Quraysh Violate the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah had established a ten-year truce between the Muslim community and the Quraysh, with a clause protecting the security of each party's allied tribes. Banu Khuza'ah had aligned with the Prophet ﷺ; Banu Bakr aligned with the Quraysh. In Sha'ban 8 AH, Banu Bakr attacked Banu Khuza'ah at a water source called al-Watir — killing men who had fled even into the Haram — with direct participation of Qurayshi fighters including members of the Ikrimah and Safwan families who supplied weapons and joined the attack under cover of darkness. Amr ibn Salim al-Khuza'i brought the news to Medina and appealed to the Prophet ﷺ in poetry describing the attack. The Prophet ﷺ said: 'You shall be helped.' Abu Sufyan himself then came to Medina to attempt renewal or strengthening of the treaty. He visited Abu Bakr, Umar, and the Prophet ﷺ — receiving no assistance. Ali told him the only thing he could do was stand in the mosque and declare protection for the people of Mecca himself, which would at least give him something to report. Abu Sufyan did so and returned to Mecca, understanding that the treaty's violation had changed the situation irrevocably. The Prophet ﷺ ordered the largest military campaign of his life — 10,000 fighters — and imposed a communications blackout to preserve the element of surprise. When Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah sent a letter warning the Quraysh, the Prophet ﷺ was informed through revelation and intercepted it. Hatib confessed and explained he had feared for his family in Mecca, having no clan there to protect them. When Umar asked permission to execute him, the Prophet ﷺ declined: 'He was present at Badr. Perhaps Allah has looked upon the people of Badr and forgiven them.' The response to the treaty violation was already in motion. Mecca would be conquered within weeks. The treaty violation gave the Prophet ﷺ the legal and moral grounds to end the Hudaybiyyah agreement and march on Mecca — transforming what had been a negotiated peace into the legal predicate for the Conquest that followed within weeks. The ten-year truce the Quraysh had agreed to at Hudaybiyyah had lasted approximately two years before their allies' attack on the Prophet's ﷺ allies ended it.