Muhammad: His Character and Conduct. Adil Salahi
them a share of the spoils of war.
The two sides met at the valley of Ḥunayn, but the Hawāzin were more familiar with the area and they arrived at the valley where they took their positions before the Muslims had arrived. The valley had a narrow entrance and the Muslim army had to pass through it. The Hawāzin stationed a large number of their best marksmen at a high level near the front and the back of the entrance, and as the front unit of the Muslim army moved through the entrance, which was in the still-dark hours before dawn, the marksmen started showering them with arrows, killing a good number of them. Soon confusion arose in the Muslim army and some of the units began to retreat, clashing with the advancing units. This was a terrible situation: however the Prophet remained steadfast, with only a small number of his Companions. One of these was his uncle, al-ʿAbbās, who had a loud voice. The Prophet told him to call on the Anṣār and on the Muhājirūn. As they heard the call, they immediately responded, moving towards the voice. Soon, a small unit had gathered around the Prophet, with more men coming forward. They were able to withstand the Hawāzin onslaught and then to advance, forcing the Hawāzin on the retreat. Although the Muslim army had suffered an initial setback, the Prophet had managed to turn things around and cause confusion among the Hawāzin. The Hawāzin commander, Mālik ibn ʿAwf, committed a blunder in his preparations for the battle: despite advice to the contrary, he ordered his people to bring their women, children, and animals with them, as he assumed the people would fight much harder in order to defend their folk and property. When the Hawāzin’s defeat became irreversible, their fighters fled, leaving their women, children, cattle and property, which became spoils of war to be taken by the Muslims.
The Prophet then laid siege to Taif, where the other major tribe of Thaqīf lived. They were in collaboration with Hawāzin, so it was necessary to deal with them. However, the siege did not lead to any decisive outcome. Realizing that the people of Taif could stand a very long siege, as their supplies and water resources were to their rear, the Prophet thought it better to leave without forcing a showdown. He hoped that the people of Taif would have a better view once they had considered their options. Therefore, he ordered his army to depart.
People in the Muslim camp, particularly those who were newcomers to Islam, wanted the Prophet to divide the spoils of war that had been gained at Ḥunayn without delay. The Islamic rule assigns eighty percent of the spoils of war to be shared out by the army and twenty percent go to the state to look after orphans and people in need. The Prophet, however, wanted to delay such division, particularly in respect of the prisoners of war, who included the Hawāzin women and children. According to the universal rules of the day, these could become slaves, and the Prophet did not want that situation to occur. Eventually, the elders of Hawāzin came and appealed to him, pressing their old relation with him. The tribe of Saʿd ibn Bakr (to whom Ḥalīmah, his wet nurse, belonged) was a branch of Hawāzin. They said that had they suffered a defeat at the hands of the Persian or the Byzantine Emperors and they had such a relationship with them, they would have hoped for their kind treatment. The Prophet told them to choose either their women and children or their property. They chose their women and children. The Prophet ensured that all their womenfolk and children were freed and given back to them. The Muslims kept the cattle and the money, which were divided among the soldiers. Out of the one-fifth share of the state, the Prophet gave very generous gifts to some of the chiefs of Makkah and other tribes. He wanted to bring them wholeheartedly into the camp of Islam.
No such gifts were given to anyone of the Muhājirūn or the Anṣār, and the latter felt uneasy about this. Their chief, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, raised the matter with the Prophet. The Prophet appealed to their faith and sense of sacrifice. He then put the issue in the correct perspective: that which he had gifted was a “mere trifling of worldly luxury.” They had their faith. The contrast could not be more marked: others went back home with sheep and cattle, while the Anṣār took God’s Messenger. He finished his words by saying: “If the whole world went one way and the Anṣār went another way, I would go with the Ansar. May God have mercy on the Anṣār, their children and grandchildren.”4 That was enough to make them very happy. They said: “We are happy to have God’s Messenger as our lot.” All this was in line with their initial agreement with the Prophet, when they pledged their support to him eight years earlier at ʿAqabah in Mina, promising to protect and defend him as they would protect and defend their women and children. At the time, they asked him: “What do we get in return for honouring our pledges?” He replied: “Paradise.” He had promised them no reward in this world.
Having appointed a twenty-year-old man, named ʿAttāb ibn Usayd, as governor of Makkah, the Prophet returned with his Companions to Madinah early in the ninth year after the Hijrah which is equivalent to 630 CE. Back in Madinah, delegations from various tribes began to arrive. Some came to pledge their loyalty, while others wanted to learn about Islam and go back to their people to consider their options. During the summer of that year, the Prophet told his Companions to get ready to march for a campaign against the Byzantine Empire. He had received information, provided by traders from Syria, that the Byzantines were preparing to invade Arabia. For the first time ever, the Prophet mentioned clearly and openly where the army would be heading to and named the enemy it would be fighting. Normally the Prophet left such matters ambiguous. The reason for his open indication was that for a long time the Arabs had held the Byzantines in awe. They never dared to stand in clear opposition to them. Besides, the time in mid-summer made such a long distance travel in a desert area very difficult. The Muslims were still poor, despite all the gains they had made, because their land did not have enough resources to make theirs an affluent society. Announcing a very difficult mission was certain to make any hypocrite try to find excuses, even very absurd ones, to avoid being involved. Thus, declaring the intended objective in advance made it a test for everyone. Only people with strong faith were expected to join. The Prophet also called on all Muslims to come forward with generous donations to the war effort. Many, particularly those among the earliest to accept Islam, donated generously. Several of them brought half of their properties. The largest donation was given by ʿUthmān: he provided 300 fully-equipped camels.
The army that went with the Prophet on this expedition was estimated to number 30,000, which was the largest army that had ever marched in the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslims of Madinah were reinforced by large numbers of the Muslims from Makkah and from all tribes that had accepted Islam. That in itself indicated that the Arabs were now a nation, rather than a host of independent and warring tribes. The going was certainly hard. By the time the army arrived in Tabūk (which is today in Saudi Arabia, not far from its borders with Jordan), they had endured much hardship. However, there was no trace of any Byzantine army in the area, or even further afield. Making sure that there was nothing to cause the Muslim state any worry, the Prophet sent detachments of his army to certain places in the area, calling on them to accept Islam. He made peace arrangements with several of them. This expedition achieved some important goals: it exposed the hypocrites that continued to plague the society of Madinah; it also ensured that the northern parts of Arabia felt that their best course was to live in peace with the Muslim state; and it strengthened the bonds within the Muslim community, as those who had plenty were ready to help their brethren who were poor.
When the Prophet and his Companions returned to Madinah, they felt their state was much more peaceful. Although it had started as a city-state, it now commanded a large area of Arabia. Delegations from tribes in remote areas continued to arrive in Madinah to declare their belief in Islam. The Prophet was very hospitable to these delegations, ensuring that they listened to the Qur’ān and learnt about Islam. He gave a generous gift to everyone in every delegation. One of these delegations came from the tribe of Thaqīf, who had a change of heart and mind. They wanted to live in peace with Islam, but they hoped that they would be given some concessions with regard to the Islamic way of life. Their six-man delegation assured the Prophet that they would become Muslims if he would agree to these concessions. They requested that they be allowed to retain their famous idol, al-Lāt. They also asked him to cancel the prohibition of adultery, alcoholic drinks and usury. The Prophet told them that they could expect no concession on any item. These were God’s prohibitions, and no one could alter them. The only concession he gave them was that they would not be required to destroy al-Lāt with their own hands. He would send some of his Companions to do that. Thaqif eventually accepted his terms and embraced Islam. The Prophet