With central Arabia largely unified, Muhammad (pbuh) turned his attention to affairs outside the peninsula. He had successfully secured alliances with countless towns, cities, tribes, and settlements. He made it his habit to send ambassadors with personal invitations to embrace Islam to all the known power centers of the day.

Diplomacy and The Roman Threat

Muhammad (pbuh) even sent emissaries to the Byzantine Roman Emperor **Heraclius** and the Persian monarch, inviting them to accept his prophethood and message. The Persian tyrant contemptuously tore up Muhammad’s (pbuh) letter, leading the Prophet (pbuh) to predict a similar fate for the Persian Empire.

Heraclius, for his part, began to make moves against Muslim interests in northern Arabia. After receiving pleas for help from his northern allies, Muhammad (pbuh) organized an army near the end of **630 CE** and marched northward to meet the Byzantine threat. Miraculously, the Byzantines withdrew their forces before Muhammad (pbuh) ever arrived, allowing the Prophet (pbuh) to spend a month touring southern Syria, where he completed more alliances. The Muslims returned to Madinah to great acclaim for the success of their diplomatic mission.

The Final Pilgrimage and Perfection

For the next year and a half, Muhammad (pbuh), fulfilling his promise to the people of Madinah, busily organized his administration and engaged in diplomatic discussions with the many emissaries who arrived weekly to solidify treaties. In the year **632 CE**, Muhammad (pbuh) led one last, grand pilgrimage to Makkah. It was during this pilgrimage that people began to notice signs that the Prophet (pbuh) would soon take his leave of the world.

The Prophet (pbuh) gave a major address during the pilgrimage rites, and an unexpected revelation—the last complete verse of the Qur’an—came to him, which he recited to the gathered crowd of over 100,000 men and women:

“This day, those who cover over (the truth of God) have given up all hope of (destroying) your way of life. So don’t be afraid of them; rather, fear only Me. This day I have perfected your way of life for you, completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your way of life.” (**Qur’an 5:3**)

**Abu Bakr** and others immediately suspected the verse’s meaning and wept: the Qur’an was declaring itself complete, the mission was accomplished, and the victory of Islam was perfected. Muhammad (pbuh), who was over sixty years old, began to hint in public and in private that God would soon call him home. He became increasingly frail and often needed rest from his exertions, marking the coming close of his monumental life.