"Is It Truly a Victory?"

Is It Truly a Victory?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ، وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

The Camel That Would Not Move

خَلَأَتِ الْقَصْوَاءُ، خَلَأَتِ الْقَصْوَاءُ — the companions began crying this out when they were telling the camel of the Prophet ﷺ to go forward, but it refused. And so the Prophet ﷺ, when hearing that being said about his camel, said:

"No, she has not become stubborn."

خَلَأَتِ الْقَصْوَاءُ — meaning she's an animal, a riding animal, that has become stubborn, has become obstinate, become defiant. It's not going forward when we're telling it to go forward. The Prophet ﷺ said, no, no, no, that's not the character of my camel al-Qaswā'. He said:

"But rather the one who stopped the elephant stopped al-Qaswā'."

The one who stopped the elephant on the attack of the Ka'bah — the army of Abraha — is the same one who stopped al-Qaswā'.

The Journey to Hudaybiyyah

Now why did he say this? The Muslims set out with 1,400 companions to perform Umrah in the 6th year after Hijrah. They even took animals for sacrifice — when that is not a part of Umrah — to make abundantly clear to the Quraysh: we're coming not with intention of war nor of fighting, but to honor the sanctity of the Ka'bah and to perform Umrah. They didn't bring their weapons of war, even though they're going to have people who have been at war with them.

And when the Quraysh heard of this, they sent Khalid ibn al-Walid, the undefeated general, at the head of 200 men to attack them. But news reached the Prophet ﷺ, and so he took a different route, evaded Khalid's army, and reached a place called Hudaybiyyah. And there the statement was made: خَلَأَتِ الْقَصْوَاءُ — al-Qaswā' has refused to move. And the Prophet ﷺ said in response: No. حَابِسُهَا حَابِسُ الْفِيلِ — rather the one who stopped al-Qaswā' is the one who stopped the elephant.

It's interesting — why did Allah choose to stop al-Qaswā' here? Why were the Muslims stopped from going forward? When we know it is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — it is Allah who stopped the camel. And Allah says in Surah al-Fath — a surah, the whole surah in its entirety revealed about this incident — Allah says:

"If you had fought the disbelievers" — you 1,400 who set out with no weapons other than what you take in normal travel — "if you were to fight the whole of the Quraysh in their base, in their home in Mecca, they would have been defeated." Allah says they would have been defeated. So Allah is telling the believers: victory is right there, yet it is Allah who stopped this from happening. Why?

The Events of Hudaybiyyah

So before we answer that question, we have to look at what happened in the events after the statement of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet sent messengers to Quraysh to tell them: look, we've come for Umrah, we haven't come for fighting. And this was unknown — this was not something that would even be recognized amongst the Arabs, that someone comes to perform Umrah, to perform Tawaf around the Ka'bah, and they would be prevented, let alone someone from their own people.

So the Prophet sent messengers, and a rumor was spread that one of his messengers, Uthman ibn Affan, was killed. Uthman ibn Affan was sent to give the message to the Quraysh, and a rumor had spread that he was killed. Why was that rumor spread? Because the man that was sent before him, Kharash ibn Umayyah, when he went, they killed his camel and they almost killed him, but his tribe prevented them from doing so, and he came back. So the Muslims are already on edge.

The Bay'ah of Ridwan

And so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gathered the companions and told them: come, give me a pledge. Now, a pledge for what? What is this pledge for? What's interesting is the Prophet ﷺ didn't tell them what the pledge is for. The scholars differ on what was the reason for the pledge. Some say it was a pledge that we will fight to the death, even with no weapons — the killing of the messenger of the Prophet ﷺ, one of the greatest companions, Uthman — we will fight to the death. Or they say that they pledged that they will not flee in battle, they won't flee in war. And the third is actually very interesting: they pledged that whatever is in your heart, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, we pledge to that. We will commit to whatever you want and we don't even know what that is. That level of submission to the will of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — that it doesn't matter what you ask of us, we are ready to do whatever it is.

