Laws of war and peace
Family: War, peace and the conduct of conflict · 28 entries
Entries on this theme
Event
The Treaty of Hudaybiyya
c. March 628 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AHIn Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AH (March 628 CE), the Prophet marched towards Mecca with 1,400 companions for Umrah; halted at al-Hudaybiyya by Quraysh, negotiations through Suhayl ibn Amr produced a historic ten-year peace treaty described in the Qur'an as a 'Manifest Victory'.Abu Sufyan's mission to Medina
629 CE · 8 AHFrightened by what had been done at al-Watir, Quraysh sent Abu Sufyan ibn Harb to Medina to stiffen the pact and extend its term. The Prophet gave him no answer; Abu Bakr and Umar declined to intercede; Ali advised him to grant protection himself, which he did and returned home empty-handed.Khuza'a's appeal to Medina
629 CE · 8 AHAfter al-Watir, Amr ibn Salim al-Khuza'i stood before the Prophet in the Medina mosque and recited his plea invoking the pact of the fathers — 'and that was what stirred the conquest of Mecca' — then Budayl ibn Warqa' arrived with Khuza'i men reporting Quraysh's backing of Bakr.The Bakr–Khuza'a clash at al-Watir
629 CE · 8 AHA night raid by Banu al-Dil of Banu Bakr — secretly armed and joined by men of Quraysh — on Khuza'a at their watering place al-Watir in lower Mecca. The breach of the Hudaybiyya truce it caused is the spark the tradition gives for the conquest of Mecca.The conversion of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
January 630 CE · Ramadan 8 AHAt Marr al-Zahran on the eve of the Conquest, al-Abbas brought Abu Sufyan into the Muslim camp; after witnessing the ten thousand campfires and parading contingents, Abu Sufyan professed Islam, and the Prophet granted general sanctuary to whoever entered his house.The proscribed persons on the day of the Conquest
January 630 CE · Ramadan 8 AHPrior to entering Mecca, the Prophet ordered the army to fight only those who offered armed resistance, except for a small named group of individuals accused of apostasy combined with murder, severe physical harm, or treasonous incitement, ordered slain even if found under the Kaaba's curtains. Several were executed, while others were granted protection and returned to Islam.The Prophet's sermon at the Kaaba and general amnesty
January 630 CE · Ramadan 8 AHStanding at the threshold of the Kaaba, the Prophet addressed the assembled people of Mecca, abolishing pre-Islamic blood feuds, reciting Qur'an 49:13 on human equality, returning the hereditary custodianship of the key to Uthman ibn Talha, and declaring a comprehensive general amnesty with the renowned words: 'Go, for you are the free ones' (al-Tulaqa').The killing of Ibn al-Anwa' and the sermon on Mecca's sanctity
January 630 CE · Ramadan 8 AHAfter the general safety was proclaimed, Khirash ibn Umayya ambushed and killed Ibn al-Anwa' al-Hudhali to settle an old blood dispute; the Prophet strongly condemned the murder, paid the full wergild from his own funds, and the next day delivered a decisive sermon proclaiming the perpetual inviolability of Mecca's blood, trees, and game.The distribution of Hunayn spoils at al-Ji'rana
February 630 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 8 AHAt al-Ji'rana the Prophet divided the vast spoils of Hunayn (twenty-four thousand camels, forty thousand sheep, and four thousand silver awqiya); he warned against the misappropriation of spoils, and bestowed major grants upon Meccan notables and Najdi tribal chieftains to reconcile their hearts to Islam.The stoning of the Ghamidi woman
c. 631 CE · 9 AHIn 9 AH a woman of Ghamid came to the Prophet and confessed to fornication; he repeatedly turned her away hoping she would recant, then deferred her until she bore and weaned her child, whereupon she was stoned — an application of the prescribed penalty which the Prophet described as a repentance that would suffice seventy of Medina's people were it apportioned.
