful, a Book whose verses are made clear, an Arabic Qur'an for people who know, bringing good news and warning, yet most of them turn away and do not listen. ʿUtbah sat listening with his hands resting behind his back

   When the recitation reached the verse of prostration, the Prophet ﷺ prostrated. Then he turned to ʿUtbah and said: you have heard my answer; now it is up to you. ʿUtbah went back to his companions, and they swore that he returned with a different face from the one he had left with

   He told them: I have heard words like nothing I have ever heard. They are not poetry, not magic and not soothsaying. Take my advice and leave the man alone. If the other Arabs finish him, you are spared the trouble; if he rules the Arabs, his power will be your power. They mocked him and said Muhammad had bewitched him too

   Another version of the same meeting says that when the recitation reached the warning of a blast like the blast that struck ʿĀd and Thamūd, ʿUtbah jumped up, put his hand over the Prophet's ﷺ mouth and begged him, by Allah and by their family ties, to stop, fearing that the punishment would fall on Quraysh. Either way, the offer of the world had been answered with the Qur'an

2. Renewed assaults and attempts on his ﷺ life

   Key lesson: Distinguish historical assault reports from the authenticated account of choking.

   What happened

   When the bargaining failed, the source says, Quraysh went back to violence, more brutally than before, and some began to think of killing him. ʿUtaybah, a son of Abū Lahab, came to the Prophet ﷺ and shouted that he rejected the verses of Sūrat an-Najm, meaning the whole Qur'an. He grabbed him, tore his shirt and spat towards his face, though the spit missed. The Prophet ﷺ prayed against him

   The source records how that prayer was answered. ʿUtaybah later travelled with a Quraysh caravan towards Syria and camped at az-Zarqāʾ. When a lion came near, he was terrified and remembered the prayer: this lion will eat me, as Muhammad prayed; he has killed me in Syria while he is in Makkah. The lion leapt into the group, seized him and crushed his head. This is a historical report in the source, not an authenticated hadith

   It is also reported that ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ once trod on the Prophet's ﷺ neck while he was in prostration, pressing until his eyes bulged

   Ibn Isḥāq records a plan by Abū Jahl. He told Quraysh that Muhammad would not stop insulting their religion and forefathers, and swore he would drop a heavy rock on his head while he prostrated, without fear of what Banū ʿAbd Manāf might do. They encouraged him. The next morning he lay in wait, and the chiefs sat in their meeting places waiting for news

   When the Prophet ﷺ prostrated, Abū Jahl came forward with the rock, but as he drew close he pulled back, pale and shaking, and the rock fell from his hands. He said that a huge male camel with terrifying teeth had blocked his way and nearly devoured him. Ibn Isḥāq reports that the Prophet ﷺ said it was Jibrīl عليه السلام, and that if Abū Jahl had come closer he would have seized him. It closely resembles the authenticated account of Abū Jahl turning back from a trench of fire, told in the persecution lesson

   On another occasion the chiefs taunted him three times as he passed. He kept silent twice, and the third time he said: O Quraysh, by the One in whose hand my soul is, slaughter is coming to you. They were stunned, and the harshest of them began speaking softly to him: go on your way, Abū al-Qāsim, you were never foolish

   The worst assault is narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. ʿUrwah ibn az-Zubayr asked ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنهما what the worst thing the polytheists did to the Prophet ﷺ was. He said that while the Prophet ﷺ was praying in al-Ḥijr beside the Kaʿbah, ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ wrapped his garment around his neck and choked him hard. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه came, seized ʿUqbah by the shoulder and pushed him away, saying: would you kill a man for saying my Lord is Allah?

3. The clans organise protection

   Key lesson: People who differed in belief could still unite to protect a threatened relative.

   What happened

   Abū Ṭālib was afraid for his nephew. He thought over everything that had happened: the offer to trade him for ʿUmārah ibn al-Walīd, Abū Jahl's rock, ʿUqbah's choking, and ʿUmar's رضي الله عنه earlier intention to kill him. He concluded that Quraysh were planning to kill him openly, and that even ʿUmar رضي الله عنه and Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه could not prevent it

   So he gathered Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib, the sons of ʿAbd Manāf, and urged them to protect his nephew. Every one of them agreed, believers and unbelievers alike, except his brother Abū Lahab, who sided with the idol worshippers. Family loyalty now stood between the Prophet ﷺ and his enemies, even among men who did not share his faith

4. The boycott: pact and withdrawal to the valley

   Key lesson: Collective economic punishment targeted the family when direct pressure failed.

   What happened

   Quraysh knew that if they killed him, blood would flow through the valleys of Makkah and the clans would destroy one another. So they chose a punishment that stopped short of murder. They met at a place called Wādī al-Muḥaṣṣab and made an alliance against Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib: no trade with them, no marriage, no social contact, not even conversation with the Prophet ﷺ and those who stood by him, until he was handed over to be killed. The pact bound both clans as a whole, so men who did not share his faith, Abū Ṭālib among them, would suffer hunger for protecting a kinsman

   The terms were written down by Baghīḍ ibn ʿĀmir ibn Hāshim and hung inside the Kaʿbah. The Prophet ﷺ prayed against Baghīḍ, and the source records that his hand was later paralysed. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī also preserves the Prophet's ﷺ own memory of this pact: years later at Minā he pointed to the place where Quraysh and Kinānah had sworn together against Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib that they would not marry or trade with them until the Prophet ﷺ was handed over

   Abū Ṭālib quietly took stock and withdrew to a narrow valley on the eastern edge of Makkah, known as the Shiʿb of Abū Ṭālib. Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib followed him, believers and unbelievers together. The source dates their confinement from the beginning of Muḥarram in the seventh year of the call, and says it lasted three years

   So this year turned through every method Quraysh had left: an offer of the world, answered with the Qur'an; attempts on his life, turned back; and finally a written pact to starve a whole family into giving him up. The next lessons follow life inside the valley

Year 8 · 6 BH · 617 CE

Life in the valley

On the dating: The source does not divide the three boycott years by date. This lesson describes the siege as a whole, with the source's own reflection on why the believers held firm.

1. Hunger, inflated prices and relief

   Key lesson: Supplying food challenged the cruelty of collective punishment.

   What happened

   The source calls it a suffocating siege. Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib, believers and unbelievers together, were shut into a narrow pass on the eastern edge of Makkah. Food almost stopped reaching them. Quraysh bought up whatever food came into Makkah so that none of it would reach the valley

   The hunger was severe. The source records that people in the valley ate the leaves of trees and the skins of animals, and that the crying of hungry children could be clearly heard outside. The Prophet ﷺ, Khadījah رضي الله عنها, Abū Ṭālib and the children of the clan all lived under these conditions

   Only during the sacred months, when fighting was traditionally forbidden, could they come out and buy food brought in from outside Makkah. Even then, the sellers raised the prices so high that they could barely afford it. Apart from that, food reached them only now and then, in small amounts smuggled in by Makkans who pitied them

   One of these was Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, Khadījah's رضي الله عنها nephew. He was carrying wheat to his aunt when Abū Jahl stopped him and tried to block him. Abū al-Bukhtarī stepped in, and only then did Ḥakīm get through. Not everyone in Quraysh accepted what was being done, and family ties kept pulling against the pact

2. Night protection and continued preaching

   Key lesson: Precautions against danger accompanied continued commitment to the call.

   What happened

   Abū Ṭālib never stopped fearing for his nephew's life. Each night, when people lay down to sleep, he told the Prophet ﷺ to lie in his own bed where everyone could see. Then, once the others were asleep, he made him move and had someone else take that place, so that anyone planning to kill him in the dark would strike the wrong bed

   Through all of it, the Prophet ﷺ did not change course. His resolve and courage did not weaken. He kept going to the Kaʿbah and praying in public, and whenever visitors came to Makkah for trade or pilgrimage in the sacred months and the seasons of gathering, he used the chance to call them to Islam. The boycott was meant to silence him; it did not

3. The blind visitor: an undated Makkan incident

   Key lesson: A sincere seeker deserves attention regardless of social standing.

   What happened

   A Makkan incident is often mentioned alongside these years, though the source does not date it: the blind man ʿAbdullāh ibn Umm Maktūm came to learn while the Prophet ﷺ was talking with leading men of Quraysh, and he frowned and turned away. Sūrah ʿAbasa corrected him, and he recited that correction to his community. It belongs to the Makkan period in general, not securely to the boycott

4. Belief, love, responsibility and endurance

   Key lesson: Faith, mutual love, responsibility and the Hereafter sustained endurance under hunger.

   What happened

   The source pauses here to ask a question any reader would ask: how did these people endure persecution, and then hunger, without giving up? It gives several reasons, all growing from one root

   The first is firm belief in Allah alone, with a real understanding of His attributes. A person who carries that belief in the heart sees hardship as small next to the sweetness of faith. The source quotes Sūrat ar-Raʿd: the foam passes away as scum, while what benefits people remains in the earth

   The second is a leader they loved with their whole hearts. Even his enemies admitted his honesty and trustworthiness. Abū Jahl used to say: we do not call you a liar, we reject what you have brought. The source records that he once explained his refusal plainly: his clan had competed with Banū ʿAbd Manāf for honour and generosity, and now they claimed a prophet; by Allah, he said, we will never believe in him. Sūrat al-Anʿām describes exactly this: it is not you they deny, but the verses of Allah

   That love went both ways. The source tells of Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه being beaten so badly by ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah that his body was covered in blood and he was near death. When his people carried him home, he swore he would not eat or drink until they told him how the Prophet ﷺ was. That is the spirit the source says carried them

   The third is a sense of responsibility. The early believers knew that what they carried was not optional. They understood that if they gave it up under pressure, the harm to people after them would be far greater than anything they themselves were suffering

   The fourth is certainty about the Hereafter. They knew they would stand before Allah on the Day of Resurrection and answer for every deed, small or large, and that their future would be either the Garden or the Fire. The source quotes Sūrat al-Muʾminūn: those who give what they give with hearts full of fear because they will return to their Lord. Next to that, the comforts and pains of this life weighed very little

   These reasons were not slogans. They were what allowed a hungry family in a narrow valley to keep praying, keep teaching and keep speaking to visitors, year after year, while the people around them waited for them to break

   So this year was carried by endurance rather than one dramatic event. The pact tried to make a whole family hand over one man through hunger. It failed because the people inside the valley held on, and because some people outside it would not let the hunger be complete

   The next lesson continues inside the valley, with the source's remaining reasons for their steadfastness and the sign of the moon

Year 9 · 5 BH · 618 CE

The siege continues — and the moon

On the dating: The sources place the splitting of the moon somewhere in the last years of the Makkan period; the exact year is not fixed.

1. Secret food relief during the siege

   Key lesson: Quiet assistance can relieve suffering when public conditions remain hostile.

   What happened

   The siege went on. The source names Hishām ibn ʿAmr as one of those who kept smuggling food to Banū Hāshim secretly at night. He did this quietly, at real risk, at a time when Abū Jahl was openly trying to stop anyone who helped. It was this same man who would later begin the effort to break the pact

2. The splitting of the moon

   Key lesson: A clear sign did not compel acceptance from people determined to dismiss it; its exact year is not fixed here.

   What happened

   During this later Makkan period, Quraysh saw a sign. ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه narrates in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that in the time of the Prophet ﷺ the moon split into two parts, one part above the mountain and the other beyond it, and the Prophet ﷺ said: bear witness

   Anas رضي الله عنه narrates, also in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, that the people of Makkah had asked him to show them a sign, and he showed them the moon split in two, so that they saw the mountain of Ḥirāʾ between the two halves

   Sūrat al-Qamar opens with this event: the Hour has drawn near and the moon has split. And if they see a sign, they turn away and say: continuous magic. Quraysh did not deny what they had seen. They gave it a name that let them ignore it. The hadith establishes that the event happened; it does not fix it to this exact year

   The source returns to the same verse at the end of the boycott, when another sign, the eaten document, was also met with refusal. The pattern is the lesson: a person who has already decided against the truth can rename even what he sees with his own eyes

   Sūrat al-Qamar then tells the stories of Nūḥ عليه السلام, ʿĀd, Thamūd, the people of Lūṭ عليه السلام and Pharaoh, one after another, and after each one it repeats: and We have made the Qur'an easy to remember, so is there anyone who will take heed? The refrain comes four times. It ends with a promise the source quotes among its glad tidings: their gathering will be defeated, and they will turn their backs

3. Revelation prepares believers for hardship

   Key lesson: Teaching about earlier trials helped believers understand their own suffering.

   What happened

   This was part of what the source calls the fifth reason for the believers' steadfastness: the Qur'an itself. Verses and sūrahs kept coming down through these dark years, giving proofs for the truth of Islam and laying the foundation for the community that would be built later

   The Qur'an also prepared them for hardship. The source quotes Sūrat al-Baqarah: do you think you will enter the Garden without being tested as those before you were, struck by poverty and illness and shaken until the Messenger and the believers with him said, when will Allah's help come? Truly, Allah's help is near. And the opening of Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt: do people think they will be left alone because they say we believe, and not be tested?

4. Promises of success and continued spiritual care

   Key lesson: Hope in Allah's promise sustained patience; not every passage cited was revealed during the siege.

   What happened

   The sixth reason was good news of success. The believers understood that entering Islam did not mean simply digging their own graves. When their lives were most restricted, verses came telling the stories of earlier prophets and their peoples, hinting at the end awaiting the disbelievers of Makkah and promising victory to the believers

   The source gathers some of these verses. Sūrat aṣ-Ṣāffāt: Our word has already gone out to Our servants, the messengers, that they would be helped, and that Our forces would be the victors. Sūrah Ṣād: they will be a defeated army like the confederates of old. Sūrat an-Naḥl, for those who had migrated: Allah will give them a good home in this world, and the reward of the Hereafter is greater

   Sūrah Yūsuf was also read in this light: in Yūsuf عليه السلام and his brothers there are signs for those who ask. The source explains that the Makkans would meet the same end as Yūsuf's brothers, failure and surrender. And Sūrah Ibrāhīm tells how earlier disbelievers threatened to drive their messengers out, and how Allah promised to destroy the wrongdoers and settle the believers in the land after them

   Sūrat ar-Rūm is another example the source gives. Persia had defeated Rome. The Makkan polytheists sided with Persia, and the Muslims hoped for Rome, since the Romans believed in Allah, His messengers and the Hereafter. The polytheists hoped the young Muslim community would collapse just as Rome had. The sūrah promised that Rome would win within a few years, and that on that day the believers would rejoice. The source notes that this happened when Heraclius pushed into Persia, around the time Quraysh were defeated at Badr. The source gives this as an example rather than dating its revelation to this year

   The Prophet ﷺ himself gave such good news. At the fair of ʿUkāẓ and other gatherings, the source says, he told people openly that if they held to the oneness of Allah they would succeed, rule Arabia and overcome Persia. Even the disbelievers knew it, and mocked the believers when they passed: here are the kings of the earth who will defeat Chosroes and Caesar. The believers treated the persecution as summer clouds that would soon clear

   The source also returns here to Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt رضي الله عنه asking the Prophet ﷺ to pray for help against their suffering. His face reddened, and he told him that a believer must not be hasty, but must bear what comes and fear no one except Allah until the religion is established, which will certainly happen

   Above all, the source says, the Prophet ﷺ kept feeding his companions' souls with faith and Qur'anic wisdom. He taught them patience, forgiveness and self-control, to look down on selfish desires, to long for the Garden, to hold themselves to account and to control their anger. People shaped this way could not be starved into surrender

   So this year gave two lessons side by side. A clear sign was seen and renamed as magic by people who had already made up their minds. And a hungry, besieged community held firm because of what they believed, what they were promised, and who taught them. The next lesson tells how the pact was finally broken

Year 10 · 4 BH · 619 CE

The boycott is broken

1. Five men challenge the boycott

   Key lesson: People within an unjust society can cooperate to end a specific injustice.

   What happened

   The boycott did not end because Quraysh changed their minds about Islam. It ended because the siege divided Makkah itself. Many of the families outside the valley were tied by blood to the people inside it, and as the hunger went on, that tie became harder and harder to ignore

   The first to act was Hishām ibn ʿAmr, the man who had been secretly taking food into the valley at night. He went to Zuhayr ibn Abī Umayyah of Banū Makhzūm and reproached him: how could he accept such treatment of his own uncles, Zuhayr's mother being from Banū Hāshim? Zuhayr said he could do nothing alone, but agreed to work with Hishām if others joined them

   Moved by their family ties, five men came together to cancel the pact: Hishām ibn ʿAmr, Zuhayr ibn Abī Umayyah, al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, Abū al-Bukhtarī and Zamʿah ibn al-Aswad. None of them were Muslims at that point. They agreed to begin their campaign at the Sacred House itself, in public, where no one could pretend not to hear

   Zuhayr circled the Kaʿbah seven times, then turned to the people gathered there with his companions beside him. Are we to eat and dress in comfort, he asked, while Banū Hāshim are dying of hunger, unable to buy or sell? They swore they would not rest until that unjust document was torn up

   Abū Jahl was standing nearby and answered that it would never be torn. Zamʿah called him a liar and said that they had never agreed to it when it was written. Abū al-Bukhtarī backed Zamʿah, and al-Muṭʿim and Hishām confirmed what both had said. Seeing the argument turn against him, Abū Jahl said that this had obviously been arranged somewhere beforehand

2. The boycott ends: the document and release

   Key lesson: Ending the boycott did not mean opposition to the message had ended; the document account is a historical report.

   What happened

   Abū Ṭālib had been sitting in a corner of the sanctuary. He came forward with news from his nephew. The Prophet ﷺ had told him that Allah had sent termites to eat the document, all except the words that carried the name of Allah. Abū Ṭālib made them an offer: if this proved false, he would stop standing between them and his nephew; if it proved true, they must cancel the boycott. They agreed that this was fair

   Al-Muṭʿim went to the document. He found it eaten away, with nothing left except the words in the name of Allah. So the boycott was cancelled, and the Prophet ﷺ and the people of the valley were free to come out and go home. The source treats this sign as a historical report in the sīrah; it is not narrated in the authenticated hadith collections

   The source notes how Quraysh responded to what they had seen. Here was a clear sign of his prophethood, told in advance and confirmed by one of their own, and they turned away from it. It quotes the verse of Sūrat al-Qamar: and if they see a sign, they turn away and say, continuous magic

   The Prophet ﷺ left the valley and went back to preaching as before. Quraysh had cancelled the boycott, but they kept up their cruelty to the Muslims. Abū Ṭālib was now over eighty. After years of strain, and the long hardship of the valley, his strength was failing, and soon after leaving it he fell seriously ill

3. A final delegation seeks religious compromise

   Key lesson: Relief from pressure did not justify surrendering the call to worship Allah alone.

   What happened

   Quraysh saw what this meant. Ibn Isḥāq relates that they talked together about everything that had happened, ʿUmar's رضي الله عنه and Ḥamzah's رضي الله عنه conversions and the way the message had spread through every clan, and decided to go to Abū Ṭālib before he died and make his nephew agree to a settlement. They were afraid that if they attacked him after his uncle's death, the other Arabs would say they had waited for the old man to die

   The delegation numbered twenty-five men, among them ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, Abū Jahl, Umayyah ibn Khalaf and Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb. They spoke respectfully to Abū Ṭālib about his standing among them, then made their offer: they would leave his nephew's religion alone if he left theirs alone

   Abū Ṭālib called the Prophet ﷺ and told him: these are the leading men of your people; they want an agreement in which each side gives something. The Prophet ﷺ answered them: I will show you something that will give you leadership over the Arabs and over those who are not Arabs. In another version he said to his uncle: why not call them to something better? In Ibn Isḥāq's wording, he said: it is a single word, and it will give you mastery over the Arabs and the non-Arabs

   They were astonished. Abū Jahl said: what is this word? By your father, we will give it to you, and ten more like it. He said: that you bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah, and give up everything you worship besides Him. They clapped their hands in mockery and said: would you make all the gods into one God? That is a strange thing indeed

   As they left they said to one another: this man will not give anything up. Let us hold on to the religion of our forefathers, and let Allah judge between us and him. The source records that the opening verses of Sūrah Ṣād were revealed about this: the disbelievers say, this is a sorcerer and a liar; has he made the gods into one God? This is truly a strange thing. And their leaders went off saying: keep going, and stay loyal to your gods

4. Reported questions and the limits of bargaining

   Key lesson: Keep later-Makkan question reports qualified rather than treating their placement as certain.

   What happened

   Some historical reports place in this later Makkan period the questions that Quraysh brought from scholars in Yathrib, about the young men of the cave, Dhū al-Qarnayn and the soul, and tell that the Prophet ﷺ promised an answer without saying if Allah wills, so the answer was delayed. These reports come through Ibn Isḥāq. As the Abyssinia lesson showed, ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm places the revelation of Sūrat al-Kahf earlier, so this lesson does not date the episode. Its teaching stands either way: what one will do tomorrow is always left to Allah's will

   The pattern of the whole Makkan struggle shows clearly here. Quraysh were willing to give him wealth, rank or a share of power, and willing to leave his religion alone if he left theirs alone. What they would not accept was the one thing he asked of them: that worship belong to Allah alone. Everything else was negotiable to them; that was not negotiable to him

   This year opened with relief and closed with a warning. The pact of starvation was broken by people inside Quraysh who could not bear what was being done to their own relatives. And the last bargain through Abū Ṭālib failed on a single word. The next lesson tells of the two deaths that came soon after, and the journey to Ṭāʾif

Year 11 · 3 BH · 620 CE

ʿĀm al-Ḥuzn — the year of sorrow

1. The death of Abū Ṭālib

   Key lesson: Protection and affection did not give control over another person's acceptance of faith.

   What happened

   Abū Ṭālib fell ill about six months after leaving the valley. Al-Musayyab narrates in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that when he was dying, the Prophet ﷺ came in and found Abū Jahl and ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah with him. He said: my uncle, say there is no god but Allah, a word I can use to plead for you before Allah

   Abū Jahl and ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah said: Abū Ṭālib, will you turn away from the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib? The Prophet ﷺ kept asking, and they kept repeating their words, until Abū Ṭālib's last words were that he stayed on the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, and he refused to say there is no god but Allah

   The Prophet ﷺ said: by Allah, I will keep asking forgiveness for you unless I am forbidden. Then the verse of Sūrat at-Tawbah was revealed: it is not for the Prophet and the believers to ask forgiveness for those who associate others with Allah, even if they are close relatives, once it is clear they are people of the Fire. And it was said to him, in Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ: you cannot guide whomever you love

   The source does not hide how much Abū Ṭālib had given. For forty years he had been the support of his nephew's childhood, the guardian of his youth and, later, his defence. He exposed himself and his family to great hardship for him while never accepting his message. The Prophet ﷺ did everything he could to bring his elderly uncle to faith, but Abū Ṭālib held to the religion of his forefathers

   Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه once said to the Prophet ﷺ: you have not been of any help to your uncle, and by Allah he used to protect you and be angry for your sake. The Prophet ﷺ said: he is in a shallow part of the Fire, and were it not for me he would be in its lowest depths. Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī رضي الله عنه heard him say that he hoped his intercession would benefit his uncle, so that he would be placed in a shallow fire reaching only his heels. Both reports are in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī

2. The loss of Khadījah رضي الله عنها and changing protection

   Key lesson: Remember faithful support while recognising how bereavement changed safety and household life.

