Al-Hulays ibn Alqamah and the Withdrawal of Banu Kinanah

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

With ʿUrwah's mission also failing to move Quraysh, al-Ḥulays ibn ʿAlqamah of Banū Kinānah, the largest tribe within the al-Aḥābīsh confederation surrounding Makkah, volunteered next. The Prophet ﷺ, recognizing al-Ḥulays from a distance before he even reached the camp, knew that Banū Kinānah held special reverence for consecrated sacrificial animals (hady), and ordered the Muslims to drive their several hundred decorated camels and sheep into the valley al-Ḥulays would descend through.

Seeing the entire valley filled with animals still bearing their ceremonial markings, visibly thinned and weakened from the difficult journey the Muslims had endured, al-Ḥulays turned back to Quraysh without ever entering the Muslim camp or meeting the Prophet ﷺ directly. He declared it forbidden to prevent consecrated pilgrimage animals from reaching their destination and the pilgrims accompanying them from honoring the House of Allah. Quraysh, hearing yet another emissary side with the Muslims, dismissed him with a racially charged insult, calling him an ignorant Bedouin unfit to have been sent in the first place, despite al-Ḥulays's known reputation for wisdom and intelligence.

Stung by the insult, al-Ḥulays swore by Allah that none of Banū Kinānah would support Quraysh any further in the standoff, a significant blow, since Kinānah represented the largest single tribe in Quraysh's surrounding coalition. Dr. Qadhi highlights the pattern now clearly emerging across these missions: each emissary who genuinely engaged with the Muslims' evident sincerity switched sympathies, while Quraysh's response to each defection was only to insult the messenger rather than reconsider their position, steadily isolating themselves as tribe after tribe withdrew support, until eventually only Quraysh itself would remain to negotiate directly.