TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE
THE PEACE TREATY OF HUDAIBIYA
IN the sixth year of the Hijrah, or AD 628, the Prophet, acting on the word of God, set out on a pilgrimage to Makkah along with 1400 Companions. But the Quraysh stopped them at a place called Hudaibiya, some eleven kilometres from Makkah. Here the Prophet signed a peace treaty with the Quraysh, which was called by the Quran “a clear victory.” The Treaty provided for ten years of peace between the Quraysh and the Muslims. There was to be no war or treachery between them. The Treaty was concluded with the agreement that the Muslims would not make the pilgrimage that year, but that the following year the Prophet Muhammad and his followers would be free to go to Makkah and stay there for three days.
The terms of the Hudaibiya Peace Treaty were as follows:
• that the Muslims would return to Madinah that year without
performing the Umrah (minor pilgrimage);
• that the pagans would, however, allow them to do so the next year,
provided their stay in Makkah did not exceed three days;
• that the Muslims would not bring any arms with them;
• that no Muslim residing in Makkah would migrate to Madinah, but
if any migrant in Madinah wished to return to Makkah, he would
not be prevented;
• that pagans visiting Madinah would be permitted to return to Makkah but Muslims visiting Makkah would not be allowed to
return;
• that tribes were at liberty to join any of the two contracting parties.
According to this treaty, the Prophet and his Companions left Hudaibiya for Madinah. The following year they came again and performed Umrah as stipulated by the treaty of Hudaibiya.
This incident of Hudaibiya embodies a special Sunnah of the Prophet, that is, not clashing with others unnecessarily; refraining scrupulously from turning any difficult situation into a prestige issue; rather, taking the problem as it is and keeping oneself free from any complexes which could distort matters; attempting to understand matters by rising above sentiments and emotions, and solving problems wisely by giving concessions to the other party.
Hudaibiya Peace Treaty embodies a special Sunnah of the Prophet, that is, not clashing with others unnecessarily; refraining scrupulously from turning any difficult situation into a prestige issue.
When the individual refrains from making a controversial matter into one of prestige, this gives rise to serious thinking. This nonemotional thinking helps him to understand that if he were to walk away from the point of controversy, he would find all other paths open to him. The same was the case in Hudaibiya. The Prophet of Islam wanted to enter Makkah, but the Quraysh did not allow him to do so. Yet the Prophet did not let the obstructiveness of the Quraysh become a matter of prestige. His own positive approach enabled him to lead Muslims away from the field of war to the field of dawah (the propagation of Islam), a far vaster arena for their struggle in the cause of Islam.
By unilaterally accepting all the conditions of the opponents of Islam, the Prophet of Islam made a no-war pact called the Hudaibiya Peace Treaty. On account of his unconditional acceptance of the opponents’ terms, some Muslims held it to be a humiliating pact (Seerah ibn Hisham,36). But after this treaty was finalized, the chapter in the Quran, called ‘Victory’ (Al-Fath) was revealed, in which this peace treaty was hailed as ‘a clear victory.’ (48: 1)
The reason for this difference in assessment was that human beings
looked at it from the angle of the present, while God looked at it from the angle of the future. It is this reality which has been pointed out in
the Quran in these words:
‘God knew what you did not know.’ (48: 27)
At the outset, the Hudaibiya peace treaty appeared to mean nothing but surrender and humiliation. But God saw it from the point of view of its practical result in the future. That is why the Quran called it a clear victory. The well known-disciple of the Companions, Ibn Shihab Az Zuhri, says: “Never before in Islam had there been such a great victory before Hudaibiya. Whenever Muslims and non-Muslims met one another before Hudaibiya, they came to the point of confrontation.
But when peace prevailed and war was stopped under the treaty, people became safe from one another. In this peaceful atmosphere, they interacted with one another and began exchanging their thoughts. After the peace treaty, within a period of two years, many people got attracted towards Islam as had happened before, only over a much longer period of time.”
The reason for failure in life is often traceable to the fact that people become embroiled in controversy. They think that unless all obstacles and hurdles are removed, the onward journey can never be made.
The Hudaibiya Sunnah is the sum total of the actions of the Prophet of Islam, resulting in the ‘clear victory’ as recorded in the Quran, which led the Islamic movement to the age of revolution and ultimate ascendancy. Consequently, such opportunities were opened up for Islam as had never hitherto presented themselves. The implementation of the Sunnah Hudaibiya is, to put it briefly, that problems should be ignored in order to buy time in which to avail of the opportunities. God has made this world in such a way that, here, according to the Quran, difficulty is always accompanied by ease (Chapter 103). By the law of nature itself, it happens that in this world there are always favourable opportunities alongside problems. By availing of these opportunities, great progress can be made. The reason for failure in life is often traceable to the fact that people become embroiled in controversy. They think that unless all obstacles and hurdles are removed, the onward journey can never be made.
But the Sunnah of the Prophet of Islam is totally different. It guides us to refrain from tackling difficulties by confrontational methods. Instead, we must find ways and means of availing of the existing opportunities by avoiding the problems. If necessary, this principle should be observed to the extent of our being willing to accept the unilateral conditions of opponents, treating them as representing a temporary phase.
The incident that took place in Hudaibiya is a specific instance. Apparently, it is regarded as only one of the many such incidents recorded in the Prophet’s biography. But, in reality, it is not just one such incident. In fact, the spirit of Hudaibiya pervades the entire life of the Prophet. It would not be wrong to say that this was a very wellconsidered policy of the Prophet, which he adopted throughout his life.
The Hudaibiya policy, in fact, is that in any set of circumstances, problems have to be ignored and opportunities, despite all difficulties, have to be availed of. We find a number of examples of this policy in the life of the Prophet. The Prophet followed this same principle in his Makkan as well as the Madinan period. The only difference between Hudaibiya and other similar incidents is that on the occasion of Hudaibiya, this policy was adopted following a bilateral declaration, while at other times it was followed by a unilateral decision.
The essence of the Hudaibiya spirit is to completely refrain from entering into any controversy with the other party and to concentrate one’s efforts on achieving one’s goal in noncontroversial fields.
The method of the Prophet was to study the prevailing sets of circumstances dispassionately and objectively and then follow an appropriate course on his own, without any external pressure. This is what we have called the Hudaibiya policy. For instance, in the early phase in Makkah before the Hijrah, the Prophet communicated his dawah message secretly. It did not mean that the Prophet had a meeting with the idolaters of Makkah, and then as a matter of bilateral decision-making decided not to propagate his message publicly but in secret. It was rather that by making concessions to circumstances, he on his own adopted the method of secret propagation, without waiting for any social compulsion.
The essence of the Hudaibiya spirit is to completely refrain from entering into any controversy with the other party and to concentrate one’s efforts on achieving one’s goal in non-controversial fields. This policy can be followed only when the dayee is willing to give concessions to the other party unilaterally—such concessions as the other party at that time considers its right. The Hudaibiya policy cannot be followed without such unilateral concession-making. A study of the Prophet’s biography shows that the Prophet always followed the same policy.
That is why it became possible for him to minimize his losses and maximize benefits.
The incident of Hudaibiya provides a historic example of conduct appropriate to the situation. The believers on that occasion, in taking up a godly attitude, entitled themselves to victory, while the Quraysh who took up an ungodly attitude had consequently to suffer defeat and failure.
The incident of Hudaibiya is not simply a chapter of history. It is a living historical proof. It tells believers in every age as to which course in controversial situations is a sure guarantee of success. This involves refraining from making a controversial matter into one of prestige, but rather trying to seek a solution in the spirit of taqwa (God-fearing spirit).