A Treacherous Offer

It was the fifth year after the Emigration. The enemies of Islam could in no way bring themselves to accept the spread of the religion. They decided to organize another battle against the Muslims. A much greater army was to be prepared. This time their goal was to wipe out the Muslims altogether. They were going to attack Medina, the city which smelled of roses, and they were going to slay all the believers one by one. This time it was the Jews who were provoking the Quraysh. They came to Mecca with this proposal, “We are together with you in this war against Muhammad. Let us come shoulder-to shoulder and uproot him from the face of the earth!”

The Quraysh grew very fond of this treacherous plan. After all, this had been their sole desire for so many years. They had in no way gotten over their defeat at Badr, and were in constant watch for an opportunity to take their revenge. Abu Sufyan’s reply to the Jews was as follows,
“The most charming person for us if the one who will work with us and help us in defeating Muhammad.”
Seeing that working together against the Muslims was a golden opportunity for both sides, they decided on a time they would later meet and went their separate ways.
Breaking away from the Quraysh, the Jews were not set on being content with only that much evil. They travelled to all of the other Arabian tribes, one-by-one, with the same offer. They set a date with every tribe they agreed with and told them to be prepared by that time. They had convinced nearly all of the tribes to fight against the Messenger of Allah and the believers.
Days went by and the time came. An army of four thousand soldiers, commanded by Abu Sufyan, took off from Mecca and advanced towards Medina. There were a total of three hundred horses and one thousand five hundred camels in the army. Upon hearing this, the other tribes, too, started taking action and came to join Abu Sufyan’s army in flocks. Before long, the number of these non-believers obsessed with revenge had reached ten thousand.