This expedition took place in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda in the sixth year after the Hijra. There is no disagreement regarding this. Information on this matter has been transmitted from al-Zuhrī, Nāfiʿ (the freedman of Ibn ʿUmar), Qatāda, Mūsā b. ʿUqba, Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Yasār, and others. Ibn Luhayʿa also narrated from ʿUrwa through Abū Aswad that this expedition occurred in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda of the sixth year after the Hijra.
Yaʿqūb b. Sufyān narrated that ʿUrwa said: “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went to Hudaybiyya in the month of Ramaḍān. The expedition of Hudaybiyya took place in the month of Shawwāl.” This is indeed a strange report.
Al-Bukhārī narrated from Anas b. Mālik that he said: “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ʿumra four times. Three of his ʿumras, apart from the one he performed with his ḥajj, were in the months of Dhū al-Qaʿda. He performed the ʿumra at Hudaybiyya in Dhū al-Qaʿda, the ʿumra he performed the following year was in Dhū al-Qaʿda, and the ʿumra he performed at Jirāna while distributing the spoils of Ḥunayn was also in Dhū al-Qaʿda. He also performed one ʿumra together with his ḥajj.” This is the wording of al-Bukhārī.
Ibn Isḥāq said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) then spent the months of Ramaḍān and Shawwāl in Medina. He set out from Medina in Dhū al-Qaʿda, not for battle but with the intention of performing ʿumra. According to Ibn Hishām, he appointed Numayla b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Laythī as his deputy in Medina.
Ibn Isḥāq said: The Messenger of God called upon the Arabs and the people around him to join him. He feared that the Quraysh would rise up to fight him or prevent him from approaching the Kaʿba. Many of the Arabs did not join him and were slow to respond.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) set out with the Muhājirūn, the Anṣār, and those Arabs who joined him. He brought along camels. He entered into iḥrām for ʿumra so that the people would be certain he did not intend to fight, and so that it would be known that he was only traveling to visit and honor the Kaʿba.
Ibn Isḥāq narrated through Muḥammad b. Muslim b. Shihāb al-Zuhrī from Miswar b. Makhrama and Marwān b. Ḥakam that they said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) set out in the year of Hudaybiyya to visit the House. He did not intend to fight. He set out and brought with him seventy camels. Those with him numbered 700. Each camel was for ten people as their sacrifice. According to what I have heard, Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh said: “We, the people of Hudaybiyya, were 1,400.”
Al-Zuhrī said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) set out. When he reached Usfān, Bishr b. Sufyān al-Kaʿbī met him and said:
– O Messenger of God! The Quraysh have heard of your departure, and they have set out with their camels, including those with newborn calves (i.e., with their women and children). They have donned the skins of tigers. They have encamped at Dhū Ṭuwā. They have sworn by God that you will not enter Mecca. Khālid b. al-Walīd is among their cavalry. They have sent them as far as Kurāʾ al-Ghanīm.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) then said:
– Woe to the state of Quraysh! War has consumed them. If they would leave me alone with the other Arabs and let us be, if the Arabs defeat me, that is what they desire. But if God grants me victory over the Arabs, they will enter Islam in droves. If the Arabs do not do this, they will fight. They have strength. What do the Quraysh think? By God, I will continue to strive for the religion with which God has sent me until God makes it prevail or I am slain.
After saying this, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) added:
– Is there anyone who can lead us out of here by a route other than the one the Quraysh are on?
Ibn Isḥāq said: ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Bakr informed me:
A man from Aslam said, “I am here, O Messenger of God.” He led them on a rocky path among the valleys between mountains, which was difficult to traverse. When they emerged from this path, the Muslims were exhausted and had suffered hardship. They descended into a plain at the end of the valley. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the people: “Say: We seek forgiveness from God and repent to Him.”
They said this. Then the Messenger of God said:
“By God, this is the very phrase God commanded the Children of Israel to say. God said to them: ‘Say: O God, remove our sins from us and forgive us.’ But they did not say this.”
