Qaf long-form · YouTube film · for review

The Conquest of Mecca: What the Prophet ﷺ Did to His Enemies

A 14-minute documentary in the Qaf paper-collage style, made as a pop-up book of the record. It follows the conquest of Mecca from the broken truce to the Ka'bah door, then takes the hard parts head-on: the short list of men excluded from the amnesty, what became of the old enemies one by one, and what the sources do and do not say. Every claim is tied to a graded source, and the famous lines with no sound chain are shown as such.

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Watch the film (interactive player)Watch / download on the showcase
14:16runtime, CTA and end screen included
8 + 1chapters, then the Qaf question
126facts in the research ledger (114 verified, 12 framed as disputed)
80do-not-claim items kept out of the script
2,043narrated words, 139-155 wpm per chapter
65storyboarded shots on one visual system
42review findings, all checked and fixed or decided
-14 LUFSmix, no music; CC0 and synthesized sound only

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The Conquest of Mecca: What the Prophet ﷺ Did to His Enemies

60 characters

Thumbnail A: the bolted door, "SAFE INSIDE".

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Pair B · story

In Mecca, the Prophet ﷺ Made His Old Enemy's House a Safe Haven

63 characters

Thumbnail B: the valley of fires seen through the rock gate, three scouts from behind, no words.

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Pair C · person

Abu Jahl's Son Fled Mecca by Sea. The Prophet ﷺ Pardoned Him

60 characters

Thumbnail C: the boat under the rearing wave, "HE MADE A VOW".

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Inside the film

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Chapters

  1. 00:00Why Mecca Locked Its Doors
  2. 01:43What Mecca Had Done
  3. 02:50Fires Outside Mecca
  4. 04:21Was There Fighting in Mecca?
  5. 05:47Words at the Ka'bah Door
  6. 07:40Who Was Left Out?
  7. 09:39Old Enemies, One by One
  8. 11:41We Will Be Patient
  9. 13:50Ask Your Own Question

Description

What did Prophet Muhammad ﷺ do to his enemies at the Conquest of Mecca (Makkah)? The terms, the exceptions and the old enemies, by the sound reports.
No music: only natural sound, paper and voice.

In Ramadan 8 AH (January 630 CE), the Prophet ﷺ set out with ten thousand men for Mecca, the city of Quraysh that had fought him for years. This documentary follows the conquest of Mecca, Fath Makkah, through the most reliable reports: the terms of safety (the house of Abu Sufyan, the locked door, the laid-down weapon), the fighting that did happen, the short list of exceptions, and what became of 'Ikrimah, Safwan, Suhayl, Hind and Wahshi. We also weigh the famous line "Go, you are free".

CHAPTERS
00:00 Why Mecca Locked Its Doors
01:43 What Mecca Had Done
02:50 Fires Outside Mecca
04:21 Was There Fighting in Mecca?
05:47 Words at the Ka'bah Door
07:40 Who Was Left Out?
09:39 Old Enemies, One by One
11:41 We Will Be Patient
13:50 Ask Your Own Question

