Allah, Exalted is He, said:

“A declaration of immunity from Allah and His Messenger to the polytheists with whom you made treaties. Travel freely through the land for four months, but know that you cannot thwart Allah, and that Allah will disgrace the unbelievers. This is a proclamation from Allah and His Messenger to all people on the Day of the Greater Pilgrimage: Allah is free from obligation toward the polytheists, and so is His Messenger. If you repent, it will be better for you; but if you turn away, know that you cannot frustrate Allah. Give glad tidings to those who defy faith of a painful punishment. Except for those polytheists with whom you made a treaty, who have not failed you in anything nor supported anyone against you—fulfil your covenant with them until the end of its term. Surely Allah loves the God-fearing. When the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them on every road. But if they repent, establish the prayer, and give the prescribed alms, then let them go their way; Allah is All-forgiving, Most Merciful. If any of the polytheists seeks your protection, give him asylum so that he may hear the word of Allah; then convey him to a place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know. How can the polytheists have a treaty with Allah and His Messenger?—except for those with whom you made a pact at the Sacred Mosque. As long as they are true to you, remain true to them; Allah loves the God-fearing. How [can there be a treaty] when, if they prevail over you, they respect neither kinship nor covenant? They seek to please you with their tongues, but their hearts refuse, and most of them are defiantly disobedient. They have bartered Allah’s revelations for a trifling price and have turned people away from His path—evil indeed is what they do. They respect neither kinship nor covenant with a believer; such are the transgressors. Yet if they repent, establish the prayer, and give the prescribed alms, they are your brothers in faith. Thus We clarify the revelations for a people who know. But if they break their oaths after their covenant and attack your religion, then fight the leaders of disbelief—indeed they have no honor-bound oaths—so that they may desist. Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths, schemed to expel the Messenger, and were the first to attack you? Do you fear them? Allah has a greater right that you should fear Him, if you are believers.” (al-Tawbah 9:1–13)

The purpose here is to record the arrival of the Christian delegation from Najran—al-Sayyid, al-ʿAqib, and those who accompanied them.

Abu’l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi said: “Then the tenth year after the Hijrah began.”