raysh, robbed their property and threatened the trade route. Once again the trade of Mak-
kah was endangered. The things got so bad that the Quraysh wrote to the Prophet (r),
begging him by the ties of their kinship to him, to summon those highwaymen to Medinah
and pledge to demand back no more of those who escape to him in future. (Zad al-Ma’ad,
Vol. I, p. 384).
THE TREATY TURNS TO VICTORY
The events that followed proved that the truce of Hudaybiyah was a decisive step in gain-
ing victory after victory for Islam. The Makkans had gloated over their biased treaty. The
Muslims, for their part, had accepted the seemingly inglorious terms of the treaty simply
because of their faith in the Prophet (r). Both parties found Islam making rapid strides soon
thereafter in the Arabian Peninsula. It put an end to the Muslims pre-occupation with the
threat from Makkah and before long, it became possible to send deputation outto invite the
Caesar and the Chosroes and the Negus to accept Islam. The revelation of God had come
true.
“...though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good
for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye
know not.” [Qur'an 2:216]One of the benefits derived from the truce was that the Muslims were no longer perceived
as exiles and outlaws, but regarded as a community worthy of Quraysh’s attention with
whom they had entered into a treaty as equals. The alliance offered Muslims the rightful
place they deserved in the Arabian body politic. And, perhaps, even more important was the
atmosphere of peace and tranquility it engendered. The unending war of attrition that had
up to now been waged by the Muslims for their very existence, which had been dissipating
their vigor and strength, was over. The Muslims could now avail their energies in taking the
message of Islam to the un-hostile or rather ambivalent tribes of the desert. The truce pro-
vided the Muslims an opportunity to meet with other tribes and discuss Islam with the
tribes thus far hostile to the Islam. They now began to discover how people who ate their
food, wore their dress, spoke their language and were born and brought up in Makkah, a
city like theirs, had, in a few years, been changed into a new class of people - disdaining
corruption, polytheism and idol-worship, and rejecting tribal pride, vengeance and bloodlust
- a people treading the path of virtue and justice. They could now clearly see that the teach-
ings of Islam and the guidance of the Prophet of God (r) had brought about this change of
heart.
Thus, within a year of the truce, as many Arabs embraced the faith of the Prophet (r) as
had not entered Islam during the last fifteen years. “There was never a victory in Islam,”
says Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, “greater than this. When the armistice came and war laid down