Ghannouchi: Our Loss in the Tunisian Elections Is a Conquest Like Hudaybiyyah Treaty

In his concession speech following the victory of the secularist Nidaa Tounes party in the Tunisian parliamentary elections, Rached Al-Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda movement, said: "What has just happened in our country will be a conquest," just as the Hudaybiyyah Treaty, signed between Muhammad and the Quraish tribe of Mecca, "eventually led to the conquest of Mecca."

Following are excerpts from the speech, which was posted on the Internet on October 28, 2014:

Rached Al-Ghannouchi: This is a clear conquest. As it says in the Quran: "Indeed, We have given you a clear conquest, that Allah may forgive for you what preceded of your sin and what will follow and complete His favor upon you and guide you to a straight path and Allah may aid you with a mighty victory." This is a clear victory, a clear conquest. All praise be to Allah.

Why did I quote these verses from Sura Al-Fath? It is because they are relevant to this occasion. These verses were conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad, while he was on the outskirts of Mecca, in a place called Hudaybiyyah. His companions tried to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, but the [locals] prevented this. This led to the signing of an agreement known as "the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah."

This agreement was rejected by some of the more zealots of the companions, such as Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, who said: "This agreement is unbalanced, because it gives rights to the others at the expense of our rights." But it did not take long for everybody to realize that when the Prophet Muhammad had agreed not to enter Mecca that year, but rather to postpone it to the following year – this was, in fact, a clear conquest. At first, they said: "What kind of conquest is this? We did not get what we came for." But later it became evident that the conquest in question was that the Hudaybiyyah Treaty brought freedom to the Arabian Peninsula, spread Islam, and eventually led to the conquest of Mecca. What has just happened in our country will be a conquest, Allah willing.

Crowd: Allah Akbar.

Rached Al-Ghannouchi: Therefore, young men and women of Islam, you should be celebrating this conquest today.

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