We will recap the battle of Hunayn and Ta'if, and the main points of benefit fro

m them. Recall we discussed in length the conquest of Mecca which occured Ramada
n 8th Hijrah. We mentioned of the most important product of the conquest is that
the entirety of the Quraysh converted to Islam, some of them immediately, other
s it took a while such as Abu Suffyan, Suhair ibn Amr, Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahal etc
. After the conquest, the prophet PBUH also destroyed all the idols in the neigh
bouring tribes. He then went on the offensive against the tribe of Takif in Ta'i
f. Indeed, the prophet PBUH heard Takif had allied with their cousins, Hawaazin
- which are two tribes that rival Mecca. And they decided they will launch an of
fensive so the prophet PBUH decided he will engage with them in war. And so the
ansar, muhajiroon and all the new converts from Mecca engaged in the battle of H
unayn. And the Qur'an mentions two battles by name; Allah mentions 'Ahzab' so we
call it the 'battle of Ahzab' but it's not mentioned like this in the Qur'an. T
he two battles that are mentioned are Badr and Hunayn.
Initially the muslims fled and ran away, but the prophet PBUH and senior sahaba
remained until the counter offensive was launched. And eventually the battle of
Hunayn was a resounding success. Regarding the tribe of Hawaazin - the men fled
and left all their women, property and belongings on the battlefield. Thus all t
his was taken as war booty. Recall the younger over zealous commander said "brin
g all the women and children" and the elder said "that's foolish" but the younge
r commander decided no and he brought everything with him to the battlefield. It
was a very foolish move for them; it turned out to be a great advantage for the
muslims. And thus this turned out to be the largest ganeema in the history of t
he seerah. We also mentioned the prophet PBUH camped outside Ta'if and it was no
t a success at that time, so the prophet PBUH returned to Madinah and he said "A
llah will guide them to Islam sooner or later" and indeed in the 9th year of the
Hijrah they converted.
Let us go back and derive some benefits from the battle of Hunayn and the siege
of Ta'if.
Battle of Hunayn:
1. Neglecting the primary cause of victory - what is the primary cause of victor
y? Trust in Allah. As Allah says "if Allah helps you nobody can conquer you". Wh
at does Allah say that the Qur'an put their trust in on the day of Hunayn? Allah
says "On the day of Hunayn they had a confidence in other than Allah (the quant
ity they had)". Therefore, out tawaqul has to be in Allah - the one who causes t
he cause. Not in the cause itself. If our tawaqul is put in the cause, this is a
type of shirk. It's called minor shirk and there are many examples. For example
, if you have an alarm system in your house and you turn it on and think "ok the
alarm system will protect me". This isn't great shirk that makes you a mushrik,
but it's hidden/minor shirk. That your tawaqul is in that alarm system. Similar
ly, if you are sick and you go to the doctor, your tawaqul is in Allah but you r
ealise Allah has given this doctor the tools and knowledge you don't have. So ul
timately Allah gives the shifaa, but it's through the medicine and doctor. So in
all affairs of life: you must put your tawaqul in Allah. If a person denies All
ah and says "this is all from me" for example the story in Surah Kahf about the
man with the two gardens. His brother said "this is from Allah" but the guy said
"no it's from me". Qarun said the same thing "I was the businessman who managed
to get the money" and so he's a kafir because he made himself the cause. So the
one who eliminates Allah and says "I am the cause" - this is shirk and kufr. Am
ong muslims this is not possible, thus it's not major shirk to say this but rath
er minor shirk and it will not bring us success - this is exactly what happened
on the day of Hunayn. They put their tawaqul in their cause and they failed.
Note there are two types of causes: physical and spiritual. A physical cause is
a cause that humanity understands and believes in regardless of religion. For ex
ample medicine; job and education; strength etc. A spiritual cause is a cause th

at is supernatural. We as muslims have our 'spiritual causes' through dua, Qur'a

n etc. All of these are spiritual. Now, a spiritual cause if it is legitimate, c
an it be attached to that? We said your heart should not have tawaqul and attach
ment to any physical cause i.e. a doctor. Ok, can you heart be attached to a spi
ritual cause? Yes because by definition it is connected with Allah. To have your
heart connected to Allah through a spiritual cause is tawheed. We learn this fr
om the incident of Hunayn that we don't put our trust in physical causes. Now of
course physical causes are necessary in that they are causes: the famous hadith
of "tie your camel and then put your trust in Allah". This is the basis of acti
ons: we do the physical causes and then put our trust in Allah. We go to the doc
tor, install an alarm system, do a degree to get a job etc. But after doing all
this our heart is attached to Allah. So we put our tawaqul in Allah while we do
these physical causes.
