Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 81 - The Conquest of Makkah Part 6 ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 2nd April 2014
Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 81 - The Conquest of Makkah Part 6 ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 2nd April 2014
Today we will conclude the conquest of Makkah discussing the benefits, morals, and fiqh. Before we get to that, let us wrap up incidents we haven't yet discussed. Of those who haven't yet converted, we have one or two people left:
(Cont.) More Conversions
5. Ummi Hani bint Abu Talib
5) Ummi Hani: She was a female cousin of the Prophet PBUH, one of the daughters of Abu Talib and a full sister of Ali RA. Her name was Ummi Hani; she remained a pagan until the conquest of Makkah. And her in-laws had a problem with Ali RA, and during the conquest they fled because they were worried Ali RA might extract revenge. Then they had nowhere to go so they sent a message to Ummi Hani and said, "Can you protect us from Ali?" So they went to her house since she is the full sister of Ali RA. And so she locked the door on Ali RA and allowed them to come into the house. Ali RA became enraged: "How dare you come between me and them?" And he threatened to harm them - so Ummi Hani, the next morning went directly to the Prophet PBUH and because she was a cousin she was let into the chambers.
And the Prophet PBUH was taking a ghusl, and his daughter Fatima was standing with a cloth shielding him. Of course there were no separate showers or facilities: If someone wanted to take a shower, you would typically hold a curtain as in this situation. So the Prophet PBUH said, "Who is this?" and she said, "It's Ummi Hani." And he lowered the curtain to see who it is. And she told him the whole story with Ali RA, and the Prophet PBUH said, "We shall protect anybody whom you want to protect."
This story is interesting for two reasons.
i) As we've said many times: Protection (aman) can be given by anyone in the ummah; man, women, child, elder etc. Everybody has the right to give a personal protection. And subhan'Allah it's such a lax and open law that is unprecedented.
ii) The other benefit is a fiqh point: After the Prophet PBUH finished his bath, Ummi Hani said, "I saw him pray 8 rak'at of Salah al-Duha." And this is the only hadith that mentions the Prophet PBUH praying Salah al-Duha even though it was a regular habit of his, but he would pray in the private corner in his house. The only narration we have of the Prophet PBUH himself praying and how many rak'at is this one. Recall the general time of Salah al-Duha is after the sun has risen 1m length, and it lasts right until the start of Zuhr by 5-10 minutes. This is at least 3.5 - 5.5 hours. And our Prophet PBUH said, "The best time to pray is when the heat begins to strike you" i.e. 11:30 or so. And you can pray 2, 4, 6 or 8. And in one hadith the Prophet PBUH said that Allah said, "Whoever prays 4 rak'at at the beginning of the day, I will suffice him for the rest of the day." So 4 is the recommended for protection; 2 is the minimum allowed. And 8 is what the Prophet PBUH would typically pray. And this hadith is the only hadith about HIS praying Salah al-Duha.
6. Abdullah ibn al-Za'bari
6) The final conversion story involves the official poet of the Quraysh, Abdullah ibn al-Za'bari. He would be the one who wrote poems against Islam and the Muslims; before Badr, after Badr, before Uhud, after Uhud etc. He had a one-on-one with Hasan ibn Thabit. He would write, Hasan would reply. And so on, back and forth. He was the one that, when a poem came from his, the Prophet PBUH would say to Hasan, "Go and respond and Jibril is with you." He lived a very quiet life other than this poetry. As for his acceptance of Islam, when the Prophet PBUH conquered Makkah, Abdullah ibn Za'bari fled to Najran as he did not feel comfortable being around the Muslims and the Prophet PBUH. When he fled, Hasan ibn Thabit gloated and he wrote a page long poem which is the most scathing attack to Ibn Za'bari, that he is a coward who fled etc. It's a very harsh poem, and obviously poetry was the height of propaganda at this time. So when Ibn Za'bari hears this, he feels depressed because he agrees with everything said. And he decides to really think about the contents of Islam.
