Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland

80 t CHAPTER FOUR
ouin tribes thereabouts] could say that he had made a forceful
entry,” and to postpone his umra until the following year. Whatever
loss of face occurred was more than made up for by the main
clause: hostilities between the two sides were suspended for a period
of ten years during which people were free to join Muhammad
or the Quraysh as they pleased. To discount what many may
have suspected was a compromising show of weakness on Muhammad’s
part, a revelation was sent down declaring the Hudaybiyya
agreement a “signal victory” (Quran 48:1).
The armistice, far from caving in to the Quraysh, may in fact
have been a brilliant piece of strategy by Muhammad. Freed from
any fear of attack from Mecca, Muhammad embarked on a series
of increasingly daring raids at ever greater distances from his Medina
base, all directed against the oases to the north and northeast
of Medina. We do not know how the Bedouin had read the events
at Hudaybiyya, but they were surely impressed by the new successes
of the Muslim troops—townsmen turned raiders might be a
more accurate description; these date growers and town dwellers
were not born to the saddle—who, under the command of the
man who called himself the Messenger of God, were imposing
their will, and exacting tribute, from the richest settlements in
western Arabia. Perhaps more to the point, these successful military
ventures conducted in the name of religion brought a new and
unexpected prosperity to the Muslims of Medina, and to whoever
else they permitted to join the enterprise. The latter included the
Bedouin who, ever the opportunists, began to join the colors of the
Prophet in growing numbers.
Muhammad and the Jews (concluded)
Out of these successful raids a policy began to emerge. The settlements
under attack were offered terms by the Prophet. If they acquiesced
and surrendered, they agreed to pay an annual tax-tribute
to Muhammad and the Muslim community. They retained the use
of their property, but only on the understanding that it belonged to
the now sovereign Muslims, who might claim it whenever they