2) Another important point of theology is we excuse people even for major shirk
and kuffar our of ignorance. If a person is genuinely ignorant and they say they
are muslim, and believe they are muslim, but fall into blatant shirk and kuffar
, and they don't even know it is, it is possible Allah will forgive them because
they are ignorant. We learn this from the hadith of Abu Waqid - as the muslims
left Mecca they saw the tree which they used to hang their weapons on. And the t
ree itself was an idol; and they Quraysh would hang their weapons there for 'goo
d luck'. So Abu Waqid al Laythee who just converted yesterday and dosen't know a
nything, he asks the prophet PBUH "can't you make for us Daatu Anwat (good luck
charm)?" This is major kuffar - he is asking for another besides Allah. And the
prophet PBUH said this is major shirk. He said "I swear by Allah you asked me ex
actly what the Bani Israel asked Musa AS" and what they did was major shirk. But
did the prophet PBUH say "repeat your shahada for you've become a kaafir". No.
Why? Because he's a brand new muslim and is ignorant.
Indeed we hear such strange views about Islam and muslims come forth sometimes w
ith blatant kuffar, the most obvious example is the notion of "anyone who is goo
d will go to heavan". This is blatant shirk - to say this is kuffar akbar. Becau
se you are saying that in fact there are Gods to be worshipped besides Allah. It
goes against the prophet PBUH because you are saying someone who denies the pro
phet PBUH can go to Jannah. It goes against the shahada - you've negated it when
you say "all paths go to Jannah". Even in our own communities people will say "
oh yes if you're good it's fine". But no - you have to be good theologically fir
st, and then action wise. Insha'Allah such a person who says this can be forgive
n because there is imaan in their hearts and they want to submit to Allah. 'Aslu
l Kuffar' is when you don't want to submit. But 'aslul imaan' is such that you w
ant to commit but you don't know how to properly. Such a person who believes him
self to be muslim, then commits a major mistake such as kuffar but is ignorant;
that person will not be held accountable for their ignorance, rather they must b
e taught and educated. We have for example gender orientation these days - we sa
y "to say it's ok is wrong". Indeed to say it's ok is like saying it's ok to dri
nk alcohol. That is kuffar; to drink alcohol is not kuffar, but to legitimise ha
raam is kuffar. We have to deal with such muslims in a gentle manner with wisdom
.
3) Even the best of people can be swayed by worldly desires, power, ambition and
desire for wealth. It's not in and of itself a sign of weak imaan to have desir
es of this world and be swayed by them. True imaan comes when you are reminded t
o keep in check. When someone shows you the truth, can you put yourself in check
? This is explicit in the story of Yusuf AS. The Qur'an says "he desired her". I
t is not in and of itself haraam to have this inclination. What happened in the
battle of Hunayn? When the Ansar felt somehow that the prophet PBUH had not done
justice to them after they got nothing from the ganeema. When all the money was
given to the new converts; Abu Suffyan etc. And the Ansar said something that r
eally demonstrated how dissapointed they were with the prophet PBUH, which is ve
ry dangerous - it's actually a type of kuffar. But they are human. They said "wh

en it comes to the call for war, we are the first on the line, but when it comes
to money being given, he gives it to his relatives and family (Quraysh)". Indee
d money was given to the new converts, by the millions, from being a popper you
become a 1% elite. People became millionaires overnight. Walahi any one of us wo
uld have lost our minds. Imagine you fight a people for 20 years with the prophe
t PBUH but now when the money is handed out, they get everything and you don't g
et a penny.
So the Ansar said their statement, and this demonstrates again they are humans.
We have a problem in making the sahaba into angels - the sahaba are the best gen
eration of humans. They wanted money like we want it and everyone else wants it.
