The Prophet's Dream and the Departure for Hudaybiyyah

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

Sometime during 6 AH, the exact date unrecorded, the Prophet ﷺ saw himself in a dream performing the complete rites of ʿUmrah, circling the Kaʿbah in the state of Iḥrām and shaving his head at its conclusion. Since the dreams of prophets are always true, he understood this as a divine command to travel to Makkah for ʿUmrah. Though no source states outright that the Prophet ﷺ described this dream before setting out, its existence is confirmed by later references: the Qur'ān itself declares in Sūrat al-Fatḥ, "Certainly Allah has fulfilled for His Messenger the vision in truth. You will surely enter al-Masjid al-Ḥarām, if Allah wills, in safety, with your heads shaved" (لَقَدْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ رَسُولَهُ الرُّؤْيَا بِالْحَقِّ لَتَدْخُلُنَّ الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ آمِنِينَ مُحَلِّقِينَ رُءُوسَكُمْ), language that frames the promised entry as a still-future event at the time of revelation. Separately, a well-known ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī records ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb later asking the Prophet ﷺ directly why they had not yet performed the Ṭawāf and shaving promised in the dream, to which the Prophet ﷺ replied that he had never said it would happen that same year.

Acting on the dream, the Prophet ﷺ announced his intention to perform ʿUmrah to the Muhājirūn, the Anṣār, and the surrounding allied tribes, inviting anyone able to join him. By near-universal agreement among the classical historians, a rare point of consensus, since even major battles like Uḥud and the Trench carry disputed dates, the Prophet ﷺ departed Madinah on the 1st of Dhū al-Qaʿdah, 6 AH, a Monday. The Companions, who had not seen Makkah in six years since the Hijrah, prepared with a mixture of excitement and anxiety over what awaited them.

❧THE BEDOUINS WHO REFUSED

While the Muhājirūn and Anṣār mobilized readily, the surrounding Bedouin tribes largely declined to join, offering the excuse, preserved in Sūrat al-Fatḥ, that their "possessions and families kept us occupied, so ask forgiveness for us" (شَغَلَتْنَا أَمْوَالُنَا وَأَهْلُونَا فَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَنَا), language the Qur'ān immediately exposes as insincere: "they say with their tongues what is not in their hearts" (يَقُولُونَ بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ مَا لَيْسَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ). Allah reveals their true motive later in the same sūrah (verses 10 onward), that they assumed the Prophet ﷺ and the believers would never return alive from a march into hostile Qurashī territory, and thought the worst of Allah's ability to protect them, "and you were a ruined people." Some commentators record that these Bedouins reasoned bluntly that the Prophet ﷺ was leading them straight to the very people who had fought them at Badr and Uḥud, and refused to march to what they assumed would be their deaths.

Their fear and hesitation cost them dearly in terms of standing: Dr. Qadhi notes the recognized ranking among the Companions, the ten promised Paradise (al-ʿasharah al-mubashsharah) at the top, the veterans of Badr next, and those present at this very expedition's Pledge of al-Riḍwān third, meaning those who stayed behind out of fear forfeited a rank of honor second only to Badr itself, illustrating a broader principle that greater trust in Allah (tawakkul) brings greater blessing.

In the end, roughly 1,400 Companions set out for Makkah, a steadily rising figure across the Sīrah's major expeditions (a little over 300 at Badr, roughly 700 at Uḥud, around a thousand at the Trench), reflecting the rapid growth of the Muslim community by this point. Classical sources differ on whether the party carried visible weapons and armor or not; the most reasonable reconciliation, Dr. Qadhi explains, is that they brought fighting gear along on their pack animals as a precaution without wearing it, both because a pilgrim in Iḥrām cannot wear weapons, and because the Prophet's ﷺ consistent pattern throughout the Sīrah was to take every reasonable precaution while still placing his ultimate trust in Allah.