Eventually within the next few days, he decides to convert to Islam from within Najran. So he packs his belongings and his cousin says, "Where are you going?" He says, "I've decided to accept Islam." His cousin says, "We've come all the way here, but now you will abandon me?" And Ibn Za'bari responds, "Why should I remain with this strange tribe? Should I not go back to my own cousin? He is the best of all mankind." So he decides to come back, and the Prophet PBUH is sitting with the sahaba in front of the Ka'bah. And in the distance they see a figure and the Prophet PBUH says, "That is Ibn Za'bari, and I see from him the noor of Iman." Subhan'Allah. And so when he comes, no one says anything, and before the Prophet PBUH says anything, Ibn Za'bari says, "Assalamu'alaykum ya Rasulullah" and he says the shahada. And he says, "All praise be to Allah who guided me to Islam. I was your enemy for so long, and I incited against you." And even his language here is so powerful with meaning. He says, "I rode on horses and on camels and walked on foot to oppose you; and I even fled to Najran to avoid you, but Allah still wanted good for me." And you sense genuine Islam here. "And I've now come to you as a Muslim, and he's caused me to realize how ignorant I was worshiping a stone that doesn't even realize it's being worshiped. All praise be to Allah who guided me to Islam." So the Prophet PBUH told him all his sins are wiped away, and for the rest of his life Ibn Za'bari composed poem after poem in praise of Islam and the Prophet PBUH. And through it he cancelled the evil he did before, and he was a, "Great poet." And it's narrated after one poem he narrated in front of the Prophet PBUH, the Prophet PBUH gifted him his personal cloak: An honor the Prophet PBUH rarely gave to anyone.
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19 Days in Makkah: Where Did the Prophet PBUH Stay?
The Prophet PBUH remained in Makkah, some reports say 15, 16, others up to 19. Bukhari says 19 so we will stick with this. Ibn Hisham says 15. And the question came up, whose house would the Prophet PBUH occupy? Ali RA wanted to regain the house he and the Prophet PBUH grew up in - the house of Abu Talib, Ali's own house. As for the house of Khadija, people had taken it over after the Prophet PBUH left. So Ali said, "Aren't you going to go back to 'our' house?" And the Prophet PBUH said, "And did Aqil leave any property for us to live in?" What does the Prophet PBUH mean by this? Abu Talib died a mushrik, and he had many sons. Of course his oldest was Talib, after him was Aqil. When the Prophet PBUH was in Makkah they did not embrace Islam. Which sons did? Ali and Ja'far. Now, when Abu Talib died, Talib and Aqil were not Muslim. Who inherited Abu Talib's house? Talib and Aqil - Ja'far and Ali did not get anything. Talib dies after the Prophet PBUH migrated to Madinah, and Aqil decides to sell all the property. Now Ali wants it back, but it doesn't belong to him. So what this means is, the mushrik is inherited by mushriks. When Abu Talib died, his two mushrik sons got the property and inheritance, not Ali nor Ja'far and the Prophet PBUH agreed to this. Muslims cannot inherit from mushrik parents. After, Aqil sold the property - so the Prophet PBUH has no right to take that property back. So the Prophet PBUH is almost critical of Aqil - note right now Aqil is indeed a Muslim, he converted at the conquest.
So, what does the Prophet PBUH do? He does not have a house to stay in. So he sets up a tent in his own city of Makkah for the next 19 days, and the place he chooses is the famous mini valley close to the Ka'bah called al-Hujun. Still to this day the Makkans know where it is. And al-Hujun was very symbolic. It is the place where the Quraysh secretly gathered together to sign the treaty to boycott the Banu Hashim. And this was the worst the Quraysh ever did. So no doubt there is an element of symbolism here - look at how Allah tests people and then blesses them. Allah tested the Prophet PBUH by what happened at al-Hujun; but now the Prophet PBUH is living in al-Hujun as the conqueror of Makkah. This place was where the worst atrocity the Quraysh ever did occurred but now at the same place the Prophet PBUH is being given the greatest honor.
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19 Days in Makkah: Praying Qasr
So the Prophet PBUH lived in Makkah for 19 days, and during this period he prayed all the prayers in the Haram. More interestingly, he did qasr (shortened salah) for all of the 5 prayers by shortening the four rak'at into two. We will discuss the fiqh of this later.