Ibn Shihāb said:
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) then ordered the people (his companions) and said:
– Take the path on the right between the two ridges called Ḥamd. This is the road that descends from beneath Mecca to Hudaybiyya, leading to Saniyyat al-Murār.
The troops took this road. When the cavalry of Quraysh saw the dust of the troops, they changed their route and ran back to Quraysh. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) proceeded and, upon entering Saniyyat al-Murār, his camel knelt down. Those present said, “The camel has knelt.” The Messenger of God said:
– It has not knelt, nor is this its habit. Rather, the One who stopped the elephant in Mecca has stopped it. If the Quraysh today ask me for something that involves maintaining family ties, I will surely respond to their call.
The Messenger of God then said to those with him:
– Dismount.
They said, “O Messenger of God! There is no water in this valley for us to dismount.”
Thereupon, the Messenger of God took an arrow from his quiver and gave it to one of his companions, who descended into one of the wells and dug it out. Water gushed forth so abundantly that the people drank to their fill and watered their camels. They then settled by the water.
Ibn Isḥāq said: A scholar narrated from some men of the Aslam tribe:
The person who descended into the well with the Messenger of God’s arrow was Nājiya b. Jundab. He was the one who drove the sacrificial camels of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).
Ibn Isḥāq said: According to a scholar, Barāʾ b. ʿĀzib said: “I was the one who descended into the well with the Messenger of God’s arrow.”
God Most High knows best which of these is correct.
Ibn Isḥāq then mentioned as evidence that the one who dug the well was Nājiya b. Jundab: A slave girl from the Anṣār came to the well and found Nājiya drawing water for the people’s buckets. She said to him:
“O you who draw water for the buckets! Take my bucket too. For I have seen the people praising you, commending you with good praise, and declaring your nobility.”
Nājiya replied to her:
“A Yemeni slave girl has learned that I am the one who draws water from the well into the buckets. And my name is Nājiya.
With a prod from a rope, I created a wide opening during the departure of a swift-moving people.”
Al-Zuhrī said: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sat down, Budayl b. Warqāʾ al-Khuzāʿī came to him with some men from Khuzāʿa and spoke with him. They asked him why he had come. He informed them that he had come not to fight, but only to visit and honor the Kaʿba. He then told them similar things to what he had said to Bishr b. Sufyān. They returned to Quraysh and said:
– O people of Quraysh! You are being hasty and making decisions quickly regarding Muḥammad. He has come not to fight, but only to visit this House. Quraysh accused them and addressed them harshly, saying: “Even if he has not come to fight, he will never enter Mecca against us, and the Arabs will never speak of him having entered Mecca against our will.”
Al-Zuhrī said: The Khuzāʿa were confidants of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), both their Muslims and their polytheists. Nothing that happened in Mecca was hidden from him by them.
Then they sent to him Mikraz b. Ḥafṣ b. Akhyaf, the brother of Banū ʿAmr b. Luʾayy. When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) saw him approaching, he said:
– This is a harsh man.
When he came to the Messenger of God and spoke with him, the Prophet told him similar things as he had told Budayl and his companions. He then returned to Quraysh and conveyed to them what the Messenger of God had said.
Then the Quraysh sent to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) Ḥulayṣ b. ʿAlqama or Ibn Zabbān. This man was then the leader of the Aḥābīsh. He was from Banū Ḥārith b. ʿAbd Manāf b. Kināna. When the Messenger of God saw him, he said:
– This is a people who worship and respect God’s command. Therefore, let your sacrificial animals be brought before him so he can see them.
Let the sacrificial animals, adorned with their necklaces (as a sign of being sacrificial), be brought to a place where he can see them. When he saw that they were grazing on the wool from being kept from their place of sacrifice, he returned to Quraysh. The sight grieved him, so he left without meeting the Messenger of God. He reported this to Quraysh. They said to him:
– Sit down; you are but a Bedouin. You do not understand such matters.
