Treaty of al-Hudaybiya: Difference between revisions

In the long term, the treaty proved advantageous to the Muslims and is often regarded as an "important step" in Muhammad's consolidation of power.{{sfn|Donner|1979|p=241}} By signing the treaty, the Quraysh implicitly acknowledged Muhammad as their equal,{{sfn|Watt|1956|p=48}} and by gaining access to the pilgrimage at the Ka'ba, Muhammad was able to increase Islam's appeal to those tribes who held the Ka'ba in high regard.{{sfn|Donner|1979|p=241}} The Muhammad biographer Ibn Hisham later wrote: "No previous victory in Islam was greater than this... when there was an armistice and war was abolished and men met in safety and consulted together none talked about Islam intelligently without entering it."{{sfn|Guillaume|1998|p=507}} The truce enabled Muhammad to expand his dominion elsewhere in Arabia unhindered. The historian [[Fred Donner]] has suggested that the very purpose of the attempted pilgrimage was to secure a truce with the Meccans since Medina was trapped between two hostile cities (the Jewish stronghold of [[Khaybar]] to the north and Mecca to the south) and was very vulnerable. However, he could not simply beg the Meccans for a truce; by skillfully crafting the situation, he got it without asking. It was nevertheless a "desperate gamble", which could have ended in disaster had the Quraysh opted not to make peace.{{sfn|Donner|1979|pp=242–244}} Soon afterwards, he besieged and neutralized Khaybar.{{sfn|Donner|1979|p=245}} Other tribes were then free to align to either side, and Muhammad was able to win over some of those formerly allied with the Quraysh.{{sfn|Watt|1956|pp=48–49}} According to Islamicist [[W. Montgomery Watt|Montgomery Watt]], the treaty, which meant lifting of the Medinan blockade of the Meccan trade with Syria and the granting to the Quraysh other concessions, was intended by Muhammad to foster better relations with the Quraysh and to attract them towards Islam.{{sfn|Watt|1956|p=49}}