When the prophet PBUH heard what happened, he called them all in his tent, and
told all the non Ansari to get out. He addressed the Ansar directly and frankly.
And he gave that moving lecture and said "are you not happy people are going ba
ck to their homes with gold and silver in their hands, and you are going back to
your home with RasulAllah amongst you?" And he said "I am one of you - were it
not for my birth and lineage I would have been of the Ansar". And further he sai
d "if all of mankind went one direction, and the Ansar went another, I would go
with the Ansar". Subhan'Allah such beautiful words - and all the Ansars sobbed a
nd cried. And they begged the prophet PBUH for forgiveness - this is true imaan.
The fact they had waswas dosen't mean they don't have imaan. The prophet PBUH s
aid "the believer when he is reminded he remembers". Thus the sahaba were humans
, they were swayed like us all but they tempered it and controlled it.
4) Of the benefits we see again and again the prophet PBUH is dealing with peopl
e according to the background and levels. He didn't give the Ansar a penny but a
ll the ganeema to the new converts. Look at how he dealt with the Quraysh in the
battlefield when they fled. He used a war slogan never used before or after tha
t. He said "I am the prophet of Allah, and I am the son of Abdul Muttalib". He c
alled up his lineage - he had never done this in any other war. This is what you
call the master of human psychology. Islam says the notion of who your father/g
randfather is has the potential to be something of jaheleya. Indeed the prophet
PBUH said "being proud of your lineage" is one of the four things that will alwa
ys remain in the ummah. What is happening at Hunayn? The prophet PBUH is not dis
obeying himself - he isn't being proud of his lineage. Rather he is using someth
ing on that battlefield that needs to be used with these new converts from the Q
uraysh. When they think "who is your leader?" - he's not a foreigner, he's not a
stranger, this is the grandson of your legandary cheifton. So the same thing ca
n be applied for nationalism. There is nothing wrong with ascribing yourself to
a certain land, cuisine etc. If it used improperly it can become kuffar and sin.
That is why the war slogan was first "I am the prophet" and then after "I am th
e son of Abdul Muttalib".
The prophet PBUH also dealt with the bedouins in a different way. He did not giv
e the average bedouins what he gave the chiefons of Quraysh. He just gave them t
okens until everything was finished. The millions the prophet PBUH had, he gave
it all away in one day. And he didn't keep a penny for himself or for the elite
of the Ansar. The bedouins that came got whatever was there until it was all fin
ished. Until the prophet PBUH was surrounded by a group of bedouins and they wer
e demanding money, and all of the force forced him back into a group of shrubs (
thorns). Because these bedouins are muslims, the sahaba are not acting like body
guards. But they pushed the prophet PBUH back into the shrubs so much so his upp
er shawl was caught and it fell on the floor. And the prophet PBUH said "give me
my cloak back for walahi if I had coins/golds as much as the thorns on these sh
rubs I would have distributed to the last of you and you would not have found me
stingy or miserly". So our religion teaches us common sense - we treat people a
ccording to their backgrounds. There is a hadith in Muslim narrated by Aisha RA
"our prophet PBUH commanded us to treat people according to their level".
5) Also we see the issue of making dua for vs against people. We should speak ab

out the seerah frankly. If we have a false image of the prophet PBUH or the saha
ba, this could later be a crisis of faith. So another common misconception: you
are never allowed to make dua against somebody. This is completely wrong. When t
he sahaba finished the siege of Ta'if, they begged the prophet PBUH to make dua
against Takeef. Why? Because they were so stubborn; the sahaba had been there fo
r 2 weeks, muslims had died and Takeef brings all the highs of the muslims down.
We are in the 8th year of Hijrah. Do you think the sahaba are asking for someth
ing new? No. They know it is possible. When Asr was missed during Khandak the pr
ophet PBUH made dua against the Ahzab. When carcuss was thrown on the prophet PB
UH, he made explicit dua by name against the group of qurayshi who did it. And e
very one was killed at Badr. And when the 70 sahaba were killed, the prophet PBU
H made dua against those who did it for a whole month. Did not Musa AS make dua
against pharoh? Did not Nuh AS make dua against his own people? Yes, Ibrahim and
Isa made dua for their people. Of course Ibrahim and Isa were the tender hearte
d ones, Nuh and Musa were more stricter like Abu Bukr and Umar. Which shows us y
es both are there. No doubt the general rule is to make dua for, but sometimes i
t is healthy and necessary to make dua against.
