The Year of Delegations

Part oneWhy they came

In the old Arabia, the tribes watched Makkah. The Quraysh were the keepers of the Kaaba, and many tribes had waited to see how the contest between Quraysh and Muhammad ﷺ would end. By the end of 8 AH the answer was clear. Makkah had opened its gates, and after Hunayn no tribe of the Hijaz could think of defeating him.

So in the ninth year after the hijrah, the roads to Madinah filled with delegations. The riders carried the chiefs and orators of their tribes, and they came to listen, to pledge allegiance, or to agree a treaty. The year became known as the Year of Delegations. Those who came were housed and fed, and the chiefs were often given gifts. The Prophet ﷺ made a point of honouring the leaders of each tribe and confirming them in their positions.

The delegation of Banu Tamim called to him loudly from outside his rooms, and verses of the Quran came down to teach the believers how to speak in his presence. Further south, the kings of Himyar in Yemen sent word that they had accepted Islam, and the Prophet ﷺ wrote back with what Islam asked of them and promised them its protection.

He spent a great deal of time with the delegates, and some were given tents in the courtyard of the mosque in Madinah. Some had travelled for weeks. He heard them out, explained the basics of Islam, and sent them home with a teacher.

Some of the delegations

• Thaqif of Ta'if. After Hunayn, the town of Ta'if had held out. One of its leaders, Urwa ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), had accepted Islam and been killed by his own people for it. Then the tribe thought again, and sent a party to Madinah in Ramadan. They were given a tent at the mosque. They asked to keep their idol, al-Lat, for a time, but the Prophet ﷺ refused, and in the end it was pulled down. The youngest of the delegates, Uthman ibn Abi al-As (may Allah be pleased with him), had shown great eagerness to learn the Quran, and he was made their leader.
• Banu Tamim. A proud tribe of poets and orators, who came to compete in speeches and verse with the Muslims. After the contest, they accepted Islam.
• Adi ibn Hatim of Tayy. He was the son of Hatim, famed in Arabia for his generosity, and a Christian who had thought of Muhammad ﷺ as a king. He found a man who sat on the ground with ordinary people, and who stopped on the road to listen to an old woman's request. He accepted Islam.
• The Christians of Najran. About sixty riders from this town in the south came to Madinah. When it was time for their prayer, the Prophet ﷺ let them pray in his mosque. They discussed the nature of Isa (peace be upon him) at length with him. In the end they made a treaty under which they kept their faith and their churches and were granted his protection.

Part twoTeachers go out

A delegation came to Madinah to take something away, and the Prophet ﷺ sent someone back to teach. The community in Madinah was not large enough to teach all of Arabia, so he trained and sent out Companions to carry on the work: to recite the Quran, explain the prayer, judge disputes and collect zakat, the yearly charity that Muslims give from their wealth.

Over the next year or so, the Prophet ﷺ sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) to Yemen, and Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) was sent there too. The Prophet ﷺ advised Mu'adh to make things easy for the people and not hard, and to give them good news. These teachers gave the new Muslims a lasting link to Madinah.

In the same year, the Prophet ﷺ sent Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) to lead the pilgrimage to Makkah. It was the first Hajj under Muslim leadership. Ali followed to announce the opening verses of Surah at-Tawbah to the crowds at Mina. After that year, no idolater was to perform the pilgrimage and no one was to circle the Kaaba unclothed. Treaties that had a fixed term were to be honoured until they ended.

As the delegations arrived, the Quran spoke of what it saw. People were entering the religion of Allah in large numbers, and the Prophet ﷺ was told to praise his Lord and ask His forgiveness.

From the Quran

إِذَا جَآءَ نَصْرُ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلْفَتْحُ ۝١ وَرَأَيْتَ ٱلنَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِى دِينِ ٱللَّهِ أَفْوَاجًا ۝٢ فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْهُ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ تَوَّابًۢا ۝٣

¹When Allah’s ˹ultimate˺ help comes and the victory ˹over Mecca is achieved˺, ²and you ˹O Prophet˺ see the people embracing Allah’s Way in crowds, ³then glorify the praises of your Lord and seek His forgiveness, for certainly He is ever Accepting of Repentance.

Many of the Companions took Surah an-Nasr as a sign that his work was nearly complete.

A delegation came to Madinah to take something away, and the Prophet ﷺ sent someone back to teach.

More on How to Muslim

• guide.howtomuslim.orgHow to pay zakatThe zakat his teachers explained to the new Muslims.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Towards EternityO Messenger, Final Episode: The Prophet's Farewell (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Madinah
• Ta'if
• Najran
• Yemen

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter