Treaty of Hudaibiya

Following are main topics of Treaty of Hudaibya:

Prophet sets out on Pilgrimage

Year after the battle of ditch, the Prophet saw a dream of performing an Umrah. He told his companions about it and told them to ready themselves for performing Umrah.
In 628, they set out for Makkah. In total, there were 1400 Muslims with 70 camels who were to be sacrificed.
They left with peaceful intention, only carrying sheathed sword for their protection. But the Makkans would not have it. They had genuine apprehension though. They believed performing umrah was a cover and the Muslims were coming to plunder and pillage Makkah.

The Quraish & the pledge of tree

When Muslims came to know of their intentions they took the route less traveled. Here the Prophet’s camel halted, which was a sign from Allah. The place is called Hudaibiya.
Within short period, a cavalry came nearby to Hudaibiya from Quraish side. The negotiations started now. After much murmur and trade of barbs from Quraish side, it was finally decided that Usman would be sent since he had a strong clan there which would protect it.
Hazrat Usman didn’t return for long time, the Quraish contrived to hold him for negotiations so that Muslims would grow fearful. And Muslims did grow anxious as the time passed.
Seeing this, the Prophet called all the Muslims there and took pledge from the ones present that they would never desert Hudaibiya nor would they disobey him. They would also die in the cause of Islam, if a need arose. This pledge they took in the shadow of tree. It is because of this it is called “pledge of the tree” or Bayt-e-Rizwan.

Concluding the Treaty of Hudaibiya

Quraish finally sent one its leaders, Suhail bin Amr. He was to negotiate for the Makkans.
After much deliberation, a ten-year truce was concluded between the Prophet and Suhail.
When Hazrat Ali started writing the treaty, Suhail objected over the word “the God” and “Muhammad – messenger of Allah”. He had them replaced by “O God” and “Muhammad bin Abdullah.”
This irked Muslims, but the Prophet yielded. He knew the sensitivity of the situation. He also believed in Allah and maintained there was a reason a treaty was being concluded.

Main theme of the Treaty

It was a truce for 10 years between the Muslims of Madinah and the Quraish of Makkah.
The Muslims couldn’t perform the pilgrimage this year but can return next year and stay for 3 days.
Any Arab tribe may come in alliance with the Muslims and any Muslim tribe with Makkans.
Anyone who flees from Quraish to Madinah would be returned whereas if a Muslim came to Makkah or was there wouldn’t be returned.

Muslims were disappointed

It is conspicuous from the clauses that Muslims were at disadvantage. They couldn’t perform Umrah that year. They had to return individuals whereas the Quraish wouldn’t.
The episode of Abu Jandal further disheartened the Muslims. Abu Jandal was a Muslim residing in Makkah. He was tortured and humiliated by the Quraish and his family. When he came to know the Prophet’s presence, he came running to Hudaibiya and wanted to leave with the Muslims. He showed Muslims the scars he received for being a Muslim in Makkah.
Abu Jandal’s father insisted he be returned. Suhail obstinately argued that the treaty be respected. The Prophet asked them to have an exception but the Quraish wouldn’t yield.
Abu Jandal had to be returned leaving Muslims despondent and disappointed.

Why it was a victory?

While on his way to Makkah, the Prophet received a revelation. It read, “Verily we have given unto thee a victory”. It was now clear that Allah did have plan for the treat. Muslims were now joyous.

The Settlement at Iyes

A Makkan Muslim named Abu Basir succeeded in fleeing Makkah. He arrived in Madinah for refuge. His masters came running behind him and used the clause as an excuse to take him back. As per the treaty, he was allowed to be taken. On the way back, he killed one of his masters and other ran back to Makkah. Now, Abu Basir knew he couldn’t return to Quraish because he had killed one of them. They would either kill him or intensify the torture. He started living on hilly coast called Iyes that lay between the way to Syria. It soon became a place for every Muslim fugitive from Makkah to flee to. About 70 Muslims from Makkah came to live there. Since the place lay on the way to Syria, the band started looting and plundering the Makkan caravans passing from there. It should be noted here that Muslims of Madinah had stopped scuffling with Makkan caravans after the truce. And Makkans knew that Madinah had no hand in Iyes events. Reluctantly, they had to come to the Prophet to abrogate the clause of repatriation – the clause that had irked the Muslims too fiercely. Finally, the settlement at Iyes came to Madinah and the clause was removed from the treaty.
In addition, the Muslims would conquer Jews of Khyber in 2 months. This was another victory due to the treaty. Since the treaty only mentioned the Arab tribes, Muslims were now free to pursue their goals against the Jews of Khyber.
Further, it can also be concluded that Madinah became an equal power to Makkah. If they were willing to come to the table, it meant they considered Madinah an equal.
More Muslims came into the fold of Islam in the following 2 years than had ever before. Eminent personalities like Khalid bin Walid and Amr bin Al-as, who were hostile to Islam, came to accept it.

For complete Islamic history notes click here.