a village to the east of the Dead Sea. The Muslims fought bravely but were totally defeated; among the slain was their leader Zaid and Ja'far, a first cousin of the Prophet. The recently converted Khālid ibn al-Walīd, who had accompanied the expedition, finally assumed the command and succeeded in bringing back the greater part of the army safely to Medina.
This reverse was quickly followed by a great success in another quarter. The truce of ten years, established by the treaty of Ḥudaibiya, might perhaps have been observed faithfully if the matter had depended solely on the two contracting parties, Mahomet and the Ḳuraish. But each party was in alliance with certain Bedouin tribes, and, as anyone might have foreseen, a feud among the allies was likely to produce a general rupture. In fact the truce had lasted only a year and a half when Mahomet's allies the Khuzā'a were attacked by a small tribe, the Bakr ibn 'Abd-Manāt, who likewise dwelt in the neighbourhood of Mecca and happened to be in alliance with the Ḳuraish. Some members of the Ḳuraish were accused, rightly or wrongly, of assisting the Bakr ibn 'Abd-Manāt, whereupon the Khuzā'a naturally complained to Mahomet that the terms of the treaty had been violated. The Ḳuraish, on their part, sent Abū Sufyān to Medina, in the hope that hostilities might be averted. What passed between Abū Sufyān and Mahomet on this occasion it is, of course, impossible to know with certainty, but it appears highly probable that, as several modern historians have suggested, the ambassador of the Ḳuraish, realising the superiority of the Muslim forces, agreed to facilitate the surrender of Mecca, while the Prophet promised to avoid all unnecessary bloodshed. No sooner had Abū Sufyān returned to his native city than Mahomet collected an army of about 10,000 men, chiefly Bedouins, and marched southwards. But he abstained from declaring war against the Ḳuraish and endeavoured to conceal the real object of his expedition. On the way he was met by his uncle 'Abbās, who at length professed himself a convert to Islām and joined the Prophet's army. About the end of January 630 the Muslims were encamped within sight of Mecca. No one could now doubt what was Mahomet's aim, but very few of the Meccans shewed any inclination to risk their lives in defence of the city. With the exception of a small band who perished in a fruitless skirmish, the citizens, following the advice of Abū Sufyān, threw away their arms, retired into their houses and suffered the conqueror to enter unopposed. Mahomet, on taking possession of the city, at once proclaimed a general amnesty, from which only ten persons were by name excluded;[1] even of these the majority soon obtained pardon. He then proceeded to destroy the idols with which the city abounded; it was even thought
- ↑ It is somewhat remarkable that among the few persons singled out for special vengeance were three female musicians, whose crime consisted in the fact that they had been accustomed to sing songs reflecting on the Prophet's character.
