At Hom~! Ot~,. T krt 185
tant share) and the Ansar. He had amy juSt finished the distribution when
a Hawazin delegation arrived. The Prophet explained to them that he had
waited for them, but since they had not arrived he had already shared out
the captives; he said that he would intercede for them and ask people to
give back their prisoners if they wanted to. After so me hesitation, all the
fighters gave up their captives to the J-Iawazin delegation. Before they left,
the Pmphct asked about l-lalik, their chief, and he was told that he had
sought refuge with th e Banu Thaqif. He entrusted them with a message
for him: if J\Ialik came to him as a Muslim, his family would be given back
to him as weU as all his goods and a hundred camcls.^10 Everything hap.
pened as if the Prophet had already fathomed Malik's heart when he faced
him at Hunayn, for as soon as Malik heard the Prophet's o ffer, he escaped
from the Taif fortress b y night, came to Muhammad, and immediately
made the profession of faith. He had only just embraced Islam when th e
Prophet showed him incredible trust: he placed him in command of all
the Hawazin who had already become Muslims and ordered them to go
to 'faif and put an end to the Banu Thaqif's resistance. The Hawazin set
off immediately. Malik, who less than a month before had almost caused
the ruin of Muhammad's army, was now a 1{uslim, in command of a
Muslim expedition aiming to overthrow his former allies. The trust the
Prophet had shown in him was incredible, but the following days and
years confirmed his imuition: Malik not o nly successfully carried out his
mission but also remained faithful and deeply spiritual in his co mmitment
to Islam.
T he Ansar had watched the Prophet's attitude with astonishment, since
in the end almost all of the booty hru:l. been shared out among the Quraysh.
Some began to give public expression to their disappointment Ot even dis·
approval, as it seemed to them that Muhammad was privileging his kin,
despite all that the people of Medina had done for him when he needed
them. When Sad ibn Ubadah came to him as the Ansar's envoy and \"oiced
their complaints, the Prophet listened to him, then asked him to gather all
the Medina Muslims so that he could speak to them. \ \ He talked to them
about their respective debts, for, he said, they owed him for his guidance
and he owed them for having provided a refuge from persecution.
Muhammad declared he had forgotten none of that, and he asked them
not to be upset by the way he had shared out the booty, which, after all,
was meant to reinforce some people's faith, no more and no less. They