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Updated: June 7, 2025
In the sixth year of the Hegira, he proclaimed a pilgrimage to Mecca; and though the Meccans prevented it from being carried out, it led to a treaty of peace with them for ten years. "This event enabled him to send out missionaries all over Arabia; and the next year he conducted a pilgrimage to Mecca with 2,000 followers, remaining there undisturbed for three days.
The climate at Medina is damp and variable. Hot days alternate with cold nights, and in winter there is almost continuous rain. The Meccans, used to the dry, hot days and nights of their native city, where but little rain fell, and even that became absorbed immediately in the parched ground, endured much discomfort, even pain, before becoming acclimatised.
In fact, if we are able to abstract ourselves for a moment from all dogmatic prejudice and to become a Meccan with the Meccans, one of the "neighbours of Allah," as they call themselves, we feel in their temple, the Haram, as if we were conversing with our ancestors of five or six centuries ago.
So he gathered together a great army, which numbered amongst it an elephant, a fearful sight to the Meccans, who had never seen so great an animal.
He is not to be judged by our standard any more than King Solomon is; but there was a great deal of good in him, with a vast deal that was emphatically bad; for he was cunning and deceitful when it suited his purpose, extremely revengeful, as shown in his dealings with the Meccans and the Jews, and a wholesale murderer in the spirit of retaliation.
His first battle was fought between 314 Moslems and about 600 Meccans, and the inspiration of his fanaticism gave him the victory in spite of his inferior force. "This event gave him a degree of prestige, and many adventurers flocked to his standard. With an increased force he continued to send out expeditions against both of his old enemies, the Meccans and the Jews, exiling the latter.
With great secrecy he prepared an army and went forth once more against the city with which he had been engaged in warfare for so many years. So swift was Mohammed's advance and so secret had his plans been kept that the Meccans knew nothing of his approach until they saw the camp-fires of his mighty army shining about their walls.
This turn, this particular connection of Islam with Abraham, made it possible for him, by means of an adaptation of the biblical legends concerning Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael, to include in his religion a set of religious customs of the Meccans, especially the hajj.
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