The Covenant is Broken

It was the month of Shaban, in the eighth year after the Emigration. Twenty-two months had passed since the ordering of the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiya. One day, right after the Morning Prayer, some upsetting news from Mecca reached our Prophet. The Qurayshi had organized a midnight raid on the tribe of Huza’a, which had been a tribe protected under the treaty. They were a people who did not harm anyone. They would quietly go on with their lives, and yet a total of twenty-three from among them had been killed. To make matters worse, most of them had been women and children. This was

an explicit violation of the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiya.
The leader of the tribe of Huza’a had notified our Prophet of the situation and was asking him for his help. “Help will be on its way,” our Prophet reassured him. The fact that such an incident had occurred in Mecca, during a period in which they were trying to establish peace throughout the Hijaz made our Prophet very sad. He sent a messenger to the Quraysh asking them to explain the situation. The Quraysh, however, both rejected the fact that they had committed such a deed and also declared that they had abolished the treaty.
Though the Quraysh were speaking is such a bold manner, on the other hand, they were quite anxious, aware of the fact their wrongful actions would cause them trouble. For years they had exposed the Muslims to everything but comfort, but now they had grown fearful of their power. They were neither able to maintain the environment of peace nor did they have the courage to face up to battle. After discussing among themselves, they finally decided to send their leader, Abu Sufyan, to Medina. Though they had intentionally broken the treaty, Abu Sufyan, with intentions of finding reconciliatory ground, was going to speak with the Messenger of Allah, asking him to renew the treaty and extend its time frame. As soon as he reached our Prophet’s side, without wasting any time, he got straight to the point, “O Muhammad! I was not present at the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiya. Come now and let us renew the treaty and extend its duration!”
He acted as though he were unaware of the killing in Medina and the violation of the peace treaty. He had brought a whole new issue into question by asking to renew and extend the covenant. The Messenger of Allah wanted to remind him of the previous incident by saying, “Haven’t you stirred up an incident beforehand?”
Abu Sufyan replied as though nothing had happened, “We are still bound by the treaty which we signed for at Hudaybiya; we have neither changed nor violated it!” The Messenger of Allah declared, “In actuality, it is us who are still bound by the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiya; we have neither changed nor violated it,” in response.
Abu Sufyan continued to repeat the same words over and over. He made no mention whatsoever about their treatment of the people of Huza’a and their violation of peace. Our Prophet was certainly not pleased with such behavior, and without allowing it to continue any longer, he ended this conversation of repeats. That day, Abu Sufyan went to many of the leaders of Medina, including Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and Sa’d ibn Ubadah, speaking to them of the same things also. Unable to reach any conclusion, however, he mounted his camel once again and headed back to Mecca.
A short while after Abu Sufyan’s departure, the Messenger of Allah instructed our blessed mother, Aisha, to make preparations for a journey and told her to keep this secret. With help from Allah, the Muslims were going to go to Mecca, but, no matter what, our Prophet did not want any blood to be shed. He wanted to confront the Meccans in a surprising way, without allowing an opportunity for battle to arise. For this reason, they were being extra cautious so as not to let any word escape from Medina to Mecca. Aside from all the precautions they were taking, our beloved Prophet was constantly praying to the Almighty Allah. “O my Gracious Lord! Tie the ears and eyes of the Qurayshi in such a way that they see us in the most unexpected and surprising instant! Let them become aware of our presence only when we have come close to their side and confronted them,” he prayed.
On the other hand, messengers were sent in all directions in order to convey the news to all the Muslims: “All that bear faith in Allah and His Messenger shall be prepared and in Medina with the coming of the month of Ramadan!” With this invitation, the believers arrived in Medina in groups and crowds, one following the other. After some time, all who had become Muslim up to that day were gathered in Medina. In the month of Ramadan of the eighth year after the Emigration, on a Wednesday morning, ten thousand Muslims followed our Prophet and set out on the journey from Medina towards Mecca.
As they reached the valley of Marr ad-Dhahran near Mecca the sky darkened, and it was time for the Night Prayer. They settled there for the night. Then, they all gathered brushwood and twigs and lit a fire on the ground.
On the other side, the Quraysh still had no idea of what was going on. The fact that they hadn’t heard anything from Medina after their violation of the peace treaty had made them quite anxious. In the end, they decided to send Abu Sufyan and Hakim ibn Hizam towards Medina in order to gather some news from the surrounding area. They ran across Budayl ibn Warka on the way. He too joined them, and the three of them started heading towards Medina. When they reached Marr ad-Dhahran in the dark of the night, they were shocked. A great army was standing in front of them. As they watched in fear, some of the Companions besieged them from behind. Shortly after, Abu Sufyan and his friends were standing in front of the Messenger of Allah. The leader of Mecca had finally come to the end of an old path and the beginning of a new era. He had been greatly impressed by the strength of our most beloved Prophet and his Companions, their representation of Islam through the language of their disposition, their sincerity and their honorable stand. Flowing through Abu Sufyan’s trembling lips were these words: “I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and I also bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger!”
Hakim ibn Hizam, who had come along with him on the road, also became a Muslim.