The Bakr–Khuza'a clash at al-Watir

Banu al-Dil of Banu Bakr surprised Khuza'a at their watering-place of al-Watir in lower Mecca, struck down one man of them and chased them until they took refuge in the sanctuary ¹. Quraysh supplied Banu Bakr with weapons and some of them fought alongside them by night in concealment — a breach of the Hudaybiyya treaty and, in the narrative, the spark of the conquest of Mecca ².

Between Banu Bakr ibn Abd Manaf and Khuza'a ran an old Jahiliyya feud: before Islam, Khuza'a had killed Banu al-Aswad ibn Razn — Salma, Kulthum and Dhu'ayb, the nobles of Banu al-Dil — at Arafa by the sanctuary's boundary stones; Banu al-Aswad had paid two blood-wits for their honour ³. Then Malik ibn Abbad al-Hadrami went out trading and Khuza'a set upon him in their land, killed him and took his goods; his pact had been with Banu al-Aswad ibn Razn ³.

Then came the Hudaybiyya truce: Banu Bakr entered Quraysh's pact and covenant, and Khuza'a entered the Messenger of God's pact and covenant ². Banu al-Dil seized on the truce to pursue an old revenge — in the account they said: Muhammad will never enter the House by force nor reach us ².

Nawfal ibn Mu'awiya al-Dili went out with Banu al-Dil — not all Banu Bakr followed him — and surprised Khuza'a at al-Watir ². They struck a man called Munabbih, whose companion Tamim ibn Asad cried: "go, Tamim — by God I am left a dead man", then fled until he entered Mecca ².

The two parties closed and fought within Mecca; when Banu al-Dil caught Khuza'a inside the sanctuary some of their men said: Nawfal, you are in the sanctuary — and he said: "your God, your God, people! Will you take your revenge on the polytheists and be kept from it by polytheists? Take your revenge!" ² Quraysh supplied Banu Bakr with weapons and some of them fought alongside them by night in concealment, until they drove them into the house of Budayl ibn Warqa' and the house of their client Rafi' ⁴.

al-Akhzar ibn La't al-Dili recited verse boasting of driving Banu Ka'b from al-Watir, and Budayl ibn Umm Asram answered him with a long ode restoring the credit to Khuza'a; Ibn Hisham notes both compositions are not from Ibn Ishaq ⁵. A long ode of apology is also told, in which its speaker clears Banu Ka'b before Budayl, saying they were not present at al-Watir — attributed to Tamim ibn Asad, though Ibn Hisham notes it is also ascribed to Habib ibn Abdullah al-A'lam al-Hudhali ⁶.

The al-Watir attack was the practical breach of the Hudaybiyya truce: the Prophet's treaty party was attacked with Quraysh's backing, making the violation open ². Directly after came Khuza'a's appeal to Medina, then Abu Sufyan's failed mission, then the march on Mecca ⁷.