Ibn Isḥāq said: According to what ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Bakr told me, Ḥulayṣ became angry at this and said to Quraysh:
– O people of Quraysh! By God, we did not make a pact with you for this. Is someone who comes to honor God’s House to be turned away from it? By the One in whose hand is my soul, you will either let Muḥammad fulfill his purpose or I will unleash the Aḥābīsh (my group) upon you like the charge of a single man.
Quraysh said to him:
– Be quiet, Ḥulayṣ, stay away from us so we can do what we wish.
Al-Zuhrī said: Then they sent to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) ʿUrwa b. Masʿūd al-Thaqafī. He said: “O people of Quraysh! I have seen how you treated those you sent to Muḥammad. When they returned to you, you blamed and insulted them. You know yourselves as a father, and me as a son. (ʿUrwa was the son of Subayʿa bint ʿAbd Shams.) I have heard what has happened to you and have gathered those of my people who obey me. Then I came to you and personally aided you.”
Quraysh said:
– You have spoken the truth. You are not someone we suspect.
ʿUrwa then left and came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), sat before him, and said:
– O Muḥammad! You have gathered a mixed group of people and brought them against your own tribe and clan, so that you may destroy your own people with them. These are the Quraysh. They have set out, bringing with them their camels with newborn calves (i.e., their women and children). They have donned the skins of tigers. They have sworn by God that you will not enter Mecca! By God, I think these companions of yours will disperse from you tomorrow.”
At that moment, Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq was sitting behind the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He said:
– Suck the clitoris of al-Lāt! Will we disperse from the Messenger of God?
ʿUrwa asked, “O Muḥammad, who is this?”
– This is the son of Abū Quḥāfa.
– By God, were it not for a favor you have done for me, I would have responded to you. But your favor and this word of yours cancel each other out.
Then ʿUrwa took hold of the Prophet’s beard as he spoke with him. Al-Mughīra b. Shuʿba was standing angrily at the Prophet’s head. When ʿUrwa took hold of the Prophet’s beard, al-Mughīra began to strike his hand and said:
– Remove your hand from the beard of the Messenger of God before this sword reaches you.
– Woe to you! What has made you so harsh and severe? The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled. ʿUrwa then said to him:
– O Muḥammad, who is this?
– This is your nephew, al-Mughīra b. Shuʿba.
– O traitor! You are but a child of yesterday.
Al-Zuhrī said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) told him, as he had told his companions, that he had not come to fight.
He then left the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), having seen how his companions treated him. Whenever the Messenger of God performed ablution, they would rush to catch the water dripping from his limbs. When he spat, they would race to catch his saliva. If a hair fell from his head, they would take it.
ʿUrwa returned to Quraysh and said to them:
– O people of Quraysh! I have seen the Chosroes in their palaces, the Caesar in his, and the Negus in his. By God, I have never seen a king among his people as highly regarded as Muḥammad is among his companions. I have seen a people who will never abandon him for anything. Consider this in your deliberations and make your decision.
Ibn Isḥāq said: According to a scholar, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called Hiraash b. Umayya al-Khuzāʿī and sent him to the Quraysh nobles in Mecca, mounted on his own camel named Saʿlab, to inform them of his purpose. They hamstrung the Prophet’s camel and intended to kill Hiraash, but the Aḥābīsh protected him and secured his release. He returned to the Messenger of God.
Ibn Isḥāq narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās: The Quraysh sent forty or fifty men, instructing them to circle the Muslim camp to capture one of the Messenger of God’s companions. When they were brought to him, the Messenger of God forgave and released them, even though they had attacked the Muslims with stones and arrows. Later, he called ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb to send him to Mecca to inform the Quraysh nobles of their purpose. ʿUmar said:
– O Messenger of God! I fear for myself among the Quraysh. There is no one from Banū ʿAdī b. Kaʿb in Mecca to protect me. The Quraysh know my enmity and harshness toward them. But I can suggest a man who is stronger than I am in this regard.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) then called ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān and sent him to Abū Sufyān and the other Quraysh nobles to inform them that they had not come to fight, but only to visit the Kaʿba.
