THE SECOND

“And He granted besides this, a victory soon to come” is stating that although the Truce of  Hudaybiya was apparently opposed to Islam’s interests and the Quraysh were victorious to  an extent, in reality it was a great victory and the key to further conquests. For with the Truce the physical sword was temporarily hung up, but the flashing diamond sword of the Qur’an was unsheathed, and it conquered minds and hearts. As a result of it, the two sides mixed with one another. The virtues of Islam and lights of the Qur’an rent the veils of obduracy and tribalism and prevailed. For example, people like Khalid ibn al-Walid, a brilliant warrior, and ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, a brilliant politician, who could not accept defeat, were defeated by the Qur’anic sword manifested through the Truce of Hudaybiya.2  They submitted in perfect obedience to Islam in Medina, and Khalid became a “Sword of Allah;” a sword in the conquests of Islam.

An Important Question:  What was the reason the Companions of the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), the Glory of the World and Beloved of the Sustainer of All the Worlds, were defeated by the idolators at the end of Uhud and beginning of Hunayn?3

The Answer: Among the idolators were many persons like Khalid who in the future would be equal to the leading Companions of that time. Therefore, so as not to degrade them entirely in the view of the future, which for them would be glorious and honourable, divine  wisdom gave them in the past immediate recompense for their future good works and did  not completely destroy their pride. That is to  say, the Companions of the past were defeated by the Companions of the future, so that the future Companions would enter Islam, not  through fear of the flashing sword but through zeal for the flash of truth, and so that they and their natural valour should not be brought low.

THE THIRD

The words, “and without fear” say this: “You shall circumambulate the Ka‘ba in complete safety.” However at that time the majority of the nomadic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula were hostile, and most of the environs of Mecca and the tribe of Quraysh, enemies. By predicting: “Soon you shall circumambulate the Ka‘ba without fear,” it was indicating and foretelling that the Arabian Peninsula would submit and all the Quraysh enter Islam and total security be established. And it all occurred exactly as predicted.4

 ------------------------------------------ 

2   Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-Nabawiyya, iv, 7; Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, iv, 252.

3   See, Bukhari, Maghazi, 54; Jihad, 52, 61, 97, 167; Muslim, Jihad, 79; Tirmidhi, Jihad, 15.

4   Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-Nabawiyya, v, 69; Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, ii, 139, 146.