Page:The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930).pdf/24

 and taking with them the customary offerings, a company of fourteen hundred men journeyed to Mecca. As they drew near the holy valley they were met by a friend from the city, who warned the Prophet that Qureysh had put on their leopard-skins (the badge of valour) and had sworn to prevent his entering the sanctuary; their cavalry was on the road before him. On that, the Prophet ordered a detour through mountain gorges and the Muslims were tired out when they came down at last into the valley of Mecca and encamped at a spot called Al-Ḥudeybiyah; from thence he tried to open negotiations with Qureysh, explaining that he came only as a pilgrim. The first messenger he sent towards the city was maltreated and his camel hamstrung. He returned without delivering his message. Qureysh on their side sent an envoy who was threatening in tone, and very arrogant. Another of their envoys was too familiar and had to be reminded sternly of the respect due to the Prophet. It was he who, on his return to the city, said: "I have seen Caesar and Chosroes in their pomp, but never have I seen a man honoured as Muhammad is honoured by his comrades."

The Prophet sought some messenger who would impose respect. Othmân was finally chosen because of his kinship with the powerful Umayyad family. While the Muslims were awaiting his return the news came that he had been murdered. It was then that the Prophet, sitting under a tree in Al-Ḥudeybiyah, took an oath from all his comrades that they would stand or fall together. After a while, however, it became known that Othmân had not been murdered. A troop which came out from the city to molest the Muslims in their camp were captured before they could do any hurt and brought before the Prophet, who forgave them on their promise to renounce hostility. Then proper envoys came from Qureysh. After some negotiation, the truce of Al-Ḥudeybiyah was signed. For ten years there were to be no hostilities between the parties. The Prophet was to return to Al-Madînah without visiting the Ka'bah, but in the following year he might perform the pilgrimage with his comrades, Qureysh promising to evacuate Mecca for three days to allow of his doing so. Deserters from Qureysh to the Muslims during the period of the truce were to be returned; not so deserters from the Muslims to Qureysh. Any tribe or clan who wished to share in the treaty as