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19 Days in Makkah: Sermons
During these 19 days, the Prophet PBUH did numerous short sermons where he taught the people of Makkah the basics of Islam and any fiqh they needed to know. We have many hadith from this period, most of which deal with teaching new Muslims the rulings of Islam. We will summarize some of the things the Prophet PBUH taught:
1) He reinstated the sanctity of Makkah. He wanted everyone to understand how holy Makkah was. And one of the first speeches he gave, perhaps even on the day of the conquest, if not the next day (Allah knows best), is that he gathered the people and said, "O people Allah has made Makkah sacred (a Haram - things halal outside are haram inside), the day that he created the heavens and earth, and it shall remain sacred until the day of judgement. It is not allowed for any believer, who believes in Allah and the Last Day to shed any blood (human or animal)." You cannot fight, or hunt or do anything. "And it is not allowed for people to pluck the leaves," so the plants and trees of Makkah should be left as is. Then he said, "Makkah was never halal (non-sacred) before or after me, and even for me it was made halal just for 'an hour' of the day." Why? Because after all the Prophet PBUH conquered Makkah, so he 'attacked' Makkah in one sense. And it's not allowed to do this for anyone else so he is saying Allah lifted its sanctity for 'just one hour.' And the Prophet PBUH said, "Now it has returned to its sanctity as it was before so if somebody says, 'but the Prophet PBUH fought in Makkah,' you respond back 'Allah has made it halal for the Prophet but not for you.'" This is why some of the sahaba would go to such extremes: Even if a pigeon landed on their belongings, they would not even shoo it away, out of fear they are disturbing the creation of Allah in the Makkah. And Allah says in the Quran, "Whoever desires to commit sin in Makkah (just desiring), We will give him a punishment."
2) Famous hadith in Bukhari: "Allah and His messenger forbid you from selling alcohol, carcasses and idols." Of course every house in Makkah has idols and drinks. In fact the people of Makkah had a very lucrative business. They would take any wood/stone, paint it and sell it to people who came outside. Why? An idol from Makkah is prestigious. Of course an idol from Makkah goes for a much higher value. So the people of Makkah had a very highly profitable business selling these idols to hujjaj. When the Prophet PBUH forbade them to worship idols, they started selling it. So the Prophet PBUH forbade them of doing this too: He said, "Allah and His messenger has forbidden you to sell alcohol etc." We have a very simple sharia. If something is haram for you, it's haram for someone else. Generally speaking there are some minor exceptions i.e. silk, but generally speaking, items impermissible to use and impermissible to sell. So they had to literally smash the idols and pour the alcohol in the street. And it's a standard principle of fiqh now: "That which is haram to use and benefit from, it's haram to sell to others." We get this principle from the conquest.
3) Another prohibition was that of zawaj mut'ah. Now this is a controversial issue. From the perspective of Sunni Islam, there is an ijma that mut'ah is not allowed. Imam al-Nawawi say it was allowed twice then prohibited twice. One opinion is that it was halal, then made haram in Khaybar, then made halal and then made haram again in the conquest of Makkah. Ibn al-Qayyim are very much opposed to this opinion: They say, "No it was made haram once and forever in the conquest of Makkah." Non-Sunni groups don't accept these prohibitions. By and large the standard Sunni position is that it's haram.
4) Of the fiqh we learn from the conquest was the famous ruling in Islam that you are only allowed to leave 1/3 of your money outside of the people that Allah has allocated shares too. In Islamic law you have to give your money according to the fractions in the Quran - what about a friend, distant uncle, cousin, benefactor etc.? We all know the maximum we can give is 1/3. We get this from the conquest. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas felt seriously ill and he thought he's on his deathbed. So he says, "Allah has blessed me with lots of money and I only have two daughters. So what if I give 2/3 of my wealth to people I want to?" The Prophet PBUH said, "No too much." Then he said, "How about 1/2?" The Prophet PBUH said, "No too much." So Sa'd said, "Okay 1/3?" And the Prophet PBUH said, "Okay 1/3, but even 1/3 you are pushing it." Then he said, "Were you to leave your descendants rich it is better than leaving them poor having to beg others for help." After all this is your family, so it's better to be generous with them. So you are allowed to give a maximum of 1/3 to people outside the pre-allocated shares.
