Life-of-Muhammad

122Life of Muhammad saset out on their journey to Mecca. A mounted guard oftwenty went some distance ahead to warn the Muslimsin case the enemy showed signs of attacking.The Meccans soon had reports of this caravan.Tradition had established the circuit of the Ka’ba as auniversal right. It could not very well be denied toMuslims. They had announced in unambiguous termsthat the purpose of their march was to perform thecircuit, nothing else. The Prophet sa had forbiddendemonstrations of every kind. There were to be nodisputes, no questionings or claims. In spite of this, theMeccans started preparing as for an armed conflict.They put up defences on all sides, called thesurrounding tribes to their aid and seemed determinedto fight. When the Prophet sa reached near Mecca, he wasinformed that the Quraish were ready to fight. They wereclad in tiger skins, had their wives and children withthem and had sworn solemnly not to let the Muslimspass. The tiger skins were a sign of a savage determinationto fight. Soon after, a column of Meccansmarching in the van of their army confronted theMuslims. Muslims could not now advance except bydrawing the sword. The Prophet sa , however, wasdetermined to do nothing of the kind.He employed a guide to show the Muslim caravan analternative route through the desert. Led by this guide,the Prophet sa and his Companions reached Hudaibiya, aspot very near Mecca.The Prophet's sa dromedary stopped and refused to goany farther."The animal seems tired, O Prophet sa of God. Betterchange your mount," said a Companion."No, no," said the Prophet sa . "the animal is not tired.It seems rather that God wants us to stop here and to gono further. I propose, therefore, to camp here and to askwrong. The number can quite reasonably be put at one thousand twohundred.