The march on Makkah
Two years after the treaty of Hudaybiyya the Quraysh's allies attacked the tribe of Khuza'a, allies of the Prophet (s), and the treaty was void. In Ramadan 8 AH the Prophet marched from Madinah with ten thousand men, keeping his destination secret until the army camped in sight of the city. Abu Sufyan, the leader of the Quraysh, came out to the camp and accepted Islam before the entry; the Prophet declared that whoever entered Abu Sufyan's house, the sanctuary or his own home would be safe.
The entry
The Muslim columns entered Makkah on 20 Ramadan from several sides with orders not to fight unless attacked; only one column met resistance. The Prophet (s) rode to the Ka'ba, circled it, and had the three hundred and sixty idols around it broken, reciting the verse that truth had come and falsehood vanished; Ali (a), in the well-known account, climbed on his shoulders to pull down the highest. To the Quraysh who had persecuted him for twenty years he said: go, you are free.
Why it matters
The conquest ended the war between the Prophet (s) and his own city and opened the way for the tribes of Arabia to enter Islam in the following two years. The amnesty of that day is remembered as the model of victory without vengeance.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
