Islam • 23the help of some of his Bedouin allies, managed to reach the
edge of the sanctuary, camped at Hudaybiyyah and awaited
developments. Eventually the Quraysh were pressured by
this peaceful demonstration to sign a treaty with the u m m a h. It
was an unpopular move on both sides. Many of the Muslims
were eager for action, and felt that the treaty was shameful,
but Muhammad was determined to achieve victory by peace-
ful means.
Hudaybiyyah was another turning point. It impressed still
more of the Bedouin, and conversion to Islam became even
more of an irreversible trend. Eventually in 630, when the
Quraysh violated the treaty by attacking one of the Prophet's
tribal allies, Muhammad marched upon Mecca with an army
of ten thousand men. Faced with this overwhelming force
and, as pragmatists, realizing what it signified, the Quraysh
conceded defeat, opened the city gates, and Muhammad took
Mecca without shedding a drop of blood. He destroyed the
idols around the Kabah, rededicated it to Allah, the one God,
and gave the old pagan rites of the hajj'an Islamic significance
by linking them to the story of Abraham, Hagar and Ismail.
None of the Quraysh was forced to become Muslim, but
Muhammad's victory convinced some of his most principled
opponents, such as Abu Sufyan, that the old religion had
failed. When Muhammad died in 632, in the arms of his
beloved wife Aisha, almost all the tribes of Arabia had joined
the ummah as Confederates or as converted Muslims. Since
members of the ummah could not, of course, attack one an-
other, the ghastly cycle of tribal warfare, of vendetta and
counter-vendetta, had ended. Single-handedly, Muhammad
had brought peace to war-torn Arabia.
T H E R A S H I D U N (632-661)
The life and achievements of Muhammad would affect the
spiritual, political and ethical vision of Muslims forever.