• 14.1 Rasūlullāhﷺ Travels with Sahābah to Perform Tawāf
  • 14.1.1 Quraish Prepare for War
  • 14.1.2 Skirmishes
  • 14.1.3 Rasūlullāhﷺ Sends Envoy to Makkah
  • 14.1.4 Quraish Send Envoys
• 14.2 The Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān
  • 14.2.1 Allāh Commands Rasūlullāhﷺ to Take Pledge of Allegiance from Muslims
  • 14.2.2 Bay‘ah is Taken in the Camp of Banū Najjār
  • 14.2.3 The Sacrifice of Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa’
  • 14.2.4 Ar-Rawāfid’s Attack on ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān
  • 14.2.5 Allāh Sends Down Āyāt regarding Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān
  • 14.2.6 Quraish Negotiate Truce
  • 14.2.7 Terms of the Agreement
  • 14.2.8 The Incident of Abū Jandal
  • 14.2.9 Sahābah Find Incident of Abū Jandal Very Difficult
  • 14.2.10 Muslims Return from Makkah
  • 14.2.11 Abū Basīr
• 14.3 Sūrah Al-Fath
  • 14.3.1 Rasūlullāhﷺ Receives Revelation of the Opening
  • 14.3.2 Fath and Nasr
  • 14.3.3 How Al-Hudaybiyyah is a Fath
  • 14.3.4 Betrayal of Bedouins who Came to Rasūlullāhﷺ Seeking Help
  • 14.3.5 Lessons from Hadīth of the Bedouin Robbers
  • 14.3.6 Other Sarāyā that Occurred in Sixth Year of Hijrah

14.1 Rasūlullāhﷺ Travels with Sahābah to Perform Tawāf

Rasūlullāhﷺ had a dream, he saw that he was making Tawāf around Al-Ka’bah along with the Sahābah, and then they shaved their heads and some of them shortened their hair after that. Now it has been six years since he has left Makkah along with the Muhājirīn and they dearly missed Al-Ka’bah. Makkah, the dearest of the land of Allāh, it was beloved to them because of the religious reasons and also because it was their home, so they were longing to go back to Makkah and visit Al-Ka’bah, and as one of Al-Mufassirīn said commenting on the Āyah: Wa Idh Ja‘alnal Baita Mathābatal Linnās – And [mention] when We made the House a place of return for the people. Al-Baqarah: 125

We have made the House of Allāh a Mathābah;Mathābah means a place that you want to return to all the time, and this Mufassir gave an example, he said that the young camel, whenever it would go away to play, it would always want to come back to its mother just to see the mother and to touch the mother, and then it would go to play again; just to feel the comfort that the mother is still there. And he gave this analogy to the Believer and Al-Ka’bah; whenever the Believer sees Al-Ka’bah the first time, whenever he goes around it the first time, he is hooked for life, and he would always want to return back again and again to visit it, and even though he might be a foreigner in Makkah, but he feels at home; even though it is not his home – he might not speak the language – but he feels at home as soon as he enters into Al-Haram.

Rasūlullāhﷺ invited the Muslims of Madīnah and the tribes who had become Muslim surrounding Al-Madīnah to go out with him for ‘Umrah, and the ones who responded to his call numbered around 1400 – a sizeable number – and they set out on the path towards Makkah. When they reached to Dhul Hulaifah, which is the Mīqāt of Ahl Al -Madīnah – that is the place where they start their Ihrām – Rasūlullāhﷺ told the Muslims to put on their garments of Ihrām and to mark the sacrificial animals which was the tradition, that the animals that are set for sacrifice are marked. And Rasūlullāhﷺ had with him 70 camels, and they started making Talbiyah; Labbayik Allāhumma Labbayik. Their procession was peaceful, Rasūlullāh intended no fighting, and therefore he did not take with him any arms except for the swords in their sheaths, and an Arab man would never travel without his sword. But this was not an army set out to fight, this was an army going out for the ‘Ibādah, the ritual, of ‘Umrah. However, even though this was his intention, but Rasūlullāhﷺ was very careful, very alert, and he would not be taken by surprise, therefore he had 20 men on horseback ahead of him as a protection and also to clear the route and check if there were any dangers on the way, and he also sent a spy for reconnaissance, to gather information for him, and the man responsible for this mission was Bishr Ibn Sufyān, while the man who was appointed over the horsemen was ‘Abbād Ibn Bishr .

‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was a very alert man, very careful, he was a man known to attend to the details, and as he said about himself, “Lastu Bil Khibb Walal Khibb Ikhda’nī – Iam not a trickster, but the trickster cannot trick me.” So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb  could not be taken by surprise and could not be tricked, and everybody knew that about him, and that is reflected through his words and statements and advice that he would give Rasūlullāhﷺ as we can see throughout the Seerah of Rasūlullāhﷺ. ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “O Messenger of Allāh, are you going to enter on a people who are in a state of war with you without any weapons?” So Raulullahﷺ agreed with ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb and he called [for] the weapons from Madīnah but they were to be separate from the group of Rasūlullāhﷺ and the Sahābah; they would have their weapons separate because they wanted everybody to see that they had come for a peaceful mission.

14.1.1 Quraish Prepare for War

Now, the man sent on reconnaissance, Bishr Bin Sufyān, came back to Rasūlullāhﷺ and told him, “Quraish have actually marched out and they are preparing for war.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Men, give me your advice. Do you think that I should head for the children and families of those who wish to keep us from Al-Ka’bah?” You see brothers and sisters, Quraish held a very high status in Arabia among the Arab tribes, that is because they were custodians of Al-Ka’bah, but it was a known tradition, it was common knowledge among the people, that no one should prevent anyone from Hajj and ‘Umrah. Quraish are now trying to prevent Muhammadﷺ and the Muslims from entering Makkah and this is unheard of, it is something that you do not do, so Rasūlullāhﷺ is asking the Companions [that] should we head for the children and families of those… – who are those? Rasūlullāh here is talking about the tribes who allied themselves with Quraish in this horrible mission of preventing Muslims from entering into Al-Ka’bah. Because when Bishr came to Rasūlullāhﷺ, he said, “Inna Quraishan Qad Jamma‘ū Laka Jam‘an Wa Jamma‘ū Lakal Ahābīsh –Quraish have mobilised themselves and they have also mobilised Al- Ahābīsh.” Al-Ahābīsh is a confederation of tribes – three or more tribes – who have allied themselves with Quraish, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was saying how about we attack the families and children of these other tribes so that they would have to come back and protect their families while then we could move on towards Quraish, so by this we would break the alliance and split up their army. Abū Bakr gave his opinion, he said, “Messenger of Allāh, you have come forth to visit Al-Ka’bah not intending to do battle or to make war against anyone. Proceed to it and we will fight anybody who blocks our way.” This was the opinion of Abū Bakr As -Siddīq, and Rasūlullāhﷺ agreed with him and therefore the plans of attacking these Kuffār in their residence were stopped. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Undhū ‘Alā Barakatillāh – Then proceed on words in Allāh’s name.”

Quraish had sent a force of 200 men led by Khālid Ibn Walīd and ‘Ikrimah Ibn Abī Jahl. When Rasūlullāhﷺ received that piece of information, he announced to his army and said, “Who will take us on a path that will take us around them?” So a man from Aslam offered to guide them through a back-road, so to speak; it was very rough and difficult terrain, but eventually they made it to the plain of Al-Hudaybiyyah which is to the south of Makkah and was only a day’s walk from the Holy City. When Khālid Ibn Walīd received this information that the Muslims had gone around him, he rushed back towards Quraish and now Quraish knew that Rasūlullāhﷺ was only a day’s distance from them. When Rasūlullāhﷺ reached to Al-Hudaybiyyah, his camel Al -Qaswā, the famous camel of Rasūlullāhﷺ which we have talked about in the earlier session, Al- Qaswā sat down, and when they would tell her, “Hall! Hall!” which was the word that they would use to ask the camel to stand up and move, the camel refused; the camel refused to stand up. So they said, “Khala’atil Qaswā – Al-Qaswā has become refractory.” With these animals; camels, horses, donkeys, animals that are used for transportation, sometimes they become obstinate and they suddenly refuse to take orders, so the people were saying, “Khala’atil Qaswā – Al-Qaswā has become refractory.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Mā Khala’atil Qaswā Wamā Huwa Laha Bi Khuluq – Al-Qaswā has not [become refractory] and that is not in her nature. Walā Kin Hābathahā Hābithul Fīl – But she has been held back by Him who held back the elephant.” You remember the story of the elephant? Abrahah and his army when they were attacking Makkah? The elephant refused to proceed, but when they would turn the elephant around, it would suddenly run away; they would turn it back to Makkah and it would refuse to move. So Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “The One who held back the elephant is the One who held back the camel.” There is a big difference here; then it was Abrahah and the Kuffār, and now it is Rasūlullāhﷺ and the Sahābah. So what did this mean? Ibn Hajar comments on this and says, “Allāh knew then and now that the people of Makkah were going to become Muslim, and therefore He prevented bloodshed then and now; then it was by destroying the army of Abrahah and his followers and now it is by opening up the doors to peace. And if Rasūlullāhﷺ had proceeded onwards and war would have ensued, there would have been a lot of bloodshed, but Allāh held back the Muslims and they stopped when Al-Qaswā refused to move.” Eventually it did move, but [in] this event, Rasūlullāhﷺ turned our attention to it, that it was something done by Allāh, and this was the explanation given by Ibn Hajar, . Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “By Him who holds my soul in His Hand, I will accept any request that they make of me by which the sanctuaries of Allāh are dignified,” and in another narration, “in which the ties of family are honoured.” Rasūlullāhﷺ had announced and made it clear that he intends on peace and he will accept any offer that they make as long as the commands of Allāh are honoured.

There was a well in Hudyabiyyah, but when the Sahābah went to drink from the well it was empty, so they came to Rasūlullāhﷺ to tell him about it; Rasūlullāhﷺ gave them an arrow from his quiver and told them to take it and drop it into the well and they did so, and Subhān’Allāh, water started coming out from this well. There are many miracles of similar sort that happened to Rasūlullāhﷺ.

14.1.2 Skirmishes

Skirmishes would happen and prisoners were taken by Rasūlullāhﷺ from the Mushrikīn, but no one was killed. One example was narrated by Salamah Bin Al-Akwa’, he said, “I was sleeping under a tree and there were some Mushrikīn lying down under an adjacent tree and they were speaking against Rasūlullāhﷺ, so I went to sleep under a tree in a distance [as] I did not want to hear the rubbish that they were talking about, then I heard the call to arms.” Something had happened so there was a call of Al-Muhājirīn, and Salamah said, “So I rushed towards these four Mushrikīn who were sleeping under this tree, and they had their swords hanging on the branches of this tree, so I gathered all of their swords and had them under my arm and I had my sword in my arm and I told them, ‘If any one of you makes any move I am going to chop off his head,’ and I took them as prisoners to Rasūlullāhﷺ, four of them” So there were events of this sort.