5) Another fiqh point and incident occurred when one of the women of the Banu Makhzum was caught stealing. And they spoke to Usama ibn Zayd, the beloved of the Prophet PBUH: The son of Zayd, he was born in the Prophet's PBUH house, the Prophet PBUH loves him immensely, so much so Usama is called, "Hib al-Nabi" i.e. the one who the Prophet PBUH loves. So the tribesmen of Banu Makhzum went to Usama and said, "Why don't you suggest to the Prophet PBUH to forgive this lady? She is a noble lady etc." So Usama entered into the Prophet PBUH and said, "Ya Rasulullah she is a very noble lady, why don't you just forgive her and let her go?" So the Prophet PBUH became enraged, and he said, "You want to intercede when it comes to the command of Allah? Wallahi, if my own daughter committed this crime I would not forgive her." And he called of the people of Makkah and gave this khutbah: "If my own daughter, Fatima bint Muhammad, committed a crime, I would not forgive her and establish the punishment." Aisha RA narrates this lady after the punishment was done, would regularly visit Aisha and she would petition the Prophet PBUH for favors. The same lady caught stealing, she isn't treated like a criminal for the rest of her life. After the punishment is done, that's it - it's done. After that she can petition for things and act like a normal person in society.
6) One of the fiqh rulings, which is, there was the case of a child that was born in dubious circumstances i.e. an affair was alleged. This child is born; there's a married couple and someone alleges, "This child is mine." Note this all occurred before Islam. Now both parties are famous Muslims. And as we know Islam forgives all previous sins, so we do not think bad of them. The two people involved was Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, and Abdullah ibn Zum'a. So now the child is a young boy, and they are contesting who should have custody of the child. So the Prophet PBUH gave the famous verdict that every student studies, "The child is to the bed it was born on." Meaning, any time a child is born, we shall assume without question the child is born to the parents who are married. We base it on the verdict of who is married. If someone is proven to be an adulterer, they will be punished accordingly. So if anyone says anything, we don't pry and probe, we assume children are born to their parents.
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The Entire Arabian Peninsula Embraces Islam
One of the main effects of the conquest was the following. Note Arabia was disunited at this time. Each tribe had its own mini city and province. The conquest of Makkah was taken as a symbolic conquest of the central nervous system of Arabia. The other tribes who did not get involved in the conflict between the Quraysh and the Prophet PBUH were waiting to see who would take Makkah. al-Qurtubi and others explicitly mention this: Other tribes were literally waiting to see what happens. If the Prophet PBUH eventually conquers Makkah, this is an indication there is no stopping him, and they must embrace Islam. One of them remarks, "Allah had protected Makkah from the people of the elephants. So if Allah allows this man to conquer it, it must show he is a prophet."
The entire Arabian Peninsula is subservient to the city of Makkah when it comes to holiness by the people in central, south, far north, etc. There's no competition. Everybody considers Makkah to be the bastion of their race and religion. So because of the heritage they all have with Makkah - the conquest of Makkah translated for them the victory of Islam. Therefore, when the Prophet PBUH conquered Makkah, neutral tribes began sending delegations from now through to the death of the Prophet PBUH, informing him they have converted to Islam. This is exactly what Allah says in the Quran: "you will see people embrace Islam like armies coming."
Therefore with the conquest, the Arabs and tribes one by one embraced Islam. This is a very interesting point. The Prophet PBUH did not fight over 90% of the Arabs. He only fought the Quraysh and their allies. How about central Arabia? Southern? Far north? Eastern and western? Nothing. There is no battle. How did they embrace Islam? See this is the wisdom of choosing the grandson of Abdul Muttalib to be the prophet. This is the true wisdom of choosing someone with the most impeccable lineage. You cannot compete with someone born and raised in Makkah - with someone who has the victory of the Ka'bah. As Allah says, "Allah knows who He will make His prophet." He chooses from the people who will be the prophets. So Allah chose the Prophet PBUH for a reason: Of the most obvious, his lineage, his city, his circumstance. He's coming from the best of the best, and he is conquering his own land. He is from Makkah and he conquers his own city; the holiest city on earth and the Arabs all agree to this. Now with this conquest, this is when the people began to embrace Islam non-stop. We'll discuss the years of delegation: From the 8th all the way to the 10th year. Why is called this? Every 3rd day a new delegation arrived saying they've embraced Islam. No army, no fighting; it's just literally people are realizing this is the truth. And it's truly an amazing miracle paganism is wiped away from the face of the earth for 100,000 people plus. Paganism no longer existed anywhere in the entire Arabian Peninsula within just 20 years of Islam coming.