   What happened

   About two months later, by the source's account, came a greater loss. Khadījah رضي الله عنها, the Mother of the Believers, died in Ramaḍān of the tenth year. The source gives her age as sixty-five and his ﷺ as fifty. For twenty-five years she had shared his life and its trials, and above all the first ten years of his prophethood

   He grieved deeply for her. The source quotes him: she believed in me when no one else did; she accepted Islam when people rejected me; she supported and comforted me with herself and her wealth when no one else would help me; and through her Allah gave me children

   Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه narrates in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that Jibrīl عليه السلام came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: Khadījah رضي الله عنها is coming to you with a vessel of food or drink. When she reaches you, give her greetings of peace from her Lord and from me, and give her the good news of a house of hollowed pearl in Paradise, where there will be no noise and no tiredness

   These two losses came close together and deepened his grief. With Abū Ṭālib gone, Quraysh no longer held back. One of them met him in the street and threw dust on his head. When he reached home, one of his daughters washed the dust away, weeping. He told her: do not cry, my daughter; Allah will protect your father

   His companions suffered too. The pressure became so heavy that Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه left Makkah meaning to go to Abyssinia, until Ibn ad-Dughunnah met him at Bark al-Ghimād, persuaded him to come back and took him under his protection. Because of all these sorrows coming one after another, the source says, that year came to be called the year of grief

   Khadījah's رضي الله عنها death left him alone. Sawdah bint Zamʿah رضي الله عنها was suggested to him, and he married her in Shawwāl of that year. She was an early believer, and it was through her that her husband had accepted Islam. She had gone with him in the second migration to Abyssinia, and he died on their way back, leaving her destitute. She was the first woman he married after Khadījah رضي الله عنها. In the same month, the source records, his marriage contract with ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها was made, though she joined his household only in Madinah

3. The journey to Ṭāʾif and rejection

   Key lesson: Rejection and injury were met by turning to Allah; the reported prayer retains its source qualification.

   What happened

   With Makkah closed to him, he went looking for support elsewhere. In Shawwāl he walked to Ṭāʾif, about sixty kilometres away, with Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه, the man he had freed. He went first to three brothers who led the tribe of Thaqīf, ʿAbd Yālīl, Masʿūd and Ḥabīb, sons of ʿAmr ibn ʿUmayr, and called them to Allah

   They mocked him. One said he would tear the covering of the Kaʿbah if Allah had really sent him. Another asked whether Allah could find no one else to send. The third said he would not speak to him at all: if you are truly a messenger, you are too great to answer, and if you are lying about Allah, I should not speak to you. Seeing there was no hope, he stood up and asked them only to keep the meeting to themselves

   He stayed in Ṭāʾif for ten days, speaking to one person after another, without result. Then they set the young men and slaves of the town on him. They lined the streets, shouting and throwing stones, until blood ran down both his legs. Zayd رضي الله عنه tried to shield him with his own body and was wounded in the head. They chased him out of the town until he took shelter, exhausted, in an orchard by a vineyard wall

   There he turned to his Lord. The source preserves a prayer of complaint from that moment: O Allah, to You I complain of my weakness, my lack of means and how little people think of me. You are the Most Merciful of those who show mercy, the Lord of the weak, and You are my Lord. If You are not angry with me, I do not care what happens. I seek refuge in the light of Your face. This well-known prayer comes through the historical sīrah account rather than an authenticated chain

   The orchard belonged to ʿUtbah and Shaybah, the sons of Rabīʿah. Moved by kinship and pity, they sent their Christian servant ʿAddās to him with a plate of grapes. Before eating, the Prophet ﷺ said Bismillah. ʿAddās said that people in that land did not say such words. The Prophet ﷺ asked where he was from, and he said he was a Christian from Nineveh. The town of the righteous man Yūnus ibn Mattā, said the Prophet ﷺ. Yūnus عليه السلام is my brother; he was a prophet and I am a prophet. ʿAddās bent and kissed his hands. His masters scolded him, and he told them that no one on earth was better than this man

4. Mercy, listeners at Nakhlah and protected return

   Key lesson: Hope for future faith accompanied mercy and practical arrangements for safe return.

   What happened

   On the way back to Makkah, heartbroken, he reached Qarn al-Manāzil. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrates in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that she asked him whether he had ever had a day harder than Uḥud. He said the worst he suffered was the day he offered himself to Ibn ʿAbd Yālīl and was turned away. He walked on in grief, hardly aware of his surroundings, until he found himself at Qarn ath-Thaʿālib and looked up to see a cloud shading him, with Jibrīl عليه السلام in it

   Jibrīl عليه السلام said that Allah had heard what his people said to him, and had sent the angel of the mountains to do whatever he commanded. The angel greeted him and said: if you wish, I will bring the two mountains of Makkah, al-Akhshabayn, together upon them. The Prophet ﷺ answered: no, I hope that Allah will bring from their descendants people who worship Allah alone, associating nothing with Him

   He stayed some days at Wādī Nakhlah. There, while he recited the Qur'an, a group of jinn listened. Sūrat al-Aḥqāf describes it: when they were present they said, listen quietly, and when it was over they went back to their people as warners, saying they had heard a Book sent down after Mūsā عليه السلام that guides to the truth. Sūrat al-Jinn tells the same: we have heard a wonderful recitation, it guides to what is right, so we have believed in it. The source notes that he did not know they were there until these verses told him

   Comforted, he turned back towards Makkah with fresh resolve. Zayd رضي الله عنه asked him how he could go back to people who had driven him out. He said: Zayd, Allah will make a way out of this, and Allah will support His religion and His Prophet

   Near Makkah he waited at Ḥirāʾ and sent a man of Khuzāʿah to ask al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq for protection. Al-Akhnas said he was an ally of Quraysh and could not grant it. Suhayl ibn ʿAmr also refused. Then al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī agreed. He had his sons and his people arm themselves, and told the Prophet ﷺ to come in. The Prophet ﷺ went straight to the sanctuary, prayed two units of prayer and went home, guarded by al-Muṭʿim's armed men

   It is reported that Abū Jahl asked al-Muṭʿim whether he was protecting him or following him. Only protecting him, al-Muṭʿim said, and Abū Jahl answered that in that case they would respect his protection. The Prophet ﷺ never forgot that kindness. After Badr he said, in a report in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, that if al-Muṭʿim had been alive and spoken to him about the prisoners, he would have released them all for his sake

   So the year of grief took from him the uncle who protected him and the wife who comforted him, and then Ṭāʾif drove him out with stones. His answer was a prayer to his Lord, mercy for the people who hurt him, and gratitude to the man who sheltered him. The next lesson follows him back to the pilgrimage seasons, where the help he was looking for would come from an unexpected direction

Year 12 · 2 BH · 621 CE

The Night Journey, and Yathrib begins to listen

On the dating: The sources differ over the year of al-Isrāʾ; ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm places it about a year before the Hijrah.

1. Approaching tribes and individual seekers

   Key lesson: Repeated tribal refusals did not prevent individuals from listening and accepting.

   What happened

   In Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the tenth year the Prophet ﷺ was back in Makkah, and the pilgrimage season was near. He went straight back to calling the tribes and individuals who came, as he had done since the fourth year. The source cites az-Zuhrī's list of the tribes he approached, among them Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿah, Muḥārib, Fazārah, Ghassān, Murrah, Ḥanīfah, Sulaym, ʿAbs, Kindah, Kalb and the people of Ḥaḍramawt. This was not one season's work but year after year, until the last season before the Hijrah, and none of them accepted

   He visited a branch of Banū Kalb called Banū ʿAbdullāh, and urged them to accept Islam because Allah had given their ancestor such a beautiful name; they refused. He went to Banū Ḥanīfah in their camp and was treated more harshly than by anyone

   Among Banū ʿĀmir ibn Ṣaʿṣaʿah, a man called Bayḥarah ibn Firās asked: if we support you and Allah gives you victory, will the leadership be ours after you? The Prophet ﷺ answered: the matter belongs to Allah; He places it wherever He wills. The man said: are we to expose ourselves to the Arabs for you, and then have the leadership go to others? We have no need of your offer. When they went home, an old man of the tribe heard the story and was dismayed: he is a true descendant of Ismāʿīl, and it is the truth, he said. How could you misjudge him?

   The Prophet ﷺ was not discouraged. Besides the tribes, he spoke to individuals, and some of them answered. Suwayd ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit, a thoughtful poet from Yathrib, met him during a pilgrimage and shared some wise sayings of Luqmān. The Prophet ﷺ approved of them, but said he had something better, and recited the Qur'an. Suwayd accepted Islam, and was later killed in the battle of Buʿāth

   Iyās ibn Muʿādh, a young man of al-Aws, came with a delegation seeking an alliance with Quraysh against al-Khazraj. The Prophet ﷺ told them he had something better than what they came for, and recited the Qur'an. Iyās said this was better than their errand, but an older man of the delegation silenced him by throwing dust in his face. The source records that he died soon after returning home, praising and glorifying Allah

   Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه, of the tribe of Ghifār, heard about the new message and sent his brother to Makkah to find out more. The brother came back saying the man commanded good and forbade evil. That was not enough for Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه, and he came himself. In the hostile atmosphere it took him time to find the Prophet ﷺ, and when he did, he accepted Islam. Though told to keep it quiet, he went straight to the sanctuary and declared his faith aloud. He was beaten almost to death until al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه stopped them, warning that his tribe controlled the trade route to Syria. The next morning it happened again, and al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه rescued him again

   Aṭ-Ṭufayl ibn ʿAmr ad-Dawsī رضي الله عنه, a poet and chief of Daws near Yemen, came to Makkah in the eleventh year. Quraysh warned him so strongly against the Prophet ﷺ that he stuffed his ears with cotton. But when he saw the Prophet ﷺ praying at the Kaʿbah, he heard some of his words anyway, followed him home, heard the Qur'an and accepted Islam. He went back and called his people. His father and wife accepted at once, and in time he brought seventy or eighty families of Daws to Madinah

   Ḍimād al-Azdī came from Yemen as a man who treated madness with incantations. Hearing people in Makkah say the Prophet ﷺ was mad, he offered to treat him. The Prophet ﷺ began: praise belongs to Allah; we praise Him and ask His help. Whomever Allah guides, no one can lead astray, and whomever He leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. Ḍimād asked him to repeat it, three times, and said he had heard soothsayers, sorcerers and poets, but never words like these. He accepted Islam there and then. The account is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim

2. Six men from Yathrib respond

   Key lesson: A small receptive group could carry hope of reconciliation back to a divided town.

   What happened

   In the pilgrimage season of the eleventh year, the turning point came. The Prophet ﷺ used to meet the tribes at night, so Quraysh could not get in the way. With Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه and ʿAlī رضي الله عنه he passed the pass of ʿAqabah at Minā and heard men talking. They were six men from Yathrib: Asʿad ibn Zurārah, ʿAwf ibn al-Ḥārith, Rāfiʿ ibn Mālik, Quṭbah ibn ʿĀmir, ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir and Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Riʾāb

   The people of Yathrib had long heard their Jewish neighbours say that a prophet was about to appear, whom they would follow and with whom they would defeat their enemies. The Prophet ﷺ asked the six who they were, then sat with them, explained Islam and recited the Qur'an. They said to one another: this is the prophet the Jews keep warning us about; let us be the first to follow him

   They accepted Islam and said: we have left our people more divided by hatred than any other, and perhaps Allah will unite them through you. We will go back and call them to your religion, and if Allah unites them on it, no man will be dearer to us than you. They kept their word. They spread the message so effectively that soon there was hardly a house in Yathrib where he was not talked about

3. The Night Journey and Ascension

   Key lesson: The journey established the five daily prayers; its calendar placement remains disputed.

   What happened

   In this last Makkan period came the Night Journey and the Ascension. Following Ibn al-Qayyim's summary, the source describes how the Prophet ﷺ was carried in body from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām to al-Masjid al-Aqṣā on al-Burāq, with Jibrīl عليه السلام. There he tied al-Burāq at the gate and led the prophets in prayer. Then he was taken up through the heavens

   At the gate of each heaven Jibrīl عليه السلام asked for it to be opened. In the first heaven he met Ādam عليه السلام; in the second, Yaḥyā and ʿĪsā عليهما السلام; in the third, Yūsuf عليه السلام; in the fourth, Idrīs عليه السلام; in the fifth, Hārūn عليه السلام; in the sixth, Mūsā عليه السلام; and in the seventh, Ibrāhīm عليه السلام. Each returned his greeting and affirmed his prophethood. As he left, Mūsā عليه السلام wept, saying that a man sent after him would bring more of his community into Paradise than he had

   He was taken to Sidrat al-Muntahā, the lote tree of the furthest limit, and shown al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr, which seventy thousand angels enter every day, never to return. He was brought near to his Lord, and Allah revealed to His servant what He revealed, and made fifty prayers a day obligatory

   On the way back, Mūsā عليه السلام asked what he had been given, and said: your community cannot manage fifty; go back and ask your Lord to lighten it. He returned again and again, and each time the number was reduced, until it was five. Then a voice declared that the obligation was settled, and the burden of His servants lightened: five in practice, with the reward of fifty

   The source mentions other events of that night. His chest was opened and washed with Zamzam water. He was offered two vessels, one of milk and one of wine, and chose the milk, and was told: you have been guided to the fiṭrah, the natural way; had you taken the wine, your community would have gone astray. He saw two visible rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates, and two hidden ones. He saw Mālik, the keeper of Hell, and among its people those who devoured orphans' wealth and those who lived on usury

   In the morning he told the people, and Quraysh mocked and questioned him. They asked him to describe Jerusalem, which he had never visited, and he described it exactly. He told them about their caravans on the road, and their animals that had gone missing. It only made them more stubborn

   For the believers it was no harder to accept than any other act of Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth. The disbelievers went to Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه, expecting him to doubt, and he said: if he said it, then it is true. The source says that on this occasion he earned the name aṣ-Ṣiddīq, the one who confirms the truth. Sūrat al-Isrāʾ gives the reason for the journey in its first verse: to show him some of Our signs. The journey itself is established by the Qur'an and authenticated hadith; some details of the story around it come through the historical sīrah account

4. The first ʿAqabah pledge and teaching in Yathrib

   Key lesson: A moral pledge followed by calm teaching helped a new community grow.

   What happened

   The next pilgrimage season, in the twelfth year, twelve men came from Yathrib. Five were from the original six, and seven were new. They met him at ʿAqabah and made the pledge that became known as the first pledge of ʿAqabah. ʿUbādah ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit رضي الله عنه, one of the twelve, narrates its terms in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: not to associate anything with Allah, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to kill their children, not to bring forward an invented slander, and not to disobey him in anything right

   Whoever keeps this, he told them, his reward is with Allah. Whoever falls into any of it and is punished for it in this world, that is an expiation for him. And whoever falls into any of it and Allah conceals it, his matter is with Allah: He may forgive him or punish him

   With them he sent Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه, the first teacher of Islam sent outside Makkah, to teach them the religion and the Qur'an and to call others. He stayed with Asʿad ibn Zurārah. One day the two of them were sitting by a well among new Muslims when Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr رضي الله عنه, a chief of Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal, came at them with his spear, cursing, and ordered them to stop misleading the weak

   Muṣʿab رضي الله عنه answered calmly: sit and listen. If you like what you hear, accept it; if you dislike it, we will stop. That is fair, said Usayd رضي الله عنه. He planted his spear in the ground and listened. Before he spoke, his face showed that the Qur'an had reached him. He asked what a person must do to enter Islam, washed, bore witness to the truth and prayed two units of prayer. Then he said there was a man whose people would all follow if he accepted, and went to fetch Saʿd ibn Muʿādh رضي الله عنه

   The same scene happened again, and Saʿd ibn Muʿādh رضي الله عنه accepted Islam. He went straight to his people and told them he would not speak to any of them until they believed in Allah and His Messenger. By evening every man and woman of Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal had accepted Islam except one, al-Uṣayrim, who held back until the day of Uḥud, accepted Islam then and was killed before he had prayed a single prayer. The Prophet ﷺ said: he did little, and was rewarded greatly

   Muṣʿab رضي الله عنه stayed and worked until there was not a house of the Anṣār without Muslim men and women in it, except one clan held back by the poet Qays ibn al-Aslat. Before the pilgrimage season of the thirteenth year he returned to Makkah with good news: Yathrib was ready, and could give the message the strength and protection that Makkah had refused

   So these years turned the story. Tribe after tribe refused, but individuals answered, and six men from Yathrib became twelve and then a city. Between them, the Night Journey showed the Prophet ﷺ some of the greatest signs of his Lord, and gave the believers the five daily prayers. The next lesson tells of the second pledge of ʿAqabah and the Hijrah

Year 13 · 1 BH · 622 CE

The Hijrah

1. The second ʿAqabah pledge

   Key lesson: A serious pledge required understanding its costs, responsibilities and limits.

   What happened

   In the pilgrimage season of the thirteenth year, more than seventy believers from Yathrib came to Makkah among their people who still worshipped idols. They kept asking one another how long they would leave the Prophet ﷺ to be driven around the hills of Makkah and live in fear. They made secret contact with him, and agreed to meet him by night in the middle of the days of Tashrīq, at ʿAqabah, the place of the previous year's meeting

   Kaʿb ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه, who was there, told the story. With them came one of their leaders, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām رضي الله عنه, who still worshipped idols. They told him of their plan and urged him to accept Islam, and he did, and was present at ʿAqabah that night

   They slept in their camp, and after a third of the night had passed they slipped away one by one to the pass. They were seventy-three men and two women: Nusaybah bint Kaʿb رضي الله عنها and Asmāʾ bint ʿAmr رضي الله عنها. The Prophet ﷺ came with his uncle al-ʿAbbās, who had not yet accepted Islam but wanted to make sure his nephew would be safe

   Al-ʿAbbās spoke first. You know the position Muhammad has among us, he said. We have protected him from our people as far as we could, and he is honoured among them, but he insists on going to you. If you believe you can keep what you promise and defend him from his enemies, then take on this responsibility. But if you will hand him over once he is with you, leave him now, for he is respected and protected where he is. Kaʿb رضي الله عنه replied: we have heard what you said. Now speak, Messenger of Allah, and take whatever pledge you wish for your Lord and for yourself

   The Prophet ﷺ recited the Qur'an, called them to Allah and encouraged them in Islam. Jābir رضي الله عنه narrates, in a report in Musnad Aḥmad, that they asked what they were pledging, and he told them: to listen and obey in energy and in weariness, to spend in hardship and in ease, to command good and forbid evil, to stand for Allah without fearing anyone's blame, and to protect him if he came to them as they protected themselves, their wives and their children. And for that, Paradise

   Al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr رضي الله عنه took his hand and said: yes, by the One who sent you with the truth, we will protect you as we protect our own families. Take our pledge, Messenger of Allah; by Allah, we are men of war, and it has come down to us from our fathers

   Abū al-Haytham ibn at-Tayyihān رضي الله عنه interrupted. Messenger of Allah, he said, we have ties with the Jews that we will be cutting. If we do this, and Allah then gives you victory, will you go back to your own people and leave us? The Prophet ﷺ said: no; your blood is my blood, and what you lose I lose. I am of you and you are of me. I will fight whoever you fight and make peace with whoever you make peace with

   Before the pledge was given, two of the earlier believers stood up to make sure everyone understood what they were taking on. Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿUbādah رضي الله عنه said: people of Khazraj, do you know what you are pledging to this man? You are pledging to fight the whole world. If you fear losing your wealth and your leaders, leave him now. But if you will keep this pledge whatever it costs, then take on this heavy responsibility

   They answered: we take him knowing we may lose our wealth and our leaders. What is our reward if we keep it? Paradise, he said. They said: stretch out your hand. Jābir رضي الله عنه narrates that as they began, Asʿad ibn Zurārah رضي الله عنه stopped them: steady, people of Yathrib. We came all this way only because we know he is the Messenger of Allah, and taking him means breaking with all the Arabs. If you can bear it, hold on, and your reward is with Allah. If you fear for yourselves, say so now, and Allah will excuse you. Then they all gave their pledge. The two women pledged in words only, because he did not shake hands with women outside his family

   He asked them to choose twelve leaders to be responsible for their people. Nine were from al-Khazraj, among them Asʿad ibn Zurārah, Saʿd ibn ar-Rabīʿ, ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah, al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr, ʿUbādah ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit and Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, and three were from al-Aws: Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr, Saʿd ibn Khaythamah and Rifāʿah ibn ʿAbd al-Mundhir, رضي الله عنهم. He told them they were guarantors for their people as the disciples of ʿĪsā عليه السلام had been, and he was guarantor for his own

   The source says a devil at ʿAqabah shouted out the news of the meeting. Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿUbādah رضي الله عنه said: by the One who sent you with the truth, if you wish, we will fall on the people of Minā with our swords tomorrow. The Prophet ﷺ said: we have not been commanded to do that. Go back to your camps

2. The believers migrate: family separation and wealth

   Key lesson: Seeking safety could cost migrants their wealth, freedom and family companionship.

   What happened

   After the pledge, the Prophet ﷺ gave the believers permission to migrate to Yathrib. Leaving meant giving up homes and wealth for safety alone, and even that was not certain, since a migrant could be robbed or killed on the way. Quraysh did everything they could to stop them

   Abū Salamah رضي الله عنه had already left, a year before the pledge. When he set out, his wife's family took her back by force, and his own family took their son, dislocating the child's arm in the struggle. Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها spent a year alone, weeping, until a relative had pity on her and the others let her take her son and go to her husband. She set out on a journey of about five hundred kilometres with no one to help her. At at-Tanʿīm, ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنه met her and escorted her all the way to Qubāʾ, where she joined Abū Salamah رضي الله عنه

   Ṣuhayb رضي الله عنه wanted to migrate, and Quraysh insulted him: you came here penniless and grew rich among us, and now you want to leave with your wealth? He offered them everything he owned, and they let him go. When the Prophet ﷺ heard, he said: Ṣuhayb has made a profitable trade

   ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه, ʿAyyāsh ibn Abī Rabīʿah رضي الله عنه and Hishām ibn al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه agreed to meet one morning and leave together. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه and ʿAyyāsh رضي الله عنه came, but Hishām رضي الله عنه was held back. Soon Abū Jahl and his brother al-Ḥārith came to Madinah and told ʿAyyāsh رضي الله عنه, their half-brother, that his mother had sworn not to comb her hair or sit in the shade until she saw him. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه warned him it was a trick, but ʿAyyāsh رضي الله عنه went, and on the way they tied him up and brought him into Makkah as an example. The report of ʿUmar's رضي الله عنه own open challenge to Quraysh as he left belongs to the historical sīrah tradition rather than an authenticated hadith

   Even so, the believers left in groups, so quickly that within two months of the pledge whole quarters of Makkah stood empty. Almost everyone had gone except the Prophet ﷺ, Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه, ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, and those held prisoner or unable to leave. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه kept asking to go, and the Prophet ﷺ told him to wait, hoping Allah would let them go together. So Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه bought two fast camels and fed them for four months

3. The assassination plot and departure

   Key lesson: Responding to danger involved permission, planning and trusted help; exact dates follow the source.

   What happened

   Quraysh now saw the danger. Yathrib had strong tribes, and it sat on the trade route on which Makkah's wealth depended. On Thursday the twenty-sixth of Ṣafar, by the source's dating, their leaders met in Dār an-Nadwah, their council house, with representatives of every clan, including Abū Jahl, ʿUtbah and Shaybah, Abū Sufyān and an-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith. The source reports that Iblīs came to the door disguised as an old man from Najd and was let in to listen

   Exile was proposed and rejected, because his words might win over other Arabs who would then attack Makkah. Life imprisonment was proposed and rejected, because his followers might grow and free him by force. Then Abū Jahl proposed that a young man from every clan strike him together, so that his blood would be spread among all the tribes and Banū ʿAbd Manāf could not take revenge on them all. They agreed, and went off to carry it out. Sūrat al-Anfāl recalls it: when the disbelievers plotted to imprison you, kill you or drive you out; they plotted, and Allah planned, and Allah is the best of planners

   Jibrīl عليه السلام came to the Prophet ﷺ, told him of the plot, gave him permission to leave, and told him not to sleep in his own bed that night. At midday, at an hour when he never visited, the Prophet ﷺ came to Abū Bakr's house with his face covered. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrates in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه knew at once that something had happened. The Prophet ﷺ told him permission had come, and Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه asked to go with him. Yes, he said

   That night the assassins surrounded his house and waited for him to come out at dawn. The Prophet ﷺ told ʿAlī رضي الله عنه to sleep in his bed under his green cloak, and assured him no harm would reach him. Then he walked out through them, throwing a handful of dust and reciting from Sūrah Yā Sīn: We have put a barrier in front of them and a barrier behind them and covered them, so they do not see. He went to Abū Bakr's رضي الله عنه house, and the two of them set out

4. The Hijrah: the cave of Thawr

   Key lesson: Trust in Allah accompanied concealment, news, provisions and a skilled guide.

