Fight in the Way of God 105grimage rites undisturbed. Adding insult to injury, Muhammad would
be required to sign the treaty not as the Apostle of God but only as the
tribal head of his community. Given Muhammad’s rapidly growing
position in the Hijaz, the treaty was preposterous; more than any-
thing, it demonstrated the certainty of Mecca’s impending defeat.
Perhaps that is why Muhammad’s followers, who sensed victory lin-
gering only a few kilometers in front of them, were so incensed when
the Prophet actually accepted the terms.
Umar—ever the impetuous one—could barely contain himself.
He jumped up and went to Abu Bakr. “Abu Bakr,” he asked, pointing
to Muhammad, “is he not the Messenger of God?”
“Yes,” Abu Bakr replied.
“And are we not Muslims?”
“Yes.”
“And are they not polytheists?”
“Yes.”
At this Umar shouted, “Then why should we grant what is detri-
mental to our religion?”
Abu Bakr, who probably felt the same way, replied with the only
words in which he could take solace: “I bear witness that he is the
Messenger of God.”
It is difficult to say why Muhammad accepted the Treaty of Huday-
biyyah. He may have been hoping to regroup and wait for an oppor-
tune time to return and conquer Mecca by force. He may have been
observing the Quranic mandate and jihadi doctrine to “fight until
oppression ends and God’s law prevails. But if [the enemy] desists,
then you must also cease hostilities” (2:193). Whatever the case, the
decision to accept the cease-fire and return the following year turned
out to be the most decisive moment in the battle between Mecca and
Medina. For when ordinary Meccans saw the respect and devotion
with which their supposed enemy and his band of “religious zealots”
entered their city and circled the Ka‘ba, there seemed little incentive
to continue supporting the war. Indeed, a year after that pilgrimage,
in 630 C.E., after Muhammad interpreted a skirmish between the
Quraysh and some of his followers as a breach of the cease-fire, he
marched once more toward Mecca, this time with ten thousand men