14.1.3 Rasūlullāhﷺ Sends Envoy to Makkah

Kharāsh Bin Umayyah Sent as Envoy: The situation was very delicate. Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to send an envoy into Makkah to explain to them that we have not come with the intention of fighting [but] we have come to make Tawāf around Al-Ka’bah. Rasūlullāh chose Kharāsh Bin Umayyah who was from the tribe of Khuzā‘ah. Kharāsh went into Makkah; how did they deal with him? They killed his camel and they almost killed him until the Ahābīsh interfered and protected him. So this is how they dealt with the envoy of Rasūlullāhﷺ. You can see throughout this story that Quraish were in a state of despair, they were confused, they were desperate and they were frustrated. They were people who were arrogant and now they were humiliated, they were losing their position in Arabia and their pride was preventing them from seeing clearly, so you see a lot of frustration in the way they were behaving. First of all, Kharāsh Ibn Umayyah is a messenger and messengers are not killed, and secondly, he is coming to tell them that we have not come for the purpose of fighting, and this is how they dealt with him so he left. Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to send someone else, so he summoned ‘Umar Bin Khattāb and he told him his intentions. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb responded back and said, “There is none of my family (Banū ‘Adiÿ) who is left in Makkah to give me protection, and Quraish know very well my animosity towards them, but if you insist on me going then I will go.” So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb gave a frank assessment of the situation; he believes that he would be in danger if he goes into Makkah, but if it is an order then he will obey. Rasūlullāhﷺ was silent, so then ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb suggested another name, he said, “But how about you send ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān because his clan are there?” Now, ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān belongs to Banū Umayyah, and Banū Umayyah are from the major branch of Quraish Banū ‘Abd Manāf. There were two families in Quraish who held the reigns of leadership in the town, and these were Banū Makhzūm and Banū ‘Abd Manāf. Among the famous personalities of Banū Makhzūm was Abū Jahl, who was the head of Quraish until his death, and he was the leader in the fight against the Muslims, and then you have Al-Walīd Ibn Mughīrah and his son Khālid Ibn Walīd; these belonged to the clan of Banū Makhzūm. And then you have Banū ‘Abd Manāf, and the two major branches of Banū ‘Abd Manāf are Banū Hāshim, the family of Rasūlullāhﷺ, and Banū Umayyah. So Banū Umayyah, by the way, are very close relatives of Banū Hāshim. Now, ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān belonged to Banū Umayyah, so when Rasūlullāhﷺ sent him to Makkah, he was immediately given protection by the major figure of Banū Umayyah after Abū Sufyān. You see, Abū Sufyān also belongs to Banū Umayyah but he was not there at the time, so the one who gave protection to ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān was his cousin Abān Bin Sa‘eed Bin Al-‘Aas; he had him right with him on his camel [and] he went in front of Quraish and said, “This man is under my protection.” Who would dare now to touch ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān when he entered in the protection of Abān Bin Sa‘eed Bin Al-‘Aas?

‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān Sent as Envoy: The mission of ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān was twofold; number one, he would announce to Quraish that the Muslims have not come for war, number two, he was told by Rasūlullāhﷺ to visit the Believing men and Believing women and give them the glad- tidings that Islām will be victorious, that the Muslims will win. ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān went to the people of Quraish and told them, “Ba‘athanī Rasūlullāhiﷺ Li Ad‘ūkum Ilal Islām, Wa Ilallāhi Jalla Thanā’uh, Wa Tadkhulūna Fiddīni Kāffah, Fa Innallāha Muzhiru Dīnihī Wa Mu‘izz Nabiyyih –Rasūlullāhﷺ has sent me to you to call you to Islām and to Allāh, and that you enter in the Religion of Allāh, because Allāh will give victory to His Religion and will honour His Prophet.” And then he told them, “And let someone else take care of this affair, so if they defeat the Messenger of Allāh, then that is what you are asking for, and if he wins, then you have the option of either following what the rest of the people have followed or you fight, and you have taken some rest because war has exhausted you and the best among you have been killed.” [A] very direct and blunt message telling them that you are exhausted, he is telling them in their faces that you are exhausted, you are tired, you cannot carry on this fight forever; you see, they have been worn out. Then he said, “Rasūlullāhﷺ is informing you that we have not come here to fight anyone, but we have come for ‘Umrah, with us the sacrificial animals marked; we will slaughter them and leave.” Abān Bin Sa‘eed told ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān, “If you want to make Tawāf, go ahead, no one can prevent you.” What did ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān do? And actually some of the Companions were saying, “‘Uthmān is fortunate, now he is making Tawāf.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ heard them and said, “My expectation of him is that if he stays so and so years, he would not make Tawāf until I make Tawāf.” And that was the case; ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān said, “Mā Kuntu Li’atūfa Bil Bayti Hattā Yatūfa Bihī Rasūlullāhﷺ –Iwould not have made Tawāf around the House of Allāh until Rasūlullāhﷺ made Tawāf himself.” [This was] out of respect to Rasūlullāhﷺ.

14.1.4 Quraish Send Envoys

Badīl Bin Warqā’: Quraish were also sending envoys, the first they sent was Badīl Bin Warqā’. Badīl Bin Warqā’ came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and he belonged to the tribe of Khuzā‘ah, and he came along with some men from Khuzā‘ah. As the books say, they were trustworthy advisers of Rasūlullāhﷺ; the Disbelievers among them and the Muslims among them were very sympathetic to the Muslims, and they were advisers of Rasūlullāhﷺ , and it says in one narration that anything that goes on in Makkah, the people of Khuzā‘ah would report it to Rasūlullāhﷺ. Rasūlullāhﷺ had information from within, and the ones who were bringing the information to Rasūlullāhﷺ were both Muslim and Non-Muslim. This was sort of like a tribal alliance, because Khuzā‘ah were allies of Banū Hāshim in the time of Jāhiliyyah, and since the leader of Banū Hāshim now is Rasūlullāhﷺ, he is the most prominent figure among them, Khuzā‘ah carried on this alliance even though many of them were Mushrikīn, but they still considered themselves to be close to Banū Hāshim and close to the Muslims. And this shows you the situation that existed then, and there could be a lot of insight in this story and in the relations between the clans and tribes that existed then, and how Rasūlullāhﷺ was successful in his war, and one can also see that part of that success was because of his information gathering procedure; Rasūlullāh always had spies roaming Arabia to gather information for him, and here we have insiders from within Makkah – because Khuzā‘ah were living in the outskirts of Makkah, very close to Makkah – and they would report to him whatever was going on in the camp of Quraish.

So Badīl Bin Waqra’ was the first envoy to meet with Rasūlullāhﷺ. He came to Muhammadﷺ and told him, “Quraish have come out, [and] with them the camels with milk,” meaning that they have come out with provisions, with the intention of staying for a long time if the circumstances demand so. And he told him, “They have put on tiger skin and they are ready for war.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “We did not come to fight anyone, we have come to make ‘Umrah. Quraish have been consumed by warfare, it has ruined them. If they want, I will give them respite for a while, they should then give me access to the people. If I prevail and they wish to join into what the people have entered, they could do so, otherwise they will have rested. If they refuse this then I swear by Him who holds my soul in His Hand, I will battle them in this cause of mine until I perish! And Allāh’s will be done.” Rasūlullāhﷺ is telling Quraish [that] you have the option of either leaving me alone or fighting me, and if you choose to fight me [then] I will win, and Allāh’s Religion will prevail and I am not going to give up, I am never going to give up, even if I perish. So he is making clear to them that I am not going to give up, and Rasūlullāhﷺ is telling them that you have been exhausted by war, and we talked earlier that Rasūlullāhﷺ said after the Battle of Al-Khandaq, “Al’āna Naghzūhum Walā Yaghzūnā – We will from now on conquer them and they will not conquer us,” and that is what happened; Quraish now are on the defensive, they have no ability to wage an offensive battle against Rasūlullāhﷺ. Badīl Bin Warqā’ told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “I am going to convey to them this message.” Badīl Bin Warqā’ went back to Makkah and the people of Quraish said, “He wants you to ask him what happened; ignore him.” So Badīl came in and he was waiting for someone to ask him what happened and they were all quiet, so he told them, “Do you want me to tell you what happened?” ‘Ikrimah Bin Abī Jahl said, “We do not want to hear anything from you.” They knew his sympathy towards the Muslims. But then Safwān Ibn Umayyah and some others said, “Go ahead and tell us what happened.” He conveyed to them the message of Rasūlullāhﷺ; they did not like what they heard.

Mikraz Bin Hafs: So now they sent in another man; this time they sent a man called Mikraz Bin Hafs. When Rasūlullāhﷺ saw him he said, “Inna Hādhā Rajulun Ghādir –This is a man of betrayal.” And why did Rasūlullāhﷺ say that about him? Rasūlullāhﷺ knew his nature. Subhān’Allāh, after that, he led a force of 40 or 50 men from Quraish with the intention of circling around the Muslim camp trying to find any loner to take as prisoner, he wanted to find anyone who would deviate away from the army and they would capture him and take him back to Quraish. What happened is [that] it was the other way around; it is the Muslims who took them as prisoners, all of them except Mikraz who ran away. They came in to take prisoners and they were taken as prisoners themselves. Because Rasūlullāhﷺ came out with the intention of peace, he released them all with no condition.

Al-Halais Bin ‘Alqamah: Then Al-Halais Bin ‘Alqamah, the head of Al-Hābīsh – these are the allies of Quraish – he offered to go and meet with Rasūlullāhﷺ. When Rasūlullāhﷺ saw him, he said, “This is a man from a people who are devout. Drive out the animals of sacrifice in front of him so he will see them.” So all what the Muslims had to do was show out their intentions of ‘Umrah publicly, and as soon as this man saw that, he walked away without even meeting with Rasūlullāhﷺ; he was so moved by what he saw, he went back to the people of Quraish and said, “All glory belongs to Allāh! It is not right for these people to be kept from Al-Ka’bah.” And this is a Mushrik, a Kāfir! But he saw it against the tradition, against the acceptable norms of the time, to prevent people who came out for ‘Umrah from entering the House of Allāh. It was like he is saying, ‘Who are you, people of Quraish, to prevent the people from coming into Al-Ka’bah?!’ And then in another narration he said, “Allāh will not allow Lakhm and Judām and Himyar and Kindah to come and visit the House of Allāh while the son of ‘Abdul Muttalib himself is prevented.”

