Hudaibiya

One night Holy Prophet saw in his dream that he had gone to Makka along with his companions and performed Umra. When he decided to go to Makka with all his flowerers his companions asked. "Do you want to invade Makka?" he replied. "No, we are going there only to perform Umra," And in the sixth year of his migration from Makka he started for Makka with two thousand followers. This time Muslims had many hundred camels with them in their caravan.

That was a very hard time for Quraish. They could not decide that whether they should allow the Muslims to enter the city or not. They feared that if they allowed the Muslims to enter the city with hundreds of camels they might take over the city control overthrowing them secondly if it did not happen this way they had no guarantee that the time of leaving the city the Muslims would not he more than the two thousand people i.e. many more might join them, So they decided not to permit Muslims to enter the city, even if they had come to perform Umra only.

In order to address the misconception of Quraish about their intentions Holy Prophet sent an envoy to tell Quraish that Muslims had not come there to fight they just want to perform Umra and pay homage to the Sacred Ka'aba and they were not armed as well which was the proof that they had not come to fight. But the emissary of the Holy Prophet could not reach Makka as Akrama Bin Albu Jehal who was leading a contingent of two hundred infidels obstructed them on their way to Makka and cut the legs of their camels. The Muslim envoy and his fellow Muslims after losing their camels went astray in the desert but finally God helped them and they managed to reach the Muslim Caravan.

Muslims in the meantime marked their camels with sacrificial marks at the place known as Zul Halifa and put on the ceremonial robe for performing Umra and started for Makka in order to avoid any unpleasant incident heading for Makka. Holy Prophet took the route of the hilly area of Zul Halifa. After crossing the limits of Zul Halifa they entered a very narrow a difficult terrain. The scorching heat of the sun and thirst troubled the Muslims but somehow they managed to reach a place known Hudaibiya. Makka is only eleven Kilometers from Hudaihiya and can be easily seen from there. Muslims belonging to Makka felt the rising emotions and their eyes filled with tears to see their native city from that distance in between. They were anticipating the smell of their homeland.

But right at time when the Muslims were eagerly looking forward to enter the city filled with reverence and respect. Sualab the camel of Holy Prophet stopped and sat down upon the ground. Holy Prophet tried to get it up but it retreated two steps after getting up and again sat down. Holy Prophet got down the camel and told the Muslims that God wanted them to stay there. Hearing this, all the Muslims dismounted from their camels with a heavy heart. They were expecting to make their stay outside Makka. The place where they were made to dismount and stay was in the area where plenty of Water used to be available in fair weathers but at that time there wasn't any water. Muslims submitted to their beloved Holy Prophet "We all and the camels are thirsty and there is no water in this area how can we stay here? So we request you to please allow us to proceed till we could find some water."

Holy Prophet raised his hands and prayed to God. “O Allah, the lord and the Creator if thou didn't provide water the Muslims would lose their patience and would enter the city."

Then giving one of the arrows from his magazine he told his companions to fix that arrow in an abandoned well located in that area As soon as the arrow was planted in the well water surged in it beneath the surface.

On the other side Quraish were facing this dilemma that if they did not allow the Muslims to enter the city for performing the ritual of their worship the entire Arabia would turn against them. The tribes of Arab would consider that they had become the owner's and masters of the house of God. Ka'aba and now the rituals of pilgrimage and Umra could only be performed as and when the Quraish would want and allow. And if they let the large Caravan of Muslims enter the city it would he considered that they have lost against them. Muslims have subdued them and that was quite disgracing for them.

To handle that precarious situation they appointed Urwah Bin Masood Saqfi their envoy to go to Hudaihiya and negotiate with Mohammad. Urwah Bin Masood met holy Prophet and asked about the purpose of their visit. Holy Prophet replied that they had come to perform Umra and not to fight. He was shown the camels marked with Saleeqa: the typical sacrificial markings. During his conversation with the Holy Prophet he tried to be disrespectful to the Holy Prophet, this enraged Mugeera Bin Shauha and jabbing his hind with his sword told him in a stern voice to watch his manners. Abu Bakkar said to Urwah, “If you had not been an envoy, we would have killed you for this misbehavior.

When Urwah Bin Masood returned to Quraish addressing their elders he said. "I had been in the courts of Roman Emperor and Najashi but the discipline and the loyalty, which 1 have witnessed in Muslims for Mohammad.

Quraish sent another envoy to verify the findings of Urwah.

He also reported that the Muslims were there for the pilgrimage of the holy Ka'aba. When he returned to Makka he told Quraish that he had seen the camels with sacrificial marks on them and the Muslims were reciting the prayers special for the occasion. Therefore he didn't have any doubt that the Muslims had come for the pilgrimage of holy Ka'aba and that according to him, there would be no need to prohibit them from entering Makka. But this could not ease the minds of Quraish so they sent Halees Bin Alqmah.

When he reached the Muslims' Camp, Holy Prophet said. "Let him see around freely. Let him see whomsoever and whatsoever he wants to see."

Halees Bin Alqmah also testified that all the Muslims were wearing Ahram and had brought with them the sacrificial cancels. He didn't see and weapons and arms in the camp. When he returned to Quraish he said. "O the Chiefs of Makka. I can say this with confidence that Muslims are here to pay their homage to the holy Kaaba and they have no had intentions at all. I think that they should be allowed to come to Makka as everybody has a right to visit Ka'aba. No one has any monopoly over Holy Kaaba.

When the Quraish didn't agree to let the Muslims enter the city Halees expressed his displeasure saying. "If you didn't allow Mohammad and his followers to enter the city and stopped him from visiting the holy Ka'aba I will dissociate from you and shall no longer be an ally to you.'

But Quraish remained unmoved and maintained their stance stubbornly. Holy Prophet sent his envoy Frash Bin Umiya Khazai to Makka to negotiate a way to pacify the Makkans of their doubts about them. But the Quraish arrested hint and slay his camel. Holy Prophet upon hearing the news sent Usman Ghani (RA) to Makka as his ambassador. When he met Quraish they said. "You belong to our tribe we allow you to circumambulate the holy Ka'aba and perform Umra but cannot allow Mohammad to enter Ka'aba."

The negotiation failed due to stubbornness and high headedness of Quraish. In the meantime this rumor spread in the camp of Muslims that Usman had been martyred.