Coming Hmf 175
ing a letter to the Q uraysh warning them of an impending attack_ He had
the wo man stopped as she was heading toward l ... !ecca, and she gave up the
letter to Muhammad's envoys. The Prophet decided to forgive the traitor
who had written th e letter, H atib, in spite of Umar's wish to execute him.
Hatib, whose bebavtor bad been pro mpted by family motives, remained
free, and Muhammad co ncentrated o n preparing for war, sending envoys
to all allied clans so that tbey could prepare to join tbe Muslims in an expe-
dition of which they did not know the exact destination.
The expedition set off during the month of Ramadan, and the P ropbet
at first let th e Muslims decide whether or not they wanted to fast. He him-
self fasted until they reached ?\"Iarr a7.-Z<.hran; when they camped there, he
required the M uslims to stop fasting, for they would need all their energy.
On the way, he also asked a 1-iuslim to see to it that a litter of puppies that
he saw on the roadside were not trampled by tbe Muslim army; he thereby
expressed his care for life, of whatever son , and even though the survival
of a few dogs might have seemed trifling to the .l\luslim s at that particular
time, he was keen to protect the puppies from the soldiers' recklessness.
The Marr az Zahran camp lay at a crossroad: their destination might
be Najd, to th e cast, or Taif, or Mecca. Abbas, who had left i\lecca to set-
tle in .l-Iedina, heard about the /"'[ushms' movements and joined them.
\'Vhen they established their camp, the Prophet asked every soldier to light
a fire in order to impress the enemy: ten thousand fires wete lit, suggest-
ing a huge army was o n th e move, since each fire was supposed to pro -
vide fat the needs of five to ten soldiers. The Q uraysh, as well as the od1er
tribes wbo feared an attack, d ecided to send envoys to flnd out about the
Prophet'S intentions.
Once again it was Abu Sufyan who came to the Prophet from the
Q utaysh, alo ng with rwo other envoys, Hakim and Budayl, to persuade
him no t to attack Mecca. T hey parleyed for a long time, but they eventu-
ally understood that the Prophet's determination was inflexible. T hey also
obsen'ed the Companions, their behavior, and the serene atmosphere
emanating from the camp. H akim and Dudayl decided to conven to Islam,
and Abu Sufyan declared that he accepted the fir st part o f the profession
of faith (" T here is no god but God',) but that he retained some doubts as
to _Mnlumll1ad's stan]s; hf' nfTd"d ~f)me more time before he prononnced
the second parr of the profession of faith ("Muhammad is His .Messen-
ger'').B He spent the night at the camp, and after early mo rning prayer,