Chapter: Entering Mecca and the Sacred House ⦗1⦘
First ḥadith
Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered Mecca in the year of the Conquest with a mighfar (metal helmet) on his head. After he had taken it off, a man came to him and said, “Ibn Khaṭl is clinging to the curtains of the Kaʿbah.” The Prophet said, “Kill him.”
Unfamiliar terms
• al-mighfar: pronounced like minbar; a hood of interlinked iron rings made to fit the head, protecting it from sword-blows.
• “Ibn Khaṭl,” with a dotted khāʾ and a plain ṭāʾ, both with fatḥah. Scholars differ over his given name; one view is that it was Hilāl. The man who killed him was Abū Barzah al-Aslamī.
Overall meaning
Numerous battles had occurred between the Prophet ﷺ and the disbelieving Quraysh, filling their hearts with resentment. When the Conquest of Mecca took place, the Prophet ﷺ entered the city on alert, wearing a helmet. He had already instructed that certain idolaters be executed—even if they were found grasping the curtains of the Kaʿbah—and he listed Ibn Khaṭl among them. Ibn Khaṭl had once accepted Islam, then murdered a Muslim, apostatized, and fled to the idolaters, having his slave-girls sing verses satirizing the Prophet ﷺ.
When fighting ceased that day, security was granted to the people of Mecca, and the Prophet removed his helmet. Some Companions then found Ibn Khaṭl clinging to the curtains of the Kaʿbah, seeking its sanctuary because he knew the vileness of his deeds. They hesitated to kill him until they had consulted the Prophet ﷺ. When they did, he said, “Kill him,” and Ibn Khaṭl was slain between the Ḥijr and the Maqām.
Lessons derived from the ḥadith
1- The Prophet ﷺ entered Mecca not in a state of iḥrām, for he wore a helmet on his head; another report in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim adds that he also had a black turban. This shows that it is permissible to enter Mecca in such circumstances without iḥrām.
2- Jihād takes precedence over devotional rites, for the benefits of the former are broader and more far-reaching.