He therefore returned that year, and the postponed ʿumra was fulfilled in the seventh year AH. In connection with this affair Allah sent down the whole of Sūrat al-Fath: “Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory” (al-Fath 1).

That victory lay in the truce itself: it gave the Muslims freedom to invite people to Islam, and once men had witnessed the goodness, rectitude, and light it contained, they entered Allah’s religion in large numbers.

We have already noted that the episode of Banū Qurayẓa forms part of the account of the Battle of the Trench. As for the Jewish clan of Banū al-Naḍīr, earlier—when they plotted to kill the Prophet ﷺ and were stationed on the outskirts of Medina—he marched against them. They barricaded themselves inside their forts, while their allies, the hypocrites, promised them assistance. Allah then cast terror into their hearts, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ compelled them to accept exile from their homes: they might take whatever their camels could carry, but the land, the dwellings, and everything their camels could not carry were to remain for the Muslims. Concerning this event Allah revealed the opening of Sūrat al-Hashr: “He is the One who expelled those who disbelieved among the People of the Book from their homes at the first gathering” (al-Hashr 2) and the remainder of the story.

• In the eighth year AH, after Quraysh had broken the treaty they had concluded with the Prophet ﷺ, he marched on Mecca with a great host of nearly ten thousand Muslims, entered it as its conqueror, and followed that with the campaign of Ḥunayn against Hawāzin and Thaqīf. Thus Allah completed His victory for His Messenger and the believers, and in connection with these events He revealed the opening of Sūrat al-Tawbah.

• In the ninth year AH he led the expedition of Tabūk. The Muslims turned out in full, and none stayed behind except those with valid excuses, a number of hypocrites, and three upright believers—Kaʿb ibn Mālik and his two companions.

The hardship was severe, the heat intense, the enemy numerous, and provisions scarce. The Prophet ﷺ reached Tabūk, stayed there for twenty days without an engagement taking place, and then returned to Medina. Allah subsequently revealed verses concerning this expedition.