   What happened

   Instead of taking the road north towards Yathrib, which Quraysh would watch, they went south towards Yemen, about five miles to Mount Thawr, and climbed to a cave near its top. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه went in first to make sure it was safe. In the morning the assassins found ʿAlī رضي الله عنه in the bed. Quraysh beat him and held him for an hour at the Kaʿbah, but he told them nothing. At Abū Bakr's house Abū Jahl slapped his daughter Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr رضي الله عنها so hard that her earring broke

   Quraysh blocked every road out of Makkah and offered a hundred camels for each of the two. Search parties reached the mouth of the cave itself. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه whispered: if one of them looked down at his feet, he would see us. The Prophet ﷺ said: what do you think of two, when Allah is the third of them? The narration is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, and Sūrat at-Tawbah recalls the moment: when he said to his companion, do not grieve, Allah is with us

   They stayed in the cave for three nights. Abū Bakr's son ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه spent each night with them and returned to Makkah before dawn with the news, and ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah رضي الله عنه grazed his flock over their tracks and brought them milk. Then ʿAbdullāh ibn Urayqiṭ, a guide Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه had hired and trusted though he did not yet share their faith, arrived with the two camels. The Prophet ﷺ took one only on condition that he pay its price. Asmāʾ رضي الله عنها tied their food with her waistband, tearing it in two, and was known after that as the woman of the two waistbands

5. The coastal journey and arrival at Qubāʾ

   Key lesson: Care and protection marked the journey; reported encounters and arrival dating retain their qualifications.

   What happened

   They took a little-used route along the coast. On one hot day Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه found shade beside a rock, cleared the ground and spread his cloak for the Prophet ﷺ to rest, then went to find milk from a shepherd, cooled it and waited for him to wake. When people asked Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه who his companion was, he would say: a man who guides me on the way. They thought he meant the road; he meant the way of goodness

   Surāqah ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه, hoping for the hundred camels, rode after them. His horse stumbled and threw him, and when he went on, its legs sank into the ground. He understood that they were protected, asked for safety and offered them supplies, which they did not take. They asked only that he keep their route hidden, and he turned back other searchers. The account is narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī

   They passed the tents of Umm Maʿbad al-Khuzāʿiyyah, a generous woman who sat at her door for travellers. It was a dry year, and her only goat was too weak to graze with the flock. With her permission, the Prophet ﷺ touched its udder and said the name of Allah, and it gave milk enough for all of them, and more was left for her. This is told in the historical sīrah account

   On Monday the eighth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, by the source's dating, they reached Qubāʾ. For days the people of Yathrib had come out every morning to wait for him until the midday heat drove them home. That day, after they had gone back, a Jewish man on a lookout saw the travellers in white approaching and shouted: people of Arabia, here is the one you have been waiting for! The Muslims rushed out with their weapons to meet him

   So the Hijrah was trust in Allah joined to careful planning: a pledge taken in secret, believers sent ahead, a plot answered by revelation, a route no one expected, a cave, a guide and a waistband. Those who had been driven out of Makkah were about to live their faith openly. The next lesson begins at Qubāʾ, with the first mosque and the building of Madinah

1 AH · year 14 · 622–623 CE

Building the city

1. Qubāʾ, arrival and the mosque community

   Key lesson: Worship, hospitality, teaching and support for people without homes developed together.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ first stayed at Qubāʾ, where a mosque was established before he entered the centre of Madinah. On the Friday journey onward, he ﷺ prayed with Banū Sālim ibn ʿAwf. This must not be called the first Friday prayer ever held by the Muslims. Sunan Abī Dāwūd records that Asʿad ibn Zurārah رضي الله عنه had gathered believers for Friday prayer before the Hijrah. The arrival prayer belongs to the Prophet's ﷺ journey into the city; the earlier gathering belongs to the community that was already preparing to receive him.

   As the Prophet ﷺ entered Madinah, clans offered him hospitality and wanted him to stay among them. The historical arrival account describes him allowing his camel to proceed until she knelt on a plot used for drying dates. It belonged to two orphan boys, Sahl and Suhayl, of Banū an-Najjār. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm says the plot was purchased for the mosque. This detail matters alongside the welcome: the new community's place of worship was established on land whose owners' rights were recognised, not simply taken because they were young.

   Abū Ayyūb رضي الله عنه al-Anṣārī hosted the Prophet ﷺ while his rooms were being prepared. The mosque was built with simple materials: bricks, stone and palm wood. The Prophet ﷺ carried building materials alongside the companions رضي الله عنهم. Its prayer direction initially faced Jerusalem, not the Kaʿbah; the change of qiblah belongs to the next year. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm describes the clearing of the site and the construction of household rooms beside the mosque. Its description of dimensions is historical, not a surveyed plan of the earliest building.

   The source also describes a place near the mosque for Muslims who had neither family nor a home in Madinah. The people later known as Ahl aṣ-Ṣuffah were associated with this support. The account groups the arrangement with the city's beginnings, but does not establish a precise month for every stage of the shelter. What the lesson can safely retain is the need it served: people who had no household nearby were not excluded from the community's worship and learning because they lacked property or relatives.

   The mosque served more than one purpose. The Prophet ﷺ taught there, the believers met there, disputes were addressed and the community's affairs were discussed. Prayer and public life were connected in a place that people could actually reach. This was not a claim that an elaborate government appeared overnight. The book describes the patient work of building shared institutions while teaching the people who would use them. Homes, worship, learning and decisions about the city's safety developed around the same new centre.

2. Brotherhood and shared livelihoods

   Key lesson: Generosity could support newcomers while preserving their ability to work.

   What happened

   With the mosque standing, the Prophet ﷺ turned to binding the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār together. Ninety men, by the source's count, half of each group, gathered in the house of Anas ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه, and the Prophet ﷺ paired each Muhājir with an Anṣārī as brothers. This brotherhood carried real inheritance rights between the paired men until the verse of Sūrat al-Anfāl was revealed at the time of Badr, after which the ordinary rule that blood relatives inherit from one another was restored, and the brotherhood-inheritance ended.

   The brotherhood was not a form of words. Saʿd ibn ar-Rabīʿ رضي الله عنه, one of the wealthiest of the Helpers, told his new brother ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf رضي الله عنه that he would split his property with him in half, and even offered to divorce one of his two wives so that ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān رضي الله عنه could marry her once her waiting period ended. ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān رضي الله عنه refused both the wealth and the wife, and asked only to be shown the market, where he went on to prosper by his own trade.

   The Anṣār also offered to divide their palm orchards with the migrants. The Prophet ﷺ did not agree to divide the orchards themselves. The source describes a working arrangement instead: the labour of tending the orchards and the sharing of their produce connected the two groups. Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه is named as the narrator of this report, but that does not mean he was present in the first Madinan year; he joined the Prophet ﷺ later. A narrator's later testimony must not be turned into an invented arrival date.

3. The community charter and agreements

   Key lesson: Shared security required clear duties, religious freedom and opposition to wrongdoing.

   What happened

   The written arrangements often called the Constitution of Madinah addressed responsibilities that tribal custom alone could not resolve. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm presents a charter among the believers and a connected agreement with Jewish neighbours. These are historical documents in the sīrah tradition, not a single hadith in which every clause has the same independently established chain. Scholars discuss their compilation and dating. This lesson follows the book's account of their provisions without claiming that every city's group signed one surviving text on the same day.

   Among the charter's provisions, the migrants and helpers formed one community. Existing groups remained responsible for compensation after a killing and for helping ransom their prisoners. A believer in hardship was not to be abandoned when such a payment was due. Believers were to support one another, and a protection granted by even a low-status believer was to be respected. These rules gave practical shape to belonging: help was not only a warm welcome, but a responsibility when someone's freedom, safety or livelihood was at risk.

   The document also opposed sheltering a wrongdoer and stirring up hostility inside the community. Family loyalty did not excuse destructive conduct; a believer was to oppose wrongdoing even when a relative was involved. Agreements about peace were to be shared rather than undermined by separate deals during conflict. Serious disagreements were referred to Allah and the Prophet ﷺ. The historical text must not be inflated into a modern legal code, but its stated responsibilities show why a common authority mattered in a city accustomed to competing tribal loyalties.

   The connected agreement named Jewish partners, including Banū ʿAwf, as a community with the believers while keeping their own religion. Muslims kept theirs. Each side had its own expenses; the parties were to aid a wronged partner, consult one another and help defend Madinah if it was attacked. They were not to support Quraysh against the agreement. The source's provisions protect religious difference rather than requiring conversion as the price of safety. Later conflicts with particular groups must not be read back as proof that these protections never existed.

4. The adhān and everyday obligations

   Key lesson: Public worship belonged beside feeding others, family care and neighbourly safety.

   What happened

   The call to prayer, the adhān, brought people together without a bell. ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه described seeing a man with a bell in a dream and being taught the call instead. He told the Prophet ﷺ, who instructed him to teach the words to Bilāl رضي الله عنه because his voice was stronger. The dream did not authorize worship on its own: the Prophet's ﷺ approval was decisive. The report in Sunan Abī Dāwūd gives a named source for the account, distinct from the surrounding historical descriptions.

   ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه heard the call and reported a similar dream. Bilāl رضي الله عنه became the caller, bringing the community to its prescribed prayers with a human voice. The account does not say that a dream instructed ʿAbdullāh ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه to choose Bilāl رضي الله عنه; that choice was the Prophet's ﷺ direction. Keeping these steps separate preserves the report's meaning. The call, the place of prayer and the people serving it belonged to one shared practice rather than separate ceremonies.

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm places everyday teaching beside these public arrangements. The Prophet ﷺ taught people to greet those they knew and those they did not, feed others and maintain family ties. ʿAbdullāh ibn Salām رضي الله عنه recalled these teachings when describing the arrival. The book also gathers teachings on keeping neighbours safe, wishing for a brother what one wishes for oneself, relieving hardship and not abandoning someone who needs help. These are the manners by which the new institutions could work; they are not assigned an invented first-year date one by one.

   The source includes the warning that a Muslim's tongue and hand should not harm other Muslims, and the duty to keep a neighbour safe from wrongdoing. These teachings make the brotherhood more than an arrangement for wealth. A shared mosque would not by itself settle old rivalries if people kept insulting, threatening or neglecting one another outside it. The book's account therefore moves between buildings, agreements and personal conduct. It is the combination that describes the new society, not a claim that all its difficulties disappeared immediately.

5. Security pressures: Sayf al-Baḥr, Rābigh and al-Kharrār

   Key lesson: Early missions included watching routes and restrained encounters, not continuous pitched battles.

   What happened

   Madinah was not a city in which everyone had already accepted Islam. The source describes Muslim migrants and helpers, people still following the old local religions, and Jewish neighbours with established homes, trades and alliances. Banū Qaynuqāʿ were associated with Khazraj, while Banū an-Naḍīr and Banū Qurayẓah had ties to Aws. ʿAbdullāh ibn Salām رضي الله عنه accepted Islam. His individual decision must not become a general claim about how every Jewish resident responded. Their religious identities alone do not explain each person's later actions.

   ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy had expected a leading position before the Prophet's ﷺ arrival. The book describes his resentment and later outward profession of Islam, but these stages should not be collapsed into one moment. In the early security account, Quraysh contacted him and his supporters, demanding that they oppose or expel the Prophet ﷺ. The source says the Prophet ﷺ warned them against being drawn into conflict with their own people. The threat demonstrates that migration did not mean Quraysh had accepted the believers' right to live safely elsewhere.

   The source also recounts Saʿd ibn Muʿādh's رضي الله عنه visit to Makkah for ʿumrah under Umayyah ibn Khalaf's protection. Abū Jahl threatened him, and Saʿd رضي الله عنه answered by warning about the safety of Quraysh's trading route. This historical episode links personal danger to the wider road network. The migrants' former persecutors still controlled access to the Sacred Mosque, while their commerce passed near the believers' new home. The lesson does not reduce every early security decision to one motive or pretend the roads were outside that conflict.

   The Prophet ﷺ took precautions against danger. The book records companions رضي الله عنهم guarding him and cites reports about Allah's protection. This does not establish that every cited verse was revealed in the first Madinan year. In particular, the book's use of Sūrat al-Māʾidah in its discussion of protection cannot be turned into a firm first-year revelation date. The same distinction applies to permission to fight in Sūrat al-Ḥajj: the passage concerns people who had been wronged and driven from their homes, while its exact dating is discussed by scholars.

   The early expeditions followed this exposed setting. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm describes watching the roads, approaching Quraysh caravans and forming agreements with nearby tribes. Some missions exchanged arrows, some missed their intended caravan and some ended without fighting. The source gives dates, but historians differ over the order of parts of this early sequence. This year lesson covers the first-year missions; the expeditions the book places in the second year, including Nakhlah, are kept for the next lesson rather than presented as events of the first year.

   In Ramaḍān of the first year, the book places the Sayf al-Baḥr mission under Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib رضي الله عنه, with thirty migrants. They encountered a Quraysh party that included Abū Jahl. The two sides prepared for a confrontation, but Majdī ibn ʿAmr, who had connections with both, intervened and prevented a clash. The book also describes a white banner on this mission. Its broader claim about the first military banner belongs to historical chronology, where early accounts differ; the certain lesson here is that this encounter ended without battle.

   In Shawwāl the source places a mission of sixty migrants under ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنه toward Rābigh. Arrows were exchanged with a Quraysh party, but there was no close battle. Al-Miqdād ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه and ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān رضي الله عنه left that caravan and joined the Muslims. A month later, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ رضي الله عنه led twenty men toward al-Kharrār, with instructions not to go farther. They found the caravan had already passed. The source records white banners for these missions. These are distinct missions, not three descriptions of Badr.

   The first year's account closes with a community still under pressure but no longer without a home. Qubāʾ and the mosque in Madinah gave it places of worship. Brotherhood joined migrants and hosts in concrete responsibilities. Agreements described how neighbours with different faiths could share security. The adhān called people together, and the Prophet's ﷺ teaching addressed their daily behaviour. The small road missions belonged to the same unsettled setting. The next year would bring further expeditions, a changed prayer direction, Ramaḍān and Badr, but those events should not be used to make this year look more complete than its own source account.

2 AH · year 15 · 624 CE

The qiblah, the fast, and Badr

1. Qiblah, obligatory fasting and the first festival

   Key lesson: Follow the reported sequence while retaining the disputed month of the qiblah change.

   What happened

   After roughly sixteen or seventeen months of prayer toward Jerusalem, the qiblah changed to the Kaʿbah. The precise month is disputed: accounts give Rajab or Shaʿbān in the second year. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records the change and also news reaching Qubāʾ during the morning prayer, when the people turned toward the Kaʿbah. That was their response when they heard the command, not the first place where the command had been revealed. Sūrat al-Baqarah discusses the change and the test of following the Messenger ﷺ, without making every group's turning simultaneous.

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm discusses the prayer direction as part of the community's developing identity. Its meaning must be read through the Qur'an's own discussion, not used to guess the private motives of every neighbour who questioned it. Facing the Kaʿbah did not yet mean the believers controlled Makkah: they were still excluded from their former home. Worship gave them a direction even while their access to that place remained restricted. The lesson keeps the event, the Qur'anic explanation and later historical outcomes separate.

   The fast of Ramaḍān became obligatory in this year. Before it, the Prophet ﷺ had observed ʿĀshūrāʾ; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records that once Ramaḍān was prescribed, fasting ʿĀshūrāʾ was no longer obligatory. They remain different fasts, not two names for one observance. The source also places zakāt and zakāt al-fiṭr in this developing pattern of worship and support for people in need. Zakāt al-fiṭr is connected to the end of Ramaḍān and the fast-breaking festival; it must not be confused with the annual zakāt rules.

   The first ʿĪd al-Fiṭr followed that Ramaḍān, in Shawwāl. The source's association of the festival with Badr must also be read in the right order: Badr was in Ramaḍān, and the festival followed the month. Prayer, fasting and giving were not secondary details beside the military account. They explain how the believers lived through the year and how people in hardship were included in its worship.

2. Pre-Badr expeditions and Nakhlah

   Key lesson: Distinguish patrols and agreements from Nakhlah's contested fighting in a sacred month.

   What happened

   Before Badr, the book places several expeditions in the second year. At al-Abwāʾ, also called Waddān, the Prophet ﷺ led a party that did not encounter its intended caravan but made an agreement with Banū Ḍamrah. At Buwāṭ another caravan had already passed. The Safwān pursuit followed a raid on Madinah's grazing animals and also ended without catching the raiders. At Dhū al-ʿUshayrah, the Muslims missed the caravan whose return from Syria would later lead to Badr. The source records agreements with nearby tribes alongside these movements, not fighting at every stop.

   Nakhlah was different. In Rajab a party under ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaḥsh رضي الله عنه went to gather information about Quraysh. The historical account describes a sealed instruction opened after two days. The party attacked a passing caravan in the sacred month, killing ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥaḍramī and taking two captives. The Prophet ﷺ disapproved of the fighting in the sacred month and held the goods and captives while the matter was addressed. The book connects the resulting controversy with al-Baqarah 2:217; this is a reported occasion discussed in tafsīr, not permission to invent additional revelation details.

3. Badr: preparation and consultation

   Key lesson: Changed circumstances called for consultation, reconnaissance, preparation and prayer.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ learned that Abū Sufyān's caravan was returning from Syria. The source describes valuable goods, a small guard and scouts sent to learn its movements. The Muslims went out expecting a caravan interception, not a prepared confrontation with a large army. Approximately three hundred and thirteen took part; the book records differing totals close to that number. There were few horses and the camels were shared. Exact participant counts vary by report, but all describe a much smaller force than the Quraysh army that would approach them.

   Abū Sufyān sought help from Makkah when he learned of the danger, then diverted the caravan toward the coast and brought it to safety. Quraysh had already raised an army. Some wanted to return once the caravan was safe, but Abū Jahl pressed for continuing to Badr. The book recounts disagreements and withdrawals within the Makkan force rather than treating it as unanimous. An army of about a thousand continued. The order matters: the call for help came before the successful escape, not after it.

   When word reached the Prophet ﷺ that the Makkan army, not merely the caravan, now lay ahead, he called a council. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه spoke first, then al-Miqdād ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه pledged the Emigrants would follow him wherever he led, unlike the Children of Israel who told Mūsā عليه السلام to go and fight alone. Because the source describes a concern about how the Anṣār understood their pledge of protection, the Prophet ﷺ then specifically asked their view; Saʿd ibn Muʿādh رضي الله عنه answered for them with an unconditional pledge to fight at his side wherever he went. The full speeches are reported in the sīrah; supporting hadith preserve parts of the companions' رضي الله عنهم commitment without authenticating every word of the longer historical version.

   Scouts questioned water-carriers and gathered information about the approaching army. The source describes the Muslim camp near Badr's wells and al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir's رضي الله عنه advice about its position. The detailed exchange is a historical report, not a separately established Ṣaḥīḥ narration. Rain and reassurance also belong to the account: al-Anfāl 8:11 discusses rain, purification and strengthened footing. The book adds battlefield detail around that passage; its historical explanation should not be confused with the Qur'an's exact wording, which readers can open alongside the lesson.

   The Prophet ﷺ prayed intensely for help. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim records him facing the qiblah with his hands raised, pleading for Allah's promise until his cloak fell from his shoulders. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه restored it and reassured him. This is an authenticated report, not only a scene reconstructed by the historian. Al-Anfāl also speaks of seeking help and receiving an answer. Preparation, consultation and prayer appear together in the source; the believers were not taught to choose between taking practical steps and relying on Allah.

4. Badr: fighting, captives, loss and spoils

   Key lesson: Victory brought grief and difficult decisions; the believers themselves received correction.

   What happened

   The opening fighting included single combats before the larger clash. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm describes Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه confronting al-Aswad, then ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنه, Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه and ʿAlī رضي الله عنه facing ʿUtbah, Shaybah and al-Walīd. ʿUbaydah رضي الله عنه was severely wounded and later died. The lesson retains the participants and result without forcing agreement on every pairing in versions of the duel. These were people known to one another through Makkah's families, not anonymous armies with no shared history.

   Al-Anfāl describes angelic assistance at Badr. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim's account includes Ibn ʿAbbās's رضي الله عنهما report of a fighter hearing a rider urge on a horse named Ḥayzūm before his opponent fell; the Prophet ﷺ confirmed it as help from the third heaven. The story belongs to that report, not to the unrelated Bukhārī reference previously attached to it. Such accounts should remain tied to their actual sources. They do not authorize adding an imagined description of unseen beings or turning every battlefield action into a miracle.

   The book describes the killing of Abū Jahl and the roles of young Anṣārī fighters and ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه. Reports name the young men in differing ways, so the account does not force every naming detail into one version. Abū Jahl's death was one of several losses among Quraysh's leaders. The story must also be read beside the Muslim casualties and the decisions about captives that followed, rather than treated as the whole meaning of Badr.

   Fourteen Muslims were killed, according to the book's account, and about seventy Quraysh men were killed with about seventy taken captive. Abū Jahl was among the dead, not the prisoners. These losses included leaders who had opposed the believers in Makkah. The broad totals are useful for understanding the scale, but reporting variants should not be hidden behind an exact-looking tally. Victory did not make the day free of grief. Some households in Madinah received news of relatives who would not return, even as the city welcomed the survivors.

   The captives' treatment required decisions after the fighting. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim records consultation with Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه about ransom, followed by the Qur'anic correction discussed in al-Anfāl 8:67–68. The source describes different ransoms according to means, release without payment for some and good treatment during captivity. Its account of literate captives teaching ten children each is a historical report, not a detail established by that Ṣaḥīḥ consultation narration. Questions and follow-up answers must preserve that qualification rather than retelling the tuition arrangement as equally certain.

   The book also reports the execution of an-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ on the return journey, connecting them with earlier persecution. These details belong to the historical account and should not be disguised as a modern court record with documented charges and proceedings. They also show why it would be inaccurate to say that every captive was ransomed or released. The lesson distinguishes the reported executions, the authenticated consultation and the various release arrangements rather than combining them into one simple rule.

   Makkah received the defeat with shock. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm records its efforts to suppress open mourning and the death of Abū Lahab after the news reached the city. In Madinah, Ruqayyah رضي الله عنها, the Prophet's ﷺ daughter, died during the same period. Her husband ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه had remained to care for her at the Prophet's ﷺ instruction. The report that he was granted a share and reward of Badr does not mean he physically fought there. A careful account preserves both his absence and the recognition he received.

   Several captive accounts show the personal ties crossing the conflict. The book reports that Zaynab رضي الله عنها sent a necklace toward the ransom of her husband Abū al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه, who had not yet accepted Islam; the necklace was returned and her departure to Madinah arranged. It also records the Prophet's ﷺ refusal of a proposal to mutilate Suhayl ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه, another future Muslim, and an exchange involving a man detained in Makkah. These are historical details with their own reports, not additions certified by the narration about the battlefield prayer.

   The fighters themselves disagreed over the spoils, with groups pointing to their different roles during the battle. The source connects this dispute with the opening of Sūrat al-Anfāl. The sūrah directs believers toward obedience, settling their differences and remembering Allah's help rather than treating victory as their own independent achievement. Its discussion extends to promises, treaties and conduct toward opponents. A lesson about Badr should therefore include the correction addressed to the victors, not end with enemy casualties. The Qur'anic review is read as revelation, not as a licence for the lesson to supply its own wording of verses.

5. Banū Qaynuqāʿ, a reported plot, as-Sawīq and al-Kudr

   Key lesson: Badr did not end danger; retain dating uncertainties and keep separate expeditions distinct.

   What happened

   After Badr, the source describes tension with Banū Qaynuqāʿ, a particular group of Madinah's goldsmiths and craftspeople. It recounts defiant warnings and a marketplace incident in which harassment of a Muslim woman led to deaths. These details are historical reports, not all supported by one Ṣaḥīḥ narration. The account should not convert named actions and a disputed treaty relationship into a claim about every Jewish resident of Madinah. The siege that followed belongs to this specific conflict, not an undifferentiated war against a religion.

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm describes a siege of about fifteen days followed by surrender. ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy intervened on behalf of his former allies, and Banū Qaynuqāʿ were expelled rather than executed. The source describes their weapons and property being taken and their departure toward Syria. Its detailed marketplace story and the sequence of the siege are historical reports; they should not be presented as one independently authenticated account. The episode concerns a particular treaty relationship and alleged breaches, not a punishment stated simply for following another religion.

