Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
6. The Path of the Prophet
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With the conquest of Makkah in the year A.H. 8, the
Prophet assumed full control over the Arabian
capital. Yet he did not seek immediate
implementation of Islamic laws in the House of God
in Makkah; whatever was to be done, he did
gradually. Islamic rule had been established in the
holy city when the pilgrimage of A.H. 8 took place,
but it was performed according to ancient, pre-
Islamic custom. Next year, the second pilgrimage of
the Islamic era was performed with the idolaters
following their own customs, and the Muslims
theirs. It was only in the third year that the Prophet
announced that the pilgrimage would be performed
entirely according to Islamic tenets. This pilgrimage
is known as Hajjat al-Wida’ in Islamic history—the
farewell pilgrimage of the Prophet.
It was instinctively abhorrent to the Prophet that the
idolaters should come to the Sacred Mosque and
perform the rites of pilgrimage according to their
idolatrous customs. Yet, despite the power that he
wielded, he did not hurry to implement the Islamic
system. Rather, he himself refrained from going to
Makkah on a pilgrimage for two years after the
conquest. “I would not like to go on a pilgrimage
