Umrah al-Qada - that is, they are making up (qada) the Umrah they did not technically

do at Hudaybiyyah, even though they did it in terms of Allah's reward. Indeed, even though
the Prophet PBUH did not physically do Umrah the year before, Allah gave him the reward. So it's
'as if' he did it.
The first Umrah he physically did is Umrah al-Qada. And the Prophet PBUH left
Madinah in Dhu al-Qa'dah 7 AH, with around 2000 Muslims. This is a massive amount,
and this time they took all of their weapons with them.
When the Quraysh heard 2000 are coming and they are armed, the Quraysh sent out a
delegation led by Mikraz ibn Hafs who was also the delegation in Hudaybiyyah, and
Mikraz send, "O Muhammad we have never seen you be treacherous in anything small
or big, so why have you brought weapons when we have agreed you would come with
no weapons other than the small swords? But you have horses, armor, arrows etc." So
the Prophet PBUH said, "And we shall not enter Makkah except as we agreed."
Once again the Prophet PBUH is being faithful to the letter to the law. He brought the
weapons all the way to Makkah, but left them outside. And the Prophet PBUH had a
supply of weapons outside the haram where 200 people guarded the weapons, and 1800
did tawaf. And then those 200 swapped and did tawaf etc. So the Prophet PBUH did
not trust the Quraysh and therefore he brought the weapons, but he still fulfilled his
agreement and entered Makkah with the bare minimum sword.

It appears the Quraysh divided into three groups.

One group stayed in their houses for 3 whole days, other groups congregated in their
parliament (Dar al-Nadwa) - their largest house as well. And it had a large area so lots
of people could stay there. One group even left Makkah and just camped outside in the
valleys and hills for three days. None of them wanted to interact with the Muslims out
of fear and for political reasons.
And a rumor spread that the Muslims - remember the Quraysh have not seen their kith
and kin, their own relatives for 6.5 years, it's a long time especially back then when
family lived together - so one of them spread a rumor, "The plagues of Madinah have
harmed them and they've come back weaklings."
Remember Makkah was a harsh climate with greenery - this harshness meant there
weren't many diseases. Madinah however has water, agriculture, cultivation so there are
a different spectrum of diseases people were exposed to, and indeed the sahaba all fell
sick when they first migrated to Madinah. Abu Bakr RA felt sick and thought he would
die, Bilal fell sick etc. So a rumor was spread, "The people have returned as weaklings."
When the Prophet PBUH heard this, he commanded the Muslims to do many things:
1. Raise their voices out loud with talbiyah
2. Show and expose their right shoulders. This is the first time this sunnah was
introduced that when we do the first tawaf we expose the right shoulder.
3. They should walk around tawaf the first three with 'raml' which is a brisk walk. We
can never do this because of the sheer rush around the Ka'bah now. But with no rush,
the Prophet PBUH and the sahaba were almost running. That is, walking as fast as
possible - almost running. And they did this for the first three rounds.

When the Quraysh saw this they said, "Wallahi there is nothing wrong with them." And
imagine for the first time in history 2000 Muslims are around the Ka'bah. No doubt in
the time of Ibrahim AS there were at most 5 people; after this where were the Muslims
doing tawaf in mass congregation?
And the Quraysh had their Jahiliyyah practices: Some did tawaf naked, some this, some
that - the first time in history where we see what see today, which is the whole city in
ihram, doing tawaf and raising talbiyah. Here you have 2000 people crowding Makkah,
and it certainly must have been a daunting sight for the Quraysh to see. And indeed, it
did have an effect, and that is why three very prominent conversions took place right
after Umrah. When they are seeing 2000 Muslims dressed doing tawaf, reciting the
correct talbiyah for the first time in the world - there is no adding of partners to Allah.
So the talbiyah loud, the raml, the tawaf etc. Imagine the psychological impact on the
Quraysh: The tide has changed, and less than 2 years from now Makkah will be in
Islamic control.
This type of demonstrating of power is common in the seerah. We see it in Abu Dujana
during Uhud when he wore his red turban and walked around arrogantly, the Prophet
PBUH said, "This is a walking Allah despises except at such a time and place." We also
see in the treaty of Hudaybiyyah, when the Makkans sent the envoy, the Prophet PBUH
said, "Show him the camels" and this was a person from a tribe that exalted the
sacrification of animals. This shows us legitimate 'PR' is allowed and important. We
need to look at the image we give of Islam to others; it's a part of our dawah to give an
image of strength and maturity. And that image changes from time to time, place to
place. Here was a man who respects the hadi so the Prophet PBUH showed him the
camels; the Quraysh said the Muslims are weak, so the Prophet PBUH said to the
sahaba 'show your strength.' Therefore we show the people true Islam; if there is an
illegitimate criticism, to emphasize that point to demonstrate Islam is the opposite of
what is being said we show them what they say. This is not 'imitating the kuffar' - our
Prophet PBUH is not 'catering to the kuffar' by demonstrating strength at Uhud. By
showing the strength of the Muslims during the Umrah al-Qada etc. It's our job to clean
our image as long as we don't affect our theology and ethics.