   The book also recounts a plot by Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah رضي الله عنه and ʿUmayr ibn Wahb رضي الله عنه before their acceptance of Islam. ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه travelled to Madinah with a sword, but the historical account says the Prophet ﷺ confronted him about the plot and he accepted Islam. This is presented as the book's sīrah narrative, not a new claim that every detail has been independently authenticated. Its place after Badr shows that hostility continued, while individual people could still change their response to Islam.

   In Dhū al-Ḥijjah the source places Abū Sufyān's رضي الله عنه raid with about two hundred men against Madinah's outskirts. Two Muslims were killed and palm trees burned before the raiders fled. The Prophet ﷺ pursued, but they escaped, leaving behind sawīq, roasted-grain provisions, which gave the expedition its name. The source also says it occurred two months after Badr, but that interval does not agree with Ramaḍān to Dhū al-Ḥijjah. The lesson retains the named month as the book's dating and does not repeat the inconsistent interval as a settled fact.

   The source places the al-Kudr expedition against Banū Sulaym after Badr, in Shawwāl. The Prophet ﷺ led a force toward their gathering, but the tribesmen had dispersed before it arrived, and no battle took place. The book describes livestock captured and divided on the return. This remains a historical report with its own chronology, not another name for the third-year Dhū Amr patrol. Their places and participants must not be merged.

   The year therefore brought more than a new balance of military power. The believers changed their direction in prayer, observed the first obligatory Ramaḍān and its following festival, went from an expected caravan encounter to Badr, and then faced questions about prisoners, property and agreements. The source tells of joy and household loss together. Its Qur'anic review corrects the believers as well as describing help given to them. The following year begins with further pressure on Madinah and Quraysh's preparations for Uḥud, not with a claim that Badr ended all danger.

3 AH · year 16 · 625 CE

Uḥud

1. Dhū Amr, Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf and Buḥrān

   Key lesson: Read these as particular operations in their reported security setting, not permission for private violence.

   What happened

   The book places the Dhū Amr expedition in Muḥarram after reports that Banū Thaʿlabah and Banū Muḥārib were gathering against Madinah. It gives about four hundred and fifty men under the Prophet ﷺ. Those being sought dispersed into the hills, and no battle took place. The force camped at the watering place before returning. This was one of several movements where a reported threat led to a patrol rather than a pitched battle. The historical numbers explain the account's scale; they are not all independently verified by a Ṣaḥīḥ report.

   Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf is described in the book as a wealthy poet who travelled to Makkah after Badr and encouraged opposition to the Muslims, then produced verses targeting Muslim women. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records the Prophet ﷺ asking who would deal with him because he had harmed Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه volunteered and obtained permission to speak in a way that would enable the plan. The hadith supports the operation; the book supplies additional background that must not all be assigned the same evidential strength.

   Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه and the men with him approached Kaʿb under a pretext involving a loan and security for it. The report describes a night meeting and the planned killing. The source adds that al-Ḥārith ibn Aws رضي الله عنه was wounded and treated afterward. The lesson does not reproduce every dramatic exchange or describe the operation as a general permission for private violence. It was a specific action under the Prophet's ﷺ authority, not collective blame against Kaʿb's wider religious community.

   Another patrol went to Buḥrān, in the region of al-Furuʿ, with about three hundred men according to the book. The source places it in Rabīʿ ath-Thānī and records no fighting. In Jumādā ath-Thāniyah, Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه led an interception at al-Qaradah after Quraysh sought a different trade route through Najd toward Iraq. The book describes captured caravan property and the setting aside of a fifth. These movements explain the continuing pressure around commerce and roads before Uḥud, rather than suggesting that the battle arrived without an intervening history.

2. Uḥud: consultation, mobilisation and withdrawal

   Key lesson: Consultation led to a decision; withdrawal weakened the force. The account repeats parts of this sequence.

   What happened

   Quraysh prepared a new army, using profits associated with the caravan that had escaped before Badr. The historical account gives about three thousand men, including two hundred cavalry and many with armour. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه led them before his acceptance of Islam. Women accompanied the army to encourage its fighters. Waḥshī رضي الله عنه, also not yet Muslim, was promised freedom by his owner for killing Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه. These circumstances are kept separate from the later status of people who eventually accepted Islam.

   The book describes information reaching Madinah about Quraysh's advance and preparations for guarding the city. The threat was no longer an isolated caravan or small raiding party. A large army had travelled toward the homes of the believers. The Prophet ﷺ consulted the people rather than treating the choice of battlefield as a decision without consequences for them. The discussion that followed is part of the historical account of Uḥud; it should be read alongside the later Qur'anic review, not replaced by a single moral slogan.

   The Prophet ﷺ preferred a defence within Madinah, where the houses and lanes could be used against the attackers. Others wanted to go out, including men who had missed Badr. The source also recounts a dream involving cattle, a damaged sword and protective armour, understood in relation to losses and Madinah's defence. Dreams in this account are not instructions for learners to predict later events. The practical decision remained consultation about how to meet the approaching army and protect the community.

   After the decision to march out, the Prophet ﷺ prepared and put on his armour. Some who had pressed for an open battle regretted having pushed their preference and offered to leave the choice to him. The book reports that he ﷺ would not put aside the armour before the matter was decided. This wording belongs to the sīrah account being followed, not an unlabelled quotation from the archers' Ṣaḥīḥ report. The account shows a decision carried into action after consultation, rather than a battle entered without preparation.

   About a thousand men initially set out, according to the source. The book describes the organisation of the force and the return of some younger boys who were not permitted to fight. Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj رضي الله عنه was allowed because of his skill with the bow, and Samurah ibn Jundub رضي الله عنه after showing his strength in wrestling. These details belong to the historical preparation account. They should not be used to present battle as a children's adventure; the approaching conflict threatened lives and homes.

   The march also exposed division within the city. ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy withdrew with about three hundred men, leaving roughly seven hundred to continue. ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām رضي الله عنه urged the withdrawing group to return, but they did not. The source connects this moment with the anxiety of Banū Salimah and Banū Ḥārithah. Sūrat Āl ʿImrān discusses two groups who nearly lost heart while Allah remained their protector. That connection is kept as the source's explanation of the passage, not a precise timestamp for its revelation.

   When news reached Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ called a council. His own preference was to defend the city from within its houses and lanes, but after consultation the majority, including younger companions eager to meet the enemy as they had at Badr, argued for marching out to meet Quraysh in open ground. Once the Prophet ﷺ had dressed in his armour, he would not reverse the decision even when some of those who had pressed him then wished to withdraw their request; he said it did not become a Prophet to lay down his armour once he had put it on until Allah decided between him and the enemy.

   The Prophet ﷺ organised roughly a thousand men into three units under Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه, Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr رضي الله عنه, and al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir رضي الله عنه, and left Ibn Umm Maktūm رضي الله عنه to lead prayers in Madinah. On the march, a group of allied Jews from Khazraj's circle offered to fight alongside the Muslims; the Prophet ﷺ declined their help because they had not entered Islam, saying he would not seek the support of disbelievers against other disbelievers.

   As the army approached Uḥud, ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy withdrew with about a third of the force, roughly three hundred men, claiming his advice had been rejected. ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām رضي الله عنه, father of Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه, followed and urged them to return and at least help defend the camp, but they refused, leaving about seven hundred men to continue to Uḥud.

3. Uḥud: the archers and reversal

   Key lesson: Leaving an explicit defensive assignment exposed the army despite its initial success.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ positioned fifty archers under ʿAbdullāh ibn Jubayr رضي الله عنه on a hill at the Muslim army's flank, giving explicit and repeated instructions, preserved in more than one version including one recorded by al-Bukhārī, that they were to hold their position whether the battle went for the Muslims or against them, and not to leave until ordered. He positioned the rest of the army with the mountain of Uḥud at its back for protection.

   When the fighting began, the standard-bearers of Banū ʿAbd ad-Dār on the Makkan side fell one after another in single combat and in the general engagement; az-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām رضي الله عنه killed the first standard-bearer, and Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه fought prominently in the opening phase of the battle. The Muslim advance pushed the Makkan line back, and several companions, including al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib رضي الله عنه, later described seeing the enemy's women fleeing in the confusion.

   Waḥshī رضي الله عنه later described how he killed Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه with a spear while he was still fighting for Quraysh. His own account is preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4072, not Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1791. The latter reports the Prophet's ﷺ injuries at Uḥud. This distinction matters: a reference must support the event to which it is attached. The later testimony is not evidence that Waḥshī رضي الله عنه was Muslim during the battle; the lesson keeps his action at Uḥud separate from his eventual acceptance of Islam.

   Seeing the apparent Muslim success and the enemy fleeing, most of the fifty archers, forty according to the account, left their position for the spoils of war despite ʿAbdullāh ibn Jubayr's رضي الله عنه warning and the Prophet's ﷺ earlier order; only he and nine men remained in place. Khālid ibn al-Walīd رضي الله عنه, still fighting for Quraysh at this stage, used the gap to bring his cavalry around behind the Muslim lines.

   The sudden attack from the rear reversed the course of the battle. The Muslim ranks were thrown into disorder, and a rumour spread across the field that the Prophet ﷺ had been killed, which caused some fighters to lose heart. It should be stated plainly that although this was a severe reversal, it was not a massacre of the whole army; of the roughly seven hundred Muslims who had reached Uḥud, about seventy were killed, and the greater number survived the day.

4. Uḥud: wounds, defence and burial

   Key lesson: Loyal defence and care for the wounded continued amid heavy loss.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ was wounded during the renewed attack. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1791 reports his damaged tooth and head wound. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4075 describes Fāṭimah رضي الله عنها washing the blood while ʿAlī رضي الله عنه poured water. When water increased the bleeding, a piece of mat was burnt and its ashes used on the wound. The lesson does not attach the statement about forgiving an ignorant people to this episode: that wording comes from a separate report describing a prophet, not proof of what the Prophet ﷺ said at Uḥud.

   Companions including Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه, ʿUmar رضي الله عنه, ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنه ibn ʿUbaydullāh, and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ رضي الله عنه fought to protect the Prophet ﷺ in this critical period; Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنه is reported to have shielded him with his own hand and was wounded doing so. The Prophet ﷺ and the remaining fighters withdrew up the slope of Uḥud to a defensible position, ending the enemy's assault.

   In the aftermath, some of the Makkans mutilated a number of the Muslim dead, a specific and widely reported act rather than something every participant did; reports describe Hamzah's رضي الله عنه body among those mutilated. These actions, along with Quraysh's earlier failure to press the advantage further into Madinah, left both sides changed by what had happened without Quraysh achieving a decisive victory.

   The dead were buried at Uḥud. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records the martyrs being buried without washing and two men placed in one grave, with the one who knew more Qur'an placed first. The book describes the losses of Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه, Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه and others, and the difficulty of finding enough cloth for burial. For Muṣʿab رضي الله عنه, covering his head left his feet exposed, so grass was used over them. These were real deaths and limited resources, not a battle reduced to a lesson about a tactical mistake.

5. Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad and the review of Uḥud

   Key lesson: The wounded community still acted; revelation examined the causes of its setback.

   What happened

   The next day, the Prophet ﷺ called those who had fought at Uḥud to go out toward Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad despite their wounds. The source records an exception for Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه, who had stayed behind to care for his sisters at his father's request. The force remained outside Madinah while Quraysh considered whether to return. The historical account describes messages that discouraged that return, and Quraysh continued toward Makkah. This follow-up was not another major battle, but belongs to how the community responded after Uḥud.

   Sūrat Āl ʿImrān devotes around sixty verses to reviewing the battle, addressing the causes of the reversal directly, including disagreement and the desire among some for worldly gain, while also distinguishing sincere believers from hypocrites and consoling the community. The year's events, from the pre-Uḥud operations through the battle and its aftermath, taught the young Muslim community that obedience to clear instructions, and the willingness to face a setback honestly rather than deny it, mattered as much as courage itself.

4 AH · year 17 · 626 CE

The year of the reciters

1. Banū Asad and the mission against Khālid ibn Sufyān

   Key lesson: The source presents these missions as responses to reported preparations against Madinah.

   What happened

   The first to take up arms were Banū Asad ibn Khuzaymah, reported to be mustering under Ṭulayḥah رضي الله عنه and Salamah, sons of Khuwaylid. The Prophet ﷺ sent a hundred and fifty men of the Emigrants and Helpers under Abū Salamah رضي الله عنه, who surprised the tribe in their own territory, scattered them and seized their livestock without a pitched battle. According to the seerah account, Abū Salamah's رضي الله عنه earlier wound from Uḥud reopened on this expedition and he died of it some time afterward; this detail comes from the seerah narrative rather than from an independently authenticated hadith chain.

   The book also reports that Khālid ibn Sufyān al-Hudhalī was gathering men to attack Madinah and that the Prophet ﷺ sent ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays رضي الله عنه to confront him. Its account describes the journey, the killing and a stick given to ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه afterward. This lesson follows the book's reported narrative without making a new judgement on every chain transmitted for the mission. It was a specific action under the Prophet's ﷺ authority, not a model for private retaliation by readers.

2. The betrayal at ar-Rajīʿ

   Key lesson: A request for teachers concealed betrayal; distinguish authenticated captivity details from later retellings.

   What happened

   In Ṣafar of the fourth year, a delegation from the tribes of ʿUḍal and Qārah asked the Prophet ﷺ to send men to teach them Islam. He sent a small group, reported in different versions as six or ten, led according to al-Bukhārī's version by ʿĀṣim ibn Thābit رضي الله عنه. At a place called ar-Rajīʿ, around a hundred archers of Banū Liḥyān surrounded them, having arranged the invitation as a trap. Bukhārī frames its ten-man party as a reconnaissance mission; the book’s teacher-request framing and smaller total are not identical to that report.

   The group took shelter on high ground. When Banū Liḥyān offered a guarantee that they would not be killed if they surrendered, ʿĀṣim رضي الله عنه refused to come down and fought until he and six companions were killed. Afterward, Quraysh sent someone to recover part of ʿĀṣim's رضي الله عنه body in retaliation for a man he had killed at Badr, but according to the reported account a swarm of hornets shielded his body from being reached; ʿUmar رضي الله عنه is recorded as remarking that Allah protects His believing servant after death as He does in life. This detail should be read as part of the reported seerah narrative.

   Three men remained; when offered safety a second time, three came down and were bound; one then resisted the broken pledge and was killed, while the other two were taken toward Makkah. The two taken captive, Khubayb ibn ʿAdī رضي الله عنه and Zayd ibn ad-Dathinnah رضي الله عنه, were sold in Makkah for vengeance; the Bukhārī report specifically connects Khubayb رضي الله عنه with the killing of al-Ḥārith ibn ʿĀmir at Badr.

   Khubayb رضي الله عنه was held for a time before his execution was decided. The account of his captivity and execution is preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī's narration on the people of ar-Rajīʿ: a daughter of the household holding him reported that she once lent him a razor while her small son was with him, and when she feared for the child he reassured her that he would never harm him; she also reported seeing him eating from a bunch of grapes while bound, although there was no fruit of that kind in Makkah at the time. Before his execution, he asked for and was granted a brief respite to pray two rakʿahs, keeping them short so no one would think he prayed at length out of fear of death; he is reported as the first to establish this practice before execution.

   The Bukhārī report describes Khubayb's رضي الله عنه prayer and verses before his execution. The historical account adds details of the killing and a later attempt to recover his body. These additions are not all contained in the cited Ṣaḥīḥ report. His account is kept distinct from Zayd ibn ad-Dathinnah's رضي الله عنه death, and neither captive's actions are invented to fill a dramatic scene. The securely reported refusal to harm a child during captivity is already a substantial part of Khubayb's رضي الله عنه story.

   The well-known dialogue about not wishing even a thorn to harm the Prophet ﷺ is found in historical retellings, not the cited Bukhārī narration. Its attribution differs: the chapter text being consulted attaches it to Khubayb رضي الله عنه, while other retellings attach it to Zayd رضي الله عنه. This lesson therefore does not assign the dialogue to either man as a settled Ṣaḥīḥ fact. The two captives and their deaths remain distinct without using an uncertain attribution as the basis of a recall question.

3. Biʾr Maʿūnah and responsibility after mistaken retaliation

   Key lesson: Grief over murdered teachers did not cancel responsibility for people killed under protection.

   What happened

   In the same month, Abū Barāʾ, a tribal leader known as 'the spear player,' asked the Prophet ﷺ to send teachers to the people of Najd, promising to guarantee their safety himself; the Prophet ﷺ expressed concern that the people of Najd would kill them, but accepted the guarantee. Reports differ on the size of the group, with Ibn Isḥāq recording forty and other reports recording seventy, commanded by al-Mundhir ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه.

   The reciters were known for studying the Qur'an and supporting people in need. The source describes them gathering firewood during the day and studying at night; this is their regular life, not evidence that they carried out the same daily routine while travelling toward Najd. Their invitation concerned teaching, not a planned battle. Ṣaḥīḥ reports identify seventy reciters, while the historical account records a different number in Ibn Isḥāq's version. The difference is stated rather than hidden by presenting every version as identical.

   On reaching Biʾr Maʿūnah, a well between several tribal territories, they sent Ḥarām ibn Milḥān رضي الله عنه, brother of Umm Sulaym رضي الله عنها, with the Prophet's ﷺ message to ʿĀmir ibn aṭ-Ṭufayl. ʿĀmir had Ḥarām رضي الله عنه speared from behind without heeding the message; as Ḥarām رضي الله عنه saw his own blood, he is reported to have said, 'Allāhu akbar, by the Lord of the Kaʿbah, I have won.'

   ʿĀmir then called on Banū ʿĀmir to attack the rest of the group, but they refused because the party was under Abū Barāʾ's protection; he turned instead to clans of Banū Sulaym, ʿUṣayyah, Riʿl and Dhakwān, who surrounded and killed the Muslims until only one survivor, Kaʿb ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه, was carried wounded from the field; he was later killed at the Battle of the Trench.

   Two men, ʿAmr ibn Umayyah رضي الله عنه and an Anṣārī companion رضي الله عنه, who had been guarding the group's animals some distance away, saw birds circling the battlefield; the Anṣārī رضي الله عنه rushed to join the fight and was killed, while ʿAmr رضي الله عنه was captured and later released once his tribal affiliation was recognised.

   On his way back, ʿAmr رضي الله عنه killed two men of Banū Kilāb whom he met and believed responsible, in retaliation for his losses, without knowing they carried the Prophet's ﷺ guarantee of protection. When ʿAmr رضي الله عنه reported this to the Prophet ﷺ, he said, 'You have killed two men; their blood money is a debt I must discharge,' and set about collecting it from the Muslims and their treaty allies, including Banū an-Naḍīr. In the seerah account this specific act of compensation is the stated link to what followed with Banū an-Naḍīr; this is one account of the sequence of events, not a claim that every detail of causation is settled beyond dispute.

   Anas ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه reported the Prophet's ﷺ grief and supplication against those responsible for Biʾr Maʿūnah for a month. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4090 supports that account. Related reports describe words concerning the martyrs that were once recited and later withdrawn. They are not reproduced here as present Qur'anic verses, nor is their withdrawal presented as a proven cause for ending the month of supplication. The current Qur'an and the hadith's historical report must remain distinct.

4. Banū an-Naḍīr: plot, siege and departure

   Key lesson: Treat the episode as a particular broken agreement, preserving the disputed chronology.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ went with some companions, including Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه, ʿUmar رضي الله عنه and ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, to Banū an-Naḍīr to ask for help with the blood money owed to Banū Kilāb's allies under the terms of their standing treaty. While they sat against a wall of the settlement, some of the tribe discussed dropping a millstone on the Prophet ﷺ; one of them, ʿAmr ibn Jaḥsh, volunteered for the plan, while another, Salām ibn Mishkam, specifically cautioned against it, warning that it would both break their agreement and likely be revealed. This caution from within Banū an-Naḍīr shows the plot was the decision of specific individuals rather than the whole tribe acting with one voice.

   The Prophet ﷺ was warned of the plot and left before it could be carried out. He sent Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه with an ultimatum giving Banū an-Naḍīr ten days to leave Madinah. ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy urged them to refuse and promised them support along with help from Banū Qurayẓah and Banū Ghaṭafān, a promise addressed in Sūrat al-Ḥashr; their leader, Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab, refused to leave on this assurance.

   The book places Banū an-Naḍīr after Uḥud, in the fourth year, while other chronology places it earlier. This lesson follows the book's sequence and labels the dating disagreement rather than treating every source as unanimous. The siege's length also varies in the historical reports, with six nights and fifteen days both mentioned. The event and its discussion in Sūrat al-Ḥashr are not uncertain merely because historians disagree over the precise date or length of the siege.

   During the siege the Muslims cut down some of Banū an-Naḍīr's palm trees, a measure the Qur'an addresses directly in Sūrat al-Ḥashr, stating that whatever palm trees were cut down or left standing was by Allah's permission. The promised support from ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy, Banū Ghaṭafān and Banū Qurayẓah did not arrive.

   Facing the siege without the help they had been promised, Banū an-Naḍīr agreed to leave Madinah, taking with them whatever their camels could carry apart from weapons, and relocated mainly to Khaybar and to Syria. Sūrat al-Ḥashr discusses this expulsion at length, including the distribution of the resulting fayʾ property primarily among the Emigrants, since it was obtained without a cavalry battle and belonged to a different legal category than battlefield spoils.

5. Bedouin expeditions and the Badr appointment

   Key lesson: Deterrence and keeping an appointment did not always result in battle; expedition dating remains qualified.

   What happened

   In this same general period, the Prophet ﷺ led or sent expeditions to deter bedouin groups such as Banū Muḥārib and Thaʿlabah of Ghaṭafān from raiding Madinah; these were generally patrols that dispersed the tribesmen without major fighting. Some scholars have associated the campaign of Dhāt ar-Riqāʿ with Najd in this fourth year, but the more supported view places it later, after the conquest of Khaybar, since it is reported that Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه and Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī رضي الله عنه were present at it, and neither had yet joined the Prophet ﷺ at this point in the fourth year; this account therefore does not place Dhāt ar-Riqāʿ in the fourth year.

   In Shaʿbān of the fourth year, the Prophet ﷺ kept an appointment made the previous year at Uḥud to meet Quraysh again at Badr. He marched out with about fifteen hundred men. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه led his own force partway before turning back, giving the poor season as a reason in the historical account. The Muslims waited at Badr for eight days, trading in the market there, and returned to Madinah without a battle taking place; this meeting is known as the second Badr, or Badr al-Mawʿid, the appointed Badr, precisely because no fighting occurred.

   Taken together, this year's episodes show a pattern of trust broken by ambush at ar-Rajīʿ and at Biʾr Maʿūnah, answered by the Prophet ﷺ with measured responses: compensation honoured even for an unintended killing, an ultimatum rather than an immediate attack against Banū an-Naḍīr, and a kept appointment at Badr that required no battle at all.

5 AH · year 18 · 627 CE

The trench and Banū Qurayẓah

1. The confederates and digging the trench

   Key lesson: Consultation accepted useful outside experience; leadership shared hunger and labour.

   What happened

   After Banū an-Naḍīr were exiled to Khaybar, the book says their leaders watched the fighting between the Muslims and Quraysh and hoped it would go against the Muslims. When it did not, about twenty of their chiefs, with leading men of Banū an-Naḍīr, went to Makkah and urged Quraysh to attack Madinah, promising full support. Quraysh agreed. The same delegation then went to Ghaṭafān, who also agreed, and toured other tribes to win them over.

   Quraysh, Kinānah and their allies from Tihāmah gathered four thousand men under Abū Sufyān. From the east came Banū Sulaym, Ghaṭafān, Banū Murrah and others. They met near Madinah at an agreed time: about ten thousand fighters, more than all the Muslims of Madinah put together, including women, children and the elderly. The book notes that a surprise attack could have destroyed the Muslims, but scouts brought word of the army's movement in time.

   The Prophet ﷺ called his advisers together to plan the city's defence. Salmān رضي الله عنه al-Fārisī said that in Persia, when they feared a siege, they dug trenches to protect themselves. It was a method the Arabs did not use, and the Prophet ﷺ ordered it at once. Each group of ten men was given forty arm-lengths to dig. Madinah's other sides were protected by hills and palm orchards, so the trench was dug across the open northern side, where the army would have to come.

