The Conquest of Makkah

Part oneThe truce is broken

The truce of Hudaybiyyah was meant to last ten years. It lasted less than two. Under its terms, the tribe of Khuza'ah had joined the Muslims, and the tribe of Bakr had joined the Quraysh. Then men of Bakr attacked Khuza'ah by night, and some of the Quraysh helped them with weapons. The Khuza'ah were bound to the Prophet ﷺ by the treaty, and a party of them rode to Madinah to ask for help.

The Prophet ﷺ considered the treaty broken. The Quraysh soon realised what they had done, and their leader Abu Sufyan, who would later become a Muslim (may Allah be pleased with him), travelled to Madinah to try to renew the agreement. He spoke to everyone who might help him, but he returned to Makkah with nothing.

Part twoThe march

In Ramadan of 8 AH the Prophet ﷺ set out from Madinah with about ten thousand men, and tribes joined them on the road. He kept the destination quiet, so that the Quraysh would have no time to prepare.

One Companion, Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah (may Allah be pleased with him), wrote secretly to the Quraysh to warn them, and sent the letter with a woman travelling to Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ sent Ali, az-Zubayr and al-Miqdad (may Allah be pleased with them) after her, telling them exactly where they would find her. At first she denied having any letter, but Ali told her they had not been lied to, and she brought it out from her braided hair. Umar asked permission to strike Hatib's neck as a traitor. Hatib explained that he had family in Makkah with no tribe to protect them, and had hoped the warning would earn them some protection, not that he had left his faith. The Prophet ﷺ accepted his explanation, reminded Umar that Hatib had fought at Badr, and forgave him. Verses at the opening of Surah al-Mumtahanah were revealed about it.

Near Makkah, at a place called Marr az-Zahran, the army made camp. Each man lit his own fire, and the hills filled with thousands of flames. That night Abu Sufyan, out scouting, was found by Al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, who took him to the Prophet's ﷺ tent. Abu Sufyan accepted Islam. Al-Abbas reminded the Prophet ﷺ that Abu Sufyan was a man who liked to be honoured, and the Prophet ﷺ announced that anyone who entered Abu Sufyan's house would be safe. So would anyone who stayed indoors, and anyone who put down his weapons.

The next morning the army entered Makkah in several columns. Most of them came in without a blow. The one led by Khalid ibn al-Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) from the lower side of the city met a small group of Quraysh fighters, and there was a short clash in which a few men on both sides died. The rest of Makkah stayed behind its doors. The Prophet ﷺ later said that Makkah was sacred from the day Allah created the heavens and the earth, that fighting in it had been allowed to him only for an hour of one day, and that its sanctity had then returned as it was before.

The Prophet ﷺ rode into the city on his camel with his head bowed low in humility, so low that his beard is said to have nearly touched the saddle. He was entering the place where he had been born, where he had been mocked and attacked, and from which he had left in secret eight years earlier. There was no cry of triumph. As he rode, he recited Surah al-Fath.

Part threeForgiveness

He had told his commanders to fight no one who did not fight them. First he bathed and prayed at the house of his cousin Umm Hani bint Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with her). Then he went to the Kaaba and circled it. Around the sanctuary stood about three hundred and sixty idols, and the Prophet ﷺ pointed to them one by one with his staff, reciting a verse that says truth has come and falsehood has vanished. They fell. The idols were removed, and the Kaaba was cleansed and restored to the worship of Allah alone, as Ibrahim (peace be upon him) had built it.

From the Quran

وَقُلْ جَآءَ ٱلْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ ٱلْبَـٰطِلُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلْبَـٰطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا ۝٨١

And declare, “The truth has come and falsehood has vanished. Indeed, falsehood is bound to vanish.”

The Prophet ﷺ gave the key back to Uthman ibn Talhah (may Allah be pleased with him), whose family had always held it. Uthman had come to Madinah a few months earlier and accepted Islam on the same day as Khalid ibn al-Walid and Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with them), two of the Quraysh's ablest men. He went inside the Kaaba with Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) and Usamah ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him), removed the pictures painted on its walls, and prayed there. Then he told Bilal ibn Rabah to climb onto the roof of the Kaaba and call the adhan. The man who had been tortured in the sand of Makkah for saying Allah is One now gave the call to prayer from the top of the Sacred House.

The people of Makkah gathered, afraid. These were the men who had boycotted the Muslims and driven them out of their homes, and who had marched out against them at Badr, Uhud and the Trench. The Prophet ﷺ asked them what they thought he would do with them. They answered that they expected the best, from a noble brother and the son of a noble brother. He told them to go, for they were free.

There was no revenge and no plunder. Only a small number of people were excluded from the general pardon, because of especially serious crimes, and even among these several were later forgiven. One was Abdullah ibn Khatal, who had become a Muslim, killed a man who served him, and fled to Makkah. He was found clinging to the cloth of the Kaaba and was put to death. Another was Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh, who had once written down revelation for the Prophet ﷺ and then left Islam and spread lies about it. His foster-brother Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) brought him to the Prophet ﷺ, who accepted his pledge. He returned to Islam and later served as a governor and commander. Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl and Safwan ibn Umayyah, who had fought Islam fiercely, were among those who were forgiven and later became Muslims (may Allah be pleased with them). Ikrimah had fled towards the coast, meaning to sail for Abyssinia. His wife Umm Hakim, who had accepted Islam, asked the Prophet ﷺ to grant him safety, then went after him and brought him back. It is reported that the Prophet ﷺ told his Companions not to speak ill of Abu Jahl in front of his son, because insulting the dead hurts the living and does not reach the dead. Hind bint Utbah accepted Islam (may Allah be pleased with her). The men and women of Makkah came in groups to pledge themselves to the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Bakr brought his elderly father, Abu Quhafah, who was blind by then. The Prophet ﷺ asked why he had not left the old man at home so that he could have gone to him, then placed his hand on his chest, and Abu Quhafah accepted Islam. His manner did not change with victory. Once, when a man who came to speak to him trembled in awe, he told the man to be at ease, for he was no king, only the son of a woman of Quraysh who ate dried meat.

Some of the Ansar, watching him forgive his own city so freely, worried aloud that he had been overcome by love of his homeland and would stay there. The Prophet ﷺ heard of it. He told them that he was the servant and messenger of Allah, that he had emigrated to Allah and to them, and that his life would be their life and his death would be their death. They wept, and said they had only spoken out of love for him.

He stayed in Makkah for about two weeks, teaching the people and sending parties out to remove the idols that stood in the surrounding towns. Then news came that tribes to the east were gathering for war.

The man who had been tortured in the sand of Makkah for saying Allah is One now gave the call to prayer from the top of the Sacred House.

More on How to Muslim

• quran.howtomuslim.orgSurah an-Nasr, mappedThe surah of victory, and people entering Islam in crowds.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Towards EternityO Messenger, Ep. 10: The Conquest of Makkah (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Madinah
• Marr az-Zahran
• Makkah
• the Kaaba

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