The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 118
Seal of the Prophets - Volume III 118 more splendid than its power of war. As such, the historical account which we are about to mention is a very significant one. We request our readers to study the details of this account very carefully. Dream of the Holy Prophet sa & the Journey to Ḥudaibiyyah We have seen that shortly after the Holy Prophet sa migrated from Makkah to Madīnah, Allāh changed the Qiblah of the Muslims from Jerusalem to the Baitullāh. Along with this alteration of the Qiblah , Allāh also instructed the Holy Prophet sa to set his concentration towards Makkah and not to forget that Makkah was the religious centre of Islām, which should come under Muslim control as soon as possible. 1 Due to these injunctions, the Holy Prophet sa would constantly think about Makkah and since it was their homeland, naturally the Holy Prophet sa and his Muhājirīn companions had a special love for it. Moreover, it so happened that during those days, the Holy Prophet sa saw a dream that he was performing Ṭawāf of the Baitullāh along with his companions. 2 At that time the month of Dhū Qa‘dah was near, which even in the era of the Jāhiliyyah was considered to be amongst those four blessed months wherein all forms of war and conflict was prohibited. On the one hand the Holy Prophet sa saw this dream and on the other, the time was also such that the course of war would come to a halt and peace and safety would prevail throughout the whole of Arabia. Although these were not the days of Ḥajj , 3 and until now Ḥajj in Islām had not been officially ordained either, but Ṭawāf could be performed around the Ka‘bah at any time. Therefore, upon seeing this dream, the Holy Prophet sa instructed his companions to prepare for ‘Umrah. ‘ Umrah , was as if a lesser Ḥajj , wherein various rites of the Ḥajj were left out and only Ṭawāf of the Baitullāh and an animal sacrifice would suffice. Furthermore, unlike the Ḥajj , there was no specified time of the year for the ‘Umrah either. This worship could be performed any time of the year. On this occasion, the Holy Prophet sa also 1 Al-Baqarah (2:149-151) 2 * Al-Fatḥ (48:28) * Jāmi‘ul-Bayāni ‘An Ta’wīli Āyatil-Qur’ān (Tafsīruṭ-Ṭabari), By Imām Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad bin Jarīr Aṭ-Ṭabarī, Volume 2, p. 123, Commentary of Sūrah Al-Fatḥ, Verse No. 27, Dāru Iḥyā’it- Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut (2001) * Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 3, p. 170, Amrul-Ḥudaibiyyah, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) * Tārīkhul-Khamīs Fī Aḥwāli Anfasi Nafīs, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan, Volume 2, p. 16, Ghazwatul-Ḥudaibiyyah, Mu’assasatu Sha‘bān, Beirut 3 Pilgrimage to the Ka‘bah (Publishers)