These four tribes he mentioned belong to the Yemeni branch of the Arabs, Al-Qahtāniyyīn, that is one thing, and the second is that they live in the furthest parts of Arabia; Lakhm and Judām live to the extreme north of Arabia in Ash-Shām, and then Kindah and Himyar to the extreme south in the southern parts of Yemen. And he is telling them [that] these tribes are allowed to come and visit the House of Allāh while the son of ‘Abdul Muttalib, who are from the people of ‘Adnān, the people of Quraish, and he is from Makkah itself, you prevent him?! And he was very angry. And the people of Quraish told him, “Just sit down, you are a Bedouin without any sense.” Al-Halais was very angry with that and said, “Quraish! If it was not for this [fact] that we allied with you and have a pact with you, shall someone who has come to venerate Allāh’s House be barred from it? By Him who holds the soul of Al-Halais, either you allow Muhammad to do what he has come for or I will mobilise the Ahābīsh to the last man of them!” He threatened them with war, and then then the people of Quraish calmed him down and said, “Keep silent and leave us alone until we get for ourselves what we want.” They are just trying to save face.

‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd: All of the envoys were a failure. Then ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd came to them and said to the people of Quraish, “Alastum Bil Wālid Walastu Bil Walad? – Are you not the ones who have given birth to me and I am your son?” ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd is from the tribe of Thaqīf who came from At-Tā’if, but his mother was from Quraish, and he was one of the great men of Arabia, in fact he was one of the suggested names when the Mushrikīn said: “Law Lā Unzila Hādhal Qur’ānu ‘Alā Rajulin Minal Qaryatayni ‘Azīm – Why wasthis Qur’ān not sent down upon a great man from [one of] the two cities?” Al-Zukhruf: 31

Upon a great man from [one of] the two cities –they were referring to Makkah and At-Tā’if. So the Mushrikīn were saying why did Allāh choose Muhammad? Why did He not choose ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd? So he was an important figure. He came to Quraish and he saw that all of this was not making sense, so he told them, “I am your son, do you want me to go and see this man?” They said, “Yes.” But then he told them, “I have seen all of the insults you have poured on the heads of the people who went as envoys for you.” Whenever one would come back, whether it was Al-Halais or Badīl Bin Warqā’, they would insult them, they send them and then they insult them when they come back because they come back with an answer different than the one they want to hear. So ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd does not want the same thing to happen to him, they said, “We trust you, go and speak to him.”

So ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd went to Muhammadﷺ and he said, “Hey now Muhammad, have you not considered that you are ruining your own people? Have you heard of any Arab who ruined his people before yourself? And if that does not happen, I swear I do not see faces here, I just see a hodgepodge of people who are quite capable of fleeing and abandoning you.” ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd is mentioning to Rasūlullāhﷺ the two options that he sees; the first option is that you win by ruining your own people, and then he told him, “Have you ever seen an Arab man who ruined his own tribe?” This is a tribal society, the tribe is everything, and the way ‘Urwah sees it is that Muhammadﷺ is invading his own people. ‘And this is unacceptable and we have not heard of anyone who has done such a thing before you.’ He is trying to tell him [that] this is a disgrace and this is a shameful thing to do so do not do it. And the other option is that you will be defeated, and he sees this as a likely option because he said, “Fa Innī Arā Awbāshan (and in another narration Ashwāban) Minan Nās, Yūshiku Ayyafirru Wa Yada‘uk – I see a hodgepodge of people.” What he is referring to is that the Sahābah  are from different tribes; they belong to Quraish, they belong to Al-Aws, Al-Khazraj, Aslam, Ghifār, [etc.], and for some of these tribes like Aslam and Ghifār, they were seen by people like ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd as being second class tribes. You have the major tribes of Thaqīf and Quraish and then you have these smaller tribes like Aslam and Ghifār, and Subhān’Allāh, the larger tribes were slow in accepting Islām because of their arrogance and pride, and they felt that Islām will take away their position of prominence, however the smaller tribes were more willing to listen to the truth because these barriers were not ahead of them, and Rasūlullāhﷺ says in a Hadīth that these tribes are better than Tamīm and Ghatafān and Asad, you know, these big groups who people look up to. Rasūlullāhﷺ said [that] on the Day of Judgement, these smaller tribes like Nazīn and Juhain and Aslam and Ghifār are heavier on the scale than Tamīm and Asad and Ghatafān and their likes. But ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd was viewing things from the tribal Jāhiliyyah view and he said [that] what I see is a hodgepodge, a mob of people, that when things get serious, when the rubber hits the road, they are going to leave you alone, they are going to flee and leave you alone. When Abū Bakr heard that, he saw this as a great insult that would not go unnoticed, so he told him, “Go and suck on Al-Lāt’s clitoris! Would we flee and abandon him?!” This was a big insult. The Arabs used to insult each other, this was a curse among them, they would say, ‘Suck on your mother’s clitoris’. Excuse me for using these words, but this is knowledge that is mentioned in the books and Lā Hayā’a Fid Dīn –there is no shame in Religion, we are just narrating what is mentioned in the books of As-Seerah. So Abū Bakr changed it here and replaced mother with Al-Lāt, and Al- Lāt was the major god of the people of Thaqīf, so it was a great insult on ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd to tell him this. ‘Urwah stared at Abū Bakr and told him, “If it was not because of your favour towards me, I would have responded back, but I will stay quiet and by this I have paid you back your favour.” ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd was referring to the fact that once he was responsible for paying blood-money, and blood-money is one hundred camels, so he called his friends to help him out and people did help him out with one camel, two camels, three camels; Abū Bakr helped him out with 10, this was in the time of Jāhiliyyah, Abū Bakr was a very generous man. And the insult was so great that ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd saw that he had paid back Abū Bakr for his favour of giving him 10 camels by just remaining silent and not responding back to him, because this was a big curse to Al -Lāt. But Abū Bakr, his temper could not handle such a comment by ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd to say that the Muslims are going to flee and leave Rasūlullāhﷺ alone.

Brothers and sisters, what kind of impression does the actions of the Sahābah give the Kuffār when they see their solidarity and they see their strength and they see their willingness to sacrifice for Rasūlullāhﷺ? No watered down message, no weakness, when it comes to the defence of Rasūlullāhﷺ; we are going to fight for him and we are never going to leave him alone! And then when ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd would speak to Rasūlullāhﷺ he would extend his hand to hold his beard, and this was something that people would do in those days when they would talk with each other, it was something acceptable, but here ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd is talking with who? He is talking with Rasūlullāhﷺ, so whenever he would extend his hand, Al-Mughīrah Bin Shu’bah who was standing next to Rasūlullāhﷺ to guard him while Rasūlullāhﷺ is sitting down, Al-Mughīrah had his sword in his hand, he would strike a hand of ‘Urwah with the handle of his sword and would tell him, “Keep your hand away from Rasūlullāhﷺ otherwise it is not going to return back to you, I am going to cut it off.” Al- Mughīrah was covered in armour from head to toe and only his eyes could be seen, so ‘Urwah did not know who this man was, so he told Rasūlullāhﷺ in one narration, “Ma’afaddak Wa Aghladak – How rough and rude you are!” And in another narration he told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “I do not think there is any man more wicked than this man in your army, who is he?” Rasūlullāhﷺ smiled and said, “This is your nephew Al-Mughīrah Bin Shu’bah.” Al-Mughīrah was the nephew of ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd; what a surprise it would be to ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd to see that the man who was roughest with him was his own nephew! And then ‘Urwah said, “O you man of betrayal, did I not just wash away your betrayal yesterday?” What ‘Urwah is referring to here [is that] in the time of Jāhiliyyah, Al-Mughīrah Bin Shu’bah travelled with 14 Mushrikīn, and he killed them all, stole their money and then ran away to Madīnah to become Muslim. Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “I will accept Islām from you but I will not accept this money.” Because there was trust among these travellers and he betrayed them and took their money, so Rasūlullāhﷺ said I want nothing to do with this money. Rasūlullāhﷺ did not pay it back to the Mushrikīn, he did not apologise to the Mushrikīn, but at the same time he refused to accept it because the way it was taken was not right. ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd was the one who had to pay it, being the relative of Al-Mughīrah, and he also had to pay the blood- money for all of these men whom Al-Mughīrah Bin Shu’bah killed, so he is telling Al-Mughīrah [that] I just took care of your betrayal and this is how you treat me. So you can see brothers and sisters how Islām changed the hearts of these men and how they would put their love of Rasūlullāhﷺ ahead of any personal needs or personal [relations], because here Al- Mughīrah was helped by his uncle and at least he should have felt gratitude for that, but his love of Rasūlullāhﷺ was so great that he dealt with ‘Urwah in such a manner because he saw him as being disrespectful with Rasūlullāhﷺ. And I see the statement of Abū Bakr and the action of Al -Mughīrah as amazing examples of how the Sahābah loved Rasūlullāhﷺ. Sometimes you might not appreciate this brothers and sisters, until you put yourself in their shoes, until you start to think the way they were thinking and put yourself in those circumstances and see how difficult it would be to act in such a way, unless you have a very deep and sincere love for Rasūlullāhﷺ.

Ibn Hajar comments on the statement of ‘Urwah when he said that you have two options; one is to fight your people and to defeat them and you would ruin your people then, or your followers would leave you alone and then you would be taken as prisoner. Ibn Hajar says, “‘Urwah saw the two options as being disliked because of the norms; the first is the defeat of his people if he wins, and the fleeing away of his Companions if he loses. However, both of these options are praised in Islām.” Islām changes the way we look at things; our norms, our traditions, our view changes because of Islām. So Ibn Hajar is saying that if Rasūlullāhﷺ defeated his people [then] that would be something that is praised in Sharī‘ah even though it is his own tribe, because it is Fee Sabeelillāh, and if Rasūlullāhﷺ loses, then it is something that is also praiseworthy because it is Fee Sabeelillāh, and Allāh says: Qul Hal Tarabbasūna Binā Illā Ihdal Husnayayn – Say, “Do you await for us except one of the two best things…” At-Tawbah: 52

Allāh is telling the Muslims to tell the Disbelievers that what are you waiting for to happen to us? Both are good for us, if we win or we lose.

‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd had an experience of a lifetime, he went back to Quraish and what did he say? He said, “I have gone in to kings, I had audiences with Caesar, Khosrow and the Negus, and I swear by Allāh, I have never seen the subjects of any king venerate him the way Muhammad’s people venerate him. I swear, if he spits, the phlegm always falls into the palm of one of them and he would then rub it on to his face or skin, if he gives them a command, they hurry to carry it out, if he speaks, they lower their voices in his presence and they never look directly at him out of their veneration for him. He has made you an offer, so accept it.” And according to Az-Zuhrī, he said, “I have seen a people who would never abandon him for any reason, so draw your own conclusions.” He came with some ideas, but they were changed when he saw the reality of the situation in front of his eyes. When Rasūlullāhﷺ would make Wudū’, the Sahābah would rush to pick up the droplets of water that would fall down from Rasūlullāhﷺ and they would rub it on their skin to get the blessings from Rasūlullāhﷺ. If a hair fell down they would take it and they would hide it. If he would spit, they would take that and rub it on to themselves. They saw that everything that had to do with Rasūlullāhﷺ had the blessings of Rasūlullāhﷺ in it; this was their respect and love for Rasūlullāhﷺ. ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd, this seasoned man, this leader from among his society, the man who had travelled the world and met with the kings and had met with the greatest kings of the time, Qaysar and Qisrā and An-Najāshī, he said I have never seen something like what I saw in Hudaybiyyah. He was amazed, he was surprised – later on he would become Muslim – he was surprised by what he saw. You see brothers and sisters, this is the living example of Da’wah; not the Da’wah of words but the Da’wah of actions. We need Da’wah of words but we need Da’wah of actions to confirm it. ‘Urwah has heard the Da’wah of words, but now he saw it with his own eyes, he saw the embodiment of the Da’wah of Islām in front of his eyes. He told the people of Quraish, ‘Muhammadﷺ has given you an offer; accept it. There is no way you can defeat these people, I do not see any hope for you. He has given you an offer; take it.’