Thus, ʿUthmān went to Mecca. As he entered or was about to enter, Abān b. Saʿīd b. al-ʿĀṣ met him, took him in, and granted him protection so he could deliver the Messenger of God’s message. ʿUthmān went to Abū Sufyān and the Quraysh leaders and conveyed the message. When he finished, they said:
– If you wish to perform ṭawāf of the House, do so.
– I will not perform ṭawāf before the Messenger of God does!
The Quraysh detained him. News then reached the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) that ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān had been killed. The Messenger of God said: “We will not leave here until we fight the Quraysh and settle the matter!”
Thus, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called the people to pledge allegiance (bayʿa). The Bayʿat al-Riḍwān took place under the tree. People said: “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) pledged with his companions upon death.” Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh said:
“The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) pledged with us not upon death, but that we would not flee from battle.”
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) pledged with his companions. Of the Muslims present, only Jad b. Qays, the brother of Banū Salama, did not participate in the pledge. Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh said:
“When I looked at him, it was as if he was clinging to his camel’s saddle, hiding from the people. Then news reached the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) that what was said about ʿUthmān was false.”
Ibn Hishām said: According to the narration of Wakīʿ b. Ismāʿīl b. Abī Khālid from al-Shaʿbī, the first to pledge allegiance with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) at Bayʿat al-Riḍwān was Abū Sinān al-Asadī.
Ibn Hishām narrated from Ibn ʿUmar: “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) pledged on behalf of ʿUthmān, taking one of his own hands and placing it in the other.” The chain of this narration is weak, but it is found in the authentic collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim.
Ibn Isḥāq narrated from al-Zuhrī: The Quraysh sent Suhayl b. ʿAmr (the brother of Banū ʿĀmir b. Luʾayy) to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). They said to him: Go to Muḥammad and make peace with him. This peace will serve only to make him return this year, and the Arabs will never say that he entered Mecca by force.
Suhayl b. ʿAmr went. When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) saw him coming, he said:
– The Quraysh’s sending of this man shows they desire peace.
Suhayl b. ʿAmr came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), spoke at length, and they negotiated. Then they agreed to peace. When it came time to write the treaty, ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb stood up, went to Abū Bakr, and said:
– O Abū Bakr, is this not the Messenger of God?
– Yes, he is the Messenger of God.
– Are we not Muslims?
– Yes, we are Muslims.
– Are they not polytheists?
– Yes, they are polytheists.
– Then why are we accepting humiliation in our religion?
– O ʿUmar, hold fast to his command. I testify that he is the Messenger of God.
– I also testify that he is the Messenger of God. Then he went to the Messenger of God and said: “O Messenger of God! Are you not the Messenger of God?”
– Yes, I am the Messenger of God.
– Are we not Muslims?
– Yes, we are Muslims.
– Are they not polytheists?
– Yes, they are polytheists.
– Then why are we being humiliated for our religion?
– I am the servant and Messenger of God. I will never disobey His command, and He will not let me down.
The narrator said: ʿUmar used to say: “Because of what I did that day, I kept giving charity, fasting, praying, and freeing slaves, fearing the consequences of my words, until I hoped it would be good.”
Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) called ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and said:
– Write: In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Suhayl said:
– I do not know or recognize this. But write: ‘In Your name, O God...’
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to ʿAlī:
– Write: In Your name, O God. So ʿAlī wrote it. Then he said:
“This is what Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, has agreed with Suhayl b. ʿAmr.” Suhayl said:
– If I testified that you are the Messenger of God, I would not have fought you. Write your name and your father’s name.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to ʿAlī:
– Write: This is what Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh has agreed with Suhayl b. ʿAmr. Namely: “They have agreed to suspend war among people for ten years. During these years, people will be safe and refrain from harming each other. If anyone from Quraysh comes to Muḥammad without the permission of his guardian, he will return him to them. If anyone from those with Muḥammad comes to Quraysh, they will not return him to Muḥammad. There will be no enmity between us, neither in secret nor in public. Whoever wishes to join Muḥammad may do so, and whoever wishes to join Quraysh may do so.”
