Muhammad in Medina - Conquest of Arabia

Conquest of Arabia

Soon after the conquest of Mecca, Muhammad was alarmed by a military threat from the confederate tribes of Hawazin who were collecting an army twice the size of Muhammad's. The Hawzain were old enemies of Meccans. They were joined by the tribe of Banu Thaqif inhabiting in the city of Ta’if who had adopted an anti-Meccan policy due to the decline of the prestige of Meccans. Muhammad defeated the Hawzain and Thaqif in the battle of Hunayn.

In the same year, Muhammad made an against northern Arabia expedition, the battle of Tabouk, because of their previous defeat at the battle of Mu'tah, as well as the reports of the hostile attitude adopted against Muslims. Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, he received the submission of some of the local chiefs of the region. A year after the battle of Tabuk, the tribe of Thaqif, inhabiting in the city of Ta’if, sent emissaries to Medina to surrender to Muhammad and adopt Islam. Many Bedouins submitted to Muhammad in order to be safe from his attacks and to benefit from the booty of the wars. The Bedouins however were alien to the system of Islam and wanted to maintain their independence, their established code of virtue and their ancestral traditions. Consequently Muhammad demanded of them a military and political agreement according to which they "acknowledge the suzeranity of Medina, to refrain from attacking the Muslims and their allies, and to pay the Zakat, the Muslim religious levy."