14.2 The Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān

14.2.1 Allāh Commands Rasūlullāhﷺ to Take Pledge of Allegiance from Muslims

‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān was still in Makkah and a rumour spread – it is a time of war so it is a time of rumours – a rumour spread that he has been killed. Rasūlullāhﷺ headed towards the campground of Banū Najjār; every clan had its own camping ground. Umm ‘Imārah, this woman from among Banū Najjār, she said, “I saw Rasūlullāhﷺ heading towards our tents so I thought that he needed something. He came and sat down and said, ‘Innallāha Amaranī Bil Bay‘ah – Allāh has commanded me to take the pledge from the Muslims.’ And he asked the first man to give him Bay‘ah, and then the Muslims started rushing to give him Bay‘ah.” What was the Bay‘ah for? What were the terms of the Bay‘ah? In one narration, to die; ‘We pledge to die’. In the other narration; ‘We pledge not to flee from battle’. And the third narration; ‘Nubāyi‘uka ‘Alā Mā Fī Nafsik – We pledge to you according to what is in your heart’, and this last narration is amazing, that the Sahābah are willing to pledge whatever ; whatever is in the heart of Rasūlullāhﷺ we will pledge to it, even if I do not know. And in fact, one can take from these three narrations that the Sahābah, maybe, Allāhu A’lam, [but] this could be derived from this [that] they were not sure exactly what the pledge was for but they were still pledging because whatever Rasūlullāh would ask from them, they would do. Also we can see that the meaning is similar between Al-Mawt Wa Al-Lāna Firr – to die and not to flee from battle. This was the Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān, it is called the Bay‘ah of the Pleasure of Allāh; Allāh was pleased with the Muslims after this Bay‘ah. Why did they give the Bay‘ah? It was because of the rumour that ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān had been killed.

14.2.2 Bay‘ah is Taken in the Camp of Banū Najjār

Now, before we proceed, a few things regarding this Bay‘ah; the Bay‘ah was done in the camp of Banū Najjār. So who were Banū Najjār? Banū Najjār belong to the tribe of Al-Khazraj, and they are the maternal uncles of Rasūlullāhﷺ; if you remember, if you go back to the Makkah period, we talked about that. And they were the like associates and private soldiers of Rasūlullāhﷺ; when Rasūlullāhﷺ made Hijrah to Madīnah, he first settled with Banū ‘Amr Bin ‘Awf who were on the outskirts of Madīnah and this was where he built the Masjid of Qubā’, but when he went Madīnah, where did he stay? He stayed with Banū Najjār, and the men of Banū Najjār were surrounding Rasūlullāhﷺ carrying their swords; they were the private soldiers of Rasūlullāhﷺ, and now he came to them to take the Bay‘ah in their own camp. Umm ‘Imārah said, “My husband held out his sword in his hand,” because now this is a Bay‘ah to die, so Umm ‘Imārah said, “I pulled a pole that was holding the tent; I pulled it out and I held it on one hand and then I stuck a dagger in my waist-belt and I was ready to fight; if anybody would come to me I would stab him with the dagger and beat him with the pole.” This was the preparation of Umm ‘Imārah; even though they were just taking the Bay‘ah at that moment, but she wanted to be ready to fight and defend Rasūlullāhﷺ. This was how even the women of the Sahābah were, and because she saw herself as belonging to Banū Najjār, the fighters of Rasūlullāhﷺ, she had to be part of that and she had to be part of this fighting force, so she prepared herself to fight and die for Rasūlullāhﷺ, a position that many men, strong men today, are refusing to take.

14.2.3 The Sacrifice of Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa’

Then the other thing regarding the Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān is the Bay‘ah of Salamah Ibn Al -Akwa’, we have been talking about Salamah a lot lately. Rasūlullāhﷺ called Salamah to come and give Bay‘ah so he gave Bay‘ah, and then Rasūlullāhﷺ saw that he did not have any protection, any armour, so he gave him Daraqah or Juhfah, and this is a very small shield, it is like the size of a frisbee. Then Salamah left and he met with his uncle and his uncle did not have any armour so he gave him this shield. Then Rasūlullāhﷺ saw Salamah and told him, “Come and give Bay‘ah.” Salamah said, “I have already given my Bay‘ah.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Give it again.” So Salamah gave his Bay‘ah a second time. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ asked him, “Where is the shield that I gave you?” He said, “I gave it to my uncle.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Mathaluka Kamatha Lil Qā’il Aghnī Habīban Huwa Ahabbī Ilayyan Min Nafsī –The example of you is like the one who said, ‘O Allāh, give me someone whom I love more than myself.’” And then Rasūlullāhﷺ saw Salamah a third time and told him, “Come and give me Bay‘ah.” He said, “O Rasūlullāh, I have already done so.” He said, “Give it again.” So Salamah had given his Bay‘ah three times, he had put his hand on the hand of Rasūlullāhﷺ three times to pledge that he would die for him.

14.2.4 Ar-Rawāfid’s Attack on ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān

The third thing to mention regarding Bay‘atar Ridwān; Ar-Rawāfid, the Shī‘ah, they say that ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān has not attended the Battle of Badr and he has not given Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān. Now, we have already talked about why he did not attend the Battle of Badr, it was because Rasūlullāh told him not to attend it and to stay behind with his wife, the daughter of Rasūlullāhﷺ who was on her deathbed. So now, why did ‘Uthmān not give Bay‘ah? And Subhān’Allāh, this is such a foolish thing to say about ‘Uthmān; the whole Bay‘ah was for the sake of ‘Uthmān! That is one thing. The second thing is that he did give his Bay‘ah; Rasūlullāhﷺ put one of his hands on the other hand and said, “This is the Bay‘ah for ‘Uthmān.” So ‘Uthmān did not give the Bay‘ah with his own hand but it was even better, Rasūlullāhﷺ gave the Bay‘ah for him with his own hand, the blessed hand of Rasūlullāhﷺ.

14.2.5 Allāh Sends Down Āyāt regarding Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān

Allāh says: Indeed, We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. That you [people] may believe in Allāh and His Messenger and honour him and respect the Prophet and exalt Allāh morning and afternoon. Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, [O Muhammad] – they are actually pledging allegiance to Allāh. The Hand of Allāh is over their hands. So he who breaks his word only breaks it to the detriment of himself. And he who fulfils that which he has promised Allāh – He will give him a great reward. Al-Fath: 8-10

These Āyāt were revealed to talk about the Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān.

[And Allāh says:] Certainly was Allāh pleased with the Believers when they pledged allegiance to you, [O Muhammad], under the tree. Al-Fath: 18

Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Ikrimah say about this Āyah, “When the Āyah says you give support to Rasūlullāhﷺ, it means that you fight in front of him with your swords.” You fight in front of him with your swords; that is how the loyalty and the love of Rasūlullāhﷺ is practised.

This is the Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān: Laqad Radiyallāhu ‘Anil Mu’minīna Idh Yubāyi‘ūnaka Tahtash Shajarah – Certainly was Allāh pleased with theBelievers when they pledged allegiance to you, [O Muhammad], under the tree. Al-Fath: 18

Later on it was revealed that ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān was not killed and it was a false rumour, but this was only a reason for this amazing event of pledging to die for Rasūlullāhﷺ for the sake of protecting Islām. This event must have caused great terror in the hearts of the people of Quraish, to see that the Muslims have pledged to die to the last man, to fight to the last man, for the sake of defending their religion. And this was an event witnessed by the heavens, and Allāh revealed the Āyāt talking about this, and when the Sahābah finished their Bay‘ah, Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “Antum Khiyāru Ahlil Ard – Youare the best people on the face of the earth.” And in another Hadīth it says [that] all of the people who have pledged their allegiance to Rasūlullāhﷺ, their sins are forgiven for them except for the owner of the red camel, and this was Al-Jadd Bin Qais who did not pledge his allegiance to Rasūlullāhﷺ and one of the Companions said, “I saw him glued to the side of his camel hiding away from Rasūlullāhﷺ so that he would not give him Bay‘ah.” And when we talk about the different classes and levels of the Sahābah, we say that the best are the 10 who were given the glad- tidings of Jannah, and then following them are the people of Badr, and then following them are the people of Bay‘atar Ridwān; these are the best of humanity.

This is the Bay‘ah of Ar-Ridwān where the Sahābah came to Rasūlullāh and offered to give up their lives for the sake of defending the Religion of Allāh. Now, we go back to the reason; the reason was ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān, so this shows you that the Muslims were willing to fight and die for the sake of one man, one of their men, and this shows us how the Ummah Kal Bunyānil Marsūs –this is how the Ummah should be, like one body; when one part of the body feels the pain then the entire body feels that pain and feels the fever. So the entire Muslim force of 1400 men stood up together for the sake of one man, and that is ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān.

14.2.6 Quraish Negotiate Truce

The people of Quraish sent Suhail Ibn ‘Amr to negotiate with Rasūlullāh a truce. When Rasūlullāhﷺ saw Suhail, he said, “Sahwula ‘Alaikum Amrukum –Your matter has become easy,” because the name Suhail is derived from Sahwula which means easy, so Rasūlullāhﷺ took it as a good omen from the name that Tafā’ul – peace, is on its way, and that Quraish are intending on reaching an agreement. Rasūlullāhﷺ and Suhail Ibn ‘Amr deliberated for a while on the terms of the agreement and they were very insistent on not allowing Rasūlullāhﷺ and the Sahābah to enter Makkah that year, they were very persistent on this particular point, and this is the zeal of Jāhiliyyah and the pride of Jāhiliyyah, the arrogance of Jāhiliyyah; they did not want people to say that he entered it upon us forcefully. And Rasūlullāhﷺ tried to argue with them this point [but] to no avail, they completely refused. Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted a settlement, Rasūlullāhﷺ mentioned before, “Lā Yad‘ūni Ilā Khuttah Ya‘azzumūna Bihā –They would not call me to any plan in which the sanctities are glorified but I would accept it.”

