The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 137
IV - Treaty of Ḥudaibiyyah & its Magnificent Outcomes 137 When Suhail bin ‘Amr came before the Holy Prophet sa , upon seeing him the Holy Prophet sa immediately said, “Suhail is coming. Now the matter shall be made easy. ” 1 In any case, Suhail came and upon arriving he said, “Come, forget this lengthy dispute, we are prepared to make an agreement. ” The Holy Prophet sa said, “So are we. ” Upon this, the Holy Prophet sa summoned his secretary, Ḥaḍrat ‘Alī ra , and since a general discussion had already taken place as to the conditions of this treaty, and the details were to be agreed upon along the way, as soon as the scribe arrived, the Holy Prophet sa said, “Write - ِ حِيم َّ لر ا ِ حْمٰن َّ لر ا ِ هلل ا ِ بِسْم. 2 ” Suhail was ready to make a treaty, but also wished to remain vigilant in protecting the rights of the Quraish and their honour. He immediately said, “What is this word Raḥmān , 3 we do not know this. Write as the Arabs have always written, 4 َّ بِاِسْمِك َ اَللّٰھُم. On the other hand, it was a question of national pride and religious indignation for the Muslims, who immediately alerted, began to say, “We sh all indeed write ِ هلل ا ِ بِسْم , but the Holy Prophet sa silenced the Muslims saying, “No matter, there is no problem in this, write as Suhail says. ” So, the words َ ّ بِاِسْمِك َ اَللّٰھُم were written. Then the Holy Prophet sa said, “Write - This is the treaty that Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allāh has concluded. ” Suhail interjected once again saying, “We shall not allow you to write the words, ‘Mess enger of Allāh. ’ For if we are to accept that you are the Messenger of Allāh, then this entire dispute would be put to rest and we would have no right to hinder you and fight you. So as is our custom, only write the words, ‘Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh has settled this treaty. ’” The Holy Prophet sa said, “Whether you accept it or not, I am the Messenger of Allāh. However, since I am also Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh, alright then, as you wish. Write - Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh has concluded this treaty. ” 5 However, during this time, Ḥaḍrat ‘Alī ra , the scribe of the Holy Prophet sa had already written the words, ‘Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allāh. ’ The Holy Prophet sa asked Ḥaḍrat ‘Alī ra to erase the words ‘Muḥammad the Messenger of Allāh’ and write, ‘Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh’ in their stead. However, this was a cause of immense emotion and in his indignation Ḥaḍrat ‘Alī ra said, “O Messenger of Allāh, I shall never erase the words ‘ The Messenger of Allāh’ from your name. ” 1 As alluded to above, the literary merit of this word was that ‘Suhail’ and ‘ Sahl ’ are from the same Arabic root. It was the custom of the Holy Prophet sa to at times, take a good omen from certain names. 2 In the name of Allāh, the Gracious, the Merciful (Publishers) 3 i. e. , the Arabic word for ‘Gracious’ (Publishers) 4 With thy name, O Allāh (Publishers) 5 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābush-Shurūṭ, Bābush-Shurūṭi Fil-Jihādi. . . , Ḥadīth No. 2731-2732