   The Muslims worked through severe hunger. The Prophet ﷺ worked with them, encouraging them and reminding them of the reward of the Hereafter. Sahl ibn Saʿd رضي الله عنه described the men digging while others carried the earth away on their backs. They dug by day and went home in the evening, for several days, until the trench was finished before the army arrived and camped at al-Asyāl and near Uḥud.

   Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنهما saw how hungry the Prophet ﷺ was, slaughtered a small sheep and prepared some barley, and quietly invited him with a few Companions. The Prophet ﷺ called everyone digging the trench, about a thousand people, and all of them ate until they were full, while the meat and the dough still being baked seemed not to have gone down. This is reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. The book also records a woman bringing a handful of dates that went on increasing on his cloak until everyone had eaten.

   When a hard rock stopped the digging, the Prophet ﷺ took the pickaxe himself. In a report from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib رضي الله عنه, recorded by Aḥmad and an-Nasāʾī, he struck it three times, saying Allāhu akbar each time. With the first strike he said he had been given the keys of Syria and could see its palaces; with the second, Persia and the white palace of al-Madāʾin; with the third, as the rock broke apart, Yemen and the gates of Ṣanʿāʾ. At that moment the Muslims were hungry and surrounded.

2. The siege and the threatened internal agreement

   Key lesson: External attack and an endangered agreement tested the community together.

   What happened

   When the believers saw the confederate army, Sūrat al-Aḥzāb says they said, 'This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us,' and it only increased their faith and submission. That is 33:22. Three thousand Muslims took position with Mount Salʿ behind them and the trench in front of them.

   The confederates were surprised by the trench. Unable to cross it, they set up a siege and rode along it looking for a weak point, while the Muslims kept them back with arrows. A small group of Quraysh horsemen led by ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Wudd, ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl and Ḍirār ibn al-Khaṭṭāb found a narrow place and crossed into the marshy ground between the trench and Mount Salʿ. ʿAmr challenged the Muslims to single combat. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه went out to him and killed him, and the others fled back. Later attempts to cross also failed.

   The fighting kept the Muslims so busy that some prayers were delayed. Jābir رضي الله عنه narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that ʿUmar رضي الله عنه came at sunset saying he had not yet prayed ʿAṣr, and the Prophet ﷺ said that he had not prayed it either. He made wuḍūʾ at Buṭḥān, prayed ʿAṣr after sunset and then Maghrib. He prayed against the confederates that Allah fill their houses and graves with fire for keeping them from the middle prayer. Reports in Aḥmad and ash-Shāfiʿī mention several prayers delayed and then prayed together, which suggests this happened on more than one day.

   Because the trench kept the two sides apart, there was little direct fighting. The book gives the dead as six Muslims and ten of the confederates. Among the wounded was Saʿd ibn Muʿādh رضي الله عنه, chief of al-Aws, struck by an arrow in a main vein of his arm. He prayed that if more fighting with Quraysh remained, Allah would keep him alive for it, and that he would not die until he had seen the matter of Banū Qurayẓah settled.

   Meanwhile, Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab of Banū an-Naḍīr went to Kaʿb ibn Asad, chief of Banū Qurayẓah, who had an agreement to support the Muslims in war. Kaʿb refused at first. Ḥuyayy described Quraysh and Ghaṭafān as united in wanting to end the Muslims, and promised to stay in Kaʿb's fortress and share his fate if they withdrew. In the end Kaʿb agreed and broke the agreement.

   Ibn Isḥāq reports that Ṣafiyyah bint ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib رضي الله عنها, the Prophet's ﷺ aunt, was in a fortified house with Ḥassān ibn Thābit رضي الله عنه, women and children, while the men were at the trench. A man of Banū Qurayẓah was seen going round it. She asked Ḥassān رضي الله عنه to go down and deal with him, and when he did not, she took a wooden post, went down and killed the man herself. The book says this made the attackers believe the houses were guarded, and they did not try again, though Banū Qurayẓah went on supplying the besiegers.

   The Prophet ﷺ sent Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah and Khawwāt ibn Jubayr رضي الله عنهم to find out whether the news of the broken agreement was true, telling them to speak in a way that would not frighten the people if it was. They found it true: Banū Qurayẓah openly said there was no agreement with him. Now the Muslims had an army in front of them, Banū Qurayẓah behind them, and their families in between. Sūrat al-Aḥzāb describes eyes turning wild, hearts reaching the throats, and the believers shaken with a severe shaking, in 33:10–11.

   The hypocrites mocked the promise of Persia and Rome, saying that Allah and His Messenger had promised them nothing but delusion. Some called on the people of Yathrib to go home, and some asked to leave, saying their houses were exposed, though they were not; Allah says they only wanted to run away. These words are recorded in 33:12–13.

   The Prophet ﷺ wrapped himself in his cloak and thought about the treachery of Banū Qurayẓah, then rose and said, 'Allāhu akbar. Good news, Muslims, of Allah's victory and help.' He sent men back to guard the women and children in the city. He also considered offering the chiefs of Ghaṭafān a third of Madinah's fruit harvest to break up the alliance, and asked Saʿd ibn Muʿādh and Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah رضي الله عنهما. They said that if it was Allah's command they would obey, but if it was a plan for their protection, they did not need it: they had known these tribes in their days of idol worship, and what the tribes wanted was not their fruit but to destroy them. Now that Allah had honoured them with Islam, they would answer with the sword. The Prophet ﷺ said he had only meant to protect them when all the Arabs had joined against them, and he left the idea.

3. Enemy division, wind and night reconnaissance

   Key lesson: The siege ended through enemy division and Allah's help rather than a pitched battle.

   What happened

   Then Nuʿaym ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه of Ghaṭafān came to the Prophet ﷺ secretly, said he had become Muslim without his people knowing, and asked how he could help. The Prophet ﷺ told him to do whatever he could to weaken the enemy. Nuʿaym رضي الله عنه told Banū Qurayẓah not to fight unless Quraysh gave them hostages, because Quraysh might leave and abandon them to the Muslims. He told Quraysh that Banū Qurayẓah regretted breaking their agreement and planned to hand Quraysh's hostages to the Muslims. He said the same to Ghaṭafān.

   On a Saturday eve in Shawwāl, Quraysh and Ghaṭafān sent word to Banū Qurayẓah to join the attack. Banū Qurayẓah replied that they would not fight on the Sabbath and wanted hostages first. To Quraysh and Ghaṭafān this proved Nuʿaym's رضي الله عنه warning, and they refused. The alliance now distrusted itself.

   The Muslims prayed for the safety of their homes and families. The Prophet ﷺ prayed, as recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 'O Allah, Revealer of the Book, swift in reckoning, defeat the confederates.' Allah sent a wind, cold and rain against them. Their tents were blown down and their cooking pots overturned.

   On that cold night the Prophet ﷺ sent Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān رضي الله عنه to bring news of the enemy. His account is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. He found them preparing to leave, having failed. Allah spared the Muslims a battle against an army far larger than their own. The book dates the siege from Shawwāl into Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the fifth year, a little over a month: a test of nerve more than of losses. After it the Prophet ﷺ said that from then on the Muslims would go out to them, and Quraysh would no longer come to attack them.

4. Banū Qurayẓah: siege and judgement

   Key lesson: The account connects judgement to a specific wartime breach; disputed household details remain qualified.

   What happened

   On the day he returned from the trench, while he was washing in the house of Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها, Jibrīl عليه السلام came and told him not to put down his weapons but to go to Banū Qurayẓah. The Prophet ﷺ had it announced, left Ibn Umm Maktūm رضي الله عنه in charge of Madinah, and gave the banner to ʿAlī رضي الله عنه. He followed with three thousand foot soldiers and thirty horsemen. On the way, ʿAṣr came: some Companions waited to pray it until they arrived, as he had told them, and others prayed it on time. He blamed neither group. This is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.

   The Muslims besieged the fortresses of Banū Qurayẓah. Their chief Kaʿb ibn Asad offered his people three choices: to accept Islam, since what they had read in their books confirmed his prophethood; to kill their own families and fight to the death; or to attack on the Sabbath, when no attack was expected. They refused all three. They asked for Abū Lubābah رضي الله عنه, who had been their ally, to advise them. Moved by their weeping, he pointed to his throat, signalling death. He realised at once that he had betrayed a trust, went straight to the mosque in Madinah and tied himself to a pillar, saying only the Prophet ﷺ could untie him. The Prophet ﷺ said that had Abū Lubābah رضي الله عنه come to him he would have asked forgiveness for him, but now it was for Allah to forgive him.

   Banū Qurayẓah had food, water and strong fortresses, while the Muslims were outside in the cold and hungry. But fear had entered the besieged, and when ʿAlī رضي الله عنه and az-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām رضي الله عنه advanced, ʿAlī رضي الله عنه swearing to take the fortress or die like Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه, they agreed to accept the Prophet's ﷺ judgement. The men were bound under the supervision of Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه and the women and children kept apart. Al-Aws, their old allies, asked for leniency, and the Prophet ﷺ proposed that Saʿd ibn Muʿādh رضي الله عنه, their former ally and a man of al-Aws, should decide, and they accepted.

   Saʿd رضي الله عنه was brought on a donkey because of his wound. On the way men of his tribe asked him to be gentle with his old allies. He said, 'The time has come for Saʿd not to fear the blame of anyone where Allah is concerned.' He ruled that the fighting men be killed, the women and children taken captive and the property divided. The Prophet ﷺ said he had judged by Allah's judgement; this is reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. The book gives the number executed as between six and seven hundred, and lists the weapons found: fifteen hundred swords, two thousand spears, three hundred coats of armour and five hundred shields.

   Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab, who had entered the fortress with Banū Qurayẓah as he had promised, was brought with his hands tied and said he did not regret his hostility, but that Allah's command must be carried out, and he was executed. Only one woman was executed, because she had killed the Muslim Khallād ibn Suwayd رضي الله عنه by dropping a millstone on him. A few men accepted Islam, and they kept their lives, families and property. The spoils were divided after the fifth was set aside: three shares for a horseman and one for a man on foot.

   Among the captives was Rayḥānah bint ʿAmr رضي الله عنها. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm says the Prophet ﷺ freed and married her in the sixth year and that she died after the Farewell Pilgrimage and was buried in al-Baqīʿ. Other early reports say she remained under his care without marriage, so this detail is not certain.

   Abū Lubābah رضي الله عنه stayed tied to the pillar for six nights, his wife untying him for each prayer. Then, the book says, a verse was revealed telling of Allah's forgiveness for him. People rushed to untie him, but he insisted that only the Prophet ﷺ should do it, and he did, just before Fajr. The siege had lasted twenty-five nights, in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of the fifth year, and Sūrat al-Aḥzāb was revealed about the believers, the hypocrites and the broken agreement.

   Saʿd's رضي الله عنه prayer was answered. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrated that his wound burst open in the tent the Prophet ﷺ had set up for him in the mosque so he could visit him easily, and the blood flowed until it reached the next tent, of Banū Ghifār, and he died. Jābir رضي الله عنه narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said the Throne of the Most Merciful shook at the death of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh; this is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. At-Tirmidhī records that when the hypocrites said his body was light, the Prophet ﷺ said the angels were carrying him.

5. The mission against Abū Rāfiʿ

   Key lesson: Even this authorised mission carried an explicit prohibition on harming women and children.

   What happened

   At the end of the year, the book places the killing of Salām ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq, known as Abū Rāfiʿ, in Khaybar. He had helped gather and pay for the confederate army and spoke against the Prophet ﷺ. Al-Khazraj asked permission to deal with him, as al-Aws had dealt with Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf, and the Prophet ﷺ allowed it on condition that no woman or child be harmed. Five men led by ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAtīk رضي الله عنه went. ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه entered the fortress at nightfall, reached Abū Rāfiʿ in the dark and killed him. Leaving, he fell and broke his leg, and waited until he heard the death announced. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī reports that the Prophet ﷺ wiped his leg and it was as if it had never been hurt. The book dates it to Dhū al-Qaʿdah or Dhū al-Ḥijjah of the fifth year.

   Taken together, the fifth year shows how the Muslims came through the greatest danger they had yet faced: careful consultation, accepting a good idea from Persia, the Prophet ﷺ sharing hunger and labour, and patience under siege. The victory came without a pitched battle, through division among the enemy and a wind sent by Allah. It also shows the cost of breaking an agreement in wartime, and that from then on Madinah was no longer waiting to be attacked.

6 AH · year 19 · 628 CE

The slander, and the treaty that looked like a defeat

1. Banū Bakr, a captive's release and Banū Liḥyān

   Key lesson: Release allowed a captive to respond freely; the Banū Liḥyān expedition found its opponents gone.

   What happened

   The year opened, in Muḥarram, with thirty riders under Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه sent against a clan of Banū Bakr. They returned with livestock and a captive: Thumāmah ibn Uthāl, chief of Banū Ḥanīfah. The book says he had set out on Musaylimah's orders to kill the Prophet ﷺ. He was tied to a pillar of the mosque. Each time the Prophet ﷺ asked him what he expected, he said: if you kill, you kill a man whose blood will be avenged; if you show kindness, you show it to a grateful man; if you want wealth, ask and you will be given it. On the third day the Prophet ﷺ had him released.

   Thumāmah went to a nearby palm grove, washed, came back and accepted Islam. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records his words: no face had been more hateful to him than the Prophet's ﷺ, and now none was dearer; no religion had been more hateful to him, and now none was dearer. He went on to Makkah for ʿumrah. When Quraysh accused him of abandoning his religion, he said he had become Muslim, and swore that not a grain of wheat would reach them from al-Yamāmah without the Prophet's ﷺ permission. He kept his word until the Makkans begged the Prophet ﷺ to intervene, and he did.

   In Rabīʿ al-Awwal or Jumādā al-Ūlā, the Prophet ﷺ went out with two hundred men against Banū Liḥyān, who had betrayed the ten Companions at ar-Rajīʿ. Their land lay near Makkah, and until Quraysh was weakened after the trench he had not gone so close. He set off as if heading for Syria, then turned to Baṭn Ghurān, where his Companions had been killed, and prayed for Allah's mercy on them. Banū Liḥyān had fled to the mountains. He sent ten riders towards Kurāʿ al-Ghamīm, near Quraysh, as a show of strength, and returned after fourteen days.

2. Al-Ghamr, Dhū al-Qaṣṣah, al-ʿĪṣ, Dūmat al-Jandal, Fadak and al-Khabaṭ

   Key lesson: Missions had varied outcomes; retain uncertain leadership and the source's qualified placement.

   What happened

   Many small missions went out that year. ʿUkkāshah ibn Miḥṣan رضي الله عنه went to al-Ghamr against Banū Asad, who fled leaving two hundred camels. A party under Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه was ambushed by a hundred men of Banū Thaʿlabah at Dhū al-Qaṣṣah, and all were killed except him, badly wounded. Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ رضي الله عنه then led forty men there by night; the tribe fled, and one wounded man later became Muslim. Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه led several missions; at Wādī al-Qurā in Rajab, nine of his twelve men were killed and he escaped.

   At al-ʿĪṣ in Jumādā al-Ūlā, Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه with a hundred and seventy riders took a Quraysh caravan led by Abū al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه, husband of the Prophet's ﷺ daughter Zaynab رضي الله عنها. He escaped to Madinah and asked Zaynab رضي الله عنها for protection. The Prophet ﷺ suggested, without forcing anyone, that his goods be returned, and the Companions returned all of it. Abū al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه went back to Makkah, handed every trust to its owner, accepted Islam and migrated, and the Prophet ﷺ returned Zaynab رضي الله عنها to him. The verse forbidding Muslim women to remain married to disbelievers had not yet come.

   In Shaʿbān, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf رضي الله عنه was sent to Banū Kalb at Dūmat al-Jandal. The Prophet ﷺ placed his hand on ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān's رضي الله عنه, prayed for him and told him to behave well. After three days of calling them, they accepted Islam, and he married the chief's daughter, Tumāḍir bint al-Aṣbagh. In the same month ʿAlī رضي الله عنه went to Fadak against Banū Saʿd ibn Bakr, who were gathering to help the Jews of Khaybar, and brought back five hundred camels and two thousand goats.

   The book also records an expedition to Wādī al-Qurā in Ramaḍān against Fazārah, led by Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه or by Zayd رضي الله عنه, after an attempt on the Prophet's ﷺ life linked to Umm Qirfah; a captive girl from it was later exchanged for Muslim prisoners in Makkah. Anas رضي الله عنه narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that men of ʿUraynah came claiming Islam, were sent to the camel pastures to recover their health, then killed the Prophet's ﷺ herdsman, abandoned Islam and drove off the camels. Twenty riders under Kurz ibn Jābir al-Fihrī رضي الله عنه caught them, and they were punished severely for what they had done. Biographers also report a failed mission to kill Abū Sufyān after he had sent a bedouin to kill the Prophet ﷺ. The book notes that none of these involved heavy fighting.

   The book places the Army of al-Khabaṭ before Ḥudaybiyah. Abū ʿUbaydah رضي الله عنه led three hundred men to watch a Quraysh caravan. Food ran so short that they ate tree leaves, which gave the expedition its name. The sea then cast up a huge whale, and they lived on it for half a month. When they told the Prophet ﷺ, he said it was provision Allah had brought out for them and asked them for some of its meat. This is reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.

3. Banū al-Muṣṭaliq and tensions on the return

   Key lesson: Reject factional calls that turn a quarrel into communal rivalry; preserve the campaign's dating qualification.

   What happened

   ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy had resented Islam since its arrival had cost him the leadership of al-Aws and al-Khazraj. After Badr he claimed to be Muslim. Before Friday sermons he would stand and tell people to support and obey the Messenger, mockingly. After Uḥud, when he did this again, men pulled him down by his cloak, and he left complaining. When a man of the Anṣār told him to go back and ask the Prophet ﷺ to pray for his forgiveness, he said he did not want that.

   The book adds that after the trench, the Prophet ﷺ married Zaynab bint Jaḥsh رضي الله عنها after her marriage to Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه ended, and the hypocrites spread talk against it, since Arab custom forbade marrying an adopted son's former wife. Sūrat al-Aḥzāb answered them, beginning with the command to fear Allah and not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites.

   In Shaʿbān, news came that al-Ḥārith ibn Ḍirār, chief of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq, was gathering men to attack Madinah. Buraydah ibn al-Ḥuṣayb رضي الله عنه went and confirmed it. The Prophet ﷺ set out, leaving Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه in charge of Madinah. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه carried the banner of the Emigrants and Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah رضي الله عنه that of the Anṣār. The armies met at the well of al-Muraysīʿ. After an hour of arrows the Muslims charged and won. One Muslim was killed, by mistake, by a man of the Anṣār.

   Among the captives was Juwayriyah bint al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنها, daughter of the chief. The Prophet ﷺ married her, and the Muslims freed a hundred households of her people, saying they were now the Prophet's ﷺ in-laws. The book says they were freed and accepted Islam.

   On the way home, a quarrel at the water between a man of the Emigrants and a man of the Anṣār almost became a fight, each calling on his own side. The Prophet ﷺ called it the call of the days of ignorance. Ibn Ubayy said that when they returned to Madinah, the more honourable would drive out the lowly, and that feeding a dog only makes it turn on you. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه asked to kill him. The Prophet ﷺ refused, saying people must not say that Muḥammad kills his Companions. Instead he ordered the march at once and kept going until the next day's heat, so tiredness ended the talk. Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn records Ibn Ubayy's words.

   At Madinah, Ibn Ubayy's own son, ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه, drew his sword and blocked his father from entering until he admitted that he was the lowly one and the Prophet ﷺ the honourable one. It is also reported that the son offered to kill his father himself if the Prophet ﷺ wished it.

4. The slander and vindication

   Key lesson: Repeating an accusation without proof can deeply harm innocent people.

   What happened

   On that same return, the army stopped for a night near Madinah. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها went out from the camp, and coming back found that a borrowed necklace was missing. She went to look for it. While she was gone, the army moved on with her litter, the men thinking she was inside, because she was young and light. She sat down where the camp had been, cried, and fell asleep. Ṣafwān ibn al-Muʿaṭṭal رضي الله عنه, coming at the rear, recognised her, made his camel kneel for her without a word, and walked leading it to Madinah. Her own account is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.

   Ibn Ubayy and the hypocrites spread a slander about her, and a few Muslims repeated it. The Prophet ﷺ consulted his Companions; their advice differed. Al-Aws and al-Khazraj almost came to blows in the mosque until the Prophet ﷺ calmed them. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها, who knew nothing, was ill for a month. When she learned of it, she went to her parents' house and wept for two days and a night without sleep.

   The Prophet ﷺ came to her, bore witness to Allah's oneness, and said that if she was innocent Allah would clear her, and if she had done wrong she should seek Allah's forgiveness. Her tears stopped. She asked her parents to answer for her, but they did not know what to say. So she said that if she declared her innocence they would not believe her, and if she admitted something Allah knew she had not done they would believe her; she could only say what the father of Yūsuf عليه السلام said: patience is best, and Allah is the One whose help is sought. That is 12:18.

   Then revelation came. Sūrat an-Nūr declared her innocence, beginning at 24:11, and she praised Allah. Misṭaḥ ibn Uthāthah, Ḥassān ibn Thābit and Ḥamnah bint Jaḥsh رضي الله عنهم received eighty lashes for the false accusation. Ibn Ubayy was not lashed. The book suggests this was either because he did not deserve the punishment wiping away his sin, or for the same reason he had not been killed. His standing among his own people fell. About a month later the Prophet ﷺ told ʿUmar رضي الله عنه that had he killed Ibn Ubayy, many would have been outraged, but now his own people would do it if asked. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه said the Prophet's ﷺ judgement was wiser than his.

5. Ḥudaybiyah: envoys, pledge and treaty

   Key lesson: Avoiding provocation and negotiating peace required restraint under painful terms.

   What happened

   In Dhū al-Qaʿdah, the Prophet ﷺ saw in a dream that he and his Companions entered the Sacred Mosque in safety, performing ʿumrah, some shaving their heads and some shortening their hair. He set out with his wife Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها and, in the book's figure, fifteen hundred Companions; the book later gives fourteen hundred, and reports differ. Some bedouins made excuses and stayed behind. They carried only sheathed swords. Ibn Umm Maktūm رضي الله عنه was left in charge of Madinah. At Dhū al-Ḥulayfah the sacrificial animals were marked and everyone entered iḥrām.

   A scout reported that Quraysh had gathered a large force to block the road. The Companions advised that they fight no one unless prevented from the House. Quraysh sent two hundred horsemen under Khālid ibn al-Walīd to strike during Ẓuhr, but the prayer of fear was revealed and the chance passed. The Muslims took a hard, rocky route instead. At Thaniyyat al-Murār the Prophet's ﷺ camel knelt and would not move. He said that he would accept any plan they offered that honoured what Allah had made sacred. The camel rose, and they camped at the far edge of Ḥudaybiyah beside a well with little water. He placed an arrow from his quiver in it, and water rose until all drank.

   Envoys came. Budayl ibn Warqāʾ of Khuzāʿah was told the Prophet ﷺ had come only for ʿumrah, not war. Then came Mikraz ibn Ḥafṣ, and then al-Ḥulays ibn ʿAlqamah, who was struck by their devotion to the House and warned Quraysh not to turn away people who had come to honour the House. Then ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd ath-Thaqafī came. He told the Prophet ﷺ that these mixed people would desert him. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه answered him sharply, and al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah رضي الله عنه told him to keep his hand away from the Prophet's ﷺ beard. ʿUrwah told Quraysh he had visited Chosroes, Caesar and the Negus, and had never seen a king honoured by his people as Muḥammad ﷺ was by his Companions. He advised them to accept the offer.

   Some young men of Quraysh tried to provoke a fight by slipping into the camp. Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه, head of the guard, captured them, and the Prophet ﷺ released them. Sūrat al-Fatḥ 48:24 refers to Allah holding back their hands and the Muslims' hands near Makkah.