In our time there are many tyrants, the modern pharoh in Syria - is it not islam
ic to make dua against him? Walahi it is. The one who makes dua against after al
l that is done, that is the more logical thing to do. The point is that it is no
t unislamic. Because this notion that we cannot make dua against someone is wron
g. There are plentiful hadith about making dua against a muslim who has done wro
ng to you. If a muslim had dishonoured you, slandered you, islamically and quran
ically you can make dua against him by name. The prophet PBUH said "the dua of t
he one who has done wrong, there is no hijab (barrier) between him and Allah". W
hich means you CAN make dua even against a muslim, therefore of course we can ma
ke dua against a tyrant. Thus if someone makes dua against them by saying "oh Al
lah destroy these people" this is fine and is from the sunnah. Now what did the
prophet PBUH do with Ta'if? He made dua for them. Thus the general rule is to be
merciful but you can be strict if necessary.
6) Wisdom in dealing in past offences. Should you punish people for their past c
rimes or forgive them? We have in the battle of Hunayn a major crime, and that i
s the muslims fled the battlefield. The prophet PBUH said "seven are the deadly
sins, one of them is to turn away and flee on the battlefield". And these groups
of new muslims did exactly this. It's a major sin. And therefore Umme Sulaym, o
ne of the famous sahabiat, when they all fled, she in fact jumped off her own an
imal, runs to the prophet PBUH and pulls out a hand dagger. So amongst the small
group of men protecting the prophet PBUH, Umme Sulaym was also there. And the s
ahaba look at her and say "what are you doing what will you do with that?" She s
ays "if anyone comes I will shove it in his stomach". When the battle was eventu
ally won, her anger bursts out and she says "Ya RasulAllah execute all those cow
ards" i.e. the ones who fled. And the prophet PBUH said "oh Umme Sulaym, Allah t
ook care of us, He defended us and everything is fine". Meaning 'yes they did a
sin, but what shall we do? Kill a 1000 people?' Here we find wisdom in dealing.
It's a major offence but what will you gain by mass retrubition? This shows us t
he wisdom of the prophet PBUH.
7) The prophet PBUH uses psychological means which shows us you need to understa
nd the human psyche. A leader must be able to deal with the human situation. In
Hunayn, the tribe of Hawaazin eventually accepted Islam. The prophet PBUH had th
eir women and children. The tribe of Takeef ran back to their castles. Hawaazin
however ran away. But they've left all their property, women and children on the
battlefield. So the prophet PBUH was hopeful they were going to come back and n
egotiate. So he did not distribute any of their stuff; he just left them in Ji'r
ana and waited for them to come back. Hawaazin didn't come - so eventually he di
stributed everything, all the property and people. Then lo and behold Hawaazin c
ome and say 'we are sorry, we're muslims we want our stuff back'. Now, what did
the prophet PBUH do? Every person who has a property, money, slave etc - you can

't expect it all back. This is very expensive. So what to be done? Hawaazin came
to the prophet PBUH, he said "what is more beloved? Your family or wealth?" Obv
iously they said 'family'. Why did he say this? Because he knows he cannot give
everything back to them. So he tells them "tomorrow after the salah, stand up an
d make this speech, tell the people you are muslims, and tell them 'ya RasulAlla
h we ask you to be an intercessor with the rest of the muslims'".
Notice the psychology here. When everyone prays how do you feel after salah? You
feel righteous and pious so it's the best time. Second, it's emotional appeal.
The prophet PBUH does not want to command the sahaba to hand everything over bec
ause islamically that property is their right. And to tell them "hand it back" i
t's wrong. So he wants the muslims to be generous and follow him. So after they
gave their speech as planned immediately the prophet PBUH stood up and it's emot
ional again. He is playing with the psyche of the new converts. As for the sahab
a he could have commanded and they would obey. But these new converts are still
fragile. So he said "as for what I have, and the family of Abdul Muttalib, they
are yours. As for the rest of you, you see the situation of your brothers - they
want their families back. So whoever can give it Allah will reward him. Whoever
is not able to do so we will free them with the next amount of money that comes
". Of course right now the prophet PBUH has no money to give. Immediately the mu
hajiroon give everything up. Next the Ansar and said 'fisibilillah'. Then the ne
w converts, many said 'no, only with money'. A large percentage of muslims there
was no money involved; those that wanted the money, it was their legitimate rig
ht, so the prophet PBUH promised these people that they would be the first recip
ients of the next batch of ganeema.