The Khuzāʿa stood up and said: We join Muḥammad’s pact and are bound by his treaty.
The Banū Bakr tribe said: We are with Quraysh and bound by their treaty.
O Muḥammad! This year you will return. You will not enter Mecca. Next year, when you come, we will leave Mecca for you. You and your companions will enter Mecca and stay for three days. Only those with riding animals will have weapons, and swords will remain sheathed. You will not enter Mecca with anything else.
While the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and Suhayl b. ʿAmr were writing the treaty, Abū Jandal b. Suhayl b. ʿAmr came, shackled. He had escaped from his captors and fled to the Messenger of God. The companions had left Medina certain of victory, based on a vision the Messenger of God had seen. When the companions saw that they had to return as a result of the treaty and witnessed the burden the Messenger of God bore, they were deeply distressed, almost to the point of death from grief. When Suhayl saw Abū Jandal, he got up, struck him on the face, seized him by the collar, and said:
– O Muḥammad! The judgment between us was concluded before this man came (i.e., he will be returned to Mecca according to the treaty).
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
– You have spoken the truth.
He then began to drag him forcefully to return him to the Quraysh. Abū Jandal cried out at the top of his voice:
– O Muslims! Will I be returned to the polytheists? They are turning me away from my religion.
This increased the distress of the companions. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
– O Abū Jandal, be patient and seek your reward from God. God will open a way for you and the weak with you. We have made a peace treaty with the Quraysh and given them our word by God’s covenant. They have given us their word by God’s covenant. We will not betray them.
ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb then got up and walked alongside Abū Jandal, saying:
– O Abū Jandal! Be patient, for they are only polytheists. Their blood is like that of dogs. While saying this, he brought the hilt of his sword close to Abū Jandal.
The narrator said: ʿUmar said: I hoped Abū Jandal would take the sword and strike his father with it, but he did not. Thus, the treaty became binding.
When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) finished writing the treaty, he had some Muslims and some polytheists witness it. These were: Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf, ʿAbd Allāh b. Suhayl b. ʿAmr, Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ, Maḥmūd b. Maslama, Mikraz b. Ḥafṣ (who was still a polytheist at the time), and ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. ʿAlī (may God be pleased with him) wrote the treaty and was its scribe.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was circumambulating in Ḥill (outside the sacred precinct of Mecca) and praying in the ḥaram. When the peace treaty was completed, he went to his camel, slaughtered it, then sat and had his head shaved. The one who shaved him that day was Hiraash b. Umayya b. Faḍl al-Khuzāʿī. When the people saw the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) slaughter his sacrifice and shave his head, they rushed to slaughter their sacrifices and shave their heads.
Ibn Isḥāq narrated from ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Najīḥ from Ibn ʿAbbās: On the day of Hudaybiyya, some men shaved their heads, while others only shortened their hair. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “May God have mercy on those who shaved their heads.”
– O Messenger of God, what about those who shortened their hair?
– May God have mercy on those who shaved their heads.
– O Messenger of God, what about those who shortened their hair?
– May God have mercy on those who shaved their heads.
– O Messenger of God, what about those who shortened their hair?
– And may God have mercy on those who shortened their hair.
– O Messenger of God! Why did you emphasize mercy for those who shaved their heads and not for those who shortened their hair?
– They did not hesitate or doubt when shaving their heads.
ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Najīḥ narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās: “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sacrificed, among the sacrificial animals at Hudaybiyya, a male camel belonging to Abū Jahl. It had a silver ring on its head. This angered and enraged the polytheists.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated through Khālid b. Makhlad from Zayd b. Khālid: We set out with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) in the year of Hudaybiyya. It rained on us at night. After leading us in the morning prayer, the Messenger of God turned to us and said:
– Do you know what your Lord has said?