   The Prophet ﷺ asked ʿUmar رضي الله عنه to go to Quraysh. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه said he had no clan in Makkah to protect him, and suggested ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه, whose family was powerful there. ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه told the leaders the Muslims had come only to visit the House, and carried good news to the believers hidden in Makkah. Quraysh offered to let him perform ṭawāf alone. He refused while the Prophet ﷺ was kept out. He was delayed, and word spread that he had been killed.

   The Companions then pledged themselves to the Prophet ﷺ under a tree, promising not to run. This was the Pledge of Riḍwān. The book names Abū Sinān al-Asadī رضي الله عنه as the first, and Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ رضي الله عنه as pledging three times. The Prophet ﷺ struck one hand on the other on behalf of ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه. Allah says in 48:18 that He was pleased with the believers when they pledged to him under the tree.

   Quraysh sent Suhayl ibn ʿAmr to make peace. The terms were: the Muslims would return this year and come back next year for three days only, with swords sheathed; there would be no war for ten years; anyone who came from Quraysh to Muḥammad ﷺ without his guardian's permission would be returned, but anyone who went from him to Quraysh would not; and any tribe could ally with either side. Khuzāʿah then joined the Prophet's ﷺ side, and Banū Bakr joined Quraysh.

   ʿAlī رضي الله عنه wrote the document. When he wrote Bismillāh ir-Raḥmān ir-Raḥīm, Suhayl said he did not know ar-Raḥmān and asked for the old form, 'In Your name, O Allah', and the Prophet ﷺ agreed. When it said 'Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah', Suhayl said that if they accepted him as Messenger they would not have fought him. The Prophet ﷺ rubbed out the words himself and dictated 'Muḥammad, son of ʿAbdullāh'.

   While it was being written, Suhayl's son Abū Jandal رضي الله عنه arrived in chains, having escaped. Suhayl demanded him back as the first test of the treaty. The Prophet ﷺ said it had not yet been signed; Suhayl said the terms had been agreed. Abū Jandal رضي الله عنه cried out asking whether he would be returned to people who would turn him from his religion. The Prophet ﷺ told him to be patient, that Allah would make a way out for him and those with him, and that they had given their word and would not break it. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه walked beside Abū Jandal رضي الله عنه urging him to use the sword on his father, but he did not, and he was taken back.

6. Responding to the treaty and its results

   Key lesson: Wise counsel helped overcome grief; the treaty's results differed from first appearances.

   What happened

   ʿUmar رضي الله عنه could not hold back his distress. He asked the Prophet ﷺ whether he was not truly Allah's Messenger, and whether they were not in the right. The Prophet ﷺ said he was Allah's Messenger, would not disobey Him, and Allah would help him. When ʿUmar رضي الله عنه asked whether he had not said they would go to the House, the Prophet ﷺ said he had not said it would be this year. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه went to Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه, who gave the same answer. This exchange is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه later did many good deeds to make up for how he had spoken.

   When the treaty was done, the Prophet ﷺ told the Companions three times to sacrifice their animals and shave, and no one moved, so heavy was their grief. He told Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها, who advised him to go out, say nothing, sacrifice his own animal and shave. He did, and they all followed, almost crowding each other in their distress. He prayed three times for those who shaved and once for those who shortened their hair. A camel or a cow served for seven men. He sacrificed a camel that had belonged to Abū Jahl.

   Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah رضي الله عنه, ill and suffering from lice in his hair, was allowed to shave in iḥrām, paying by sacrificing a sheep, fasting three days or feeding six poor people, as 2:196 sets out. After the treaty, some believing women came from Makkah. When their families demanded them, they were not returned; Sūrat al-Mumtaḥanah 60:10 tells the believers to test them and not send believing women back. The book gives two explanations: the treaty covered only men, or the verse overruled it for women. Muslims were also told to end marriages to disbelievers, and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه divorced two wives from before Islam.

   On the way home Sūrat al-Fatḥ was revealed, opening with 'We have given you a clear victory'. The Prophet ﷺ sent for ʿUmar رضي الله عنه to tell him. The book explains the victory: Quraysh had recognised the Muslims as an equal party, and with war stopped, people met and talked. In the two years after the treaty, more people entered Islam than in all the years before; the Prophet ﷺ came to Ḥudaybiyah with fourteen hundred and to Makkah two years later with ten thousand.

   The return clause also turned out differently from how it looked. Abū Baṣīr رضي الله عنه escaped to Madinah and was handed back to two men from Quraysh. On the way he killed one, and the other fled back to Madinah. Abū Baṣīr رضي الله عنه understood he would be returned again, so he went to Sayf al-Baḥr on the coast. Abū Jandal رضي الله عنه and others escaping Makkah joined him, and they attacked Quraysh's caravans until Quraysh begged the Prophet ﷺ, by Allah and by their family ties, to take them in, giving up the clause themselves.

   The book closes the period with the coming of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, Khālid ibn al-Walīd and ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنهم to Islam early in the seventh year, and the Prophet ﷺ saying that Makkah had given them its own dear ones. Taken together, the sixth year shows a community tested from inside by slander and from outside by a treaty that seemed a loss. Both were answered by patience and by revelation, and a promise kept to the letter opened the way for many more people to hear Islam.

7 AH · year 20 · 629 CE

Khaybar and the ʿumrah kept to the letter

1. Letters to rulers after the truce

   Key lesson: Peace opened wider communication; letters and responses retain their individual dating qualifications.

   What happened

   The book explains that the treaty of Ḥudaybiyah took Quraysh out of the war. Of the three enemies who had joined at the trench, Quraysh, the tribes of Najd and the Jews, only the last two remained, and Khaybar had become their centre. The truce also allowed the call to Islam to go beyond Arabia. Late in the sixth year, on his return from Ḥudaybiyah, the Prophet ﷺ decided to write to kings and rulers. A silver ring was made as a seal, engraved 'Muḥammad, Messenger of Allah'. The envoys were chosen for their experience and set out in Muḥarram of the seventh year, a few days before Khaybar.

   ʿAmr ibn Umayyah aḍ-Ḍamrī رضي الله عنه carried a letter to the Negus, Aṣḥamah, king of Abyssinia. The book notes that one version of the letter mentions sending Jaʿfar رضي الله عنه, so it may belong to the Makkan years, and that the date of the letter is not certain. It reports that the Negus placed the letter on his eyes, came down from his throne, accepted Islam and wrote back that ʿĪsā عليه السلام was no more than what the Prophet ﷺ had said of him. At the Prophet's ﷺ request he sent Jaʿfar رضي الله عنه and the remaining emigrants home. The Negus died in Rajab of the ninth year, and the Prophet ﷺ announced his death and prayed the funeral prayer for him in his absence.

   Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah رضي الله عنه took a letter to al-Muqawqis, ruler of Egypt and Alexandria. Ḥāṭib رضي الله عنه told him that a man before him had claimed to be the highest lord, and Allah had made an example of him, so he should learn from others rather than become a lesson for them. Al-Muqawqis said this prophet called to nothing evil and was neither a magician nor a liar, and kept the letter in an ivory box, but he did not accept Islam. He sent gifts, including two young women of noble Coptic families. One, Māriyah رضي الله عنها, stayed with the Prophet ﷺ and became the mother of his son Ibrāhīm; the other, Sīrīn, was given to Ḥassān ibn Thābit رضي الله عنه.

   ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥudhāfah as-Sahmī رضي الله عنه carried the letter to Chosroes, king of Persia. Angry that the Prophet's ﷺ name came before his own, Chosroes tore it up and ordered Bādhān, his governor in Yemen, to send two men to arrest him. When they reached Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ told them that Chosroes had been killed by his own son. A letter from the new king soon confirmed it and told Bādhān to wait. Bādhān and the Persians in Yemen then accepted Islam.

   Diḥyah al-Kalbī رضي الله عنه took the letter to Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor, through the governor of Buṣrā. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, from Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما, records that Heraclius summoned Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه, then trading in Syria during the truce, and questioned him about the Prophet ﷺ before his companions, who were told to contradict any lie. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه admitted that the Prophet ﷺ came from a noble family, that no one before him in his family had been king, that his followers were mostly the weak and were growing, that none left his religion out of dislike for it, that he did not lie or betray, and that he commanded prayer, honesty, chastity and keeping family ties.

   Heraclius said that if this was true, the man would one day rule the ground beneath his own feet, and that if he could reach him he would wash his feet. The court grew noisy and the visitors were sent out. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه later said that from then on he was sure the Prophet ﷺ would prevail, until Allah brought him to Islam. Heraclius himself did not accept Islam. On Diḥyah's رضي الله عنه way back, men of Judhām robbed him; Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه was sent against them with five hundred men, but when their chief, who had become Muslim, complained, the Prophet ﷺ had the captives and goods returned.

   Al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḥaḍramī رضي الله عنه went to al-Mundhir ibn Sāwā, ruler of Bahrain, who accepted Islam and asked how to treat the Magians and Jews of his land; he was told that those who kept their religion would pay the jizyah. Salīṭ ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه went to Hawdhah, ruler of al-Yamāmah, who said he would follow if he were given a share of rule; the Prophet ﷺ refused. Shujāʿ ibn Wahb رضي الله عنه went to al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Shamir al-Ghassānī in Damascus, who threw the letter down and threatened war. The book says the letter carried by ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه to the brothers Jayfar and ʿAbd in Oman was probably sent much later, after the conquest of Makkah; both accepted Islam.

2. Dhū Qarad: pursuit and recovery

   Key lesson: Courage in pursuit remained subject to restraint when the immediate objective was achieved.

   What happened

   Three days before Khaybar, according to most scholars, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān al-Fazārī raided the Prophet's ﷺ camels at their pasture and killed the man looking after them. Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ رضي الله عنه, who was nearby, shouted three times towards Madinah for help, then chased the raiders on foot, shooting arrows and calling out, 'I am the son of al-Akwaʿ.' He took back every camel, and they dropped more than thirty cloaks and thirty spears to run faster. His account is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.

   The Prophet's ﷺ riders arrived. Akhram رضي الله عنه was killed by ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān, and Abū Qatādah رضي الله عنه then killed ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān. Salamah رضي الله عنه drove the raiders from the water at Dhū Qarad before they could drink, and asked for a hundred men to finish them. The Prophet ﷺ said, 'Ibn al-Akwaʿ, you have won, so be gentle,' since they had reached Ghaṭafān. He said their best rider that day was Abū Qatādah رضي الله عنه and their best man on foot was Salamah رضي الله عنه, gave Salamah رضي الله عنه both shares, and let him ride behind him on his camel al-ʿAḍbāʾ back to Madinah.

3. Khaybar: approach and operations against the forts

   Key lesson: The stated aim included guidance; differing accounts of how forts fell must remain distinct.

   What happened

   Khaybar lay roughly sixty to eighty miles north of Madinah, a wide land of forts and farms. The book describes it as the centre that had joined the confederates, encouraged Banū Qurayẓah to break their agreement and kept contact with Ghaṭafān. It notes that commentators link Khaybar to Allah's promise of many spoils in 48:20. Because 48:15 said those who had stayed behind from Ḥudaybiyah would ask to come only for the spoils, the Prophet ﷺ took only those willing to strive: the fourteen hundred who had pledged at Ḥudaybiyah. Sibāʿ ibn ʿUrfuṭah al-Ghifārī رضي الله عنه was left in charge of Madinah, and Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه accepted Islam around this time.

   ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy sent word to Khaybar to warn them. They sent Kinānah ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq and Hawdhah ibn Qays to ask Ghaṭafān for help, offering half of Khaybar's fruit. The Prophet ﷺ camped at ar-Rajīʿ, between Khaybar and Ghaṭafān, so that Ghaṭafān could not reach them.

   On the way, Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ رضي الله عنه narrated that his brother ʿĀmir رضي الله عنه chanted verses for the camels: 'O Allah, without You we would not have been guided, nor given charity, nor prayed.' The Prophet ﷺ asked who it was and said, 'May Allah have mercy on him.' A man said martyrdom was now his, since the Companions knew this prayer from him meant that. When the army shouted Allāhu akbar loudly in a valley, he told them to be gentle with themselves, for they were not calling one who was deaf or absent, but One who hears and is near. At aṣ-Ṣahbāʾ he gathered their little food, and it was enough for all.

   They reached Khaybar at dawn as its people came out with spades and baskets, who cried, 'Muḥammad and his army!' The Prophet ﷺ said, 'Allāhu akbar, Khaybar is ruined. When we arrive in a people's land, evil is the morning of those who were warned.' Al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir رضي الله عنه advised moving the camp to a better place, and the Prophet ﷺ agreed. Before entering he prayed to the Lord of the seven heavens and the seven earths for the good of the town and its people, and for protection from its evil.

   He said he would give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger and whom Allah and His Messenger love. The next morning everyone hoped for it, but he called ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه, whose eyes were sore. When ʿAlī رضي الله عنه said he would fight them until they were like the Muslims, the Prophet ﷺ told him to go calmly, call them to Islam and tell them their duties to Allah, for if Allah guided even one man through him, that would be better for him than the finest red camels. This is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.

   Khaybar had two parts. The first held the forts of Nāʿim, aṣ-Ṣaʿb ibn Muʿādh, the fort of az-Zubayr, Ubayy, and an-Nizār in ash-Shiqq; the second, al-Katībah, held al-Qamūṣ, al-Waṭīḥ and as-Sulālim. At Nāʿim, Marḥab challenged the Muslims. ʿĀmir ibn al-Akwaʿ رضي الله عنه met him, but his own sword rebounded onto his knee and he died of the wound; the Prophet ﷺ said, joining two fingers, that he had a double reward. ʿAlī رضي الله عنه then killed Marḥab, as the book and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim report; Ibn Isḥāq names Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه instead. Az-Zubayr رضي الله عنه killed Marḥab's brother Yāsir. After days of fighting, the defenders moved to aṣ-Ṣaʿb.

   Al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir رضي الله عنه led the attack on aṣ-Ṣaʿb, which fell after three days with much food, after the Prophet ﷺ prayed for Banū Aslam. When hungry soldiers cooked domestic donkeys, he ordered the pots emptied and washed, forbidding that meat. The fort of az-Zubayr held out three days until a man told the Prophet ﷺ of its hidden water channel; when it was cut, the defenders came out to fight and lost. At the fort of Ubayy, Abū Dujānah رضي الله عنه led the way in. An-Nizār, on high ground, held the women and children; the Muslims broke its walls with siege engines and the defenders fled. The first part of Khaybar had fallen.

   Al-Katībah was besieged for fourteen days. As the siege engines were brought up, its people asked to negotiate. Ibn Isḥāq says al-Qamūṣ was taken by force; al-Wāqidī says all three forts were surrendered by agreement. Ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq came to make terms: their lives would be spared if they left Khaybar with their families, leaving their gold and silver, and the agreement would not protect anyone who hid anything.

4. Khaybar's settlement, returning migrants, Fadak and Wādī al-Qurā

   Key lesson: Settlement included farming arrangements and household changes; disputed punitive details require caution.

   What happened

   Some did hide treasure: a leather bag of jewels and wealth that Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab had brought from Madinah. The book names Kinānah ibn ar-Rabīʿ of the family of Abū al-Ḥuqayq, who denied it until it was found and was executed for breaking the terms, along with others of that family. Ṣafiyyah bint Ḥuyayy رضي الله عنها, whose husband Kinānah had been killed, was among the captives.

   The people of Khaybar then asked to stay and farm the land, which they knew well, for half the harvest. The Prophet ﷺ agreed. He divided Khaybar into thirty-six shares: half kept for the community's needs and for the delegations that had begun coming to Madinah, and half for those who had been at Ḥudaybiyah, present or absent. Of the fourteen hundred, two hundred were riders, and a rider received three shares. Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما said they never ate their fill until Khaybar, and ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها said that now they could eat their fill of dates. The Emigrants returned to the Anṣār the gifts they had received.

   At this time Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه arrived from Abyssinia with his companions, sixteen men with their wives and children on two boats, together with Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī رضي الله عنه. Abū Mūsā رضي الله عنه said, in a report in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, that he and more than fifty of his people had set sail from Yemen, been carried to Abyssinia, and stayed there with Jaʿfar رضي الله عنه until they were called home, and that the Prophet ﷺ gave them a share of Khaybar though they arrived after it.

   Diḥyah al-Kalbī رضي الله عنه had asked for a captive and chosen Ṣafiyyah رضي الله عنها. Companions said that as the daughter of a chief of Banū Qurayẓah and Banū an-Naḍīr she should be with the Prophet ﷺ. He offered her Islam, freed her when she accepted, and married her, and the wedding meal of dates and fat was held on the way back at Sadd aṣ-Ṣahbāʾ.

   After the conquest, Zaynab bint al-Ḥārith, a Jewish woman, served the Prophet ﷺ a roasted sheep she had poisoned. He took a mouthful and spat it out. She admitted it, saying that if he were a king they would be rid of him, and if he were a prophet he would be told. He did not punish her for the attempt on himself, but she was executed when Bishr ibn al-Barāʾ رضي الله عنه died from the poison, the book says. The book gives sixteen to eighteen Muslims killed at Khaybar and ninety-three of its defenders.

   The people of Fadak, north of Khaybar, then asked for peace on similar terms. Because no horses or camels had been ridden against it, Fadak belonged to the Prophet ﷺ alone. He went on to Wādī al-Qurā, where four banners were given to Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir, ʿAbbād ibn Bishr and Sahl ibn Ḥunayf رضي الله عنهم. Its people refused Islam and fought for about two days; with each of their eleven dead the call was renewed, until they surrendered and kept their land on Khaybar's terms. The Jews of Taymāʾ made peace and agreed to pay tribute without fighting. He returned to Madinah in late Ṣafar or early Rabīʿ al-Awwal. Abān ibn Saʿīd رضي الله عنه had been sent to keep bedouin raiders away from Madinah meanwhile.

5. Dhāt ar-Riqāʿ and related smaller missions

   Key lesson: Do not claim knowledge of a person's heart after a profession of faith; expedition dating remains disputed.

   What happened

   The book places the expedition of Dhāt ar-Riqāʿ in the seventh year. Hearing that Banū Muḥārib and Banū Thaʿlabah of Ghaṭafān were gathering, the Prophet ﷺ went into Najd with four hundred or seven hundred men, leaving Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه, or in another report ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه, in charge. At Nakhlah they met Ghaṭafān, but no fighting took place, and he led them in the prayer of fear. Abū Mūsā رضي الله عنه said in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī that six of them shared one camel, and their feet were so injured that his nails fell out, so they wrapped them in rags, which is why it was called Dhāt ar-Riqāʿ, 'the one with rags'.

   Jābir رضي الله عنه narrated that during it the Prophet ﷺ rested under a tree and hung up his sword. A man of the idol worshippers took it and asked, 'Who will protect you from me?' He said, 'Allah.' In one report the sword fell from the man's hand. The man promised never to fight him or join those who did, and the Prophet ﷺ let him go; he told his people he had come from the best of people. On the same expedition, ʿAbbād ibn Bishr رضي الله عنه, on guard at night, was struck by arrows while praying and did not stop. He woke ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir رضي الله عنهما afterwards, explaining he had not wanted to cut short the sūrah he was reciting.

   Several smaller missions followed. Ghālib ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Laythī رضي الله عنه led raids against Banū al-Mulawwaḥ and later others. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه took thirty men to Turabah against Hawāzin, who fled. Bashīr ibn Saʿd رضي الله عنه lost all thirty of his men near Fadak and survived wounded. On one mission Usāmah ibn Zayd رضي الله عنهما killed a man after he had said there is no god but Allah, and the Prophet ﷺ asked him whether he had split open the man's heart to know if he meant it. A mission under ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنه to Usayr ibn Rizām ended in fighting in which Usayr and his men were killed. Bashīr ibn Saʿd رضي الله عنه also led three hundred men to Yumn and Jabār, where the gathering scattered.

6. The compensatory ʿumrah and subsequent missions

   Key lesson: The promised visit was completed within the agreed limit; later missions met mixed outcomes.

   What happened

   In Dhū al-Qaʿdah, the Prophet ﷺ set out for the postponed ʿumrah, especially with those who had been at Ḥudaybiyah: two thousand men besides women and children, with sixty camels for sacrifice. They carried weapons in case of treachery but left them with two hundred men about eight miles from Makkah, entering with swords sheathed, the Prophet ﷺ on his camel al-Qaṣwāʾ and the Companions saying the talbiyah. Quraysh had left the town for the hills.

   Quraysh had said the Muslims were weakened by the fever of Yathrib, so the Prophet ﷺ told them to show strength: they ran briskly in the first three circuits of the Kaʿbah and walked the rest. This brisk walk, ramal, remains part of ṭawāf. Quraysh watched from Mount Quʿayqiʿān. ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنه walked before the Prophet ﷺ reciting verses. After walking between aṣ-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, they sacrificed at al-Marwah and shaved. Then the men guarding the weapons were relieved so that they could perform the ʿumrah too.

   On the morning of the fourth day, Quraysh's leaders asked ʿAlī رضي الله عنه to tell the Prophet ﷺ to leave, as the treaty allowed three days. He left at once and stopped at Sarif. During this visit his uncle al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه offered the hand of Maymūnah bint al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنها, and the marriage took place at Sarif. The book notes the ʿumrah has several names, including the ʿumrah of completion and the ʿumrah of the agreement.

   After the ʿumrah, smaller missions met mixed results: Ibn Abī al-ʿAwjāʾ رضي الله عنه took fifty men to Banū Sulaym, who refused Islam and fought, and he was wounded; Ghālib ibn ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنه went to Fadak with two hundred; and Kaʿb ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه went with fifteen men to Quḍāʿah, who refused Islam and killed all but one.

   Taken together, the seventh year shows the truce bearing fruit: letters carried Islam to rulers far beyond Arabia, Khaybar ended as a centre of war against Madinah, and a promised ʿumrah was completed exactly as agreed. Even in victory the stated aim at Khaybar, given to ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, was guidance rather than plunder.

8 AH · year 21 · 630 CE

The conquest of Makkah

1. Early missions and Muʾtah

   Key lesson: Prepared succession sustained command after heavy losses; opposing army totals are not exact counts.

   What happened

   The book records a few small missions early in the year, including Shujāʿ ibn Wahb al-Asadī رضي الله عنه with twenty-five men against Hawāzin in Rabīʿ al-Awwal, where there was no resistance. Then came Muʾtah, in Jumādā al-Ūlā, which the book calls the fiercest battle of the Prophet's ﷺ lifetime. He had sent al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUmayr al-Azdī رضي الله عنه with a letter to the ruler of Buṣrā. On the way Shuraḥbīl ibn ʿAmr al-Ghassānī, governor of al-Balqāʾ and an ally of the Byzantine emperor, had him tied and beheaded. Killing an envoy was among the worst crimes known to the Arabs, and amounted to a declaration of war.

   The Prophet ﷺ gathered three thousand men, the largest Muslim army yet apart from the trench. He named Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه as commander; if Zayd رضي الله عنه was killed, Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه; and if Jaʿfar رضي الله عنه was killed, ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنه. Zayd رضي الله عنه was given a white banner. They were to go to where al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنه had been killed and call the people to Islam, fighting only if they refused. He told them to fight in Allah's name, not to break agreements or betray, not to kill a child, a woman, an old man or a monk, and not to cut down trees or destroy houses.

   As the army left, ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنه wept. He said it was not love of this world, but a verse he had heard the Prophet ﷺ recite: that every one of us will pass over the Fire, a decree from your Lord that must be fulfilled. That is 19:71.

   At Maʿān, on the edge of Syria, news came that Heraclius had gathered a hundred thousand troops, with another hundred thousand from the allied Arab tribes of Lakhm, Judhām and Balqayn. The Muslims spent two nights deciding what to do; some wanted to write to the Prophet ﷺ for orders. ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنه told them that what they now feared, martyrdom, was what they had come out for, that they did not fight by numbers or equipment but by the faith Allah had honoured them with, and that either victory or martyrdom was good. They went on to Mashārif and then camped at Muʾtah.

   Three thousand faced an army many times their size. Zayd رضي الله عنه fought until he fell. Jaʿfar رضي الله عنه took the banner, got down from his horse and fought on foot. When his right hand was cut off he held it with his left, and when that was cut off he held it with his arms until he was killed. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records more than fifty wounds on him, none in his back. He became known as Jaʿfar of the two wings, because Allah gave him two wings in Paradise. Then ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنه took the banner and fought until he too was killed.