Now the Prophet PBUH stayed in Makkah for 3 days - not much details are given, but
we can assume it was peaceful and nothing happened. We assume the Quraysh lived up
to their treaty and did not interfere. The Prophet PBUH also ordered regular swaps of
the 200 guarding the weapons so everyone did Umrah. And wallahi we wish there were
details but we can only imagine the feelings of the Prophet PBUH and the sahaba after
entering Makkah for 6.5 years. He sees the house of Khadija, all the valleys he grew up
in etc. How emotional he must have felt. All of his memories: Every single one of them.
The city of his mother, father, grandfather, Abu Talib, Khadija - the city where all of
the good and bad happened. We can only imagine the feelings the Prophet PBUH had:
Overwhelming with emotion.

One or two things happened on the way out. al-Abbas suggested the Prophet PBUH
marry Maymunah, and she was to be the last of his wives. And Maymunah was not only
the last wife he married, she was the last to die of all the wives as well. And Maymunah
was married to Abu Rahm ibn Abdul Uzza, and she became a widow, and so she was
without any husband in Makkah. She is a Muslim, and she is the sister in law of al-
Abbas. al-Abbas' wife is Umm al-Fadl, and her sister is Maymunah. So Maymunah is
now left without anyone as a widow in Makkah - she doesn't want to remain with the
Quraysh, so she says to Umm al-Fadl, "Find me a husband." So Umm al-Fadl tells
Abbas and he goes immediately to the Prophet PBUH and says, "I am the wali of
Maymunah and what do you think of her?" He praises her immensely, and so the
Prophet PBUH agreed. Abbas was the wali and the one who took charge of the
marriage ceremony.

Here there is a huge controversy in fiqh. Ibn Abbas says the Prophet PBUH married
Maymunah in the state of ihram. It's an authentic hadith, but of course you cannot
marry while in the state of ihram. By unanimous consensus the marriage was not
consummated in Makkah, we are talking about the nikah contract. The question is, was
the Prophet PBUH in ihram when he did the nikah? Ibn Abbas says he was. But we
have authentic narrations not the least of which narrated by Maymunah herself: That,
"The Prophet PBUH married me when he was outside of ihram." So this is clear cut
that he was out of ihram. Ibn Abbas must have made an honest mistake. Some people
say by 'ihram' ibn Abbas meant he wasn't in ihram but rather 'inside Makkah.' This is a
bit far fetched. The majority position is the Prophet PBUH did not marry Maymunah
until after he took off his ihram. So the Prophet PBUH marries Maymunah and it's the
third day.
The Quraysh come and they say, "Three days are up" and so the Prophet PBUH tries
to renegotiate that, "What is the matter if we stay a little bit longer?" The Prophet PBUH
said, "Let me be a married man, let me be a groom amongst you, and tomorrow we will
have a big feast so come and enjoy food." Literally he called them to come and celebrate
with him. Subhan'Allah. And he's using this to see if the Prophet PBUH and sahaba
can stay longer.
There is no doubt Makkah is his birthplace; the city he's raised in, and the city he feels
emotional about. But the Quraysh said, "We don't need your food, three days are three
days." So the Prophet PBUH honored the treaty and left without incident. Therefore
he consummated the marriage outside of Makkah at a place called Sarif. And Allah
willed Maymunah actually passed away many years later at Sarif, and she is buried there
to this day at 61 H - the final wife of the Prophet PBUH to pass away, Maymunah bint
al-Harith.

We see many things from Umrah al-Qada:

1. The Umrah al-Qada shows without a doubt the tide has fully changed. The Muslims
have the superior hand. They have the more quantity, they are better organised, the
Quraysh are dwindling and this is why a number of people converted.

2. The fact the Prophet PBUH is trying to renegotiate while in Makkah shows us you
always have the option to go back to the drawing board IF both sides agree. If they
don't, you stick to the treaty.
3. Look at the tactic being tried, and that is to soften the hearts of the Quraysh. Clearly
the Prophet PBUH is trying to win them over through other means, "Come and enjoy
a feast with me etc." These are the same people at Badr, Uhud, Khandaq etc. But now
he has the upper hand, the goal isn't to be harsh: Rather it's to win their hearts and
minds. He uses his marriage as a dawah. And if the Quraysh had agreed, no doubt he
would have given them a massive feast. This clearly shows us this is allowed: Here is
the Prophet PBUH saying with pagans, "Let's come and eat together." Why? When you
eat together, your hatred and anger softens. And now the Prophet PBUH has the upper
hand, he doesn't need to be on the defensive. Rather he can show them Islam through
interactions but they were stubborn and heart hearted. And most likely the Quraysh
leaders themselves realized 'we don't want our people to go soft.'