The life of the Prophet Muhammad (11/11): the conquest of Mecca and the death of the Prophet

By Michel Abdallah Grimbert · March 11, 2024 · 7 min read

Contents

The green dome of the Prophet's mosque at Medina

By Michel Abdallah Grimbert, disciple of the tariqa Qadiriya Boutchichiya.

The peaceful conquest of the sacred sanctuary of Mecca

As early as March of the year 628, in answer to a divine indication assuring the Prophet that he would pray at Mecca: (XLVIII, 27) ‘Yes, God confirms the truth of the vision granted to His Prophet: you shall therefore enter the Sacred Mosque in safety, God willing, with shaven heads and cut hair, and you shall have no fear’, the Prophet set out to accomplish the pilgrimage (in this instance a simple ’umra), followed by about a thousand people in the dress of ihram. The Qurayshites stopped them at Hudaybiyya, some ten kilometres from Mecca, while awaiting the results of the mediation entrusted to ’Uthman, whose gifts as a negotiator were eminent. And not seeing him return, fearing for his life, the believers individually swore the oath of fidelity, of allegiance to Muhammad, who himself swore by proxy for ’Uthman. The Qur’an reports this event thus: (XLVIII, 18) ‘God was pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to thee beneath the tree (yubayi’unaka tahta ash-shajara). He knew the content of their hearts. He sent down upon them the sakina’. This sakina that unveils is the instillation of the spiritual inflows (to instil meaning here: to bring to birth) which allow the divine Presence within us to manifest in spite of the veils due to our ‘fall’; this is what is called initiation, which is established along a chain going back to an identified source, and which belongs to the domain of ihsan. For faith (al-iman), which concerns indemonstrable beliefs, does not of itself, as we know, modify our perception of the world and can blind when it seeks to impose itself without discernment, without wisdom (sakina). To sum up: faith pierces the clouds, to be sure, but does not dissolve them, as initiation alone does.

Following, at last, upon the agreements concluded through ’Uthman’s mediation, which imposed a truce, the Prophet of God and the believers were able freely to make the pilgrimage the following year, in 629. The profession of faith then resounded through the valley of Mecca like a victory, and Bilal launched the call to prayer from the top of the Ka’ba. Many tribes and Meccans were then convinced. The very next year, alleging a breach of the truce, the Muslims marched on Mecca and conquered it without serious opposition. That year became ‘the year of the deputations’, for the majority of the tribes of Arabia presented themselves in delegations in order officially to accept Islam, whether by converting or by accepting to be placed under its authority.

The term ridwan (‘felicity’), employed to characterise the pact of Hudaybiyya, indicates something granted directly by God. For the believer, it is His good pleasure, and not merely a state obtained as a reward. The felicity granted here is the return to God without division, without veil. It is an ineffable grace (ridwan), an eternal happiness on God’s part: (IX, 72) ‘God has promised the believing men and women gardens beneath which rivers flow. They shall dwell there immortal… But the good pleasure of God is greater still (wa ridwanun min Allahi akbar); that is the boundless happiness!’. What we have here is in no case a degree acquired, but solely one given by God: ineffable, as is the sakina, which belongs to the degree of ihsan. And such is God’s pact, sealed with His Prophet.

The Farewell Pilgrimage and the Prophet’s recall to God in the year 632

At the close of the tenth year of the Hegira, the Prophet, at the height of his earthly greatness, followed by an immense throng of fervent pilgrims, undertook the great pilgrimage, called on this occasion the ‘Farewell Pilgrimage’; he fixed for all time its unchanging forms, setting aside everything bound up with idolatry. For as a descendant of Hashim, the eponymous ancestor of his line (ala), going back through Ishmael to Adam, he knew perfectly what of the ancient pilgrimage had to be preserved or renewed.

On that sublime occasion, divinely inspired and borne up by the clamour that accompanied him, on the ninth day of the month of Dhu al-Hijja, at the site of Mount ‘Arafat, mounted on his she-camel Qaswa’, he delivered his noble sermon, in which he recalled all the principles of the religion for which God had sent him. The haunting repetition, at the end of each reminder of the various divine prescriptions, of the question ‘Have I fulfilled my task?’ (that is, ballaghtu), followed by the echoing exclamations of the human tide of pilgrims, earned this pilgrimage the names hajj al-balagh and hajj al-wada’.

’O people, on this day, time has come back to what it was on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth. The number of lunar months in Allah’s eyes is twelve. Have I truly conveyed? My God, bear witness!

O people, your wives have rights over you and you have rights over them. Have I truly conveyed? My God, bear witness!

O people, your Lord is one and your father is one; you all issue from Adam, and he himself issues from the earth. The noblest among you is the most pious; and no Arab has merit over a non-Arab, save by piety. Have I truly conveyed? My God, bear witness!

O people, let those of you who are present convey this to those who are absent; for the latter will sometimes prove more perceptive and obedient than you. Have I truly conveyed? My God, bear witness!’

The death of the Prophet

When the Prophet of God had accomplished his mission (muhimma), his illness began to declare itself in the house of Maymuna, three months after his blessed pilgrimage; it was at the close of the month of Safar, the second month of the eleventh year of the Hegira. He remained ill, at first, for thirteen days, during which he divided his time between his wives’ apartments. But when the illness worsened, he obtained from his other wives the right to reside at ’A’isha’s.

Then, no longer able to go out for the prayer, he said: ‘Tell Abu Bakr to lead the believers’ prayer’. Faced with the people’s sincere affliction, he went out to meet them, leaning on ’Ali and al-Fadl, and said to them: ‘O people, it has been reported to me that you dread the death of your Prophet. Now, is there a prophet sent before me by Allah who remained eternal, so that I too might remain so? Know that I am going to join my Lord and that you will join me in His presence. I commend to your care the first muhajirun. I likewise commend to your care the ansar, for it was they who first bore the duty of shelter and faith. Did they not prefer you to themselves, though they were in want?’

The morning of that day, the 12 Rabi’ al-Awwal, was not yet over before the Prophet of God had left this lower world. It fell to Abu Bakr, who had just uncovered the Prophet of God’s illuminated face, to announce the blessed Prophet’s death to the community of believers, deeply grieving and in tears. He then said:

‘He who worships Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead; and he who worships Allah, let him know that Allah is Living and does not die’.

He then recited: (XXXIX, 30) ‘Thou art dead, and they too are truly dead’.

And: (III, 144) ‘Muhammad is but a prophet; prophets have lived before him. Would you turn back on your heels if he died or were killed? He who turns back on his heels does no harm to God; but God rewards those who are thankful’.

Thus ends what it is customary to call the Sirat Rasul Allah: the life of the Prophet of God.