10 ISLAM AT WAR
ditionally, except that they begged judgment by a member of the Arab
tribe to which they were adherents. This was granted them, but the judg-
ment rendered was brutal. The 600 able-bodied men were condemned to
death and slaughtered. Their women and children were sold into slavery.
The slaughter of the men and the enslavement of women and children of
a defeated tribe or city would become a common practice as the Islamic
Empire expanded.
Muhammad now distributed the spoils, such as the Banu-Qurayzah
tribe’s ownerless date groves, to his followers. The process of expelling
Hebrew tribes continued, and inA.D. 629 the Hebrews of Khaybar were
expelled from their oasis north of Medina. Thus the religious purification
of the pilgrimage sites began.
InA.D. 628 Muhammad had a vision^5 of himself entering the holy place
in Mecca determined to attempt the pilgrimage. His recent victories had
encouraged those tribes whose loyalties belonged to the strongest to swing
to his support again. He called upon them to support him, and many came,
but not all. He drew together a band of 1,400 men and dressed them as
pilgrims to the KaÛbah. Again, word of Muhammad’s advance leaked into
Mecca and Meccans prepared for war.
Muhammad heard of their preparations and stopped his advance, choos-
ing to send a messenger ahead to request that he be admitted as a pilgrim.
The messenger was abused and returned without delivering the message.
Further messengers were sent and finally the Meccans sent out proper
envoys. The Truce of Al-Hudeybiyah was signed, agreeing to no hostilities
between the two parties for ten years. Muhammad was not permitted to
visit the KaÛbah, but after a year of no hostilities, he and his comrades
were to be allowed to do so. Meccan deserters were to be returned, but
deserters from the Muslims were not. The truce was opened to any of the
other Arab tribes that might wish to sign it, as allies of Mecca.
It might appear as if Muhammad had received the poor end of the
bargain, but in fact, he gained the ability to openly penetrate into Mecca
and spread his message and his religion. He co-opted the city from within
using a fifth column of propagandists that undermined the religious power
base of the pagans.
That same year, the Meccans violated the Truce of Al-Hudeybiyah and
slaughtered a tribe allied with Muhammad. Fearful of the consequences
of their act, they sent emissaries to Muhammad asking for a renewal of
the truce, hoping they would arrive before Muhammad learned of the
massacre. They did not.
Muhammad summoned all the Muslims capable of bearing arms and
amassed a force of 10,000 fighting men. This, coupled with spreading