   Thābit ibn Aqram رضي الله عنه picked up the banner and called on the Muslims to choose a leader, and they chose Khālid ibn al-Walīd رضي الله عنه. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī reports that nine swords broke in his hand that day. He rearranged the army, moving the right and left wings and bringing men forward from the rear, so that the Byzantines thought fresh troops had arrived. Then he withdrew the army gradually and in order. Fearing a trap in the desert, the Byzantines did not follow, and the army came home with twelve dead. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī also reports that the Prophet ﷺ told the people in Madinah of the three commanders' deaths, with his eyes full of tears, before any news arrived, and said that a sword from among the swords of Allah had then taken the banner.

   The book says that although Muʾtah did not avenge al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنه, it gave the Muslims great standing. Tribes such as Banū Sulaym, Ashjaʿ, Ghaṭafān, Dhubyān and Fazārah entered Islam after it. In Jumādā al-Ākhirah, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه, whose grandmother was from the tribe of Balī, led three hundred men with thirty riders to Dhāt as-Salāsil, ten days north of Madinah, to separate the Arab tribes there from the Byzantines. He asked for help, and Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ رضي الله عنه came with two hundred, among them Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه, told to cooperate and not disagree. When Abū ʿUbaydah رضي الله عنه went to lead the prayer, ʿAmr رضي الله عنه said he was only there to help, and ʿAmr led. They scattered Quḍāʿah. In Shaʿbān, Abū Qatādah رضي الله عنه took fifteen men to Khaḍirah against Ghaṭafān.

2. Treaty breach and preparations for Makkah

   Key lesson: Broken protection agreements had consequences; a grave personal error still required careful judgement.

   What happened

   Under the Ḥudaybiyah treaty, Banū Bakr were allied to Quraysh and Khuzāʿah to the Prophet ﷺ. In Shaʿbān, Banū Bakr attacked Khuzāʿah by night at al-Watīr, and men of Quraysh helped them with weapons and fighters. Khuzāʿah fled into the Sacred Precinct, but Nawfal of Banū Bakr went on killing them even there. The book says the Prophet ﷺ demanded one of three things: pay blood money for the dead, end the alliance with Banū Bakr, or treat the truce as over. Quraysh had broken the treaty.

   Quraysh sent Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه to Madinah to renew it. He went first to his daughter, Umm Ḥabībah رضي الله عنها, the Prophet's ﷺ wife. When he went to sit on the Prophet's ﷺ mat, she folded it away, saying it was the mat of the Messenger of Allah and he was an idol worshipper. The Prophet ﷺ gave him no promise. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه and ʿUmar رضي الله عنه refused to speak for him, and ʿAlī رضي الله عنه said there was nothing he could do. He returned to Makkah with nothing.

   Aṭ-Ṭabarī reports that the Prophet ﷺ had told ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها to prepare for a journey three days before the news came. Then ʿAmr ibn Sālim al-Khuzāʿī رضي الله عنه arrived with forty riders asking for help. To keep the plan secret, the Prophet ﷺ sent eight men under Abū Qatādah ibn Ribʿī رضي الله عنه towards Iḍam in Ramaḍān, so people would think he was heading elsewhere.

   Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah رضي الله عنه secretly sent a woman to Makkah with a letter warning Quraysh. The Prophet ﷺ was informed by revelation and sent ʿAlī رضي الله عنه and al-Miqdād رضي الله عنه after her; they found the letter hidden in her hair. Ḥāṭib رضي الله عنه explained that he had no tribe in Makkah to protect his family, unlike the other Emigrants, and had wanted Quraysh to owe him a favour, not that he had left Islam. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه asked to execute him as a hypocrite. The Prophet ﷺ said Ḥāṭib رضي الله عنه had been at Badr, and that Allah may have looked at the people of Badr and said, 'Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you.' The account is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.

3. The march and entry into Makkah

   Key lesson: The advance sought surrender and restraint rather than unrestricted revenge; precise dates follow the source.

   What happened

   On the tenth of Ramaḍān the Prophet ﷺ set out with ten thousand men, leaving Abū Ruhm al-Ghifārī رضي الله عنه in charge of Madinah. At al-Juḥfah his uncle al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه joined him with his family. At al-Abwāʾ they met his cousin Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنه and ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah رضي الله عنه, who had harmed and mocked the Muslims, and he did not receive them. ʿAlī رضي الله عنه advised Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith to say what the brothers of Yūsuf عليه السلام said: 'By Allah, Allah has preferred you over us, and we were truly wrong.' He did, and the Prophet ﷺ answered with Yūsuf's عليه السلام words: 'No blame on you today; may Allah forgive you.' That is 12:91–92.

   They fasted until al-Kadīd, where they broke their fast, and went on to Marr aẓ-Ẓahrān. The Prophet ﷺ did not want to take Quraysh by surprise, and had the army light fires everywhere so Quraysh could see what they faced and not throw away their lives. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه commanded the guard. Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb رضي الله عنه, with Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām and Budayl ibn Warqāʾ رضي الله عنهما, came out to see what was happening and met al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه, who urged Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه to accept Islam.

   Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه brought Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه to the Prophet ﷺ, through Muslims who wanted to kill him. The next day the Prophet ﷺ asked him whether it was not time to bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that he was Allah's Messenger. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه accepted Islam. Because Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه loved honour, al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه asked that he be given something, and the Prophet ﷺ announced: whoever enters Abū Sufyān's house is safe, whoever closes his own door is safe, and whoever enters the Sacred Mosque is safe.

   On the morning of Tuesday the seventeenth of Ramaḍān, according to the book, the army left Marr aẓ-Ẓahrān. Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه kept Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه at a narrow pass to watch the tribes pass under their banners, until the Prophet ﷺ came with the Emigrants and the Anṣār in armour. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه said that his nephew's kingdom had become great. Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه replied that it was prophethood, and Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه agreed.

   Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah رضي الله عنه, carrying the banner of the Anṣār, called out to Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه that today was the day of slaughter, when the Kaʿbah would be no shelter. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه complained, and the Prophet ﷺ said, 'No, today is the day the Kaʿbah will be honoured, and Quraysh honoured.' He had the banner taken from Saʿd رضي الله عنه and given to his son Qays رضي الله عنه, or in another report to az-Zubayr رضي الله عنه. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه hurried into Makkah and called out the terms. His wife Hind رضي الله عنها seized his moustache and cursed him. People went into their homes and the Sacred Mosque, but ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl, Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah and Suhayl ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنهم gathered men at al-Khandamah to fight.

   Khālid ibn al-Walīd رضي الله عنه led the right wing, with Aslam, Sulaym, Ghifār, Muzaynah and Juhaynah, into the lower part of Makkah. Az-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām رضي الله عنه led the left from the upper side with the Prophet's ﷺ banner, and Abū ʿUbaydah رضي الله عنه led the men on foot through a valley. Their orders were to fight only if attacked. Khālid's رضي الله عنه column met the men at al-Khandamah: twelve of them were killed and two Muslims fell. Az-Zubayr رضي الله عنه planted the banner where the Mosque of al-Fatḥ now stands, and a tent was set up for the Prophet ﷺ, where he prayed in thanks.

4. The sanctuary, pardon, teaching and Banū Jadhīmah

   Key lesson: Victory required limits, protection and redress when an authorised mission caused wrongful bloodshed.

   What happened

   He went to the Kaʿbah with the Emigrants and the Anṣār. Three hundred and sixty idols stood around it. He struck them with his bow, reciting 17:81, that truth has come and falsehood has vanished, and 34:49. He performed ṭawāf on his camel, not in iḥrām. Then he took the key from ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنه and entered. Inside were pictures of Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl عليهما السلام drawing divining arrows; he condemned them and had every image removed. He prayed inside and said Allāhu akbar in its corners.

   Standing at the door, he declared that there is no god but Allah alone, who kept His promise, helped His servant and defeated the confederates alone. Every claim of privilege, blood or wealth from before Islam was under his feet, except the care of the Kaʿbah and giving water to pilgrims. He told Quraysh that Allah had removed the pride of the days of ignorance and boasting of ancestors, since all people come from Ādam and Ādam came from dust, and recited 49:13: the most honourable of you with Allah is the one with the most taqwā.

   He asked Quraysh what they thought he would do with them. They said, 'Good: a noble brother, son of a noble brother.' He said, 'I say to you what Yūsuf said to his brothers: no blame on you today. Go, you are free.' He returned the key to ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنه, to stay with his family for ever. When prayer came, Bilāl رضي الله عنه climbed onto the Kaʿbah and gave the adhān. ʿAttāb ibn Asīd and al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām رضي الله عنهما, sitting nearby with Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه, made remarks about it; the Prophet ﷺ told them what they had said, and the two accepted Islam, swearing no one had been there to tell him. That day he washed and prayed in the house of Umm Hāniʾ رضي الله عنها, and upheld the protection she had given to two relatives.

   Nine people who had committed serious crimes were declared to have no protection, even at the Kaʿbah's curtains. Four were executed, among them ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn Khaṭal, who had become Muslim, killed a servant and abandoned Islam, then paid singers to mock the Prophet ﷺ; and Miqyas ibn Ṣubābah, who had accepted blood money for his brother, then killed the man anyway and fled. The rest were pardoned. ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl رضي الله عنه was forgiven, and so were Waḥshī رضي الله عنه, who had killed Ḥamzah رضي الله عنه, Hind رضي الله عنها, and Habbār ibn al-Aswad رضي الله عنه, who had attacked the Prophet's ﷺ daughter Zaynab رضي الله عنها as she migrated. Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah رضي الله عنه was pardoned, and so was Fuḍālah ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه, who had planned to kill the Prophet ﷺ during ṭawāf and became a sincere believer.

   On the second day he told the people, as Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, that Allah had made Makkah sacred, that fighting in it had been allowed to him for only part of one day, and that its plants may not be cut, its game may not be chased, and lost property found there may only be picked up by someone who will announce it. Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه asked for an exception for idhkhir grass, used by smiths and in homes, and it was granted. When men of Khuzāʿah killed a man of Hudhayl for an old feud, he told them to stop and gave the families of victims the choice between blood money and retaliation.

   The Anṣār feared that, having taken his own city, he would stay there. When they told him, he said he would live and die with them. The people of Makkah came to pledge allegiance, first the men, then the women, with ʿUmar رضي الله عنه passing on the Prophet's ﷺ words to the women. Hind bint ʿUtbah رضي الله عنها came hidden among them. When the pledge mentioned theft, she said Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه was mean with money, and he forgave her what she had taken. The Prophet ﷺ recognised her and forgave her. She agreed to the other conditions, went home, and broke her idol.

   He stayed in Makkah for nineteen days, teaching Islam. Abū Usayd al-Khuzāʿī رضي الله عنه renewed the markers of the Sacred Precinct, and the Prophet ﷺ said that whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should leave no idol in his house. Khālid رضي الله عنه went with thirty riders to destroy al-ʿUzzā at Nakhlah. ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه destroyed Suwāʿ of Hudhayl, and its keeper accepted Islam. Saʿd ibn Zayd al-Ashhalī رضي الله عنه destroyed Manāt at al-Mushallal, once honoured by al-Aws and al-Khazraj. The book describes, for both al-ʿUzzā and Manāt, a wild-haired woman appearing as the idol was destroyed.

   Khālid رضي الله عنه was then sent with three hundred and fifty riders to call Banū Jadhīmah to Islam, peacefully. They could not express clearly that they had accepted Islam, and he had some of them killed and others taken captive, until Companions with him refused to kill the captives. When the Prophet ﷺ heard, he raised his hands and said twice, 'O Allah, I am free of what Khālid has done.' He sent ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, who paid blood money for every loss and gave out what was left. When Khālid رضي الله عنه argued with ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf رضي الله عنه over it, the Prophet ﷺ told him to leave his early Companions alone.

5. Ḥunayn, Awṭās and the siege of Ṭāʾif

   Key lesson: Large numbers did not prevent panic; a siege could be ended without taking the fortress.

   What happened

   Hawāzin and Thaqīf, with Naṣr, Jusham, Saʿd ibn Bakr and Banū Hilāl, would not accept the new situation. Their commander Mālik ibn ʿAwf an-Naṣrī brought their women, children and herds with them to Awṭās, near Ḥunayn, so the men would fight harder. Durayd ibn aṣ-Ṣimmah, an old and experienced fighter, told him that nothing stops a beaten man from running, and that if he lost, he would lose families and wealth too. Mālik refused to listen. The Prophet ﷺ sent ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Ḥadrad al-Aslamī رضي الله عنه to live among them and bring back news.

   The Prophet ﷺ left Makkah in Shawwāl with twelve thousand: the ten thousand who had come with him and about two thousand Makkans, many newly Muslim. He borrowed a hundred coats of armour from Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah رضي الله عنه and left ʿAttāb ibn Asīd رضي الله عنه as governor of Makkah. On the way, some asked for a tree to hang their weapons on, like the idol worshippers' Dhāt Anwāṭ. He said, 'Allāhu akbar,' and that they had said what Mūsā's عليه السلام people said: make us a god like theirs. Seeing how large the army was, some said they would not be defeated, and that weighed on him.

   They reached Ḥunayn on the night of the tenth of Shawwāl. Mālik ibn ʿAwf had hidden his men in the valley. As the Muslims went down in the dark before dawn, arrows poured on them and the enemy charged, and the army broke and fled. The Prophet ﷺ turned to the right and called, 'Come to me, people! I am the Messenger of Allah, Muḥammad son of ʿAbdullāh.' Only a few Emigrants and relatives stayed. He urged his mule towards the enemy saying, 'I am the Prophet, no lie; I am the son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.' Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنه held the reins and al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه the stirrup. He got down and prayed, 'O Allah, send down Your help.'

   Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه, who had a loud voice, called out at his command for the people of the pledge under the tree. They turned back, he said, like cows returning to their calves, answering, 'Here we are.' Those who could not turn their camels jumped down with their weapons and ran towards the voice. A hundred gathered and fought, then the Anṣār, then Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj. The Prophet ﷺ said, 'Now the fighting is fierce,' threw a handful of dust at the enemy's faces, and within hours they were defeated. Seventy of Thaqīf alone were killed. Allah describes it in 9:25–26: they were proud of their numbers, which did not help them, the earth closed in on them, and then Allah sent down calm on His Messenger and the believers, and soldiers they did not see.

   Some of the defeated fled to aṭ-Ṭāʾif, others to Nakhlah and Awṭās. Abū ʿĀmir al-Ashʿarī رضي الله عنه, sent after them, was killed in the fighting, and Durayd ibn aṣ-Ṣimmah was killed near Nakhlah. The spoils were six thousand captives, twenty-four thousand camels, over forty thousand sheep and four thousand ounces of silver, kept at al-Jiʿrānah. Among the captives was ash-Shaymāʾ bint al-Ḥārith رضي الله عنها, the Prophet's ﷺ foster sister from Banū Saʿd. He recognised her by a mark, spread his cloak for her to sit on, and let her return to her people.

   Mālik ibn ʿAwf and many of Hawāzin and Thaqīf took refuge in aṭ-Ṭāʾif. Khālid رضي الله عنه went ahead with a thousand men. The Prophet ﷺ followed, destroyed Mālik's fort at Liyyah, and besieged aṭ-Ṭāʾif for ten to twenty days; reports differ. Arrows fell like locusts; many Muslims were wounded and twelve killed. The Muslims used a catapult, and some went up to the wall under a wooden shelter, but were driven back with hot iron. Vineyards were cut and burned until Thaqīf begged him, for Allah's sake and for family ties, to stop, and he did. He announced that any slave who came down to them would be free, and twenty-three came, among them Abū Bakrah رضي الله عنه, who came down the wall using a well pulley, which gave him his name.

   The fort had food for over a year. When Nawfal ibn Muʿāwiyah ad-Dīlī رضي الله عنه said Thaqīf were like a fox in its hole, which might be caught by waiting but would do no harm if left, the Prophet ﷺ decided to go. The Companions did not want to leave, so he let them fight the next morning, and they were wounded; when he again said they would leave, they were glad, and he laughed. Asked to pray against Thaqīf, he said, 'O Allah, guide Thaqīf and bring them.'

6. Al-Jiʿrānah: distribution, reconciliation and return

   Key lesson: Address hurt openly and make room for reconciliation and the return of captives.

   What happened

   At al-Jiʿrānah he waited more than ten nights hoping Hawāzin would come in repentance. When they did not, he divided the spoils, giving most to the leaders of Makkah and the newly Muslim to win their hearts. Abū Sufyān رضي الله عنه received a hundred camels and forty ounces, and as much again for each of his sons Yazīd and Muʿāwiyah رضي الله عنهما. Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām رضي الله عنه received two hundred, and Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah رضي الله عنه three hundred. When bedouins crowded him until his cloak was pulled away, he said that if he had camels as many as the trees of Tihāmah he would share them all, and that he was not mean, cowardly or a liar. Holding up a hair from his camel, he said that his own share was only a fifth, and even that went back to them. Zayd ibn Thābit رضي الله عنه then counted the spoils for the army: four camels and forty sheep for a man on foot, and three times that for a rider.

   Some of the Anṣār were hurt that the newcomers received so much while they received nothing. Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah رضي الله عنه told the Prophet ﷺ, admitting he felt as his people did, and gathered them. The Prophet ﷺ reminded them that Allah had guided them through him, made them rich and joined their hearts. He said they could have answered that he came to them rejected and they believed him, abandoned and they helped him, driven out and they sheltered him. Would they not be pleased that others went home with sheep and camels while they went home with the Messenger of Allah? Were it not for the Hijrah he would have been one of the Anṣār, and if people took one valley and the Anṣār another, he would take the valley of the Anṣār. He prayed for them, their children and grandchildren, and they wept until their beards were wet and said they were content.

   Then fourteen men of Hawāzin came as Muslims, led by Zuhayr ibn Ṣurad رضي الله عنه, with one of the Prophet's ﷺ foster uncles among them. He asked whether they wanted their wealth or their families back, and they chose their families. He told them to ask publicly after Ẓuhr. He then gave back his own share and that of Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, and the Emigrants and the Anṣār gave back theirs. Al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis, ʿUyaynah ibn Ḥiṣn and al-ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās رضي الله عنهم refused at first; the Prophet ﷺ promised six shares from the next spoils to anyone who gave back unwillingly, and in the end all the captives were returned. He gave each captive a garment.

   From al-Jiʿrānah he entered iḥrām, performed ʿumrah in Makkah, left ʿAttāb ibn Asīd رضي الله عنه as governor, and reached Madinah with six nights left of Dhū al-Qaʿdah. The book quotes Muḥammad al-Ghazālī on the difference eight years had made: he had first come to Madinah pursued and seeking shelter, and now returned with Makkah opened to him.

   Taken together, the eighth year moved from a desperate stand at Muʾtah to the opening of Makkah with almost no fighting and a general pardon for those who had fought Islam for twenty years. Ḥunayn then reminded the Muslims that numbers do not bring victory, and al-Jiʿrānah showed how the Prophet ﷺ won hearts, both the newly Muslim and the Anṣār.

9 AH · year 22 · 631 CE

Tabūk and the year of decision

1. Preparing for Tabūk in hardship

   Key lesson: Responding to danger tested generosity and willingness to leave comfort.

   What happened

   After the opening of Makkah, many Arabian tribes no longer expected Quraysh to stop Islam. Yet danger remained on the northern border. The Byzantine authorities had already allowed the Prophet’s ﷺ envoy al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUmayr رضي الله عنه to be killed, and Muʾtah had shown how serious the frontier had become. Traders bringing oil from Syria now carried reports that Heraclius had gathered Byzantine and allied Arab forces, with an advance group at al-Balqāʾ. The book gives the reported force as forty thousand; this was intelligence reaching Madinah, not a battle count verified afterwards.

   The reports produced real anxiety. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه later recalled how quickly people feared that the Ghassānids had arrived whenever urgent news came. At the same time, men opposing Islam had built a place later called Masjid aḍ-Ḍirār, the mosque of harm. They presented it as a mosque for weak and ill people and asked the Prophet ﷺ to pray there. He was preparing to leave, so he said he would consider it on his return. Revelation later exposed it as a place made to cause harm, disbelief and division.

   The journey north would come in Rajab, during fierce heat and drought, when ripe fruit and shade made staying home especially tempting. It was far longer than the usual campaigns, so the Prophet ﷺ did something unusual: he announced Tabūk as the destination instead of hiding it. Makkah and other tribes were asked to help, and Sūrat at-Tawbah urged the believers to go and to spend.

   Those who had little came asking for mounts. When none could be found, they turned away with tears because they had nothing to spend. Those who had wealth competed to prepare the army. The book reports that ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān رضي الله عنه eventually gave nine hundred camels, a hundred horses and money; Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī preserves the well-known report of the Prophet ﷺ praising his support. ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf رضي الله عنه brought two hundred silver ounces. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه brought everything he had and said he had left Allah and His Messenger ﷺ for his family. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه brought half his wealth. Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه, Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنه, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah رضي الله عنه and Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه also gave, while women brought jewellery and people with little gave what they could. Sūrat at-Tawbah 9:79 answered those who mocked both the large gifts and the small ones.

   The Prophet ﷺ left ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه to care for his household. When hypocrites mocked him for remaining, ʿAlī رضي الله عنه caught up with the army. The Prophet ﷺ sent him back with the authenticated reassurance that he was to him as Hārūn عليه السلام was to Mūsā عليه السلام, except that no prophet would come after him. Madinah itself was left under Muḥammad ibn Maslamah رضي الله عنه, though the book notes another report naming Sibāʿ ibn ʿUrfuṭah رضي الله عنه.

2. Tabūk: the march, northern agreements and Dūmat al-Jandal

   Key lesson: A demanding expedition could achieve agreements without meeting an opposing army in battle.

   What happened

   Thirty thousand men marched north on a Thursday. Even after all the giving, the army was short of food and transport. The book says eighteen men took turns on one camel. Some ate leaves until their lips swelled, and some slaughtered camels to drink the water held in their stomachs. This is why the expedition is remembered as the Army of Distress.

   At al-Ḥijr, the homes cut into rock by Thamūd, people drew water. The Prophet ﷺ told them not to drink it or use it for wuḍūʾ, and to feed the dough they had made with it to the camels. Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما reports in authentic hadith that he told them not to enter the dwellings of people who had wronged themselves unless they were weeping, then passed quickly through the valley. When water became scarce, he prayed and rain came. Near Tabūk, a tiny spring became enough for the army after he washed from its little flow and returned the water to it. He told Muʿādh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه that if he lived long, he would see the place full of gardens.

   The army reached Tabūk, but no Byzantine force came out. The Prophet ﷺ stayed there for twenty days, according to the book, and addressed the tired army. The absence of battle did not make the journey empty. Yuḥannā ibn Ruʾbah, the ruler of Aylah, came and made a treaty that protected the town’s ships and caravans. The people of Jarbaʾ and Adhruḥ also agreed terms.

   Khālid ibn al-Walīd رضي الله عنه was sent with four hundred and fifty riders to Dūmat al-Jandal. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm narrates that he found its ruler, Ukaydir, outside hunting wild cattle by moonlight, captured him and brought him to the Prophet ﷺ. Ukaydir’s life was spared and an agreement was made. The source lists tribute of two thousand camels, eight hundred cattle, four hundred coats of armour and four hundred spears. These exact figures belong to the book’s historical narrative.

3. Return, truthful confession and Masjid aḍ-Ḍirār

   Key lesson: Truthful admission brought a hard test; outward religious appearance could conceal harmful intent.

   What happened

   On the return journey, the book reports that twelve masked hypocrites tried to rush the Prophet’s ﷺ camel at a narrow mountain path while ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir رضي الله عنه held its rein and Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān رضي الله عنه drove it. Ḥudhayfah رضي الله عنه struck the attackers’ mounts and they fled. The source connects this with Sūrat at-Tawbah 9:74 and says the Prophet ﷺ privately told Ḥudhayfah رضي الله عنه their names. The army had left in Rajab and returned in Ramaḍān after fifty days, twenty of them at Tabūk. This was the last campaign the Prophet ﷺ personally led.

