Bearings of the °udaybiyah Truce
Because they could not foresee the results, Muslims regarded this truce as loss.[1] Some of them insisted on the Holy Prophet not to sign it.[2] However, he predicted that this truce would carry numerous political and social benefits for Muslims some of which were the following:
(1) The enemy recognized Muslims and their creed through signing the truce. Before that, the unbelievers had never confessed Islam as an independent religion. Moreover, they always worked and wished for destroying this religion.
(2) The invulnerable wall between Muslims was broken by this truce. Due to opening a free passage between Mecca and Medina and the communications between the two parties, many unbelievers became Muslims after they had listened to the reasoning of Islam. The number of converts was more than the number of Muslims up to that point.[3] It is worth noting that the Holy Prophet’s followers during this journey numbered no more than 1800, but two years later and during the conquest of Mecca, the number was more than ten thousand. Considering this favorable situation for Muslims, Imam al-¯¡diq says,
“Two years after the °udaybiyah Truce, Islam was almost the prevailing religion of Mecca.”[4]
(3) Before the °udaybiyah Truce, the enmity and aggressions of Quraysh had not given a chance to the Holy Prophet to propagate his ideology inside and out side the Arabian Peninsula. After that, the Holy Prophet could liquidate the surroundings of Medina and dispatch several missionaries to different territories. Inviting the world leaders to Islam could take place only after the °udaybiyah Truce.
(4) This truce indirectly led to the seizure of Mecca because, in accordance with its forth paragraph, the alliance of tribes with Quraysh or Muslims was a matter of free choice and the tribe of Khuz¡`ah allied with Muslims. However, Quraysh attacked this tribe and thus breached the truce causing the Holy Prophet to seize Mecca.
Regarding such bright results, the °udaybiyah Truce can be seen as a great victory for Muslims. S£rah al-Fat¦ was revealed to the Holy Prophet when he was on his way to sign on this truce.[5] God called this treaty as a clear victory.[6]
[1] al-Majlis¢, op cit, 20:350.
[2] al-W¡qid¢, al-Magh¡z¢ 2:607; Ibn Hush¡m, al-S¢rah al-Nabawiyyah 3:331; T¡r¢kh al-±abar¢ 3:97; °alab¢, al-S¢rah al-°alabiyyah 2:706. The explicit opposition of some Muslims to the Holy Prophet's resolution was a sign of obstinacy on their part towards him. This issue was repeated several times by some of them and this was the source of many bitter events in the history of Islam. This is in contrast with the view that Muslims should be obedient to God's commands. God says in this regard: “And it behooves not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and His Apostle have decided a matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Apostle, he surely strays off a manifest straying.” (Qur’¡n 33:36)
[3] Ibn Hush¡m, op cit, 3:336; ±abar¢, op cit, 3:81; °alab¢, op cit, 2:721.
[4] ±abars¢, I`l¡m al-War¡, pp. 98; al-Majlis¢, Bi¦¡r al-Anw¡r 20:363.
[5] Ibn Sa`d, op cit, 2:104, 105; Ibn Hush¡m, op cit, 3:334; ±abars¢, I`l¡m al-War¡, pp. 98; °alab¢, op cit, pp. 714.
[6] “Surely, we have given to you a clear victory. (48:1)