Now, the terms of the agreement were spoken verbally, so the only thing left was to write them down. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was very upset with what he heard, so he went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “Are you not the Messenger of Allāh?” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Yes.” “Are we not the Muslims?” He said, “Yes.” “Are they not the Disbelievers?” He said, “Yes.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “Fa‘alā Manu’tiddaniyyata Fī Dīninā Idhan? – Then why should we demean our religion?” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb saw this as lowering our status and lowering our position. You are the Messenger of Allāh so you represent Al-Haqq, they are the Mushrikīn, they represent evil, we are the Muslims, we are followers of Haqq, [then] why should we bargain with them and why should we reach an agreement with them to start with?! This was the understanding, the perception, of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb. Rasūlullāh told ‘Umar, “Ana ‘Abdullāhi Wa Rasūluh, Lan Ukhālifa Amrahū Walay Yudayya’nī – Iam the servant of Allāh and His Messenger, Iwill not disobey Him and He will not abandon me.” ‘Umar then went to Abū Bakr and said, “Is he not Rasūlullāh?” He said, “Yes.” Are we not the Muslims?” He said, “Yes.” “Are they not the Disbelievers?” He said, “Yes.” “Fa‘alā Manu’tiddaniyyata Fī Dīninā Idhan? –Then why should we demean our religion?” Abū Bakr said, “Ilzan Gharzah – Follow him. He is the Messenger of Allāh and Allāh will not forsake him.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb would later on regret these arguments of his even though they were made with good intention, but ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was very sensitive when it came to Haqq, that is why he is called Al-Fārūq – he distinguishes between right and evil and he always submits his desires and his intentions to Allāh . He did not allow himself to follow the whims of the Nafs, he was a very strong Believer – Mu’min Qawiÿ, so he would control himself, and he only argued here because of his intentions to give Nusrah – victory, to the Religion of Allāh, however, when he saw that the matter is a matter of Revelation, that Rasūlullāhﷺ has instructions from Allāh , he realised his mistake, and he would later on remember this and say, “So I have gone on fasting, giving alms, praying, and freeing slaves because of what I did that day, and out of fear for what I said that day.” Allāh says: Innal Hasanāti Yudh’hibnas Sayyi’āt – Indeed, good deeds do away withmisdeeds. Hūd: 114

14.2.7 Terms of the Agreement

Soif you commit a mistake, if you commit a sin, do a lot of good deeds after it in order to erase that sin. You see, ‘Umar here is saying [that] I was fasting, giving Sadaqah, praying voluntary Prayer and freeing slaves – and this is one of the greatest deeds; to free slaves – he was doing it [all] to erase that sin, so this is what we should do because all of us are going to commit sins, this is our nature, therefore we need to erase those sins with good deeds.

They started writing the terms of the agreement and these terms were:
Both have agreed to a complete truce for a period 10 years, during which all the people will enjoy peace and security and will not attack one another.
If anyone from the Quraish joins Muhammad without permission from his guardian or chief, he shall be returned to Quraish.
If anyone from the camp of Muhammad joins Quraish, they are not required to return him. (You see here, if someone comes from Quraish he is returned, but if someone comes from Muhammadﷺ he is not returned; this was one of the conditions that was displeasing to the Muslims).
Both sides agree that they harbour good intentions towards each other.
No theft of treachery shall be condoned.
Whoever wishes to enter into an alliance with Muhammadﷺ may do so, and whoever wants to enter into an alliance with Quraish may do so.
It is further agreed that you, Muhammad, shall return home this year without entering Makkah. At the end of one year we shall evacuate Makkah for you so that you may enter it with your followers to stay for three days only. You shall carry only the armament necessary for a traveller, namely, your swords in their sheaths; you shall not carry any other arms.

14.2.8 The Incident of Abū Jandal

They wrote that down and it was time to sign the agreement and have witnesses, and suddenly Abū Jandal appears. Abū Jandal – who is he? Subhān’Allāh, he is the son of Suhail who is writing the agreement with Muhammadﷺ. He fled from Makkah [where] he was in chains – he was imprisoned in Makkah because of being a Muslim – he heard the news that the Muslims are near, so he made it, walking through the valleys or the mountain passes until he reached to Al-Hudaybiyyah, and finally he is happy that he is with the Muslim camp. Suhail Ibn ‘Amr sees him and says, “This is the first person whose case I take up, you must return him to me.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Ajizhu Lī – Allow me to have him.” He said, “Either this or nothing.” If you refuse to give Abū Jandal, I refuse the agreement. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “We still did not sign it yet.” Suhail was persistent and he refused to back down. Rasūlullāhﷺ said to Abū Jandal, “You must be returned.” Abū jandal said, “O Rasūlullāh, would you send me back to the Disbelievers to test me in my religion?” Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Abū Jandal, be patient and endure your situation for Allāh’s sake. He will certainly provide for you and those who are suffering with you a way out of your hardship. We have made a peace agreement with these people giving them a pledge by Allāh that we will be faithful to the terms of our agreement, we shall not violate our pledges.” ‘Umar was walking next to Abū Jandal when he was being dragged away and he was pointing the handle of his sword pushing it next to Abū jandal with the intention of allowing Abū Jandal to pick up the sword and strike his father, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb says, “Fazannar Rujulu Bi Abīh – Abū Jandal preserved his father and did not want to kill him, Fanafazatul Qadiyyah – and the issue was over.” Because ‘Umar Ibn Al -Khattāb was whispering to Abū Jandal and telling him [that] these people are Disbelievers, they are worthless, the blood of any one of them is no more precious than the blood of a dog; he was inciting him to do something against his father but Abū Jandal did not take any action.

14.2.9 Sahābah Find Incident of Abū Jandal Very Difficult

To the Sahābah; men who had dignity, men who had honour, men who had their full trust in Allāh, for them to see their Muslim brother taken back to the Disbelievers was disastrous. This incident of Abū Jandal was very difficult for the Muslims to swallow. Now, Rasūlullāhﷺ only did it because he had a promise from Allāh, because we do not want anyone to argue and say that the Muslims could be handed over to the Kuffār; this was done because Rasūlullāhﷺ had a promise from Allāh that Allāh would provide them with a way out; Innallāha Jā‘ilullaka Wali Mamma‘aka Minal Mustad‘afīn Farajan Wa Makhrajā [–Verily Allāh has decreed for you and those with you relief and an exit ( from oppression and severe tribulations)]³⁴¹ This was not forecasting by Rasūlullāhﷺ, this was Wahī, this is a promise; Allāh will provide you with a way out, Allāh will provide you with a solution to your problem.

But it was very difficult on the Muslims, so when Rasūlullāhﷺ ordered the Muslims to slaughter their animals and shave their heads, no one moved. Rasūlullāhﷺ would just point out his order and they would immediately rush to perform it, but this time suddenly no one moved. Now, some scholars try to say that this was not disobedience on part of the Sahābah, they were just delaying a bit with the hope and expectation that maybe Rasūlullāhﷺ would receive a Revelation that would change the situation and maybe there is still a glimpse of hope that we might be able to go into Makkah – because they were so eager to make Tawāf; they came with that intention and now they are going back empty-handed – so they said maybe if we wait a bit the situation could change. Rasūlullāhﷺ went back and he was very angry [and] upset, and he told Umm Salamah, “The Muslims are ruining themselves. I have given them an order and they have disobeyed.”

Umm Salamah, the wise Umm Al-Mu’minīn, she said, “Messenger of Allāh, do not talk to them about it, they have been under great pressure because of all the trouble you have taken to achieve this peace settlement, and because they now realise that they have to take the long way home without achieving their purpose.” And then she told him, “If you want them to follow your order, go out and do it in front of them.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ called upon his barber to cut his hair, and then he slaughtered his camels and then all of the Sahābah immediately performed the orders of Rasūlullāhﷺ but they were in a very sad and depressed state.

14.2.10 Muslims Return from Makkah

The Muslims returned; the whole Hudaybiyyah event took between two weeks to 20 days. On the way, there were two questions on the minds of the Muslims; the first question was, ‘We were promised that we would make Tawāf, so what happened?’ Rasūlullāhﷺ told ‘Umar, “Did I tell you that you would do it this year?” ‘Umar said, “No.” Then Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Then you will make the Tawāf.” And the second question [was], ‘How can we return the Muslims to them?’ And Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “If we return someone to them Allāh will make a way out for them. If someone from them comes to us and they are Muslim, we would send them back and Allāh would provide them with a way out. But if somebody leaves from us to them, then Allāh has rid us from him.” Why do we want such a person to remain with us? Such a person who has given up his Islām and ran away; why would we want him to stay with us? Now, an exception was made to this rule with Muslim women, so Muslim women are not to be returned and there is an Āyah that was revealed to clarify that issue. So is this Āyah making Naskh of the contract or is it something that is not explicit in the contract and the Āyah clarifies it? Allāhu A’lam. This Āyah is in Sūrah Al-Mumtahanah: O you who believe! When Believing women come to you fleeing (as refugees), then examine (or test) them; Allāh knows best their faith. If you find them to be Believing women, do not send them back to the Unbelievers. Neither are they lawful (wives) for them, nor are they lawful (husbands) for them. But pay them what they have spent (as dower); and no blame attaches to you in marrying them on payment of their dowries. But hold not to the ties of Unbelieving women. Ask for what you have spent for them, and let them ask for what they have spent. That is Allāh´s judgment; He judges between you, and Allāh is Knowing, Wise. Al-Mumtahanah: 10

14.2.11 Abū Basīr

Rasūlullāhﷺ Orders Abū Basīr to Return to the Disbelievers: Now to the story of Abū Basīr. After the agreement was done, [there was] a man called Abū Basīr who belonged to the tribe of Thaqīf. Where are Thaqīf from? Thaqīf are from At-Tā’if, but he was an ally of Banū Zuhrah, and Banū Zuhrah are one of the clans of Quraish in Makkah. Abū Basīr was a Muslim; he fled from the Mushrikīn and he came to Madīnah. Three days later, two men came asking for him to be returned. One of these men was from Banū ‘Āmir Bin Lu’aÿ, one of the branches of Quraish, and the other one was a servant called Kauthar who came with him to guide him. They had a letter [and] the letter was presented to Rasūlullāhﷺ. Ubaÿ Ibn Ka’b read the letter [which said] that we have an agreement between us and you have to return this man back to us. Rasūlullāhﷺ told Abū Basīr, “You have to go back.” Abū Basīr said, “O Messenger of Allāh, are you going to send me back to the Disbelievers to test me in my religion?!” Rasūlullāhﷺ told Abū Basīr, “We have an agreement with these people and it is not appropriate for us to betray; Walā Yasahhu Fī Dīninal Ghadr – Betrayal is not allowed in our religion.” Rasūlullāhﷺ is not doing this for the Kuffār, he is not doing it to please them, he is doing it because these are the rules of Islām; even though the issue relates to Kuffār, but these are the virtues and these are the rules of Muslims that we do not betray. So Rasūlullāhﷺ is telling Abū Basīr, “Lā Yasahhu Fī Dīninal Ghadr – We cannot betray in our religion.” In our religion this is not allowed, so the Muslim is bound by the rules of Allāh in his dealings with Muslims and Non-Muslims; we follow the rule of Allāh in everything that we do. And Rasūlullāhﷺ told Abū Basīr just like he told Abū Jandal that Allāh will provide you with a way out.

