The Banu Hawazin were old enemies of the Meccans.
The Meccans and the Muslims closed a 10-year truce.
Muhammad's prestige grew after the surrender of the Meccans.
The Muslims ran after the Meccans and left the camp unprotected.
After a protracted siege and various skirmishes, the Meccans withdrew again.
The Meccans, although substantially outnumbering the Muslims, promptly broke and ran.
However, the Meccans' retreat was actually a manufactured
manoeuvre that paid off.
As the battle heated up, the Meccans were forced to somewhat retreat.
The Meccans did not pursue the Muslims,
instead, they marched back to Mecca declaring victory.
And if those[Meccans] who disbelieve had fought you,
they would have turned their backs[in flight].
And if those(Meccans) who disbelieve were to fight you,
they would certainly turn their backs(i.e., flee).
However, the Meccans did not capitalise on their advantage by invading Medina and returned to Mecca.
Younger Muslims argued that the Meccans were destroying crops, and
huddling in the strongholds would destroy Muslim prestige.
The next morning, at the Muslim conference of war,
a dispute arose over how best to repel the Meccans.
The Meccans were sternly adamant,
the people of Taif had rejected Muhammad, and the mission was making a slow progress.
Watt conjectures that the Meccans at this point began to contemplate that conversion to Islam
would be the most prudent option.
Muhammad ordered every man to light a fire so as to make the Meccans overestimate the size of the army.
Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle,
killing at least forty-five Meccans with fourteen Muslims dead.
Al-Zubayr was among those who returned to Mecca in 619 because they heard that the Meccans had converted to Islam.
Seeing that their strategy had actually worked, the Meccans cavalry forces went around the hill and re-appeared behind the pursuing archers.
With the help of Ali, Muhammad fooled the Meccans watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town with Abu Bakr.
The Meccans helped the Banu Bakr with weapons and, according to some sources, a
few Meccans also took part in the fighting.
With the help of Ali, Muhammad fooled the Meccans who were watching him,
and secretly slipped away from the town with Abu Bakr.
When they discovered that Muhammad lived, the Meccans did not return due to false information about new forces coming to his aid.
In accordance with the plan the armies began marching towards Medina, Meccans from the south(along the coast) and the others from the east.
In the ensuing months, the Meccans sent ambush parties to Medina while Muhammad
led expeditions against tribes allied with Mecca and sent raiders onto a Meccan caravan.
Abdul Muttalib told the Meccans to seek refuge in the hills while he with some leading members
of the Quraysh remained within the precincts of the Ka‘bah.
The hillside position had been a great advantage to the Muslim forces,
and they had to be lured off their posts for the Meccans to turn the table over.
The Meccans had exerted their utmost strength to dislodge Muhammad from Medina,
and this defeat caused them to lose their trade with Syria and much of their prestige with it.