The Conquest of Mecca
The Prophet ﷺ entered Mecca with ten thousand, his head bowed in humility until it nearly touched his saddle. He took no revenge on those who had driven him out and killed his companions, but said: “Go, for you are free.”
In brief
- Date
- 20 Ramadan, 8 AH — January 630 CE.
- Its cause
- Quraysh broke the treaty of Ḥudaybiya by aiding Banū Bakr against Khuzāʿa, the Prophet’s allies.
- The army
- 10,000 fighters — the greatest force the Muslims had yet gathered.
- The bloodshed
- He entered with almost no fighting; only a few were killed in one quarter.
- The idols
- Three hundred and sixty idols around the Kaʿba were broken, as he recited: “Truth has come and falsehood has vanished.”
- The call to prayer
- He ordered Bilāl to climb upon the Kaʿba and call — the man once tortured in its own valley.
His story
He set out in Ramadan without informing Quraysh, and ordered ten thousand fires lit at Marr al-Ẓahrān. Abū Sufyān saw a force he could not face and accepted Islam. The Prophet ﷺ declared: “Whoever enters the house of Abū Sufyān is safe; whoever shuts his door is safe; whoever enters the mosque is safe.”
He entered upon his mount reciting Sūrat al-Fatḥ, his head so bowed that his beard nearly touched the saddle-bow — not a conqueror in triumph but a servant in gratitude. Then he stood at the door of the Kaʿba while Quraysh awaited his judgement, and asked: “What do you think I will do with you?” They said: good — a noble brother and the son of a noble brother. He said: “Go, for you are free.”
With its conquest idolatry ended in the Arabian Peninsula, people entered God’s religion in crowds, and delegations came from every quarter the following year — “the Year of Delegations”.