Had this been so...

Had this been so, there was no sense in returning to Medina without even attempting to fulfill that object after having taken all the trouble and the expenditure over the expedition during the most inconvenient time of the year. But these detractors have their own mission to fulfill. The Year of the Deputations During the ninth year of the Hijra, a large number of deputations from far-flung non-Muslim tribes came to the Prophet to accept Islam.

They had been impressed by the record of the Muslims, and the news of his being a true prophet was fast spreading. Among these tribes were the people of Ta'if who had once driven the Prophet out of their city and whose siege after the battle of Hunain had been lifted by the Muslims. In…