Abū Basīr Kills ‘Āmirī Man and Escapes: So now Abū Basīr left with these two men. When they reached to a place called Dhul Hulaifah, there was a Masjid there and it was Zuhr time so he went and prayed two Rak‘ah, and he had some dates with him, so he told the two men who came to take him, these Mushrikīn, he said [to them], “Come and join me,” so they also brought some bread that they had and they had a meal together. In one narration it says that this ‘Āmirī man pulled out his sword and said, “I am going to use this sword of mine to strike the Aws and Khazraj from morning to night.” Abū Basīr asked him, “Is it a good sword?” He said, “Yes it is, and I have tested it.” Abū Basīr said, “Do you mind if I see it?” The moment the sword was in the hands of Abū Basīr, the man was dead; that is in one narration. In another narration it says, “They went to sleep, [and] Abū Basīr’s hands were tied so he pulled out the sword with his mouth, and then with his mouth, holding the sword, he cut the ropes tying his hands and then he struck this ‘Āmirī man and killed him.” So these are the two narrations of how he killed Al-‘Āmirī. This second man Kauthar, when he saw that, he just ran away, flying away! It says in the narration of Al-Wāqidī that rocks would fly from beneath his feet, that is how fast he was going, and he also says that he raised his dress so high that his private parts were seen; the man was so terrified, he was just flying! And he was not running towards the direction of Makkah because it was still far away, he was running towards the direction of Madīnah, and Abū Basīr was not able to catch him! Abū Basīr was running after him with the sword trying to kill him but the man was terrified. So he runs into the Masjid and when Rasūlullāhﷺ saw him he said, “Laqad Rā’a Hādhā Dhu’ran – This man has seen something that terrified him!” They asked him, “What is wrong with you?” He said, “My companion was killed and this man is going to kill me too,” and he was seeking their help. So they told him, “Calm down, do not worry.” Abū Basīr came in holding the sword in his hand and he told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “O Rasūlullāh, you have fulfilled your pledge to them and you have handed me over to them, you have done your part.” Rasūlullāh said, and this is in Al-Bukhārī, it is authentic, he said, “Wayha Ummahū! Musa’‘iru Harbil Law Kāna Ma‘ahū Rijāl –Woe to his mother!

He will incite war if he just had men with him.” The meaning of this statement is that Abū Basīr has the capability of starting a war if he has men with him. What Abū Basīr understood from this statement is that Rasūlullāh is going to hand him over again if he stays, so he decided that he should leave; he left. Al-Wāqidī, by the way, says, “Abū Basīr brought the belongings of Al-‘Āmirī to Rasūlullāhﷺ in order to divide them according to the rules of Ghanīmah – the spoils of war. Rasūlullāhﷺ refused to take them and said, “If I take them then this is violating my agreement; it is up to you to do with it what you want,” and Rasūlullāhﷺ refused to take it, so Abū Basīr was the one who took what belonged to Al-‘Āmirī.

Abū Basīr Goes to the Coast and Muslims Join Him: Now, Abū Basīr could not go back to Makkah [as] he just fled from Makkah and he had killed a man from Makkah, so what could he do? He went to the coast alone, no one with him, and all what he had with him was a handful of dates, and he split up that small handful of dates and he ate from it for three days, and that was the only food that he had. Al-Wāqidī says, “Allāh provided for him on the coast dead fish that would come to the coast and he would survive by eating from those fish.” Subhān’Allāh, the story of Abū Basīr is amazing; a man alone on the coast, with no assistance, with no help, and the people of Quraish are looking for him and he is in that difficult fearful situation – how Allāh  provided for him and gave him a way out and gave him victory.

Abū Jandal heard about that, so he fled from Makkah and joined Abū Basīr. And then some other Believers who were living under the tyrants fled and they all joined Abū Basīr. And this would make Abū Basīr the first Muslim to wage a guerrilla style warfare in the history of Islām. These men started gathering, and there is a narration according to Al-Wāqidī – Al-Wāqidī is one of the scholars of Seerah, however his narrations do not stand up to the requirements of the ‘Ulamā’ of Hadīth – but he mentions that ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb lead a letter-writing campaign to the Muslims who were living among the Mushrikīn to join Abū Basīr, and he mentioned in the letter that Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Woe to his mother, he would incite war if he just had men.” So what ‘Umar meant by this was that you men should join him and fight. Now they started executing special operations against the caravans of Quraish, so the news of these operations started to spread around and now men from Ghifār would join them, and men from Juhainah, and from Aslam, and from the different tribes; all of these young men who wanted to join in this fight, in this guerrilla warfare, were joining with Abū Basīr, until he had an army of 300 strong. 300 men with Abū Basīr and he is leading them in this war against the caravans of Quraish; whenever they would hear of a caravan of Quraish, they would attack it, take everything in it, and they would execute everyone in the caravan.

Situation Gets Unbearable for Quraish: Now, the situation became unbearable for Quraish, and Rasūlullāhﷺ did not do anything, Rasūlullāhﷺ did not involve himself in this at all, he did not condemn what Abū Basīr was doing, he did not tell him to stop; Rasūlullāhﷺ was responsible for what was happening in Madīnah, he was not responsible for what was happening on the coast, it was not part of his territory, so Rasūlullāhﷺ did not do anything to stop this. And by the way, when the news reached Quraish that Abū Basīr had killed the man from Banī ‘Āmir Bin Lu’aÿ, Suhail Ibn ‘Amr was very upset because he belonged to his tribe, so he put his back on Al -Ka’bah and he said, “I am not going to move my back until the Diyah – the blood-money, is paid for this man, and Muhammad should pay it.” Abū Sufyān said, “Inna Hādhā La Safā – This is insanity.” What does Muhammad have to do with this? Muhammad did his part and he refused to allow Abū Basīr to stay in Madīnah and he returned him; Muhammadﷺ did his part according to the agreement. So the Muslims were doing the bare minimum of what was required from them in the contract, but they were not going to pay any blood-money and Rasūlullāhﷺ was not going to tell Abū Basīr to stop what he was doing. So Suhail Bin ‘Amr said, “Then Quraish should pay his blood-money.” Abū Sufyān said, “And why should Quraish pay it? It is Banū Zuhrah who sent him.” So he said, “Then Banū Zuhrah should pay it.” Al-Akhnas Bin Shuraiq who was the head of Banū Zuhrah said, “We are not going to pay anything!” So the blood-money for this man was lost and Suhail Ibn ‘Amr received nothing. See how the Qadr of Allāh was working things in the favour of the Muslims and in the favour of Abū Basīr. The people of Quraish saw it as a victory for them in those conditions in the agreement and they would come to regret them.

Rasūlullāhﷺ Sends Letter to Abū Basīr Inviting them Back to Madīnah: So now the situation was unbearable for Quraish. Their caravans; they barely took a break and started to breathe fresh air and they were able to do business again after a few years of war, and now suddenly a new problem comes up and that is the problem of Abū Basīr. Because before Abū Basīr, before Sulh Al-Hudaybiyyah, Rasūlullāhﷺ was threatening their caravans – the Battle of Badr occurred because Rasūlullāhﷺ attacked the caravan of Abū Sufyān, and many of the Sarāyā, many of the dispatches that Rasūlullāhﷺ would send, were with the purpose and objective of striking against the business routes of Quraish – [but] now because of the peace agreement, Quraish finally would be able to do business again, but they have this problem of Abū Basīr, so they sent messages to Rasūlullāhﷺ. Subhān’Allāh, see how they turned into the situation of begging Rasūlullāhﷺ now to change those conditions in the agreement. The conditions which they were insistent on having included, now they are begging Rasūlullāhﷺ and they were asking him, “Bisilatar Raham – In the name of our relationship,” the relationship that we have; we are relatives, “we ask you in the name of the relationship that we have, that you call these people in.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ sent a letter to Abū Basīr inviting them to come back to Madīnah and asking the men who belonged to the other Bedouin tribes around Madīnah to go back to their people. The letter arrived to Abū Basīr when he was in his last moments; he was dying, and he died with the letter of Rasūlullāhﷺ on his chest. Allāh did provide for him a way out, and Abū Jandal returned with the other Muslims to Madīnah, and this is the promise of Rasūlullāhﷺ that he promised them that Allāh will find a way out for you. The thing is that the Muslims need to follow the commands of Allāh and Allāh will provide a way out for them.

14.3 Sūrah Al-Fath

14.3.1 Rasūlullāhﷺ Receives Revelation of the Opening

We move on to Sūrah Al-Fath; this Sūrah was revealed on the way back from Al-Hudaybiyyah, it was revealed in its entirety then, and when it was revealed, it says in Al-Bukhārī that Rasūlullāhﷺ sent someone to call ‘Umar, and when ‘Umar heard that Rasūlullāhﷺ was calling him he was afraid that it might be some Āyāt revealed reprimanding him for what he did; “Fa Raja’tu Wa An Azunn Annahū Nazala Fīhā Shay’” – he was afraid. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “I received Āyāt that are better than everything in the world – Nazalat ‘Alayyal Laila Sūrah Hiya Ahabb Ilayya Minad Dunyā Wamā Fīhā, Innā Fatahnā Laka Fatham Mubīnā.” Then ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb asked Rasūlullāhﷺ, “Awa Fathun Huwa? – Is it opening?” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Yes. In the name of whom my soul is in His Hands, it is an opening.”

14.3.2 Fath and Nasr

Now, just an explanation of what the meaning of Fath is and what the meaning of the word Nasr is; Fath is opening, and the original meaning is used in Arabic when something is locked and opened, that is Fath. So when a key is put into a lock and it unlocks it [then] that is called Fath. This meaning was borrowed to also mean when a land is opened, because the land is locked against the army and it is now opened, because it is not like you just walk into the territory of the enemy; it is locked, it is locked in front of your face and you have to fight to open it. Therefore the word Fath is used to refer to a victory that involves taking over land, while Nasr could be used to refer to victory in a battle. So for example, if you are talking about the victory of Badr, you say Intasarnā Fī Badr – we were victorious in Badr, but you do not say Fatahnā Badr – we opened Badr, because that was just a battlefield, it was not opened, but you can say Fath Khaibar or Fath Makkah. You can say Fath Makkah, that Makkah was opened, because there was land that was taken over in the process. So this is the differentiating meaning between Fath and victory. So Fath has an additional meaning over victory and that is taking over land.

