The Clear Victory

by Abdassamad Clarke

The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

The best stories are those which one can read again and again and never become tired of. They are those which many different people can tell and always find new ways of telling, and find new and fascinating details in them. The best stories are true.

The story of the Prophet (saas) and his da'wah, his emigration, the battles and the victory of the Muslims is one of the greatest stories ever told, and what is more it is history. Thousands of men, women and children were there and told all the parts of the tale to the people who came later and to their own children. If anyone told a lie about it they would correct it, and if someone forgot a part they would remind them. In this way these events have reached us today as fresh as if they only happened yesterday.

Sometimes we know more about this history than we do about the Battle of Waterloo or the First World War. Even if we were Martians who had come to earth to study its civilisations we would have to say that this story of the birth of Islam is the most important single event that ever happened on earth. But we are not Martians and we know much more about this history than a Martian ever could. We know that it is about Allah's revelation to the Messenger of Allah (saas) of a message for all of mankind until the end of time.

We know that this message has something not only for Turks, Pakistanis and Arabs, but for Germans, Irish and Chinese. It is not only about something which happened, but a story that shows us how we can act today. It is a story about real people in the real world, winning and losing battles, doing the right things and making mistakes, and a story of Allah's guiding the Muslims.

For evermore, the Muslims can look at any situation they face and say, for example, 'This situation is just like the time at the Battle of Badr when a tiny group of poor Muslim warriors faced a huge body of well-armed disbelievers,' and we know of course that that tiny body of Muslims defeated a much bigger army of kafirun. We know that we can do the same if Allah helps us, and that Allah always helps the Muslims when they are true to Him.

The story we are going to look at is one of the most important parts of the history of the Prophet (saas). Allah called it a 'Clear Victor’ in the Qur’an, although no one fought, no one was killed, and indeed the Muslims didn't understand at the time that it was a victory. It is called the 'Treaty of Hudaybiyyah'. It began, in the year 6 AH, with a dream.

Saturday,7th January 2005