THE TRUCE OF HUDAIBIYA

Submitted by shabeer (India), Aug 31, 2012 at 00:55

The relevance of and the lessons for the posterity from the Truce of Hudaibiya are:

1. The Prophet (s.a) never fought a battle of aggression. At Hudaibiya the situation was such the majority of the contingent, excepting the Prophet (s.a) and Hazrat Ali (a.s) were raring to attack the infidels in Makkah. But the Prophet (s.a) manifested the great spirit of patience and forbearance despite the fact that he was facing the infidels from a position of strength.

2. In Islam there is no relevance of Shura, consensus or democracy. This has been manifestly proved by the Truce of Hudaibiya that the majority was opposed to it and the Prophet (s.a), Ali (a.s) and a few others were for it.

3. The Jews were spreading their tentacles in Madina and other places and instigating the Meccans to weaken the Muslims by repeated attacks. With this end the Jews had entrenched themselves in the forts at the oasis of Khaibar. If the Muslims invested Khaibar, the infidels of Makkah would certainly have attacked while the fighting men were away from Medina . The Treaty of Hudaibiya did away with any such contingency and the campaign of Khaibar was carried out successfully.

4. The Truce of Hudaibiya was the first agreement made by the Muslims with their sworn adversaries. The wordings of the Truce played a significant role in the success of the Muslims that was realized in the future. The Treaty provided protection to the Muslim women and also to those Muslims who remained back in Makkah to practice their Faith without any let or hindrance. This is a pointer to the people in the future to exercise maximum care in selecting proper wording when they entered into covenants with others.

5. Allama Sadiq Hassan has fervently advised the Muslims, who go for the Umrah, to first visit Medina and assume the Ihram at Zul-Halifa before proceeding to Makkah that the Prophet (s.a) went with his contingent to that place and asked them to take to Ihram on their way to Makkah. Following this Tradition of the Prophet (s.a) would be of great felicity for the Mominin! Insha Allah!!

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".