the Messenger of Allah?” ʿĀʾishah answered, “Pack your things, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is about to attack your people; he has risen in anger for the sake of Banū Kaʿb.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then entered. ʿĀʾishah feared that her father might blurt out what she had just told him before the Prophet ﷺ mentioned it himself, so she signalled to him with her eyes and he remained silent. After the Prophet ﷺ had sat for a while talking with Abū Bakr, he asked, “Have you prepared yourself, Abū Bakr?”
Abū Bakr replied, “For what, O Messenger of Allah?”
He said, “For the campaign against Quraysh. They have acted treacherously and broken the treaty, and—if Allah wills—we are setting out to fight them.”
A general call to arms was issued. Ḥāṭib wrote to Quraysh—the account of his letter has already been given—and then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ marched out with twelve thousand men drawn from the Emigrants, the Helpers, and the tribes of Aslam, Ghifār, Muzaynah, Juhaynah, and Banū Sulaym. They pressed their horses forward until they encamped at Marr al-Ẓahrān, while Quraysh knew nothing of them.
Quraysh therefore dispatched Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām and Abū Sufyān, saying, “Obtain a guarantee of safety for us, or else give us notice of war.” The two set out, met Budayl ibn Warqāʾ, and asked him to accompany them. He did so, and when they reached the arāk groves near Mecca at nightfall they saw the tents and the army, and heard the neighing of horses. Startled, they exclaimed, “These must be Banū Kaʿb, stirred up for war!”
Budayl said, “They are far more numerous than Banū Kaʿb; the tribe could never raise such a host.”
The Prophet ﷺ had already sent forward a cavalry detachment that let no one pass. When Abū Sufyān and his companions entered the Muslim camp, the horsemen seized them under cover of night and brought them in. ʿUmar stepped up to Sufyān and jabbed him on the neck, but the men restrained him and led Sufyān away in order to present him to the Prophet ﷺ. The guards barred his path, and he feared for his life.
ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—his close ally in the Jāhiliyyah—cried out at the top of his voice, “Will you not hand him over to ʿAbbās?” ʿAbbās came, shielded him, and asked the Prophet ﷺ to take him into his custody.
Mounting with him in the darkness, ʿAbbās rode through the camp until Abū Sufyān had seen it all. ʿUmar, who had struck him, had said, “Do not go near the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, or you will be killed.” Terrified, Abū Sufyān clung to ʿAbbās and said, “I am a dead man.”