14.3.3 How Al-Hudaybiyyah is a Fath

The question is, how could Al-Hudaybiyyah be a Fath when there was no land taken over? One of the Mufassirīn says, “It was called Fath because it is the event that led to the Opening of Makkah,” it was because of Hudaybiyyah that Makkah was opened. And Ibn Mas‘ūd said, “You think that the Opening is the Opening of Makkah, but we used to believe that the Opening was the Opening of Hudaybiyyah.” Why was it an opening? Az-Zuhrī says, “Al-Hudaybiyyah was the greatest of openings, that is because Rasūlullāhﷺ came to Al-Hudaybiyyah in a force of 1400, and when the truce was reached, people started mixing with each other and they learned and they heard about Allāh, and anyone who wanted to become Muslim was able to become Muslim,” because there is now no more threat and fear of becoming Muslim. So by the time the two years were over, the Muslims entered into Makkah in an army of 10,000. So in two years see how the Muslims multiplied; 14 years in Makkah, and then after that we have six years until Al-Hudaybiyyah, so a total of 14 and six [gives] 19 years, and the number was 1400; in just over two years, the number jumped from 1400 to 10,000. So this is the blessing of Sulh Al-Hudaybiyyah, that it gave the Muslims a chance to practise Da’wah, because it was a time when there was no risk in becoming Muslim and Muslims could travel freely now, there was no fear, so the Da’wah spread; while in Makkah even though there was no fighting, but the Muslims were persecuted, and that was why the Da’wah had a difficult time in spreading. Now the Muslims had the ability to speak with the people and the people freely could listen to Islām.

Allāh says: Indeed, We have given you, [O Muhammad], a clear conquest. That Allāh may forgive for you what preceded of your sin and what will follow… Al-Fath: 1-2

SoAllāh gave Muhammadﷺ victory, and this victory will be the moment in which Allāh will forgive for Muhammadﷺ all of his sins. Now, what sins did Rasūlullāhﷺ commit? We need to understand [and] put this into perspective; the status of a Messenger is very high and therefore shortcomings that would come from them, which for us would seem like doing a great good deed, but because of the high status of Ambiyā’, what is referred to here as sins could be things that are not appropriate for the high status of Nubuwwah, and these are the things which Allāh will forgive; we should not understand these to mean literally sins. I hope that meaning is clear; it is different than what we understand to be sins.

…and complete His favour upon you and guide you to a straight path. Al-Fath: 2

Well, Rasūlullāhﷺ was already guided, but what is meant here is that there is going to be more laws of Sharī‘ah that are [going to be] revealed, and the Āyāt will continue being revealed to Muhammadﷺ and that is the guidance.

And [that] Allāh may aid you with a mighty victory. Al-Fath: 3

And this great victory is the Opening of Makkah and what came after that; all of the other victories that the Muslims enjoyed after that because of the blessing of Sulh Al-Hudaybiyyah.

It is He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the Believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. Al-Fath: 4

Yousee, the Muslims came with the intention of ‘Umrah and they were returned back, [and] at a particular moment they gave pledge to die, so they prepared themselves mentally to fight and then there was no fighting, and then suddenly now we have to go back without making ‘Umrah, so there are a lot of changes that are very difficult to bear that went out within that short period. Because if you prepare yourself mentally for something [then] you want to do it, you are prepared to do it, and then you are prevented from doing it, [then] you try to do something else and then you are prevented from doing that; that causes a state of insecurity. Allāh says that this state of insecurity was replaced with Sakīnah – tranquillity came down. This tranquillity was the understanding that the Muslims now had in the promise of Allāh that we are coming back victorious, that Allāh has opened for us.

And then Allāh says: And to Allāh belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and ever is Allāh Knowing and Wise. Al-Fath: 4

He is reminding the Believers that to Allāh belong the forces of the heavens and the earth; soldiers of Allāh. Angels are soldiers of Allāh that came down on the Battle of Badr, wind is a soldier of Allāh that was sent on the enemy in the Ghazwatul Khandaq, rain is a soldier of Allāh that was sent on the Muslims in Badr. You do not know who the soldiers of Allāh are; Wamā Ya’lamu Junūda Rabbika Illā Hū – And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him. Al-Muddaththir: 31

Only Allāh knows who His soldiers are. When the Mu’minīn heard the first Āyāt of Sūrah Al-Fath that are promising Rasūlullāhﷺ those great promises, they said, “That is for you, what about us?” They were happy for what Allāh gave Rasūlullāhﷺ and now they wanted to know what Allāh has promised them, Allāh says:

[And] that He may admit the Believing men and the Believing women to gardens beneath which rivers flow to abide therein eternally and remove from them their misdeeds – and ever is that, in the sight of Allāh, a great attainment. Al-Fath: 5

Now,the Āyah here specifies Mu’minīn and Mu’mināt even though when Mu’minīn, when the masculine form of plural is used, it usually refers to both men and women, but here specifically women were mentioned because [although] the actions that occurred in Sulh Al-Hudaybiyyah were actions of men – it was men that were going to fight because the battles are fought by men – but because Muslim women accompanied [them], and Muslim women are the ones who have Sabr when their husbands leave, and it is Muslim women who take care of the families when the husband is absent or when he is killed Fee Sabeelillāh, [therefore] Allāh is telling the Muslim women that they will receive the high status along with the men.

We talked about what Allāh has given the Believers, and now here Allāh tells us what He has given their enemies, Allāh says: And [that] He may punish the Hypocrite men and Hypocrite women… Soalso here the women were mentioned because they are supportive of their men …and the Polytheist men and Polytheist women – those who assume about Allāh an assumption of evil nature. Upon them is a misfortune of evil nature; and Allāh has become angry with them and has cursed them and prepared for them Hell, and evil it is as a destination. Al-Fath: 6

Sohere we see that the women of the Munāfiqīn are mentioned and the women of the Mushrikīn are mentioned too, because they are the ones who keep their secrets, they are the ones who support them, they are the ones who take care of their families in their absence, so they share the burden.

And now Allāh repeats the Āyah again: And to Allāh belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth. And ever is Allāh Exalted in Might and Wise. Al-Fath: 7

Sothis was mentioned with the Believers and now it is mentioned with the Non-Believers; with the Believers Allāh has soldiers fighting for them, and here with the Non-Believers Allāh has soldiers fighting against them. And then Allāh says: Indeed, We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. Al-Fath: 8

Here we see three characteristics of Rasūlullāhﷺ; number one, Shāhid – witness, and what is a witness? A witness is someone who approves or disapproves a claim that is made by someone else. So if someone goes to court and he makes a claim, you bring a witness to approve that claim or disprove it, and this is the role of Rasūlullāhﷺ; he will approve the claims of the Believers and he will disapprove the claims of the Non-Believers. And then the next characteristic is Mubasshir – he gives glad-tidings to the Believers, [and then] Wa Nadhīr – he delivers the warnings to the enemies of Allāh.

[Then Allāh says:] That you [people] may believe in Allāh and His Messenger and honour him and respect the Prophet and exalt Allāh morning and afternoon. Al-Fath: 9

And then Allāh talks about Bay‘at Ar-Ridwān: Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, [O Muhammad] – they are actually pledging allegiance to Allāh. The Hand of Allāh is over their hands…

Subhān’Allāh, Allāh is telling the Believers that you did not give your pledge to Rasūlullāh but you gave it to Allāh, and the Hand of Allāh is above their hands. …So he who breaks his word only breaks it to the detriment of himself… And the Mufassirīn say that none of these Sahābah violated their oath. All of these 1400 who gave the pledge to Rasūlullāhﷺ, none of them violated their oath. …And he who fulfills that which he has promised Allāh – He will give him a great reward. Al-Fath:10

And that is why the ones who gave the Bay‘ah to Rasūlullāhﷺ under the tree hold a very high status. Now, notice here that Yubāyi‘ūnak [in Innalladhīna Yubāyi‘ūnaka Innamā Yubāyi‘ūnallāh]is used in the present form even though it was a past event, and that is to bring this image to us alive to shows us the importance of what occurred at that moment.

Those who remained behind of the Bedouins… The desert Arabs [or Bedouins] – Al-A’rāb, they are the ones who did not come with the Believers in Sulh Al -Hudaybiyyah. Why did they not come? They felt that Quraish are too strong and the Muslims will be killed, so they stayed behind. Allāh says: Those who remained behind of the Bedouins will say to you, “Our properties and our families occupied us…” Sothis is the excuse they came forth with; we stayed behind because of our families and because of our wealth. Now Subhān’Allāh, the 1400 who went with Rasūlullāhﷺ did not have any wealth or did not have any families?! So this is not a suitable excuse in the Eyes of Allāh. The fact that you have a family does not excuse you from going out Fee Sabeelillāh, the fact that you have business to take care of and a job to attend to does not excuse you from going Fee Sabeelillāh, so it is an invalid excuse. And then Allāh says [they will say to you]: “…so ask forgiveness for us.”… They were asking Rasūlullāhﷺ to [ask Allāh to] forgive them. …They say with their tongues what is not within their hearts. Say, “Then who could prevent Allāh at all if He intended for you harm or intended for you benefit? Rather, ever is Allāh, with what you do, Acquainted…” Al-Fath: 11

And then Allāh tells us the real reason why they stayed behind: “…But you thought that the Messenger and the Believers would never return to their families, ever, and that was made pleasing in your hearts. And you assumed an assumption of evil and became a people ruined.” And whoever has not believed in Allāh and His Messenger – then indeed, We have prepared for the Disbelievers a Blaze. And to Allāh belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. And ever is Allāh Forgiving and Merciful…

…Those who remained behind will say when you set out toward the war booty to take it, “Let us follow you.”… NowSubhān’Allāh, they refused to join Rasūlullāhﷺ in Hudaybiyyah because they thought that Rasūlullāh and the Sahābah would be defeated, they saw that things were contrary to their beliefs; now Allāh has promised the Believers Ghanīmah – spoils of war, so these A’rāb want to join; for Dunyā they are willing to join, when it is for Allāh they do not want to join. As a punishment for them, they were prevented from going out with the Muslims in Khaibar; [this was] as a punishment for them. When they were told not to join in Khaibar, they said, ‘You are jealous, you want to take the spoils for yourself – Yurīdūna Ayyubaddilū Kalāmallāh.’ SoAllāh says: …Those who remained behindwill say when you set out toward the war booty to take it, “Let us follow you.” They wish to change the words of Allāh. Say, “Never will you follow us. Thus did Allāh say before.” So they will say, “Rather, you envy us.” But [in fact] they were not understanding except a little. Al-Fath: 12-15

These are people who do not have understanding, they do not have Fiqh, their understanding is limited to Dunyā, they measure things in dollar sign – that is how they see things. Everything for them is worldly, they are attached to Dunyā, their hearts are not attached to Allāh and not attached to Ākhirah. They do not think about the unseen, they do not think about the future; what happens to us after death, they are limited to the understanding of this Dunyā – a secular way of thinking.

