were still unbelievers listened to all that 'Ali had to say, including the
statement:
O Believers! only the polytheists are unclean! Let them (i.e., pagans) not,
therefore, after this year come near the Sacred Temple. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 28.
This order was so clear and distinct, and was now so well supported by
material force that there was nothing to do but to submit, which the Arabs then
did.
All opposition had now been broken down, and, as the Ka'ba was purged of all
idolatrous connexions and none but believers might enter it, Muhammad determined
to make the 'Greater Pilgrimage' in this the tenth year of the Hijra. It is said
that he was attended by more than one hundred thousand persons. After the
circumambulation was over he turned to the Maqam-i-Ibrahim, or Place of Abraham,
and said, 'consider the Place of Abraham as a place of prayer.' He then said the
Fatihah, the opening Sura of the Qur'an, then Sura Al-Kafirun
(cix), then the Sura Al-Ikhlas (cxii).. He then went most carefully through
the whole ceremonial, including the kissing of the black stone and the drinking
of water from the sacred well, and all other of the old pagan rites.1
The opportunity was taken to deliver an address on inheritance, adultery,
treatment of women, who on occasion