The History of al-¿abari Vol. 8 / SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies (PDF)

This volume covers the history of the Muslim community and the biography of Mu¿ammad in the middle Medinan years. It begins with the unsuccessful last Meccan attack on Medina, known as the battle of the Trench.

Events following this battle show the gradual collapse of Meccan resistance to Islam. The next year, when Mu¿ammad set out on pilgrimage to Mecca, the Meccans at first blocked the road, but eventually a ten-year truce was negotiated at al-¿udaybiyah, with Mu¿ammad agreeing to postpone his pilgrimage until the following year. The Treaty of al-¿udaybiyah was followed by a series of Muslim expeditions, climaxing in the important conquest of Khaybar. In the following year Mu¿ammad made the so-called Pilgrimage of Fulfillment unopposed.

Al-¿abari's account emphasizes Islam's expanding geographical horizon during this period. Soon after the Treaty of al-Hudaybiyah, Mu¿ammad is said to have sent letters to six foreign rulers inviting them to become Muslims. Another example of this expanding horizon was the unsuccessful expedition to Mu'tah in Jordan.

Shortly afterward the Treaty of al-¿udaybiyah broke down, and Mu¿ammad marched on Mecca. The Meccans capitulated, and Mu¿ammad entered the city on his own terms. He treated the city leniently, and most of the Meccan oligarchy swore allegiance to him as Muslims.

Two events in the personal life of Mu¿ammad during this period caused controversy in the community. Mu¿ammad fell in love with and married Zaynab bint. Jäsh, the divorced wife of his adopted son Zayd. Because of Mu¿ammad's scruples, the marriage took place only after a Qur'anic revelation permitting believers to marry the divorced wives of their adopted sons. In the Affair of the Lie, accusations against Mu¿ammad's young wife ¿A¿ishah were exploited by various factions in the community and in Mu¿ammad's household. In the end, a Qur'anic revelation proclaimed ¿A¿ishah's innocence and the culpability of the rumormongers.

This volume of al-¿abari's History records the collapse of Meccan resistance to Islam, the triumphant return of Mu¿ammad to his native city, the conversion to Islam of the Meccan oligarchy, and the community's successful weathering of a number of potentially embarrassing events in Mu¿ammad's private life.