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Surah al-Nasr: The Beginning of the End
Of course Surah al-Nasr is a surah about the conquest. And later on, many years later, in the khilafa of Umar ibn Khattab, Umar would have a senior meeting with the elder sahaba, Ansar and Qureshi. And the youngest person to be admitted is ibn Abbas, the cousin of the Prophet PBUH, around 15-16 years old. But the other sahaba objected and said, "Ya Amir al-Mu'minin, we have sons older than him and you don't allow them to come to this gathering. Why are you allowing him to come?" Ibn Abbas narrates the hadith and it's in Bukhari. Ibn Abbas says, "One day Umar called me, and I think he called me just to test me. And he asked the sahaba in the gathering, can you explain to me Surah al-Nasr?" Of course Surah al-Nasr [110] is:
إِذَا جَاءَ نَصْرُ اللَّهِ وَالْفَتْحُ
1. When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest
وَرَأَيْتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُونَ فِي دِينِ اللَّهِ أَفْوَاجًا
2. And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes
فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَاسْتَغْفِرْهُ ۚ إِنَّهُ كَانَ تَوَّابًا
3. Then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance.
So one sahaba said, "Allah is saying when He blesses you, thank Him", another said something else generic. Then Umar RA said to ibn Abbas, "Explain this surah." Ibn Abbas said and he narrates in the first person, "They, the elders, have not spoken correctly. Rather, Allah is informing the Prophet PBUH that when Makkah in conquered your time on earth is about to come to an end. So prepare to meet Allah by increasing your worship and seeking His forgiveness, verily Allah is all merciful." And Umar RA said, "This is the only knowledge I have of the surah" i.e. this is the tafsir Umar knows.
So, in fact, Surah al-Nasr is the beginning of the end. It tells us for the very first time, death for the Prophet PBUH is close by. He's reached his pinnacle, he has achieved the conquest of Makkah, and now there's a short time left. And ibn Abbas understood this. This shows us the importance of the conquest. Quite literally, the conquest is the pinnacle. The Prophet PBUH reached the highest point with the conquest, and now he will shortly pass away. Also from this surah, we see Allah is telling the Prophet PBUH, despite who he is, to prepare for His meeting with extra worship. How about us? The best ever human being is being told, "Prepare for death by worshiping extra and asking forgiveness." So how about us? We need to constantly worship Allah and ask for forgiveness.
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Destroying Major Idols
What else did the Prophet PBUH do during these 19 days? He sent a number of mini expeditions around Makkah to invite the neighboring tribes to Islam, and destroy the major centers of idols. There were two types of idols: The personal home idol, and then the big public temple idol people go to. As for the idols in the homes, the Prophet PBUH gives a general command, "Everyone get rid of them." As for the temple idols, the Prophet PBUH himself sent people to get rid of them. And he sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to destroy al-Uzza, the idol mentioned in the Quran. He also sent a group to destroy Manat and others. It's reported when Khalid arrived at the temple of Uzza, he came across the custodians of the idols, and when they saw Khalid coming, one of them flung an axe around the neck of al-Uzza and said, "O Uzza you protect yourself I have to flee." So they all left, and of course al-Uzza did not do anything so Khalid destroyed al-Uzza. So within the span of a few days, all of the idols in the vicinity of Makkah and the Hejaz were destroyed.
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The Mistake of Khalid ibn al-Walid RA
All of this greatness was marred by a mini tragedy did by one of the companions. And this also shows us, no matter how much greatness you have, in this world there is no perfection. Humans are always prone to errors and mistakes. This is the greatest time in Islam, but still something trivial happens that causes worry and pain. And the mistake was made by Khalid ibn al-Walid. Now recall, Khalid was among the last to convert to Islam - just before the conquest. He's a brand new Muslim. So he makes a very serious mistake. And it hurt the Prophet PBUH, and he had to apologize to the people involved and make up for it. So Khalid was sent on several expeditions, and he has a checklist of tribes to go to. One of the items on the checklist was to go to the tribe of the Banu Jadhimah, to invite them to Islam. Generally speaking all of the tribes around Makkah embraced Islam. Khalid had a personal history with the tribe of Banu Jadhimah. In the days of Jahiliyyah, this tribe had killed his uncle. So when Khalid appears with an army behind him, the Banu Jadhimah think 'war' and 'attack.' So they initially took out their swords and led an attack.