Urwah ibn Mas'ud and the Respect of the Companions

The Quraysh also sent emissaries to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to negotiate with him, to talk to him, to find out his intention. And Urwah ibn Mas'ud — he was one of the leaders of Ta'if. You know that when Allah says:

"Why wasn't this Qur'an sent to one of the great men from these two cities?" It was referring to this man — from Ta'if and Mecca. He had been to the kings of Rome and Persia and the Najashi and the like. And so when he came to talk to Muhammad ﷺ, the Messenger of Allah, he would stick his hand out to touch his beard. And this was something the Arabs would do. Harun ﷺ tells Musa ﷺ:

"Don't grab me by my beard." So Urwah would reach his hand out to touch the beard of the Prophet ﷺ. But there was a man next to the Messenger of Allah in full armor who would take the handle of his sword and strike the hand of Urwah. This great man, man of position — he said: no, you don't get to touch the beard of the Prophet ﷺ. And so Urwah looked at this man. He can't tell who it is — he's covered head to toe in armor. So he says: this is the most wicked person amongst you. And the Prophet ﷺ said: you know who that is? That's your nephew, al-Mughirah. Urwah was surprised — like, my own blood, my own nephew is doing this to me?

But then when Urwah went back to the Quraysh, he said: I've been to the kings of Persia and Rome and the like, and I've never seen a people who venerate their leader like the companions venerate the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When he would spit, they would rush to catch the spit and rub it on their skin and their faces. When he would command them, they would rush to fulfill the command. When they would speak to him, they would lower their voice out of reverence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And when they would look at him, they would lower their gaze — again, out of honor of the Messenger of Allah. So he said: I've never seen a people who honor their leader like them. Do whatever you want, but my advice is — listen to what he has to say. His people will never leave him.

The Treaty and Abu Jandal

Then Suhail ibn Amr comes, another leader of the Quraysh, and they begin writing a treaty. A treaty is signed between the Muslims and the Quraysh. And some of the conditions of the treaty were not favorable to the Muslims. Number one — they had spent a week in travel and had been waiting several days outside of Mecca, and they are being told: you cannot perform Umrah. Go back. No Umrah. Imagine the anticipation that builds in the heart — six years later, after the Muslims in Mecca were kicked out of Mecca, and the Ansar who have never performed Umrah before, now going to perform Umrah after a week-long travel and the difficulty and the like — all coming. And they're saying: no, go back. You come back next year, and you only get three days.

Not only that, but in the conditions of this treaty and the ceasefire between the two parties was this: if any Muslim were to leave Medina and go to Mecca, they can keep him. But if any Muslim from Mecca — and there were many there who were still Muslim but weren't allowed to make hijrah because they were captured — if any of them were to leave Mecca and go to Medina, you have to send them back.

Now these are the verbal agreements, and as it has to be written down — as this is being verbally agreed upon and the Prophet ﷺ agrees to this term — Abu Jandal now shows up. Who is Abu Jandal? He is the son of Suhail who negotiated for Quraysh. And the companions say: we could see the effects of torture upon him. He was a Muslim, but he was prevented from making hijrah. And he was in the lion's den in Mecca, being tortured under the captivity of his own father. And he escaped when he heard the Muslims were at Hudaybiyyah. He fled his captors and threw himself with his chains in front of the companions and the Messenger of Allah.

And when Suhail sees this, he tells Muhammad ﷺ: we already agreed. And so this is the first person — the agreement was, if a Muslim comes to you, you send him back. The Prophet ﷺ said: but we haven't even written it down yet. He said: nope, that's the agreement. If you walk away right now, if you say no — I'm walking away. The deal is off. The Prophet ﷺ tried to say: look, just between me and you, forget all this, just as leader to leader, man to man — just give me him. And he said: no, absolutely not.

