The **Treaty of (Hudaybiyyah)** stipulated that each signatory was responsible for the actions of its allies. The Makkans, underestimating the strategic advantage this gave the Muslims, fell into their own trap. For the first several months of the armistice, the Muslims rapidly gained more alliances and converts than ever before. Still living under the illusion of their ascendancy, the Makkans conspired with a client tribe to attack and murder a group of men from a tribe allied with Madinah.

After this brutal massacre, the Makkans realized they had fatally broken the treaty and were now at a severe disadvantage. They sent a delegation to Madinah to plead for the continued observance of the truce, but **Muhammad (pbuh)** refused to meet with them. The Makkans had broken the treaty, and they would have to pay the price.

The Bloodless Entry

The people of Makkah waited weeks, constantly hearing rumors of Muhammad’s (pbuh) mobilization. In the year **630 CE**, Muhammad (pbuh), at the head of a massive army of **ten thousand strong**, marched south. This force symbolically equaled the size of the Makkan Alliance that had besieged Madinah just two years earlier.

As the massive army encamped in the hills above Makkah, the Makkan chief, **Abu Sufyan**, visited the Prophet (pbuh) and formally surrendered the city to him, simultaneously pledging himself to Islam. The next morning, three massive columns of men entered the city from different sides in a grand, unopposed procession. The Makkans did not resist, and the Muslims took no offensive action.

Forgiveness and The Restoration of Monotheism

Upon reaching the center of the city, Muhammad (pbuh) addressed the gathered throngs. Given the years of brutality, murder, raiding, and warfare the Makkans had waged against the Muslims, the crowd asked anxiously what he would do to them. **“Only goodness,”** the people answered hopefully. Muhammad (pbuh) then delivered a stunning declaration of clemency: **he told everyone that they were forgiven and free.**

This unparalleled display of **mercy and forgiveness** so stunned the Makkans that nearly the entire population converted to Islam within days. The Prophet’s (pbuh) first official act was to order the removal of all the idols from inside and around the **Ka‘bah**. Then, he asked his trusted companion, **Bilal the African**, to climb on the roof of the Ka‘bah and call the faithful to prayer, restoring the ancient sanctuary to the monotheism of Abraham.

While Muhammad’s (pbuh) victory over idolatry in Makkah was complete, the remaining pagan tribes of central Arabia would make one last, desperate attempt at defeating the Muslims, a conflict that nearly undid all the progress they had made.