And it's amazing the Hawaazin were mortal enemies just 3 weeks before this. They
set the trap to kill the muslims, they plot to kill the prophet PBUH and yet ju
st a few weeks later they come as muslims. No doubt their main motivation to acc
ept Islam is just defeat and family. But khalas the prophet PBUH doesn't make a
deal out of this. They are muslims, end of story. Why? Because Islam is the trut
h. So however one accepts it, eventually it will enter the heart. These people n
ow thier imaan is weak, or even non-existant but it will enter their hearts. And
therefore this new group of sahaba were treated with the type of generosity we
expect from the prophet PBUH and this helps them accept Islam more easier.
When they accepted Islam, the prophet PBUH said "where is your leader, Malik ibn
Awf al Ansari?" He is the same leader who insisted to bring the women and child
ren to battlefield against the advice of the elders. He was the main leader who
instigated the attack, led the attack, had the tactic of showering the muslims w
ith arrows in the overpass etc. They said "he managed to get into Ta'if". So the
prophet PBUH said "go tell him, if he comes to me as a muslim, I shall return h
is family and property, plus give him 100 camels". It's blatant bribary. When Ma
lik heard this it's a no-brainer because he's lost everything. Family, wealth, t
ribe etc. Now he's being told if he comes back as a muslim, not only will he get
it all back, he'll become a multi millionaire. It's a no brainer - there's no l
ife to live without your family, property and tribe. After all he is the cheifto
n! What will you do without a tribe to lead? So he has no choice, he comes to th
e prophet PBUH, he accepts Islam, and the prophet PBUH reinstates him as the tri
bal leader. The very person who instigated the entire attack against the muslims
. And this has happened before with the Banu Harithah; they are all prisoners of
war, and then instantly they're all free, get their property back, go back to t
he same land and same people. What other civilisation can say this? The same bac
k who fought against the muslims goes back with his tribe, people and property a
s before except they are now muslims.
And in fact Malik ibn Awf al Ansari versified lines of poetry saying the prophet
PBUH is truly a prophet because he did not have to do this. Yet he did, he fulf
illed his promise and Malik said there is no doubt he's a true prophet. When you
see someone giving millions away and not keeping a penny for himself what does

this show? This is why Arka ibn Habiz, the other chiefton said: "walahi this man
is a prophet for no king would do what he has done. I've just come from a man w
ho dosen't care about money! This is only a prophet". Ultimately when you are so
generous and so good to the people you will bring their hearts to Islam and thi
s is what happened with the tribe of Hawaazin. And indeed as a general rule the
prophet PBUH tried to find local leaders and previous leaders within a tribe to
lead. Look at Malik: the same leader of the tribe becomes the tribe leader again
. Why? Because it's human nature to respect someone within your own ranks. You w
on't respect an outsider to the same level. Also, who better to rule than someon
e who's already ruled. Malik knows how to rule his own people: he knows the elit
es, the people in charge of things etc.
8) Another point we discuss is the issue of the prisoners of war, which brings u
p the contraversial issue of slavery in Islam and in Islamic law. This is a very
hot topic that obviously critics of Islam and even muslims don't know the shari
ah question about. Many people say "how do we read the Qur'an and hadith when it
talks about slavery?" This is a very long topic in and of itself.
The first thing is we don't like to use the word "slavery" here. Why? Because it
is historically loaded. When we used the term instantly we get images of Americ
an slaverly. And this has huge negative connotations; American slavery was the w
orst manifestation of it in human history. Even the ancient romans treated their
slaves better. The way slavery existed especially in America was really the wor
st manifestation of it. When we used the term slavery, that sort of imagery come
s up whereas that never existed ever in Islam. So what was done 200 years ago wa
s purely barbaric and wrong. It's a historical fact slavery in America was the w
orst of all time. This type of slavery NEVER existed in the history of Islam, or
other cultures for that matter. The arabic is actually 'ubidya' or 'riq' which
is better.