– God and His Messenger know best, we replied. He said:
– God Most High said: “Some of My servants have believed in Me and some have disbelieved. Whoever says, ‘We have been given rain by the mercy and bounty of God,’ has believed in Me and disbelieved in the stars. But whoever says, ‘We have been given rain by such-and-such a star,’ has believed in the stars and disbelieved in Me.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated from Barāʾ: “You consider the conquest of Mecca a victory. Yes, the conquest of Mecca was a victory, but we considered the pledge of Riḍwān on the day of Hudaybiyya to be the true victory. We were 1,400 with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Hudaybiyya was a well. We drew water from it until not a drop remained. When the Messenger of God heard of this, he came to the well, sat at its edge, asked for a vessel of water, performed ablution with it, rinsed his mouth, made supplication, and poured the water into the well. Soon after, the well provided as much water as we and our mounts needed.”
Ibn Isḥāq said: “He will grant you a near victory” (al-Fatḥ 48:18)—the victory (fatḥ) mentioned in this verse refers to the peace of Hudaybiyya.
Al-Zuhrī said: Before the peace of Hudaybiyya, there was no greater victory in the history of Islam, except for the Battle of Badr, when the polytheists and Muslims confronted each other. After the peace, the burdens of war were set aside, everyone was secure, they met, conversed, and debated. Whenever someone of sound mind heard about Islam, he would enter it. In the two years between the peace of Hudaybiyya and the conquest of Mecca, as many or more people entered Islam as had in the previous six years.
Ibn Hishām said: The proof of al-Zuhrī’s statement is that, according to Jābir, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went to Hudaybiyya with 1,400 companions, and two years later, at the conquest of Mecca, he went with 10,000 companions.
Al-Bukhārī narrated through Yūsuf b. ʿĪsā and from him through Ibn Fudayl from Jābir: “On the day of Hudaybiyya, the people were thirsty. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had a small bucket of water. He performed ablution from it. Then the people came to him. The Messenger of God asked them:
– What is the matter?
– O Messenger of God, we have no water for ablution or drinking except what is in your small bucket.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) put his hand into the bucket, and water began to flow from between his fingers like a spring. We drank and performed ablution from it.”
The narrator said: Jābir was asked:
– How many were you that day?
– If we had been 100,000 that day, the water would have sufficed us. But we were 1,500.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated through Ṣalt b. Muḥammad from Qatāda: I said to Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab, I have heard a narration that Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh said: “We who participated at Hudaybiyya were 1,400.”
Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab told me that Jābir said to him:
“We who pledged allegiance to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of Hudaybiyya were 1,500.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated through ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh from Jābir: “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to us on the day of Hudaybiyya: ‘You are the best people on earth.’ We were 1,400. If my eyes could see today, I would show you the place of the tree under which we pledged.”
Lays b. Saʿd narrated through Abū Zubayr from Jābir: “The slave of Ḥāṭib came and complained about him, saying:
– O Messenger of God! Ḥāṭib will surely enter the Fire. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
– You have lied; he will not enter the Fire, for he was present at Badr and Hudaybiyya.” Muslim narrated this.
Muslim narrated from Jābir: Umm Mayṣar informed me that she heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say in the presence of Ḥafṣa: “None of those who pledged under the tree will enter the Fire, God willing.” Ḥafṣa said: “Yes, they will not enter, O Messenger of God.” The Messenger of God rebuked her. Ḥafṣa said: “There is not one of you but will pass over it (the Fire)” (Maryam 19:71).
Thereupon, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) recited: “Then We will save those who feared Allah and leave the wrongdoers within it, on their knees.” (Maryam 19:72)
Al-Bukhārī narrated from ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Awfā: “The number of those who pledged under the tree of Riḍwān was 1,300. The Aslam tribe made up one-eighth of the Muhājirūn.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated from Marwān and Miswar b. Makhrama: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set out in the year of Hudaybiyya with more than 1,000 companions. When he reached Dhū al-Ḥulayfa, he marked his sacrificial animals, adorned them with necklaces, and entered into iḥrām.”
