Hudabiyyah: the proof of the Messenger

It’s instructive to consider how somebody could actively sin in the future, beyond even their own passing. 

We know about the passive sin, whereby someone following in your footsteps commits sins because of your prior example (Cain vs Abel). But to actively sin in the future, past even your own burial, that must be impossible, right?

In S Fath, GOD says that He gave the Messenger(saw) a clear and evident victory, and then goes on to say that HE has forgiven him for all of his sins, both past and future. 

   

We know that the Messenger (saw) was masoom, innocent of all sin, because of what occurred after the battle of Badr. There God changed the decree so that Muhammed (saw) would not be classed as a sinner, when he dealt mercifully with the Qurayshi captives of war- those that had fought to destroy the Muslims. At Badr 300 poorly equipped companions stood against 1000 well equipped Quraysh, and Quraysh were routed. 

Muhammed’s (saw) protection from sin can be seen when you study the Seerah and deliberate upon each aspect of it. And then it becomes obvious that Abasa is a necessity dictated as a proof that Muhammed (saw) was not the author of the Quran. 

However, the question that I would like for you to deliberate upon is this statement time limited;  “so God might show His forgiveness for all of your sins, past as well as future” (S Fath, v2); or in this case does it include the Messenger’s (saw) future sins past even our time here?

We know that sins are of two types, commission and omission. Commission is when you commit an act of sin, and omission is where you omit to perform something that you should have. So for example when you fail to feed a hungry neighbour, knowing full well that they will sleep hungry. 

The order of the sin referred to in the above verse relates to neither type of sin. For our Messenger (saw) was masoom, innocent of all sin. 

So, It must relates to something other than commission and omission. 

Surah al- Fath (the Chapter of the Victory) occurs just after Surah Muhammed (saw) and it relates to an incident that could rightly claim to be the clear proof of the truth of the Messenger (saw). 

It’s occasion of revelation is known because of it’s subject matter. 

It was sent down when the Messenger (saw) was on his way back from Mecca, having been denied entry to fulfill the rites of Hajj with his companions. 

Whilst they were not allowed to perform the Hajj, and fulfill the rites that Abraham (as) had bestowed upon us, they brought with them something much better. 

This is what GOD calls for them a clear and manifest victory (S Fath, v1). 

And that victory was ostensibly the Peace Treaty that the Messenger (saw) had concluded with Quraysh, the guardians of Mecca, and his tribe and people who had denied him, and tried to kill him on three previous occasions. 

The Companions grumbled that it was a one sided treaty, and that the believers had lost much and gained but little. 

But GOD here in revelation terms it a clear, and manifest victory. Does He do so to raise their demeanour?

Time proved that the treaty of Peace (treaty of Hudabiyyah) worked to the advantage of the Muslims. For differing tribes allied with either side, some with the Muslims in Medina and some with Quraysh in Mecca. And the net result of this was two-fold:

1- Medina was seen to be on par, if not equal to Mecca. Whilst on the prior two battles fought between each side, Medina had defended itself against Qurayshi aggression. 

2- Peace worked in favour of the Muslim faith, since it called people back to the simplicity and nobility of Abraham’s original faith- to believe in One God, the Creator, the Most Gracious- and away from idols and mystery religions that were fully man made. 

But this was not the real Victory talked about in this Chapter. The Victory here is a constant victory, that anyone who revisits the occasion of the Treaty of Hudabiyyah can feel for themselves. 

If you have not read the narrative then do so now, pick up a book of Seerah before reading further. 

It is a victory that resonates both here, now, and in the future. And it is for that reason that God says that because of it that God forgave the Messenger’s sins both past and future. 

For proofs are of many types, but the greatest order of proofs are by way of contradiction. And it is instructive that the Quran makes use of this device (S Baqara v23), and that it is also evident in event of Hudabiyyah. 

For the greatest truths will always be found at the most contradictory of events.

Sometimes these are within the events themselves, at others with what is considered true (as in the case of the last three days of Jesus (as)), and lastly when the event contradicts with human nature as we know it.

For the Messenger (saw) was vested with an incredible mission, to be a Messenger to the World, and its future people - us, and even those that come after us. No other prophet had been vested with anything remotely similar. 

And so Hudabbiyah. 

So contradictory an event that no one could ever imagine it not having taken place as narrated in our history books (Seerah). 

A chief of Quraysh compared Muhammed (saw) to Chosroes and to the Roman Caesars and found that the Messenger was more beloved of his people than those two Emperors amongst their people. 

And yet a Hudabiyyah they disobeyed him. 

And there read who it was that amended the treaty when Quraysh objected to the title of the Messenger (saw) being included within its body of text, and the manner of that amendment. 

That Muhammed (saw) was unlettered, could not read nor write, but was no illiterate. That therefore once again it is clear that he is not the author of the Quran. 

That he bore with patience and was ever a man of the deepest faith. 

How he acquiesced to all of their demands. 

And remained faithful. 

And how God granted him victory, in spite of all of their schemes. 

And so it is that with the event at Hudabiyyah, the truth of the Messenger (saw) would be evident to any with a discerning mind for all generations and for those yet to come. 

A favour from God to Muhammed (saw) that would enable him to complete his mission to Mankind, and its future generations, and that which God entrusted him with. 

And that is once again the sin that God protected him from by way of Hudabiyyah, that he would not fulfil his given mission and that which God entrusted him with.  

May God reward the Messenger (saw) with abundance. Aameen.