When the Holy Prophet (S) camped at Hudaibiya...

When the Holy Prophet (S) camped at Hudaibiya, the Quraish set out from Mecca after swearing by Laat and Uzza that they will not allow Muhammad and his companions to enter their town as long as they were alive. The Prophet sent an envoy to them that he has not come to fight them; and that he only wants to perform the Umrah and sacrifice the animals and that he will leave their meat for them and go back.

They sent Urwah bin Masud, an intelligent man to the Prophet who said that it was very difficult and almost impossible for the Prophet to enter the Haram and said: O Muhammad, all the men, women and children, young and old are camping outside Mecca and have sworn that as long as they are alive, they will not allow you to enter the Haram. Do you want to cast your people to perdition? The Holy Prophet (S) said: “I have not come to fight them. I want to perform pilgrimage rituals.

I will also leave the sacrificial meat for you and go back to Medina.” Urwah said: “By Allah, I have never seen anyone being stopped for having such an intention.” Then he went to Quraish and conveyed the Prophet’s message. They said: “By Allah, if Muhammad enters Mecca and Arabs come to know about it, we would be degraded and Arabs will be emboldened against us. Then they sent Hafasa bin Ahnaf and Suhail bin Amr.

When Prophet saw them, he said: “It’s a pity that battles have made the Quraish useless and weak. Why don’t they leave me for the Arabs so that if I am truthful, I will be victorious with respect and honor and the rulership of Quraish will be on Arabs. And if I am a liar, refuge of Allah, the wolves of Arabs and bandits will remove my harm from Quraish. I will definitely accept whatever the Quraish wants from me if there is no displeasure of Allah.

“Thus when those two came to the Prophet, they said: “You go back this year. So that we may see how your matter progresses, because Arabs have come to know that you have come to Mecca. If you enter forcibly, they will think that we are cowards and they will be emboldened against us. Next year, in the same month, for three days, we will vacate the Holy Kaaba for you so that you may perform your sacrifices and go back. The Holy Prophet (S) accepted this proposal.

They said: “There is also doubt that whoever from us goes to you, you must return him to us and if anyone from you joins us, we would not be obliged to return him to you. The Messenger of Allah (S) said: “If anyone of us joins you, I am aloof from him and we don’t need him.