What we mean is that all these reports contradict Ibn Isḥāq’s view that “the companions of the Messenger of God who participated at Hudaybiyya were 700.” God knows best; perhaps he judged according to his own reasoning, considering that there were seventy sacrificial camels and that each camel was for ten people, thus concluding that the number of those who went for the ʿumra of Hudaybiyya was 700. In reality, not everyone who set out on the expedition was required to offer a sacrifice or enter iḥrām. According to the narrations, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent ahead a group that included Abū Qatāda. Abū Qatāda had not entered iḥrām. In fact, he killed a wild donkey, and he and his companions ate its meat. They brought some of its meat to the Messenger of God on the way, and he said: “Did any of you command or signal Abū Qatāda to hunt the donkey?” When they replied, “No,” the Messenger of God said: “Then eat the rest of the donkey’s meat.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated from Abū Qatāda: “We set out with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the year of Hudaybiyya. My companions entered iḥrām, but I did not.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated from Saʿīd’s father, al-Musayyab: “I saw the tree of Riḍwān. When I later returned, I could not recognize it.”
Al-Bukhārī also narrated from Saʿīd’s father, al-Musayyab, who said he was among those who pledged under the tree of Riḍwān, and that he said: “We pledged under the tree of Riḍwān. When we returned the following year, we could not find the place of the tree.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated from Ṭalq b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān: “I went for ḥajj. On the way, I came upon a group praying. I asked them: ‘Which mosque is this?’ They replied: ‘This is the tree under which the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) took the pledge of Riḍwān.’”
I went to Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab and told him. He related that his father had said: “I was among those who pledged to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) under that tree. When we returned the following year, we forgot the location of the tree and could not find it.”
Then Saʿīd said: “The companions of Muḥammad could not identify the place of the tree. Do you think you know better than them?”
Al-Bukhārī narrated through Saʿīd from ʿAbbād b. Tamīm: On the day of the Ḥarra incident, people were pledging allegiance to ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥanzala. Ibn Zayd asked: “On what are the people pledging to Ibn Ḥanzala?” When told, “They are pledging to him upon death,” Ibn Zayd replied:
“After the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), I will not pledge to anyone upon death.” Ibn Zayd had been present with the Messenger of God at Hudaybiyya.
Al-Bukhārī narrated through Qutayba b. Saʿīd from Yazīd b. Abī ʿUbayd: “I asked Salama b. al-Akwaʿ:
– On what did you pledge to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of Hudaybiyya?
– We pledged upon death, he replied.”
According to Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Salama narrated that he pledged with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) three times at Hudaybiyya: at the beginning, middle, and end of the people.
In Ṣaḥīḥ, it is narrated from Maʿqil b. Yasār that he used to lift the branches of the tree so that they would not touch the face of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was taking the pledge from the people. The first to pledge that day was Abū Sinān, whose name is Wahb b. Mihṣan, the brother of ʿUkkāsha b. Mihṣan. Some say the first was Sinān b. Abī Sinān.
Al-Bukhārī narrated through Sujāʿ b. Walīd from Nāfiʿ: People say that ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar became Muslim before his father ʿUmar. But this is not the case. On the day of Hudaybiyya, ʿUmar (may God be pleased with him) sent his son ʿAbd Allāh to fetch a horse from an Anṣārī for battle. At that time, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was taking the pledge with his companions under the tree of Riḍwān. ʿUmar did not know this. ʿAbd Allāh came and pledged with the Messenger of God. Then ʿUmar came and pledged. This is the origin of the story that “ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar became Muslim before his father.”
Hishām b. ʿAmmār narrated from Ibn ʿUmar: On the day of Hudaybiyya, the people dispersed under the shade of the trees near the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Suddenly, I saw people gathering around the Prophet, forming a circle. My father said to me:
– O ʿAbd Allāh, go and see what these people are doing around the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).
I went and saw that they were pledging with him. I pledged as well. Then I returned to my father ʿUmar and told him, and he went and pledged.