And when Abu Jandal hears this, he calls out — he cries out to the Prophet, to all the Muslims who are watching, all witnessing this — a man, their own brother, in chains, with signs of torture upon him:

"Am I going to be sent back? After I escaped — you're going to send me back? And they're putting me on trial for my religion?" And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ could only say:

"O Abu Jandal, just be patient, and seek your reward with Allah, for Allah will certainly provide a way out for you and the Muslims who are with you."

Umar's Questioning and the Prophet's Response

Now, you have to understand — this was very difficult upon the companions. All these terms, the treaty, seeing Abu Jandal — one of their own. So Umar ibn al-Khattab, he couldn't hold himself. He goes to the Prophet ﷺ and says:

"يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، أَلَسْتَ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ؟" — Aren't you the Messenger of Allah? "بَلَى", yes. "أَلَسْنَا بِالْمُسْلِمِينَ؟" — Aren't we the Muslims? Yes. "أَوَلَيْسُوا بِالْمُشْرِكِينَ؟" — Aren't they the mushrikeen? He said yes. "فَعَلَامَ نُعْطِي الدَّنِيَّةَ فِي دِينِنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ؟" — O Messenger of Allah, why should we agree to such terms?

The Messenger of Allah responded:

"I am the slave of Allah and His Messenger. I will never disobey the command of Allah, and Allah will never abandon me." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2731–2732)

So Umar, now grasping at straws, said: well, O Messenger of Allah, didn't you promise us that we will perform Umrah? You said we're going to go perform Umrah! And he said: yes, but did I explicitly say it will be this year? He said no. He said: then you will perform Umrah.

But again, you have to understand the emotion of the companions. Umar ibn al-Khattab then goes to Abu Bakr and asks him the exact same questions: Isn't he the Messenger of Allah? Aren't we the Muslims? Aren't they the disbelievers? Why should we agree to such terms? And Abu Bakr tells him: "يَا عُمَرُ، الْزَمْ غَرْزَهُ، فَإِنِّي أَشْهَدُ أَنَّهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ" — O Umar, stick close to the Prophet of Allah, because I testify he is the Messenger of Allah. And Umar then says: "وَأَنَا أَشْهَدُ أَنَّهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ" — and I also bear witness he is the Messenger of Allah.

The Companions Stand Still

And to give you an idea of the level of shock — Suhail had just said that when the Prophet of Allah would spit, they would rush to catch the spit from the barakah; they would rush to fulfill the command. And now the Prophet of Allah knows they're going back to Mecca. And so he goes out and tells the companions: sacrifice your animals, shave your heads, we're going back. And nobody moves. The same people that Suhail said this about — now nobody's listening to the Prophet of Allah.

And so he goes into his quarters, and Umm Salamah is with him. And he's a little upset — the Messenger of Allah is a little surprised by this. "These are my companions. They'll go to the end of the world for me. But I told them to do it and they're not doing it." And she said: O Messenger of Allah, it's been a difficult few days for them. So why don't you go out and do it yourself, and they will follow. And so he did, and they followed.

Glad Tidings for Umar: The Revelation of Surah al-Fath

Now Umar ibn al-Khattab immediately felt regret for what he said — questioning the Prophet of Allah. And so as the Muslims headed back to Medina, he stayed in the back of the caravan, worried that Allah would reveal verses about him — "how dare you say what you said to the Prophet of Allah?" Then the Prophet of Allah called for Umar. And Umar said: I wish I could die. I wish the earth would swallow me. Because this is it — the verses are coming. Umar goes to the Prophet of Allah, and the Prophet of Allah tells him: glad tidings, O Umar. Congratulations. For verses have been revealed to me that are more beloved than this world and everything in it. Then he recited the verses:

"Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory." And when Umar heard this, he said: "أَوَفَتْحٌ هُوَ؟" — Oh, a victory? O Messenger of Allah, is all of this a victory? Is that nasr? Is that victory from Allah? Is that help from Allah? "أَوَنَصْرٌ هُوَ؟" — Is it truly victory? Is it truly victory? And he said: Yes.

وَأَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله، وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين.

Why Did Allah Stop Them?

We come back to the verse. 1,400 Muslims who had set out for Umrah — in their ihram, without weapons — and Allah said about them:

If you were to have fought them — if fighting would have taken place at this moment — it was the kuffar who would have run away and been defeated, and they would have not found anyone besides Allah as a protector or a helper. So why then did the Muslims agree to such a thing? Why would they turn away? Why wouldn't Allah allow the fighting to take place?

Tantawi says in his tafsir: "وَلَوْ قَاتَلَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَأَنتُمْ عَلَىٰ تِلْكَ الْحَالَةِ" — this is why it's important to understand everything that happened on the days of Hudaybiyyah. He says: if the disbelievers fought you while you were in this state:

مِنْ قُوَّةِ الْإِيمَانِ — from a strength of faith, وَصِدْقِ الْعَهْدِ — and a sincerity in every individual's promise with Allah, because we all have a promise with Allah, وَإِخْلَاصِ النِّيَّةِ — and sincerity in your intention, وَحُسْنِ الِاسْتِعْدَادِ — and a good preparation, وَمُبَاشَرَةِ الْأَسْبَابِ — and seeking and taking all avenues of protection first — he said: yes, then they would have been defeated.

So why then did the Prophet ﷺ say وَلَكِنْ حَبَسَهَا حَابِسُ الْفِيلِ? Allah answers that question a few verses later in Surah al-Fath, where Allah says:

"If it wasn't for the fact that there were believing men and believing women who you did not know — who were there in Mecca — and if you attacked, you wouldn't have known who they were; you would have killed them, for which you would have committed a sin." So Allah knew something that the believers did not know.

You see, we are humans. The companions are humans. Umar ibn al-Khattab is a human. He's seeing what he sees — they're prevented from Umrah, the Muslims are being tortured, his own brother in faith Abu Jandal is brought in front of them with the signs of torture, and he's sent back to face that same punishment. They're going back to Mecca, they're agreeing to these terms — and we are the Muslims. Where is the help of Allah?

You see, we see dhulm, we see oppression, we see killing, and we want victory now. Ceasefire — well, what about all the injustices that occurred? What about all the massacres that have occurred? How many Muslims have been killed? Where is the justice for that? It's human. It's human nature to see that. But you see, Allah — when He stopped Abraha, He knew then that the people of Mecca would be Muslim. When He stopped al-Qaswā', He knew then that in just two more years, the people of Mecca will all accept Islam.

Allah is in control. Allah is in control.

The Sunnah of Allah

Do you see what Allah says in the same verses? "If they fought you, they would have run away, even when you're in this state." What does Allah say in the next verse?

سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ — this is the sunnah of Allah. So if we are those who are truthful in their promise with Allah, and sincere in their intention with Allah, and prepare ourselves spiritually for that moment — if we are of those people:

Is It Truly a Victory? Are We Ready?

"أَوَفَتْحٌ هُوَ؟" — Is it a victory? Certainly it is a victory. Certainly it is a victory. But are we going to be part of that victory? That's the question. Are we spiritually prepared to be part of that victory?

When you imagine an open Palestine — what do you see? Do you see people running in to Masjid al-Aqsa who have never prayed Fajr in the masjid before? Do you see our sisters without hijab and jilbab running to al-Aqsa? Do you see people who are engaging in selling alcohol and haram business running in to al-Aqsa? And that's the victory — those are the people given victory? Is that what you imagine?

"أَوَفَتْحٌ هُوَ؟" — Is it a victory? Are we a people of victory?

All of Hudaybiyyah showed that the companions — what happened with Abu Jandal, what happened with Uthman ibn Affan, all their responses, everything, the Bay'ah of Ridwan — all of that showed that they were ready for victory. So Allah gave the victory. Two years later, the Muslims entered Mecca with no bloodshed, and all the people of Mecca embraced Islam.