This led Khalid to attack; he was a new Muslim, and he made a very big mistake which was that, other members of the Banu Jadhimah understood what was really going on (that Khalid hadn't come for war) and they announced their submission to Islam. And we know, on the battlefield, you stop then and there. You cannot touch a hair on their head if they proclaim to be a Muslim. We know the story from Usama ibn Zayd when he killed someone who said the shahada, the Prophet PBUH got very angry and said, "Did you open up his heart?" Now Khalid didn't know any of this stuff, he's a brand new Muslim, so when a group attacked, he attacked back and he attacked according to the customs of Jahiliyyah, which is NO mercy. And he killed a lot of innocent people. He ordered the other sahaba to attack, but they refused. Amongst them was Abdullah ibn Umar, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf - they disobeyed their leader; in Islam you only obey your leader if he commands you that which is allowed. And Khalid got irritated at them, that, "I am your leader." Even though they were senior to them in Islam, Khalid was of course the was the best military leader. And ibn Awf said, "No, I will not attack" and Khalid gave ibn Awf a vile curse.
One of the causes of confusion was also that, the tribe of Banu Jadhimah did not say the appropriate and usual phrase. They didn't say, "Aslamna," but said, "Saba'na! Saba'na!" Recall, the Arabs would consider the new religion of Islam to be Sabianism (Sabi'un) - and when somebody embrace Islam, they would say, "Saba'ta!"' which means, "You have embraced Sabianism!" And this group said, "Saba'na," which could be understood as, "We are of the Sabi'un." Now the senior companions understood the reference and didn't do anything. But Khalid ibn al-Walid did not take this into account; he didn't understand so he ended up killing the innocents.
Immediately, news reached back to the Prophet PBUH and this hadith is in Bukhari: The first thing the Prophet PBUH did is he stood up, faced the Ka'bah, raised his hands and said, "O Allah I absolve any responsibility from what Khalid has done" i.e. "I didn't command him to do that." And the Prophet PBUH immediately sent Ali RA to resolve the issue. And he gave Ali ibn Talib a large amount of wealth to resolve the blood money. So Ali RA went and he gave large amounts of money to each family. When Khalid came back, he complained to the Prophet PBUH about what Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf had done. Again Khalid is a new Muslim and Ibn Awf was one of the earliest converts.
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"Do Not Abuse My Companions"
In response, the Prophet PBUH gave the beautiful hadith: "Do not abuse my Companions, for if any of you were to spend gold equal to (mountain of) Uhud in charity, it would not equal a handful of one of them or even half of that." [Bukhari, Muslim] Who is this hadith being said to? Khalid ibn al-Walid, another sahabi. And Khalid is being told, "You had better not curse the senior companions - if you were to give a mountain of gold it wouldn't be equal to half of what they gave." If this is Khalid, where do we stand on that scale? Khalid is being told, "You can never reach Abu Bakr, Umar, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Uthman, Ali, etc. so don't you curse them," where do we stand? The context of this hadith makes us respect the sahaba even more. It's being said to a brand new companion, Khalid ibn al-Walid, who eventually becomes extremely highly respected amongst the sahaba.
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Ta'if
As we said the Prophet PBUH remained in Makkah for around 19 days. The main point is that he consolidated the immediate vicinity. There was one major center left and that was Ta'if. Ta'if was the city that expelled him, tortured him, pelted him with stones; it was the city he had the opportunity to destroy. Ta'if could not be attacked with an army. Even though he had 12,000 men. Ta'if was a difficult city to attack, because it's at the top of a mountain. It's not a flat land. So it's difficult to get there. Once you're there, they are well guarded, they have rainfall, plenty of water, vegetation - they can outlast a siege. And the Muslims haven't developed a way to get past a fortress. They don't have the weapons to destroy thick walls. In Khaybar they literally had to wait it out but they could cut off the supplies. But Ta'if they could not do this. So we'll discuss what happened with Ta'if next time. For now, we'll conclude with more fiqh benefits and the theological benefit of the conquest:
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Fiqh Benefits From the Incident of the Conquest of Makkah
Fiqh Benefits:
1) It's allowed to break your fast during Ramadan for a legitimate reason. The Prophet PBUH and sahaba left Madinah and they broke their fast. None of them were fasting - it's the 8th year, Ramadan was obligated in the 2nd year, but all of them break their fast. So you can break your fast for travelling.