We will look at riq in the context of two times. Firstly what did Islam do, and
secondly in our times with the ethical laws and the banning of slavery in the mo
dern world. Now, during the prophet PBUHs times, slavery/riq was a universal pra
ctice - no culture banned it ever, every society (romans, chinese, indian etc) p
racticed it. Islam was the only and the first to institute LAWS for slavery. Of
those laws here are some:
1. Restricting where your slaves come from - Islam only allowed one source: pris
oners of wars who weren't ransomed.
Every civilisation allowed people to capture free people from other lands and th
en sell them. So they would go into some land, take someone, force him into slav
ery and then bring him as a slave. Islam however forbade this. Islam only allowe
d muslims to take slaves after a legitimate war took place; a state fights anoth
er state, there are thousands of prisoners and after the war all those who were
captured and were NOT paid ransom, those people could be taken as slaves.
2. Legislated proper treatment
This again was unheard off - there are numerous hadith about treating slaves in
a humane manner. Quite literally hadith in Bhukari says "your slave are your bro
thers, feed them from what you eat and give them to wear from what you wear". An
d that is why in Islam there are many instances where you cannot tell the slave
from the master. Every civilsation allowed masters to do what they like with the
ir slaves. Islam said NO. Rather the prophet PBUH said "So whoever has a brother
under his command should feed him of what he eats and dress him of what he wear
s. Do not ask them (slaves) to do things beyond their capacity (power) and if yo
u do so, then help them." In other words slaves were put at the same level as th
e master.

3. Islam legislated the freeing of slaves from so many avenues

A false oath or testimony, breaking your fast in Ramadan. In fact it legistalted
zakat money - one of the 8 categories of zakat is freeing a slave. This is not
something to be taken lightly. Not only zakat and penalty, freeing a slave is on
e of the highest virtues in Islam. There are whole books and chapters on the vit
ues of freeing slaves. Allah gave so much reward and virtue to those who freed s
laves, so much so Aisha RA and others used to look for slaves to free. Indeed th
e prophet PBUH said "one of the ways to free yourself from hellfire is to free a
slave".
4. It created a legal framework that incorporates the treatment of slaves but do
sen't formally require their existance
That is, Islam dosen't require slavery. If we eliminate the entire structure of
slavery the Islamic foundation and legistlation laws are still perfectly intact.
Therefore in our times when there is no slavery, Islamic law is full and valid
and it dosen't need it. Therefre Allah intended slavery to be something that isn
't required. If its there, Islam has laws for it. If its not - no problem, the I
slamic framework still stands. This is quite a profound point.
There is also the issue of having relations with female slaves. But once again a
ll socities and cultures had the exact same rule. It's not something Islam came
with. There are plenty of references in the old and new testemant about it. Prev
ious cultures did not have any rules; in many cultures including pre-Islamic ara
bian cultures, your slave didn't just have to be yours, you could lend her to ot
her people. Of course what happened was you would hire her out to other people f
or a night. And the Qur'an references this that it's completely haraam. So the Q
ur'an came and legislated things even in this regard.
And children both in jaheleya days were also slaves whereas in Islam a child bor
n from that union is like a normal child. That is why Ismail and Ishaaq are both
equal (even though Hajar was a slave). The majority of the khulafa were born of
slaves. The majority of abaasids were actually born of a slave union showing th
is brought no negative stigma. If a child was born, immediately the slave is no
longer a slave, she is 'Ummal Walad'. So after the child is born, you cannot sel
l her to anyone - why? Because she is a mother of a child. And she becomes free
on the death of the childs father. The point is that, yes it is a difficult topi
c but we don't have to deal with it in the modern world. Allah legislated someth
ing that in the time and context was the most humane possible. And everything se
emed to work towards eliminating slavery. Now it is eliminated, it is now gone.