Work
Person
Abdullah ibn Khatal
A former Muslim sent by the Prophet to collect sadaqa; he killed his Muslim servant over a meal, apostatized with the collected camels, and kept two singing girls who performed lampoons against the Prophet; he was ordered killed on the Conquest and slain clinging to the Kaaba curtains.al-Huwayrith ibn Nuqaydh
A Qurashi in Mecca who persistently harassed the Prophet; when al-Abbas was escorting the Prophet's daughters Fatima and Umm Kulthum to Medina, al-Huwayrith prodded their camel so they fell; he was ordered killed on the Conquest and slain by Ali ibn Abi Talib.Miqyas ibn Subaba
A man of Banu Sahm who came to Medina feigning Islam to claim blood money for his brother killed accidentally; after accepting the wergild, he murdered his brother's killer and fled back to Mecca an apostate; proscribed on the day of the Conquest and slain by Numayla ibn Abdullah.Sara, mawla of Banu Abd al-Muttalib
A freedwoman attached to a family of Banu Abd al-Muttalib. In this edition she is named both as one of two possible carriers of Hatib's letter, and as a woman who had harmed the Prophet in Mecca — ordered killed at the conquest, then amnestied; years later a horse trampled her at al-Abtah in Umar's caliphate.Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh
A scribe of revelation who apostatized back to Quraysh; proscribed on the day of the Conquest, he was sheltered by his foster brother Uthman ibn Affan who pleaded for him until the Prophet granted him pardon; he returned to Islam and later governed Egypt under Umar and Uthman.al-Walid ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt
A maternal half-brother of Uthman ibn Affan, he embraced Islam on the day of the conquest; Ibn Abd al-Barr says the commentators do not disagree that verse 6 of al-Hujurat was revealed about him when the Prophet sent him to collect alms from Banu al-Mustaliq, and Ibn Hajar points to the weakness of the chains of that story; Uthman made him governor of Kufa in 25 AH and removed him after he was flogged for drinking wine, as the two collections report; he withdrew from the civil strife and stayed at al-Raqqa until he died in Mu'awiya's caliphate.Fartana
One of the two singing slave-girls of Abdullah ibn Khatal in Mecca who performed lampoons against the Prophet; proscribed on the day of the Conquest, one was killed while the other fled, sought protection, and embraced Islam.Hatib ibn Abi Balta'a
A Companion settled in Mecca without clan or kin there, a halif with children and wealth among them. When the Prophet resolved on the march to Mecca, Hatib wrote to warn Quraysh; the letter was intercepted, and the tradition holds that the Prophet excused him citing the people of Badr — and that the opening of Sura al-Mumtahana came down concerning him.Khirash ibn Umayya al-Ka'bi
A warrior of Banu Ka'b of Khuza'a who, following the conquest of Mecca, ambushed and killed Ibn al-Anwa' al-Hudhali for pre-Islamic blood; the Prophet strongly condemned the act, paid the victim's wergild himself, and delivered the sermon of Mecca's perpetual inviolability.Nawfal ibn Mu'awiya al-Dili
Chief of Banu al-Dil of Banu Bakr in the truce years; he led the night attack on Khuza'a at al-Watir seeking blood-revenge and refused to halt at the sanctuary's bounds — the breach that precipitated the conquest of Mecca.
Concept
Reconciliation of hearts (al-mu'allafa qulubuhum)
A legal category of recipients of zakat and spoils established in Islamic law to reconcile hearts to the faith and cement communal stability; widely applied by the Prophet at al-Ji'rana through major grants of camels and silver to Meccan and Najdi tribal chiefs.Guaranteed loan (ariya madmuna)
A legal principle of property liability established in prophetic tradition when the Prophet borrowed one hundred coats of mail from Safwan ibn Umayya before Hunayn, assuring him: 'Not by force, but a guaranteed loan to be returned.'Emancipation of enemy slaves upon fleeing to Muslim lines
A legal principle in Islamic law of war established during the siege of Ta'if when the Prophet proclaimed: 'Whichever slave descends from the fortress to us is a free man', freeing over a dozen men including Abu Bakra as 'freemen of God' and refusing to return them upon Ta'if's submission.Prohibition of misappropriating spoils (ghulul)
A strict legal and ethical prohibition forbidding the misappropriation of spoils before equitable distribution; emphasized by the Prophet at al-Ji'rana holding up a tuft of camel hair and warning that ghulul brings disgrace and fire on the Day of Resurrection even down to a needle and thread.Prohibition of killing women, children and non-combatant labourers in war
A foundational rule of Islamic laws of war proclaimed by the Prophet at the Battle of Hunayn upon seeing a slain woman: 'She was not one to fight', ordering Khalid ibn al-Walid never to kill children, women, or hired labourers.
Group
Banu Bakr ibn Abd Manat
A tribe of Kinana that entered Quraysh's pact at Hudaybiyya; the night attack by its Banu al-Dil clan on Khuza'a at al-Watir — secretly armed by Quraysh — broke the truce and set off the conquest of Mecca.Khuza'a
The tribe of the Meccan lowland, long allied to the Prophet's house by marriage and oath; it entered his pact at Hudaybiyya, was attacked at al-Watir by Banu Bakr with Quraysh's secret aid, and its appeal to Medina set off the conquest of Mecca.
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