daughters, Fatimah was married to ?Ali (later fourth caliph, or leader
of the Islamic community) and Umm Kulthum to ?Uthman (third caliph). He
himself was already married to ?A`ishah, daughter of Abu Bakr (first
caliph), and was now espoused also to Hafsah, daughter of ?Umar (second
caliph), whose previous husband was one of the Muslims killed at Badr.
In the same year, Muhammad led larger Muslim forces on razzias against
hostile nomadic tribes and had some success. Presumably, he realized
that the Meccans were bound to try to avenge their defeat. Indeed, Abu
Sufyan was energetically mobilizing Meccan power. On March 21, 625, he
entered the oasis of Medina with 3,000 men. One of the features of
Medina was a large number of small forts that were impregnable to Arab
weapons and tactics. Muhammad would have preferred the Muslims to
retire to these; but those whose cereal crops were being laid waste
persuaded him to go out to fight. By a night march with 1,000 men, he
reached the hill of Uhud on the further side of the Meccan camp. On the
morning of March 23, the Meccan infantry attacked and was repulsed with
considerable loss. As the Muslims pursued, the Meccan cavalry launched
a flank attack after the archers guarding the Muslim left had abandoned
their position. The Muslims were thrown into confusion. Some made for
a fort and were cut down, but Muhammad and the bulk of his force managed
to gain the lower slopes of Uhud, where they were safe from the
cavalry. The Meccans, because of their losses, were unable to press
home their advantages and without delay set out for home, while Muhammad
the next day made a show of pursuing. The battle produced neither a
clear victor nor loser. In Badr and Uhud together, the Meccans had
killed about as many men as they had lost; but they had boasted that
they would make the Muslims pay several times over, and they had not
shown the degree of superiority appropriate to their leading position in
Arabia. Muhammad, though he had lost above 70 men, realized that this
was a military reverse, not a defeat, but the confidence of the Muslims
and perhaps his own had been struck a serious blow. If the victory of
Badr was a sign of God?s support, did Uhud indicate that he had
abandoned the Muslims? Muhammad?s faith soon overcame any momentary
doubts, and he was gradually able to restore the confidence of his
followers.
For two years after Uhud, both sides prepared for a decisive
encounter. In the razzias Muhammad led or sanctioned, he seems to have
aimed at extending his own alliances and at preventing others from
joining the Meccans. In at least two cases, a small party of Muslims
was tricked or ambushed, and most of their lives were lost. In April
627, Abu Sufyan led a great confederacy of 10,000 men against Medina.
On this occasion Muhammad had ordered the crops to be harvested and a
trench to be dug to defend the main part of the oasis from the Meccan
cavalry. For a fortnight the confederates besieged the Muslims.
Attempts to cross the trench failed, and fodder for the horses was
scarce, while Muhammad?s agents among the attackers fomented potential
dissensions. Then, after a night of wind and rain the great army melted
away. The Meccans had exerted their utmost might and had failed to
dislodge Muhammad, whose position was now greatly strengthened.
For more than two years now there had been opposition to Muhammad in
Medina, chiefly from ?Abd Allah ibn Ubayy and other so-called hypocrites
who had abandoned Muhammad at Uhud and who together had fostered
disaffection. Shortly before the siege Muhammad had a showdown with
?Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, who had joined in spreading slanders about
Muhammad?s wife ?A`ishah. This confrontation revealed that ?Abd Allah
had little support in Medina, and he became reconciled to Muhammad.
After the siege of Medina, Muhammad attacked the Jewish clan of
Qurayzah, which had probably been intriguing against him. When they
surrendered, the men were all executed and the women and children sold
as slaves.
Muhammad?s farsightedness as a statesman is manifest in the policies he
next adopted. He might have continued to crush the Meccans, and he
indeed put economic pressure on them; but his main aim was to gain their
willing adherence to Islam. He had already realized that, insofar as
the Arabs became Muslims, it would be necessary to direct outward the
energies expended on razzias against one another. There could be no
question of Muslims raiding Muslims. It is noteworthy that his largest
razzias, apart from the expeditions against the Meccans, were along the
route to Syria followed by the Arab armies after his death. He
doubtless realized that the administrative skill of the Meccan merchants
would be required for any expansion of his embryonic state.
In a dream, Muhammad saw himself performing the annual pilgrimage to
Mecca, and in March 628 he set out to do so, driving sacrificial
animals. He was disappointed because no more than 1,600 men would
accompany him. The Meccans were determined to prevent the Muslims from
entering their town, so Muhammad halted at al-Hudaybiyah, on the edge of
the sacred territory of Mecca. After some critical days, the Meccans
made a treaty with Muhammad. Hostilities were to cease, and the Muslims
were to be allowed to make the pilgrimage to Mecca in 629. The orderly
withdrawal showed how completely Muhammad controlled his followers.
Partly to reward this orderly conduct, Muhammad two months later led the
same force against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar, north of Medina. After
a siege, it submitted, but the Jews were allowed to remain on condition
of sending half of the date harvest to Medina. Throughout 628 and 629,
Muhammad?s power was growing. The success led more men to become
Muslims, for the religious attraction of Islam was apparently
supplemented by material motives.
Meanwhile, Mecca was in decline. Several leading men had emigrated to
Medina and become Muslims. New leaders had taken over from Abu Sufyan
but had accomplished little, although the treaty with Muhammad had
removed his pressure on their caravans. Shortly after the treaty,
Muhammad had married Umm Habibah, a daughter of Abu Sufyan, and a widow
whose Muslim husband had died in Ethiopia. This led to an understanding
with Abu Sufyan, who began to work for the peaceful surrender of Mecca.
It was probably when he was in Mecca for the pilgrimage in March 629
that Muhammad became reconciled with another uncle, al-?Abbas, and
married his uncle?s sister-in-law Maymunah.
An attack by Meccan allies in about November 629 upon allies of
Muhammad led to the Muhammad?s denunciation of the treaty of
al-Hudaybiyah. After secret preparations he marched on Mecca in January
630 with 10,000 men. Abu Sufyan and other leading Meccans went out to
meet him and formally submitted, so Muhammad promised a general
amnesty. When he entered Mecca there was virtually no resistance. Two
Muslims and 28 of the enemy were killed. A number of people were
specifically excluded from the amnesty, but some were later pardoned.
Thus Muhammad, who had left Mecca as a persecuted prophet, not merely
entered it again in triumph but also gained the allegiance of most of
the Meccans. Though he did not insist on their becoming Muslims, many
soon did so.
Muhammad spent 15 to 20 days in Mecca settling various matters of
administration. Idols were destroyed in the Ka?bah and in some small
shrines in the neighborhood. To relieve the poorest among his
followers, he demanded loans from some of the wealthy Meccans. When he
marched east to meet a new threat, 2,000 Meccans went with him.