Slavery was abolished in the 1870s - many muslim clerics opposed the abolishment
of slavery, but so eventually it's been eliminated. The bottom line, yes it's a
difficult issue to wrap our minds around, but it needs to be explained. Islam c
ame and legislated it and made it far more humane than any other civilisation. N
o civilisation even had laws for slavery. And every book of fiqh has a chapter o
n salvery. Even in the seerah of the prophet PBUH notice how many times were sla
ves freed. And the prophet PBUH himself never had a personal slave; every slave
he had he would free. But a number of them attached themselves to him after bein
g freed for his company. Maria al Qibtia was not a servant of the prophet PBUH;
there is an ikhtilaf whether she accepted Islam.
9) The final point we'll mention about the benefits of Hunayn and Ta'if - recall
we discussed the conversion of the single most famous poet of Arabia, Ka'ab ibn
Zuhair. And after Hunayn he accepted Islam. This is not on the places of Hunayn
- we discussed his conversion story and his famous poem, Baanat Suad. Now this
is a little bit of a deep point: pre Arabic poetry had certain motifs, mannerism
s and styles. And some of them are akward to say the least. For example every fa
mous Arab poem, pre Islamic, always has a love story. Every poem by and large ha

d some type of love element. This is the reality for all poetry. In this poem of
Baanat Suad; the most famous line in the poem is "the prophet PBUH is a light t
hat people seek, and he is the indian sword" (muhanad sword, the highest quality
sword from 'hind'). Why are we discussing this? If we actually read this poem,
as typical, there are paragraphs about Suad and the love Ka'ab has for Suad. And
descriptions of the beauty of Suad.
Now this type of terminology we wouldn't think when we think about poetry of the
prophet PBUH. But Ka'ab is a brand convert, and he's writing what turns out to
be his most famous poem. And in it he's discussing the pain and anguish of Suad
and how she is gone now. And there are lines in this poem that some of the more
conservative muslims would find problematic. Ultimately it's a love poem. There
are styles and techniques used that we don't really like. But the prophet PBUH d
id not correct him - he just let it be, it's not the time and place. This is a b
it contraversial because other poems he did correct. When the poetry was incorre
ct, even kuffar, or too romantic he corrected. A hadith in Bhukari narrates some
young girls came to the prophet PBUH on Eid and began playing the duff and sing
ing. And one of the line of the poetry was "we have a prophet who knows what wil
l happen tomorrow". Now that is going too far - it's a theological deviation. So
our prophet PBUH said to these young girls "get rid of this line and the rest o
f it is fine". This hadith is in Bhukari so it's authentic.
What is the point? Sometimes in some places you can't have 100% sanitised versio
ns. We have to especially keep this in mind in the modern world we live in. When
things are being done and people are doing da'wah in ways which we don't agree/
approve off. There will be issues that have problems in them. It's a case by cas
e basis - the point is, if we read this Bannat Suad poem us conservative muslims
who have not studied arabic poetry will find it disturbing and problematic. But
those who have studied understand this is genre and how classical Arabic is. It
always have a women, beautiful ladies, stuff etc. If we read this poem and thin
k "this is what the prophet PBUH approved off?" we would say "how is this halal?
" Even though the poem is very famous because it eventually leads to the prophet
PBUH praising him.
We conclude what were the results of Hunayn and Ta'if?
1. A clear victory in the entire region of hijaz even though Ta'if was still not
muslim - it was a small island of shirk in the ocean of tawheed. The entire hij
az reason had converted to Islam.
2. Idoletry was eliminated completely publically. Yes Ta'if is still pagan withi
n their castle but just within a few months they embrace Islam.
3. Therefore the battle of Hunayn was the very last battle between Islam and shi
rk. After this, it's gone. Never did the prophet PBUH and sahaba fight against t
he mushrikoon of Arabia. The next battles are Rome, Persia etc. As for shirk in
Arabia, Hunayn was the final domino. Arab idoletry ceased to exist within less t
han a year. This is one of the biggest miracles of the seerah. Arabia was a land
full of idol worshipping, left right and centre. Within 22 years of the prophet
PBUH recieving prophethood, idoletry ceased to exist. Completely finished. This
is a miracle only from Allah. It was a complete wiping of shirk from Arabia.
4. The final benefit is the entire Quraysh tribe converted to Islam
With this Central Arabia had been conquered, only northen Arabia left - Allah wi
lled they will not actually fight, the people will feel the power of Islam and t
hey don't fight.