SOURCES
Hadith (sunnah.com numbers)
• Muslim 1780a, c (Sahih): the terms; the locked doors; al-Safa https://sunnah.com/muslim:1780c
• Abu Dawud 3021 (Hasan, al-Albani): the locked door https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3021
• Abu Dawud 3022 (Hasan, al-Albani; Da'if, Zubair Ali Zai): the Sacred Mosque https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3022
• Bukhari 4276 (Sahih): ten thousand https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4276
• Bukhari 4280 (mursal from 'Urwah, except its closing part): the fires; "Sa'd was wrong" https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4280
• Bukhari 4287, Muslim 1781a (Sahih): the idols, Qur'an 17:81 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4287
• Abu Dawud 4547 (Hasan, al-Albani): blood claims void https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4547
• al-Nasa'i, al-Sunan al-Kubra 10784 (11234 in print; reliable narrators, the Yusuf words in one line only): Qur'an 12:92 https://sunnah.com/nasaikubra:10784
• Bukhari 4333 (Sahih): al-Tulaqa'; the Ansar https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4333
• al-Nasa'i 4067 (Hasan, Darussalam): the excepted; 'Ikrimah at sea https://sunnah.com/nasai:4067
• Bukhari 1846 (Sahih): Ibn Khatal https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1846
• Abu Dawud 4359 (Sahih, al-Albani), 4358: Ibn Abi Sarh https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4359
• Muwatta' Malik 28/46, 28/44 (mursal, al-Zuhri): 'Ikrimah; Safwan https://sunnah.com/urn/511410 https://sunnah.com/urn/511390
• Abu Dawud 3562 (Sahih, al-Albani; others weaken it): Safwan's armour https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3562
• Muslim 2313 (Sahih): Safwan https://sunnah.com/muslim:2313
• Bukhari 2731, Muslim 1784 (Sahih): Suhayl https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2731
• Bukhari 7161, Muslim 1714c (Sahih): Hind https://sunnah.com/muslim:1714c
• Bukhari 4072 (Sahih): Wahshi https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4072
• Tirmidhi 3129 (Hasan; al-Albani: hasan sahih al-isnad): the Ansar's vow; Qur'an 16:126 https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:3129
• Bukhari 112, 6880; Abu Dawud 4504 (Sahih, al-Albani): the blood money https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4504
• Abu Dawud 3023 (Sahih al-isnad, al-Albani): no booty https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3023
• Bukhari 3856, 3039, 3965 (Sahih): what Mecca had done https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3856
Classical works
• Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah (Ibn Ishaq), 2/389-421
• 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad, Zawa'id al-Musnad 5/135: "We will be patient" (hasan, al-Albani, al-Sahihah 2377)
• Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari 8/6-18
• Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-Istidhkar 4/404, 5/150; al-Isti'ab 3/918-920
• Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Ma'ad 3/377-383
• al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyyah p. 248
• al-Saharanfuri, Badhl al-Majhud 9/317
Two honest notes
• "Go, you are free" is reported in the sira (Ibn Ishaq, "some people of knowledge told me", Ibn Hisham 2/411-412) but has no sound chain (al-Albani, al-Silsilah al-Da'ifah 1163). The name al-Tulaqa' is sound (Bukhari 4333).
• The soundest report excepts four men and two women; two of the men were killed and two forgiven. Ibn Ishaq lists eight: four killed, four spared. The widest compilation reaches about fourteen, roughly half spared (Fath al-Bari 8/11-12). No sound chain fixes how many died in the fighting.
Researched with Qaf AI, checked against the primary sources above. Spot an error? Tell us in the comments; we pin corrections.

ASK YOUR OWN QUESTION
Qaf AI: answers drawn from 8,500 Islamic books.
iPhone: https://link.qaf.ai/ios
Android: https://link.qaf.ai/android
Web: https://qaf.ai
Qaf is a research tool. For fatwas, consult a scholar.

ABOUT THIS FILM
Hand-made paper-collage animation. Out of respect, the Prophet ﷺ and the other prophets, peace be upon them, are never depicted; no faces are shown.
Narration: AI voice (Google Gemini text-to-speech). Research, script and animation by the Qaf team; illustrations made with AI image tools in our collage style.
Sound: no music. Effects and ambience: CC0 recordings from Freesound and sounds synthesized for this series; every recording and creator: https://mecca-conquest-story.pages.dev/credits.html

#Islam #IslamicHistory #ConquestOfMecca

Tags

conquest of mecca, conquest of makkah, fath makkah, fateh makkah, prophet muhammad, abu sufyan, ikrimah ibn abi jahl, hind bint utbah, islamic history, what did the prophet do when he conquered mecca

Pinned comment

# Pinned comment (playbook §8.6)

Post this from the channel account right after publishing, then pin it. About the first 200 characters show before "Read more", so the question and the corrections line come first.

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Which moment stayed with you: the locked doors, 'Ikrimah's vow at sea, or "We will be patient, and we will not retaliate"?
Every source is in the description. Spotted a mistake? Reply here and we'll pin the correction.
Ask Qaf AI your own question: https://link.qaf.ai/ios · https://link.qaf.ai/android

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## Ready replies (paste when the question comes up; each is in the ledger)

- **"He said 'Go, you are free'!"** That line is in the sira books (Ibn Ishaq, "some people of knowledge told me", Ibn Hisham 2/411-412), and many of us grew up with it. Al-Albani found no sound chain for it (al-Silsilah al-Da'ifah 1163). The name al-Tulaqa', "the released ones", is sound (Sahih al-Bukhari 4333). This is about which reports carry his words, never doubt about him ﷺ.
- **"He said 'Today is a day of mercy'."** That wording has no sound chain. The sound report has Sa'd's "Today is the day of slaughter" and the reply "Sa'd was wrong; this is a day on which Allah will honour the Ka'bah" (Sahih al-Bukhari 4280).
- **"Nobody was killed / it was bloodless."** There was fighting in the lower city and men died on both sides; no sound chain fixes the number (the early biographers give from about a dozen to nearly thirty).
- **"Why were some people excepted?"** The sources give a specific crime for each, and the scholars' reasons are their views (al-Khattabi, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Ibn Taymiyyah); of the four men in the soundest report (al-Nasa'i 4067), two were killed and two forgiven. For a ruling, please ask a scholar.
- **Beats the film left out** (for curious replies): Hatib's letter, forgiven (Bukhari 4274); Umm Hani's protection, "We have given protection to whomever you have given protection" (Bukhari 357); he stayed in Mecca nineteen days (Bukhari 4298).

Notes for the reviewer