   The sharpest test came after the return. More than eighty men offered excuses and oaths. The Prophet ﷺ accepted what they said outwardly and left what was in their hearts to Allah. Three sincere believers had no excuse: Kaʿb ibn Mālik, Murārah ibn ar-Rabīʿ and Hilāl ibn Umayyah رضي الله عنهم. They refused to protect themselves with a lie. The community was told not to speak to them. After forty days they were also told to live apart from their wives, and after fifty nights Allah accepted their repentance in Sūrat at-Tawbah 9:118.

   Kaʿb’s رضي الله عنه own long account is preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. He describes Madinah becoming strange, the wide earth feeling narrow, and even a letter from the Ghassānid ruler inviting him away. When the good news finally came, he gave away his garments to the messenger and went to the Prophet ﷺ. Kaʿb رضي الله عنه wanted to give away all his wealth, but was told to keep some. He said the greatest part of his repentance would be to tell the truth for the rest of his life. The lesson is not that the three were careless and quickly excused. It is that truthful repentance was painful, public and finally accepted by Allah.

   Before the Prophet ﷺ entered Madinah, revelation exposed Masjid aḍ-Ḍirār. Mālik ibn ad-Dukhshum and Maʿn ibn ʿAdī رضي الله عنهما were sent to pull it down and burn it. Sūrat at-Tawbah 9:107 says it had been made to cause harm and division and to prepare for someone who had fought Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. A building called a mosque was judged by what it was built to do, not by its name.

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm lists several other events after Tabūk. It places the case of ʿUwaymir al-ʿAjlānī رضي الله عنه and his wife in this year. It records the death of Aṣḥamah, the Negus رضي الله عنه, for whom the Prophet ﷺ led the funeral prayer in absence. His daughter Umm Kulthūm رضي الله عنها also died. ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy, the leading hypocrite, died after Tabūk; the Prophet ﷺ prayed for him despite ʿUmar’s رضي الله عنه objection, before revelation prohibited prayer over those who died in hypocrisy. These are reported as the book places them, without turning its year-list into a claim that every date is undisputed.

4. Thaqīf, Najrān and the spread of delegations

   Key lesson: Delegations differed in belief and purpose; this source places Thaqīf and Najrān in 9 AH.

   What happened

   The same source dates the delegation of Thaqīf to Ramaḍān 9 AH, after Tabūk, not to Year 10. Their earlier chief ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه had accepted Islam and been killed by his own people when he called them to it. Six representatives then came, including the youngest, ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه. They asked to keep al-Lāt for a time, to avoid prayer, and not to destroy the idol themselves. The Prophet ﷺ would not permit idolatry, sexual wrongdoing, wine, interest or abandonment of prayer, but agreed to send others to destroy al-Lāt. He appointed ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه over them because of his care in learning the Qur’an and the religion.

   The Christian delegation from Najrān also belongs to 9 AH in this source. It gives sixty visitors, including twenty-four leading men and three chief representatives. They discussed ʿĪsā عليه السلام. Āl ʿImrān 3:59–61 answered that his creation was like Ādam’s عليه السلام and invited both sides to mubāhalah, a solemn call for Allah’s curse on the liars. The delegation declined it and accepted a treaty. The book gives two thousand garments as the yearly payment and says their religious practice was protected. They asked for a trustworthy collector, and the Prophet ﷺ sent Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ رضي الله عنه, whom he called the trustworthy man of this nation.

   The delegations did not all arrive in one neat year. The book says more than seventy are listed by writers of campaigns and explicitly warns that some came before the conquest and some as late as 11 AH. Among the arrivals associated with 9 AH were Banū ʿUdhrah, Balī, Banū Fazārah, Hamdān and Banū Ḥanīfah. The Banū Ḥanīfah party had seventeen men and included Musaylimah, whose claim to prophethood the book dates to 10 AH. Keeping those dates separate matters: “the Year of Delegations” describes a movement across years, not one crowded calendar page.

5. Pilgrimage leadership and treaty announcements

   Key lesson: Public announcements distinguished treaty-breakers from groups that had kept their agreements.

   What happened

   In Dhū al-Qaʿdah or Dhū al-Ḥijjah, the source gives both possibilities, the Prophet ﷺ appointed Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه to lead the pilgrimage. After he left, the opening of Sūrat at-Tawbah came with a public declaration about treaty obligations. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه caught up at al-ʿArj or Ḍajnān and explained that he had come only to proclaim the verses, not replace Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه as leader.

   At the place of stoning on the day of sacrifice, ʿAlī رضي الله عنه announced four months for treaty-breakers to reconsider, while treaties with groups who had broken no term and helped no enemy would run to their agreed end. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه sent callers through the crowds to announce that after that year no idolater would perform Ḥajj and no one would circle the Kaʿbah unclothed. The source treats this as the clear ending of pagan pilgrimage rites, while keeping the promise to honour unbroken treaties.

   Sūrat at-Tawbah is therefore woven through the year rather than attached afterwards. It called people to the difficult march, defended those who could not find mounts, exposed mockery and false excuses, named the repentance of the three truthful men, uncovered the mosque of harm, and then set the terms of the pilgrimage declaration. Year 9 showed that truthfulness mattered when no battle was fought, that promises still mattered after victory, and that a place or claim was judged by what it served.

10 AH · year 23 · 632 CE

The Farewell Ḥajj

1. Continuing delegations and false claims

   Key lesson: Widespread acceptance did not mean every heart was taught; the delegation period spans several years.

   What happened

   After Makkah and Tabūk, delegations continued to arrive from across Arabia. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm says writers of campaigns list more than seventy, but also warns that they were spread across years: many came in 9 and 10 AH, a few before that, and some later. This is why “the Year of Delegations” is a name for the period, not proof that every delegation came in the same year.

   The source uses ʿAmr ibn Salamah’s رضي الله عنه memory to explain the change. His people lived by a road and asked passing riders what was happening. He memorised the Qur’an they recited. Arab tribes had waited to see whether the Prophet ﷺ would prevail over Quraysh. When Makkah opened, they hurried to accept Islam. When ʿAmr’s رضي الله عنه father returned from Madinah, he taught them the prayer times and told them to let the person who knew the most Qur’an lead. The opening of Sūrat an-Naṣr describes the larger sight: people entering Allah’s religion in crowds.

   The delegations were not all alike. Some came wanting to learn, some carried their people’s charity, and some leaders arrived with pride or hidden plans. The book tells of Tujīb bringing surplus charity after caring for their own poor. A young man with them asked only that the Prophet ﷺ pray for forgiveness, mercy and a content heart. It says he became the most content among them and later helped his people remain steady. Zayd al-Khayl رضي الله عنه came with Ṭayyiʾ and accepted Islam; the Prophet ﷺ renamed him Zayd al-Khayr, changing “the horseman” to “the man of goodness.”

   The warning side of the period appeared in Musaylimah. He had come with Banū Ḥanīfah in 9 AH, but the source dates his open claim to prophethood to 10 AH. He demanded a share in authority and later wrote that the earth should be divided between him and Quraysh. The Prophet ﷺ answered with Qur’an 7:128: the earth belongs to Allah, who gives it to whom He wills, and the good end belongs to those mindful of Him. The book also names al-Aswad al-ʿAnsī in Yemen as another false claimant. These troubles show that outward acceptance across Arabia did not mean every heart had been taught or purified.

   When Muʿādh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه was sent to Yemen in 10 AH, the Prophet ﷺ told him, in the book’s account, that he might not see him again after that year and might pass his mosque and grave. Muʿādh رضي الله عنه cried. The source places this before the Farewell Pilgrimage as one sign that the Prophet ﷺ knew his public work was nearing completion.

2. The Farewell Pilgrimage: departure and initial rites

   Key lesson: People learned through instruction and questions; crowd totals are estimates, not a census.

   What happened

   The Prophet ﷺ announced that he would perform Ḥajj. Great numbers came to follow him and learn the rites directly. The source gives variant totals of about one hundred and twenty-four thousand or one hundred and forty-four thousand; these are estimates, not an exact census. On a Saturday near the end of Dhū al-Qaʿdah, he prepared, applied perfume, dressed and left Madinah in the afternoon.

   At Dhū al-Ḥulayfah he prayed two units and spent the night. The next day he bathed for iḥrām. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها perfumed his head and body, and the perfume remained visible in his hair and beard. He entered iḥrām for ʿumrah joined with Ḥajj, mounted al-Qaṣwāʾ and raised the talbiyah. He entered Makkah on Sunday, the fourth of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, after an eight-day journey, performed ṭawāf and walked between aṣ-Ṣafā and al-Marwah.

   Because he had brought sacrificial animals, he remained in iḥrām. He told the Companions who had brought none to make their rites an ʿumrah and leave iḥrām. Some hesitated because he himself remained in it. He explained that if he had known beforehand what he now knew, he would not have brought the animals and would have left iḥrām with them. They then obeyed. This detail is central to Jābir’s رضي الله عنه authenticated account in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: they learned the rite by watching him and by asking when his own action looked different from his instruction.

3. Minā, ʿArafah and the public address

   Key lesson: Protect life and property, fulfil women's rights and begin reform with one's own household.

   What happened

   On the eighth of Dhū al-Ḥijjah he went to Minā and prayed five prayers there, from Ẓuhr through Fajr. After sunrise on the ninth he moved to ʿArafah. A tent had been set up at Namirah. When the sun passed its highest point, al-Qaṣwāʾ was prepared and he went into the valley to address the gathered Muslims.

   He began by warning that he might not meet them there again. He declared their blood and property sacred, like the sacredness of that day, month and city. Every claim from the age before Islam was beneath his feet. He cancelled the old blood claim concerning Ibn Rabīʿah ibn al-Ḥārith, beginning with his own family, and cancelled all pre-Islamic interest, beginning with what was owed to his uncle al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه. Reform did not begin with demands on strangers; he applied it first to his own household.

   He told them to be mindful of Allah regarding women and to provide food and clothing properly. In the authenticated narration of Jābir رضي الله عنه, he said he was leaving the Book of Allah, which would protect them from going astray if they held firmly to it. Some longer sermon wordings in the sīrah books combine reports transmitted through different routes; the lesson keeps the wording tied to Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim distinct from those collected versions.

   He asked the crowd what they would say when questioned about him. They answered that he had conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust and advised the community. He raised his forefinger to the sky and pointed it towards them, saying three times, “O Allah, bear witness.” Rabīʿah ibn Umayyah ibn Khalaf رضي الله عنه repeated the words loudly so the enormous crowd could hear.

   After the sermon, Sūrat al-Māʾidah 5:3 was revealed: today Allah had perfected the religion, completed His favour and chosen Islam as religion. The book reports that ʿUmar رضي الله عنه cried and explained that after perfection comes decline. The verse’s revelation at ʿArafah is authenticated; ʿUmar’s رضي الله عنه words here are preserved as the source’s report and should not be confused with the wording of the verse itself.

4. Completing the pilgrimage and carrying the message

   Key lesson: Teaching combined demonstration and explanation; the authenticated sacrifice total corrects the printed discrepancy.

   What happened

   Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ رضي الله عنه called the adhān and iqāmah. The Prophet ﷺ prayed Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr together, with no prayer between them, then stood at ʿArafah facing the qiblah until sunset. He travelled calmly to Muzdalifah, combined Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ, rested, prayed Fajr early and remembered Allah at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām until the morning had brightened.

   Before sunrise he moved to Minā. At the largest pillar he threw seven small pebbles, saying Allāhu akbar with each. The book says he sacrificed sixty-three camels himself and had ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه complete a total of one hundred. Its printed wording says “a hundred and thirty-seven altogether,” but Jābir’s رضي الله عنه authenticated account in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1218 gives one hundred in total: sixty-three by the Prophet ﷺ and the remainder by ʿAlī رضي الله عنه. The lesson follows the authenticated number and records the print discrepancy instead of silently repeating it. A piece from each animal was cooked, and they ate the meat and drank the broth.

   He returned to the Kaʿbah and drank Zamzam from Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. He told them to keep drawing water for the pilgrims, and said he would have drawn with them if he had not feared people would treat it as a required privilege after him. The small scene shows him protecting a useful service while also preventing people from turning his personal action into a burden.

   On the Day of Sacrifice he gave another sermon, preserved through Abū Bakrah رضي الله عنه in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. He explained the twelve months and the four sacred months, then asked which day, month and town they were in. After each question the Companions waited, thinking he might give it another name. He again declared their blood, property and honour sacred, warned them not to return to killing one another, and ordered those present to carry the message to those absent, since someone who received it later might understand it better.

   He spent the days of Tashrīq in Minā teaching the rites, remembering Allah and removing the remaining practices of idol worship. The source reports another similar address on the middle day through Ṣirāʾ bint Nabhān رضي الله عنها and describes its chain as good. On the thirteenth of Dhū al-Ḥijjah he left Minā, stayed at al-Abṭaḥ, then performed the farewell ṭawāf and ordered the Companions to do the same.

   He returned to Madinah after teaching the pilgrimage in full. The Farewell Ḥajj was not only a final speech. It was a complete public demonstration: iḥrām, ṭawāf, saʿy, Minā, ʿArafah, Muzdalifah, the stoning, sacrifice and farewell ṭawāf, with questions answered and errors corrected as they happened. The words “Have I conveyed?” therefore came after more than twenty years of teaching and at the end of a journey in which the community had watched the acts as well as heard the message.

5. Bereavement, the eclipse and signs of farewell

   Key lesson: Personal grief did not justify superstition; completion of the mission called for humility.

   What happened

   In the same general period, the Prophet’s ﷺ infant son Ibrāhīm died in Madinah. This event is not in the ar-Raḥīq chapters used above, so it is kept as a separately sourced authenticated report. A solar eclipse occurred that day and people connected it to the child’s death. In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ corrected them: the sun and moon do not eclipse for anyone’s death or birth; they are signs of Allah, and an eclipse calls people to prayer. Even in personal grief, he did not allow affection for him or his family to become superstition.

   Sūrat an-Naṣr and Sūrat al-Māʾidah frame the year honestly. An-Naṣr describes people entering the religion in crowds and tells the Prophet ﷺ to glorify and seek forgiveness. Al-Māʾidah 5:3 states the completion of the religion at ʿArafah. Neither means that every person in Arabia already understood Islam deeply. The delegations included eager learners, proud chiefs and future rebels. The work had reached them; teaching and steadiness would still be required.

11 AH · year 23 · 632 CE

The final illness, passing and burial ﷺ

1. Farewell signs and the northern army

   Key lesson: Responsibility continued near life's end; youth alone did not disqualify a capable commander.

   What happened

   The signs of farewell had begun before the illness. In Ramaḍān of 10 AH the Prophet ﷺ spent twenty days in retreat instead of his usual ten, and Jibrīl عليه السلام reviewed the Qur’an with him twice. During the Farewell Pilgrimage he said he might not meet the people there again. The book says Sūrat an-Naṣr was understood as an announcement that his work and life were nearing completion.

   In early Ṣafar of 11 AH, ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm says he went to Uḥud and prayed for its martyrs as if saying farewell. He then addressed the people: he would go before them to the Fountain; he did not fear that they would all return to idol worship, but feared that competition for worldly wealth would turn them against one another. The book also narrates a night visit to al-Baqīʿ, where he asked Allah to forgive those buried there and said that he would follow them. These exact scenes are presented as the source’s sīrah account.

   The northern frontier still needed attention. Byzantine authorities had killed Farwah ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه after he accepted Islam. In Ṣafar, the Prophet ﷺ prepared an army for al-Balqāʾ and ad-Dārūm and put Usāmah ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه in command. Usāmah رضي الله عنه was a very young man, commonly reported as around eighteen, though this chapter gives no exact age. When people criticised the appointment, the Prophet ﷺ reminded them that they had criticised the leadership of Usāmah’s father Zayd ibn Ḥārithah رضي الله عنه too, and declared that both father and son were fit for command and beloved to him. The army gathered outside Madinah, but his worsening illness delayed its departure. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه would send it after becoming caliph.

2. Illness, household care and final public counsel

   Key lesson: Severe illness did not end concern for worship, debts, gratitude and the community; exact dates remain qualified.

   What happened

   Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm dates the start of the illness to Monday, the twenty-ninth of Ṣafar, after the Prophet ﷺ returned from a funeral at al-Baqīʿ. A severe headache and fever began. The book says he continued leading the prayers for eleven days and that the illness lasted thirteen or fourteen days. These are the source’s figures, not a claim that all historians agree on the exact date.

   As the illness worsened, he repeatedly asked where he would stay the next day. His wives understood that he wished to be in ʿĀʾishah’s رضي الله عنها room and gave their permission. He walked there leaning on al-Faḍl ibn al-ʿAbbās and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنهما, his feet dragging. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها recited al-Muʿawwidhatayn and the supplications he had taught her, wiping him with his own hand for blessing.

   Five days before his death, the fever became so strong that he fainted. He asked for water from seven water-skins to be poured over him so that he could speak to the people. With his head bound, he entered the mosque and sat on the pulpit. He warned against taking prophets’ graves as places of worship, an authenticated warning preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, and the book also records him saying not to make his grave an idol.

   He offered anyone he had wronged the chance to seek repayment. A man said he was owed three dirhams, and al-Faḍl رضي الله عنه paid him. The Prophet ﷺ asked the community to treat the Anṣār well, remembering that they had sheltered him. Then he spoke of a servant whom Allah had offered the choice between this world and what was with Allah, and the servant chose what was with Allah. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه began to weep. Others did not understand until later that the Prophet ﷺ was speaking about himself.

   He said that no person’s companionship and wealth had been more helpful to him than Abū Bakr’s رضي الله عنه, and that if he were to take a closest human friend besides Allah, it would be Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه. He ordered every private door into the mosque closed except Abū Bakr’s رضي الله عنه. These words, together with the later instruction to lead prayer, show why Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه understood the approach of death before many others did.

3. Writing materials, final instructions and prayer leadership

   Key lesson: Do not invent the unwritten statement or the forgotten recommendation.

   What happened

   Four days before his death, while in severe pain, he asked for writing materials so that something could be written after which the community would not go astray. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه said the pain was severe and that the Book of Allah was sufficient. Those present disagreed and their voices rose, so the Prophet ﷺ told them to leave. The authenticated report preserves the disagreement; the lesson does not invent the unwritten words or claim to know what he intended to dictate.

   The source then records three recommendations. It says to remove the remaining hostile religious powers from Arabia and to honour visiting delegations as he had honoured them. The narrator forgot the third. The book suggests possibilities, including completing Usāmah’s رضي الله عنه army or care for prayer and enslaved people, but those suggestions are not the remembered wording. The honest point is that the third instruction was not preserved in that report.

   That Thursday he led Maghrib and recited Sūrat al-Mursalāt. By ʿIshāʾ he could not stand. Three times he asked whether the people had prayed, washed and tried to rise, then fainted. He finally ordered Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه to lead. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها worried that her soft-hearted father would cry and that people might connect him with the Prophet’s ﷺ death, but the command was repeated. The source says Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه led seventeen prayers during the illness.

   A day or two later, the Prophet ﷺ felt strong enough to go out for Ẓuhr, leaning on two men. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه began to step back, but he signalled for him to remain. The Prophet ﷺ sat beside him; Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه followed his prayer and repeated the takbīr loudly so the congregation could hear. The arrangement let the community pray behind the Prophet ﷺ one more time while Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه carried his voice.

4. The Prophet's ﷺ final days and death

   Key lesson: Charity, family care and prayer remained priorities; Monday is distinguished from the disputed calendar date.

   What happened

   On Sunday, the day before his passing, he freed those he held in slavery, gave his last seven dinars in charity and gave away his weapons. That night ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها borrowed oil from a neighbour for the lamp. His armour was still pledged to a Jewish creditor for thirty ṣāʿ of barley. The Messenger ﷺ who had received the wealth of Arabia left no stored fortune for himself.

   On Monday morning, Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه was leading Fajr. The Prophet ﷺ lifted the curtain of ʿĀʾishah’s رضي الله عنها room, looked at the straight rows and smiled. The worshippers were so joyful that they nearly lost focus. Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه moved back, thinking he wished to lead, but the Prophet ﷺ gestured for them to continue and lowered the curtain. He did not live to the next prayer.

   Later he called Fāṭimah رضي الله عنها and whispered to her. She cried. He whispered again and she smiled. After his death she explained that he first told her he would not recover, then that she would be the first of his family to join him. Authentic reports also preserve his telling her that she would be a leading woman of Paradise. The book says he kissed al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn رضي الله عنهما and urged that they be cared for, then spoke to his wives and reminded them of Allah.

   His pain became severe. The source records him feeling the lasting effect of the poisoned food at Khaybar and repeatedly urging care for prayer and for those under people’s authority. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها held him against her chest. Her brother ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr رضي الله عنه entered with a siwāk. She saw the Prophet ﷺ looking at it, softened it with her own saliva and gave it to him. She later counted it as an honour from Allah that their saliva was joined in his final moments.

   He wiped his face with water and said that death has agonies. Then he raised his finger, looked upward and asked Allah for forgiveness, mercy and the highest companionship with the prophets, truthful, martyrs and righteous. His final repeated words were for the highest companionship. He died in the forenoon on Monday, aged sixty-three. Ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm gives the date as the twelfth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, 11 AH, and sixty-three years and four days; historians differ over the calendar date, so the Monday and the source’s own dating are stated separately.

5. Grief and Abū Bakr's رضي الله عنه public response

   Key lesson: The community's grief was answered by returning worship and ultimate dependence to Allah.

   What happened

   Grief spread through Madinah. Anas ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه said he had never seen a brighter day than the Prophet’s ﷺ arrival and never a darker day than his death. Fāṭimah رضي الله عنها spoke of her father answering his Lord’s call and entering Paradise. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه, overcome by shock, insisted that the Prophet ﷺ had gone to his Lord as Mūsā عليه السلام had gone for forty nights and would return.

   Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه came from as-Sunḥ, entered ʿĀʾishah’s رضي الله عنها room, uncovered the Prophet’s ﷺ face, kissed him and wept. He said that Allah would not make him die twice and that he had met the death written for him. Then he went out and called ʿUmar رضي الله عنه to sit. When ʿUmar رضي الله عنه continued speaking, the people turned to Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه.

   Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه declared that whoever had worshipped Muḥammad ﷺ should know that Muḥammad ﷺ had died, while whoever worshipped Allah should know that Allah is living and never dies. He recited Āl ʿImrān 3:144: Muḥammad ﷺ is only a messenger, and messengers passed before him. Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما said it was as though people had never known the verse until then. ʿUmar رضي الله عنه said his legs failed and he fell when he understood that the Prophet ﷺ had truly died.

6. Leadership discussion, washing, funeral prayers and burial

   Key lesson: Preserve the reported sequence and burial delay rather than simplifying the account.

   What happened

   The burial was not immediate. A discussion over leadership took place at the covered meeting place of Banū Sāʿidah and continued into Monday night, ending with Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه acknowledged as caliph. The Prophet’s ﷺ body remained in ʿĀʾishah’s رضي الله عنها room, covered on the bed. This delay is part of the source’s account and should not be hidden.

   On Tuesday, his body was washed with his clothes still on. Al-ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه, ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, al-Faḍl رضي الله عنه, Qutham رضي الله عنه, Shaqrān رضي الله عنه, Usāmah ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه and Aws ibn Khawlī رضي الله عنه took part. The family members turned him, Usāmah and Shaqrān رضي الله عنهما poured water, ʿAlī رضي الله عنه washed him and Aws رضي الله عنه supported him. He was wrapped in three white cotton cloths from Saḥūl, without a shirt or turban.

   When people differed over the burial place, Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه said he had heard that a prophet is buried where he dies. Abū Ṭalḥah رضي الله عنه lifted the bed and dug the grave beneath it. People entered the small room in groups to pray over the Prophet ﷺ: first his family, then the Emigrants, the Anṣār, the women and finally the children. The book describes no single imam leading one large funeral prayer.

   The prayers and burial continued through Tuesday and into Wednesday night. ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها said they knew the burial was taking place when they heard the sound of digging late at night. The Seerah ends with the Prophet ﷺ buried where he died, but the message did not end. Abū Bakr’s رضي الله عنه first public answer had already returned everyone to the Qur’an: the Messenger ﷺ had completed his trust, and worship belongs only to Allah, who never dies.