Ibn Hisham Influence

Ibn Hisham’s recount of, The Breaking of the Truce and the Taking of Mecca, cannot be thoroughly comprehended without regarding aspects such as the time period when it was written, and under which caliphate it was written in. Although Hisham claims many truths within his writing it is not precise considering the time period it was written in. After the death of the prophet Muhammad, historian like Ibn Hisham focused his writing on stories about the prophet’s life that specifically focused on his victories, which conveys the power of Islam and its influence in many places especially Mecca and Medina. In this primary text, Ibn Hisham depicts yet another victory by Muhammad and his army. The prophet unsuccessfully left Mecca to Medina with only …show more content…
The accuracy of that statement cane be debated considering that his writings composed about the life of Muhammad. His focus in writing about Muhammad somewhat influences where he got his resources and information from. Since he narrated the life of the prophet, we can assume that he relied his sources from Muhammad’s close friends and acquaintances, who have supported and trusted Muhammad. Their recollection of The Breaking of the Truce incident is different from the recollection by an enemy or a non-Muslim. Muslims recollection would most likely reveal the strengths of Islam and that the Meccans were non-resistant. On the other hand, however, a Pagan may recall this this event from a different …show more content…
For example, when Abbas said he gave Abu Sufyan his safe-conduct, Omar tries to influence the prophet to not give him safe-conduct. However, when Abbas tells Muhammad “No whispering tonight! If this man was thy kindred thou wouldst not be so diligent to slay him”, the prophet gave the safe-conduct to Abu Sufyan (Ibn Hisham 120). The next day when Abbas brought him before the prophet, and Abu Sufyan confesses his faith in Islam. This part of the story can be very controversial. Did Abu Sufyan convert to Islam so easily because he feared if he didn’t, he would be slayed? The clan of Khuza’a was already taking over Mecca, and the clan of Bakr was outnumbered. Was Abbas’s claim to grant some favor to Abu Sufyan an intention to convert other Meccans to Islam? The author also shows that the Meccans wouldn’t have fought if Muhammad’s army didn’t fight. With that idea the Meccans were already at a disadvantage. Their assumptions that the clan of Khuza’a would not fight back was wrong. Muhammad’s troops did come to Mecca and outnumbered the Meccans and took hold of Ka’ba, eventually breaking the idols from the holy house. Then Muhammad said that the merciful God helped his people in this victory. The claim that Allah helped his people win the victory against the non-Muslims, shows that there is God and he helped his people, which strengthens the belief of Islam and his followers; thus Muhammad was able to use his prophet