The raid on Tabuk enabled the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) to secure the frontiers of the State which led the enemies to take the State seriously. It also set the example for all of his (pbuh) successors to emulate in order to carry the Message of Islam to the outside world.
As soon as Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) returned from the raid on Tabuk the whole of the south of the Peninsula from Yemen, Hadramaut and ‘Oman came and declared their Islam to him. They submitted to the rule and authority of the Islamic State.
In the ninth year of Hijrah, the delegates anxiously went to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) to declare their Islam and that of their people. This marked the total dominance of the Islamic State over the Arabian Peninsula. The only internal threat which remained were the polytheists who had been allowed to continue worshipping their idols and performing the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of Allah due to the agreement that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) had made with them. The agreement stated that the people were not to be forbidden from visiting the Sacred House, nor were they to be harmed during the sacred months.
However, this state of affairs could not be allowed to last, for how could it be that the Sacred House would be able to play host to people of contradictory beliefs, one despising the other? How would it be possible for two conflicting beliefs to come together around the House of Allah when one of those beliefs had led to the destruction of the others’ idols? More seriously still, could the adherents of the opposing faith be left to their own devices while the rest of society had submitted to the authority of the Islamic State and the oneness of Allah I? Clearly, polytheism had become an anachronism and a danger to the unity of society and thus it had to be eradicated. Concerning the polytheists, Allah (swt) revealed the Surah of al-Taubah to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) after the raid on Tabuk and once the Hajj led by Abu Bakr was underway. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) summoned ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib and asked him to join Abu Bakr in Makkah where he was instructed to address the people with the new revelation. ‘Ali went there and met with the people. Then he, with Abu Hurayrah next to him, arose and recited from the Qur’an,
“Freedom from all obligations (is declared) from Allah and His Messenger to those of the “Mushrikun”, with whom you made a treaty.” [At-Tauba, 9:1]
until he reached the point where Allah (swt) says,
“And fight against the Mushrikun collectively, as they fight against you collectively. But know that Allah is with those who are Al-Muttaqun.” [At-Tauba, 9:36]
When ‘Ali finished reciting these verses he paused for awhile and then shouted, “O people, verily no disbeliever will enter paradise, no polytheist will go on pilgrimage after this year and nobody should circumambulate the House naked. Afterwards there will be no covenant except for those who had an agreement with the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) for a period, he can have it for that specified period.” ‘Ali declared these four orders and then he gave the people four months in which to return to their homes. Never again after that year did any polytheist go on the pilgrimage nor did anyone ever circumambulate the Sacred House naked.
The Word of Allah had now engulfed the whole of the Arabian Peninsula through the agency of the newly established Islamic State which was, and remained, based on the Islamic ‘Aqeedah as revealed by the Creator, Allah (swt). With the revelation of Surah Bara’ah (Taubah) , the last Surah, the abolition of polytheism in the Arabian Peninsula and the founding and establishment of the Islamic State was complete. All thoughts contradictory to Islam were eradicated, and all authorities other than the Islamic State were wiped away. The grounds for carrying the Message of Islam to the rest of mankind were thus firmly laid.