When he reached Dhū’l-Ḥulayfah he garlanded and marked the sacrificial animals, entered the state of iḥrām there for ʿumrah, and dispatched a scout from the tribe of Khuzaʿah. The Prophet ﷺ then continued until he came to Ghadīr al-Ashṭāṭ (1). There his scout met him and said, “The Quraysh have gathered their forces against you; they have summoned the allied clans as well. They intend to fight you, bar your way to the House, and prevent you.”

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Give me your counsel, people. Do you think I should turn against the families and children of these folk who want to keep us from the House? If they then come out to us, Allah will already have cut off one flank of the idolaters; and if they do not, we shall leave them a people laid waste.”

Abū Bakr replied, “O Messenger of Allah, you set out deliberately for this House, intending to kill no one and fight no one. Let us proceed toward it, and whoever bars us from it we shall fight.”

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Advance, in the name of Allah.” That is how the report ends here; he halted at this point and added nothing further.

He also says in the Book of Witnesses (2): ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad narrated to us—ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us—Maʿmar informed us—al-Zuhrī informed me—ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr informed me, from al-Miswar ibn Makhramah and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, each confirming the other’s report:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out during the expedition of al-Hudaybiyah. When they were partway along the route he said, ‘Khalid ibn al-Walid is at al-Ghamīm with a cavalry vanguard of Quraysh; take the road to the right.’ By Allah, Khalid did not notice them until he was confronted by the army’s dust, whereupon he galloped off to warn the Quraysh.

“The Prophet ﷺ travelled on until he reached the pass that descends upon them, and there his she-camel knelt. The people cried, ‘Hal! Hal!’—urging her on—yet she remained seated. They said, ‘Al-Qaṣwāʾ has balked! Al-Qaṣwāʾ has balked!’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Al-Qaṣwāʾ has not balked, nor is that her nature; rather, the One who restrained the elephant has restrained her.’

“Then he said, ‘By Him in whose hand is my soul, if they ask of me any plan that magnifies the sanctities of Allah, I will grant it to them.’ He prodded her and she sprang up; he turned aside from them until he camped at the farthest edge of al-Hudaybiyah, by a pit with only a little water from which the people were taking a sip or two. They had scarcely been there before they had drained it completely. The people complained to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of thirst, so he drew an arrow from his quiver and ordered them to place it in the waterhole. By Allah, it continued to gush forth with water for them until they had all drunk and moved on.

“While they were in that state, Budayl ibn Warqāʾ al-Khuzaʿī arrived with a group of his tribesmen from Khuzaʿah—people of Tihāmah who were the Prophet’s trusted confidants. He said, ‘I have left Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy and ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy encamped at the springs of al-Hudaybiyah. They have with them milch-camels with their young, and they intend to fight you and bar you from the House.’

“The Prophet ﷺ replied, ‘We have not come to fight anyone; we have come to perform ʿumrah. Quraysh have been exhausted and weakened by war. If they wish, I will grant them a truce for a period on the condition that they allow me access to the people. If Allah grants me victory and they then wish to enter into what others have entered, they may do so; otherwise they will have had their fill. But if they refuse—by Him in whose hand is my soul—I shall fight them over this matter of mine until my neck is severed, and the command of Allah shall surely come to pass.’

“Budayl said, ‘I will convey to them what you have said.’ He left and came to the Quraysh, saying, ‘We have just come from this man and have heard him say certain words. If you wish, we will report them to you.’ The fools among them said, ‘We have no need for you to tell us anything about him,’ but those of sound judgement said, ‘Tell us what you heard him say.’ Budayl said, ‘I heard him say such-and-such,’ and he repeated the words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Then ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd stood up and said, ‘My people, are you not …’