The Treaty of Ḥudaybiya
The Prophet ﷺ set out for the lesser pilgrimage and Quraysh turned him back. He made terms with them that many Companions felt as a loss — and God called it a clear victory. There the Pledge of Riḍwān was taken.
In brief
- Date
- Dhū al-Qaʿda, 6 AH — March 628 CE.
- Place
- Ḥudaybiya, on the edge of the sanctuary west of Mecca.
- Number
- About 1,400 Companions, in pilgrim garb and seeking no fight.
- The Pledge of Riḍwān
- When word spread that ʿUthmān, his envoy, had been killed, the Prophet ﷺ took their pledge under the tree not to flee: “God was pleased with the believers when they pledged to you beneath the tree.”
- The terms
- Return this year and perform the pilgrimage the next · a truce of ten years · any of Quraysh who came to Muhammad would be returned, and any Muslim who went to Quraysh would not.
- In the Qurʾān
- Sūrat al-Fatḥ was revealed about it: “Indeed, We have granted you a clear victory.”
His story
The Companions found the terms hard, until ʿUmar came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: “Are we not upon truth and they upon falsehood? Why then should we yield in our religion?” He answered: “I am the Messenger of God, and I do not disobey Him, and He is my helper.”
When he ordered them to shave and sacrifice, not one rose, so heavy was it upon them. He went in to Umm Salama, who advised him to go out, sacrifice, and shave, speaking to no one. He did — and they all rose to sacrifice and shave one another.
Then its fruit showed. People felt safe from one another, and Islam spread in the two years of truce more than it had in the twenty before. Khālid ibn al-Walīd and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ entered Islam. He had come to Ḥudaybiya with fourteen hundred; two years later he entered Mecca with ten thousand.