As my friend Michael Wolfe, author of the beautiful book The Hadj: An American’s Pilgrimage to Mecca , writes in an article about his own hajj experience: “It's hard to tell a sweeper from a prince … We leave more than fashion at the border. In some indescribable way we leave ourselves."

I believe religious rituals are meant to connect the believer to both the history and the meaning of their faith. When I think of contemporary pilgrims visiting the Ka’ba in Mecca, I cannot help but think back to the time when the Prophet Muhammad decided to make the pilgrimage himself. It is a story that reminds of not only the best in Muslim history, but the best in American history as well.

After years of defending himself and his fellow Muslims in Medina against aggressive military assaults by the Quraysh, a powerful tribe based in Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad decided to launch a religious peace offensive. In the year 628, he announced to the Muslim community in Medina that he was going to make a holy pilgrimage to the Ka’aba. Refusing the advice of his closest companions, who were convinced that the Quraysh would take this chance to murder their Prophet, Muhammad refused to carry arms. He set forth dressed in the simple, white, two-piece outfit still worn by Muslims making the hajj today, uttering the cry Labbayk Allahuma Labbayk – Here I am, O God, at Your service. A thousand Muslims accompanied him, many questioning the wisdom of making a religious pilgrimage in the direction of an enemy who only wanted war.

The Quraysh sent a war party of two hundred cavalry to prevent them from entering the city. Muhammad steered his companions toward Hudaybiyah, at the edge of the Sanctuary where all fighting was forbidden, sending a message to the Quraysh that he came in peace. He reminded his companions that they were on a religious quest and as such should prepare to repent and ask God’s forgiveness for their sins. No doubt some of them were confused about why Muhammad was making spiritual preparations instead of war preparations. But Muhammad, guided by revelations from God, knew that ultimate victory for Islam did not mean violently defeating the enemy, but peacefully reconciling with them. Achieving this required an act of personal humility and self-effacement that shocked even his closest companions.

After being convinced that Muhammad was not going to engage them in battle, the Quraysh sent Suhayl, one of their most stridently anti-Muslim leaders, to negotiate a settlement with Muhammad. The two sat together for a long time, finally agreeing to terms that the Muslims felt were deeply unfair, but Muhammad insisted they accept. The Muslims would be allowed to do the holy pilgrimage in peace, but not now. They would have to go back to Medina and wait a whole year before returning.

When it came time to sign the papers, Suhayl, the Quraysh leader, saw that the treaty read, “This is what Muhammad, the apostle of God, has agreed with Suhayl ibn Amr.” He objected to the language, saying that if he recognized Muhammad as the apostle of God, they would not be in a situation of war to begin with. “Write down your own name and the name of your father,” Suhayl instructed the Prophet. To the utter despair of his companions, Muhammad agreed. He told Aly, his son-in-law who would later become the first Shia Imam and the fourth Caliph of the entire Muslim community, to strike the words “apostle of God” from the treaty. Aly could not bring himself to do it. So the illiterate Prophet asked Aly to point to the words on the paper, took the pen, and struck them himself.

On the journey home to Medina, with the bitter taste of humiliation still fresh in the mouths of Muhammad’s companions, the Prophet received a revelation which would come to be known as the Victory Sura, Chapter 48 in the Holy Qur’an. In it, God tells the Prophet: “Surely We have given thee / a manifest victory …”. The sura states that God Himself was involved in the situation, “It is He who sent down the sakina / into the hearts of the believers, that / they might add faith to their faith. The Arabic term sakina loosely translates as ‘the peace and tranquility and presence of God’ and is thought to be related to the Hebrew term shekinah. The sura closes with the following line: “God has promised / those of them who believe in and do deeds / of righteousness, forgiveness and / a mighty wage.”

When Muhammad returned to Mecca a year later, those who once took up arms against him converted to Islam in droves. Muhammad granted a near total amnesty to the Quraysh, despite the fact that many had fought battles against him in the past, and regardless of whether or not they converted to Islam. To the surprise of some of his companions, he even gave high office to some of the people who, a short time before, were his sworn enemies. But Muhammad was not interested in punishment, he was interested in a positive future, and he knew that would only be accomplished by widening the space so that people could enter it.

During this time, God sent Muhammad a revelation about relations between different communities in a diverse society:

O mankind, We have created you
male and female, and appointed you
races and tribes, that you may know
one another. Surely the noblest
among you in the sight of God is
the most righteous.

For me, the Treaty of Hudaybiyah and the peaceful return of Muhammad to Mecca are the defining moments of Islam. They exemplify the genius of the Prophet, the generosity of God and the bright possibility of a common life together. It is an ancient example of how a religiously-inspired peace movement can win a victory not by defeating the enemy, but by turning them into friends.

And these ancient events in Arabia remind me of the defining moments of recent American history - of the civil rights marchers in Selma and Birmingham. I cannot help but hear the message of Labbayk Allahuma Labbayk – Here I am, O God, at your service - in their songs. I cannot help but see the Prophet at Hubaybiyah as I reflect on King staring at his bombed out home in Montgomery and calming the agitated crowd by saying, “We must meet hate with love.” I cannot help but glimpse the spirit of the Holy Qur’an’s message on pluralism in the lines that King uttered at the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott: “We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization … The end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community.” I cannot help but believe that Allah’s sakina is a force that has re-appeared across time and place, whenever righteous people are overcoming the tribal urges of humanity’s lower self with the religious message of transcendence.