he  got to Ta’if. There he dismounted, camped near its castle and laid siege to the castle inhabitants; but  not for long.
How long the siege continued, is still a matter of disagreement. It however stands between 10-20  days.
A lot of arrow-shooting and rock-hurling occurred during the siege. For as soon as the Muslims laid  siege round the castle, its people started shooting arrows against them. The arrows were so intense  and fierce that they looked as if they had been locusts on the move. A number of Muslims were  wounded and twelve were killed.
To be far from the arrow-range, the Muslims had to ascend to a higher location and camped on — i.e.  to what is now called At-Ta’if Mosque. The Prophet (peace be upon him) set up a mangonel and  shelled  the castle. Eventually a gap was made in the castle wall, through which a number of Muslims managed  to pass into the castle, sheltered by a wooden tank, with the purpose of setting fire into it. Anyway,  the  enemy poured down molten hot iron on them. Affected by this the Muslims stepped out of the tank  and  were again exposed to arrow shooting and consequently some of them were killed.
To force the enemy to surrender, the Prophet (peace be upon him) tended to a war policy of burning  and cutting the enemy’s crops. His order was to cut their vineyards and burn them. Seeing that the
Muslims started rapidly cutting and burning their vines, they implored the Prophet (peace be upon  him)  to stop and have mercy on them for the sake of Allâh and out of kinship motives. So the Prophet  agreed. When the caller of the Messenger of Allâh (peace be upon him) called out unto people saying
“He whosoever descends and steps out of the castle is free.” Twenty-three men came out. One of  them  was Abu Bakrah who tied himself to a wall and let himself down by means of a small wheel, that  would  normally be used for drawing up water from a well. The way he let himself down made the Prophet  nickname him “Abu Bakrah”, i.e. the man with the wheel. The Messenger of Allâh (peace be upon him)  set them all free and entrusted each one of them to a Muslim to care about their living affairs, which  was too hard for the castle folkspeople to bear.
Seeing that the siege lasted too long and that the castle was immune and could stand any siege (for  they had already stored a supply that suffices for over a year) and that the Muslims were suffering —  day by day — from arrow-shots and heated iron hooks, the Messenger of Allâh (peace be upon him)  consulted Nawfal bin Mu‘âwiyah Ad-Daili about that. He said: “They are like a fox hiding inside its  burrow. If you stoodfast at it you would catch it, but if you parted with it, no harm would afflict you.”
The Messenger of Allâh (peace be upon him) decided to lift the siege and depart. ‘Umar bin
Al-Khattab,  who was orderedby the Prophet to notify people, said to them “If Allâh will, we are leaving the castle  and going back tomorrow.” As it was too hard for the Muslims to go back and leave the castle  unconquered they complained saying, “Should we go away while the castle is still unopened?” His  reply  was: “Then, start fighting in the morning.” In the morning they fought and were wounded. So when  he  repeated this statement: “If Allâh will, we are leaving the castle and going back tomorrow”, they were  pleased and carried out the order submissively and started moving, which made the Messenger of
Allâh
(peace be upon him) laugh.
As soon as they mounted and started moving the Messenger (peace be upon him) said:
“Say! Here we are returning, repenting, worshipping (Allâh) and to our Lord we offer praise.”
When the Messenger of Allâh was asked to invoke Allâh against Thaqif, he said:
“O Allâh, guide Thaqif and bring them to us as Muslims.”
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE BOOTY AT AL-JI'RANAH:
Upon returning and lifting the siege in Ta’if, the Messenger of Allâh (peace be upon him) had stayed  over ten nights at Al-Ji‘ranah before starting to distribute the booty. Distribution delay was due to the
Prophet’s hope that Hawazin’s delegation might arrive and announce their repentance and  consequently  reclaim their loss. Seeing that none of them arrived, he started dividing the booty so as to calm down