2) Travelling begins outside of your home city, not outside your home. Where did they break their fast? Outside Madinah fully. In our times you can break your fast when you leave the city limits and get on the plain if you want to.
3) Salah al-Duha should be 8 rak'at - that's perfect. But it's nafl so 2, 4 or 6 is fine. 8 rak'at is the sunnah of the Prophet PBUH.
4) It's recommended for the traveler to pray all 4 rak'at as 2 rak'at. This is strongly encouraged. How do we know? The Prophet PBUH is in the holiest of places; every prayer is equal to 100,000. He's in front of the Ka'bah, but he is still praying 4 rak'at as 2. Obviously because he is the imam - we when we go to Makkah we pray behind the imam so we read the full salah. But if we miss it, we only pray 2 rak'at as visitors. If you're praying by yourself, the 4 rak'at all become 2. Qasr salah for the traveler is an established sunnah.
5) The next point is how long is this allowed? 'Islamic Definition of Travel by YQ.'
The majority opinion is that 3-3.5 days is the maximum i.e. 19-20 rak'at. The Hanafi madhhab say 15 days. Ibn Taymiyyah argues based on this conquest, there is no time limit. You may remain a traveler, as long as you are a traveler. Imagine you are sent for training which is 1 week long, it's clear you are a traveler - if you pray qasr, not a problem. However, if your company sends you for 6 months - you have to settle down. So you're not a traveler. So the cut off point is psychological. Erring on the side of caution is following the four day rule.
6) Converts, when they convert to Islam, and they are couples - the marriage contract remains valid regardless of who converts first for a period of time. In the conquest, there were a number of men embracing Islam, and then their wives after them. Also the wives first, and then husbands 2 weeks later. Classic example is Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahal. And Safwan ibn Umayyah. His wife converted first and begged him to stay. So when the husbands come back, they weren't asked to do a new nikah ceremony. So when a person converts to Islam, a time frame is given of 3 months for the other spouse to convert (there is an ikhtilaf on the 3 months). So the marriage contracts that are non-Islamic remain valid for a period of time.
7) Women are allowed to take money from their husbands without their knowledge if it's done for a legitimate cause i.e. husband is being stingy etc. Islam allows the wife to take the husbands money if the needs of the family is not being met. The hadith of Hind demonstrates this.
8) When an item is haram, it's haram to sell it.
9) It is sunnah and mustahab for a person, an elderly man/woman, to dye their hair. We learn this from Abu Quhafa's conversion.
10) The permissibility of visiting and entering Makkah without ihram. Some scholars say it was only for the Prophet PBUH, because they say going to Makkah and not doing Umrah or Hajj - this is not befitting. And, at the same time, think of those people whose businesses involve Makkah. For example, taxi drivers, or fruit sellers. Don't think of us in the west - it's a big shame for one of us to go to Makkah and not do Umrah at least. It's actually pathetic. Someone who goes to Makkah 5x a day or 5x a week, they can use this incident of the conquest to say it's not mandatory to do tawaf and Umrah every time you enter Makkah, OR to wear ihram - indeed, the Prophet PBUH was wearing battle armor when he entered.
11) Breaking one condition of a treaty is equal to breaking the entire treaty. How did the Prophet PBUH conquer Makkah? The Quraysh broke one clause.
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Theological Benefit From the Incident of the Conquest of Makkah
Theological benefit: It's pretty obvious, in the end victory will always be on the side of the truth. Allah says in the Quran, "Your Lord has decreed 'I shall always be victorious.'" This conquest clearly shows the power of Allah, and we as Muslims truly believe it's a miracle from Allah. For the Prophet PBUH to come back after being expelled and conquer the capital of Arabia with a peaceful conquest, and this conquest to spread all over Arabia, it's truly a miracle and a gift from Allah. And also, when you are patient, when you persevere in the path of Allah, eventually Allah will reward you with victory. And you must suffer in the path of Allah before you get the reward. You have to stand up and strive. You have to show Allah your dedication and determination. And you will suffer. The Prophet PBUH went through so much torture, persecution, death of loved ones, wars etc. In the end, Allah never forgets and the Prophet PBUH is rewarded with the greatest victory imaginable.