Khuza'a's appeal to Medina

Amr ibn Salim al-Khuza'i set out after the al-Watir attack until he reached Medina, where he stood before the Prophet in the mosque adjuring him by the covenant of their fathers and begging his aid for Banu Ka'b ¹. Ibn Ishaq said: "this was part of what stirred the conquest of Mecca" ¹.

Amr ibn Salim stood in the mosque of Medina and recited his famous verses opening "O Lord, I adjure Muhammad / by the ancient covenant of my father and his", asking aid for Banu Ka'b and describing how they were surprised at al-Watir and killed kneeling and prostrate ¹.

The Prophet said to him: "you are granted aid, Amr ibn Salim" ². In al-Isti'ab's version: "may I not be aided if I do not aid Banu Ka'b ibn Abd Manaf and Abd al-Wudud with the aid I gave them" ². It is told that when Banu Ka'b entered the mosque afterwards they saw a cloud moving in the sky, and it was said: it is for Banu Ka'b ².

Then Budayl ibn Warqa' came with a party of Khuza'a and told the Prophet of Quraysh's backing of Banu Bakr and their breaking of the treaty ². The Prophet ordered preparations — the arming of an army — and said: "it is as if I see Abu Sufyan coming to tighten the pact and lengthen its term" — and so it was ².

The appeal turned a local breach into a matter of covenant: the Prophet's ally had cried for help after Quraysh broke the treaty by supplying the aggressors, and the answer became a state's decision, not a tribe's intercession ³. Directly after came Abu Sufyan's failed mission, then Hatib's letter, then the march on Mecca ⁴.