You see, they will be punished from attending Khaibar only, but after that they can join. So now Allāh says: Say to those who remained behind of the Bedouins, “You will be called to [face] a people of great military might;… Ulī Ba’sin Shadīd –they are very tough in fighting. …you may fight them, or they will submit. So if you obey, Allāh will give you a good reward; but if you turn away as you turned away before, He will punish you with a painful punishment.” Al-Fath: 16

This tough enemy that Allāh told them that they will meet, some say it is talking about the Murtaddīn who followed Musailamah Al -Kadhdhāb, and some say it is talking about the Persians and the Romans – Wallāhu A’lam.

There is not upon the blind any guilt or upon the lame any guilt or upon the ill any guilt [for remaining behind]… These are excuses from fighting in Jihād. …And whoever obeys Allāh and His Messenger – He will admit him to gardens beneath which rivers flow; but whoever turns away – He will punish him with a painful punishment. Al-Fath: 17

And Allāh says again about the ones who pledged allegiance under the tree: Allāh’s Good Pleasure… and that is why this Bay‘ah is called the Bay‘ah of Pleasure – Ar-Ridwān. …was on the Believers when they swore Fealty to thee under the Tree: He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down Tranquillity to them; and He rewarded them with a speedy Victory. Al-Fath: 18

This tree was a tree that was known after that and some Muslims would come and pray next to this tree because of the special occasion that occurred there and this tree is mentioned in Qur’ān, so ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb ordered that this tree be cut down because ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was worried that this could lead to Shirk, it could end up being like DhātAnwāt which existed in the time of Jāhiliyyah; the people of Jāhiliyyah used to think that this tree, DhātAnwāt, would give them Barakah. So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb ordered [for] this tree to be cut down even though it was a special tree – Rasūlullāhﷺ sat under it and the tree is mentioned in Qur’ān – but in Islām it is substance and not symbols that count.

And much war booty which they will take. And ever is Allāh Exalted in Might and Wise. Al-Fath: 19

SoAllāh promised the Believers bounties; the first of them was Khaibar, and then many other gains will they acquire, and this is talking about the Ghanā’im that the Muslims will win over until the Day of Judgement.

Allāh has promised you much booty that you will take [in the future] and has hastened for you this [victory] and withheld the hands of people from you – that it may be a sign for the Believers and [that] He may guide you to a straight path. And [He promises] other [victories] that you were [so far] unable to [realize] which Allāh has already encompassed. And ever is Allāh, over all things, competent. And if those [Makkans] who disbelieve had fought you, they would have turned their backs [in flight]. Then they would not find a protector or a helper. Al-Fath: 20-22

So if the Disbelievers are going to retreat, why did the Muslims not fight them? Because Allāh says that if they would have fought you, they would have been defeated.

Sunnatallāhillatī Qad Khalat Min Qablu Walan Tajida Li Sunnatillāhi Tabdīlā – [This is] the established way of Allāh which has occurred before. And never will you find in the way of Allāh any change. Al-Fath: 23

Soit is a law of Allāh that the Believers will win; they might lose in a battle but eventually they win, because Allāh says: Wal ‘Āqibatu Lil Muttaqīn – And the [best] outcome is for the righteous. Al-A’rāf: 128

Yousee, it is the law of nature, just like we have laws of physics or laws of chemistry, this is a law; Believers will win – they might lose a battle but they win the war. Allāh says: Walayansurannallāhu Mayyansuruh – And Allāh will surely support those who support Him. Al-Hajj: 40

And Allāh says: Wal ‘Āqibatu Lil Muttaqīn – And the (blessed) end is for the Muttaqūn [pious]. Al-A’rāf: 128

And Allāh says: O you who have believed, if you support Allāh, He will support you and plant firmly your feet. Muhammad: 7

Sothe Muslims, yes they lost in Uhud, but eventually they won the war against Quraish. The Muslims might have lost some battles against the Romans but eventually they won. They might have lost in some battles with the Persians but eventually they conquered the entire domain of the Persian Empire. So this is a promise from Allāh; as long as they are fulfilling the commands of Allāh, and as long as they are Believers, and as long as they are giving Nusrah to the Religion of Allāh, Allāh has promised them with victory.

If this is the case, that the enemy would flee, why did they not fight them? Allāh says: And it is He who withheld their hands from you and your hands from them within [the area of] Makkah after He caused you to overcome them. And ever is Allāh of what you do, Seeing. Al-Fath: 24

 We talked about this incident when the Kuffār sent 40 men in order to take prisoners from the Muslims, [and] they ended up falling as prisoners in the hands of the Muslims, and then Rasūlullāhﷺ released them. So here, Allāh is telling us that Allāh prevented war, it was prevented by the Muslims discovering these Kuffār beforehand and that prevented the Kuffār from taking prisoners, because if they took prisoners then war would have occurred. And then Allāh stopped the war by Rasūlullāhﷺ freeing the 40 men from the Kuffār, because if he did not then that could have possibly led to war. So why all of this? Why was war prevented? Allāh says: They are the ones who disbelieved and obstructed you from Al-Masjid Al-Harām while the offering was prevented from reaching its place of sacrifice… [And] see here: …And if not for Believing men and Believing women whom you did not know – that you might trample them and there would befall you because of them dishonour without [your] knowledge – [you would have been permitted to enter Makkah]… It was because there were some Mu’minīn in Makkah; Allāh prevented war from happening to save those Mu’minīn, because if the Muslims made their way through Makkah by force there would have been bloodshed, and some Muslim men and Muslim women would have been killed, and that is why the Qadr of Allāh was to hold back the Muslims and the Kuffār from war. And also Allāh had a plan for the people of Makkah, Allāh says: …[This was so] that Allāh might admit to His mercy whom He willed… Many of the people of Makkah were admitted into the mercy of Allāh; they became Muslim. …If they had been apart [from them],… if the Believers had been apart from the Non-Believers …We would have punished those who disbelieved among them with painful punishment. Al-Fath: 25

Sothis was a Qadr of Allāh that prevented war; it was not a command of Allāh to the Muslims. This is not Amr Shar‘ī, it is not a command from Allāh to the Muslims not to fight, but it was Amr Qadarī, it was a decree of Allāh to the Muslims not to fight.

When those who disbelieved had put into their hearts chauvinism – the chauvinism of the time of ignorance. But Allāh sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the Believers and imposed upon them the word of righteousness, and they were more deserving of it and worthy of it. And ever is Allāh, of all things, Knowing. Al-Fath: 26

If the Believers would have acted in haste, then these things that Allāh mentions, the Ma‘arra could have happened, but they were restrained and they were patient and this was good for them in the long-term.

Certainly has Allāh showed to His Messenger the vision in truth… You remember we talked about the vision that Rasūlullāhﷺ saw that he is making Tawāf around Al-Ka’bah? So Allāh is saying that that will happen, however it did not happen at that particular time, but it will happen in the future and it did. …You will surely enter al-Masjid Al-Harām, if Allāh wills, in safety, with your heads shaved and [hair] shortened, not fearing [anyone]… And Subhān’Allāh, when they did make Hajj with Rasūlullāh they were not fearing anyone when that happened in Hajjatul Wadā’ – the Farewell Hajj. …He knew what you did not know and has arranged before that a conquest near [at hand] Al-Fath: 27

And Allāh says: It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion. And sufficient is Allāh as Witness. Al-Fath: 28

SoAllāh tells us that the Religion of Allāh that was sent through Muhammadﷺ, and the guidance that was sent with Muhammadﷺ, will manifest over all religion.

And then in the last Āyah, and this is an Āyah that continues with virtues for the Sahābah, Allāh says: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allāh; and those with him are forceful against the Disbelievers, merciful among themselves… Remember we said that the Disbelievers refused to write down Muhammad Ar-Rasūlullāh, that he is the Messenger of Allāh, they refused to testify and witness that he is the Messenger of Allāh, so Allāh revealed it in Qur’ān that Allāh has sent Muhammadﷺ as a Messenger and Muhammad is Rasūlullāh. And here we have characteristics of the Sahābah:

[…Ashiddā’u ‘Alal Kuffār – …and those with him] are forceful against the Disbelievers…

…Ruhamā’u Baynahum –merciful among themselves…Unfortunately we find that there are some Muslims who are the total opposite of this description, so they are forceful against the Believers and they are very merciful towards the Disbelievers.

…You see them bowing and prostrating [in Prayer], seeking bounty from Allāh and [His] pleasure… Soone of their most prominent characteristics is their Salāh; you look at them [and] you will see that they are in Sujūd or they are in Rukū’.

…Their mark is on their faces from the trace of prostration… Soprostration leaves a trace on the faces. It is not talking about the dark mark that is on the forehead, it is talking about the light that shines from the face because of Sujūd.

…That is their description in the Torāh. And their description in the Gospel is as a plant which produces its offshoots and strengthens them so they grow firm and stand upon their stalks, delighting the sowers – so that Allāh may enrage by them the Disbelievers. Allāh has promised those who believe and do righteous deeds among them forgiveness and great reward. Al-Fath: 29

Sothe analogy or the similitude of the Believers in the Gospel is like a plant that grows until it is firm and it is unbreakable, and that angers the Disbelievers.

These are the Āyāt of Sūrah Al-Fath that were revealed after this great opening of Sulh Al-Hudaybiyyah.

14.3.4 Betrayal of Bedouins who Came to Rasūlullāhﷺ Seeking Help

We will begin Inshā’Allāh with some events from the sixth year of Hijrah before we move on to the story of Ibn Al-Akwa’. This event is mentioned in Sahīh Al-Bukhārī and in Muslim and in some other books of Hadīth, and it is also mentioned in the Books of Seerah by Ibn Is’hāq and Al-Wāqidī, so the narration is authentic. Some men from the tribe of ‘Ukl, and in one narration [from] ‘Urainah, these men – some narration say that there are eight of them – they were extremely poor suffering from malnutrition. They were Bedouins from outside of Madīnah, so they came to Rasūlullāhﷺ in Madīnah and they accepted Islām and they were asking for Sadaqah. They became Muslim in Madīnah and they stayed with Ahl As-Suffah. Ahl As-Suffah, I think we talked about them before in the initial stage of Madīnah. Towards the back of Al-Masjid An-Nabawī there was a place that was shaded from the sun in which the homeless or poor of the Sahābah from the Muhājirīn who had nowhere to stay would stay in that place, and the Ansār would bring food to them or would invite them, so you would have one Ansārī take one of them with them, some of them would take two, and then you have people like Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah who would take 10; they would take 10 of these men from Ahl As-Suffah and would invite them. So these eight men became Muslim and they stayed with Ahl As-Suffah. They were feeling unhealthy, and this is something well-known about Madīnah; at the time, the climate of Madīnah was unhealthy. In one narration, ‘Ā’ishah  said [that] when they first made Hijrah to Madīnah, they suffered bouts of fever, and she said that this area called Bat’hān was full of stagnant water, so Allāhu A’lam is this malaria related fever or is it typhoid, or what exactly is it? Is it bacterial infections, viral infections? Allāhu A’lam, but diseases were endemic to Madīnah. And by the way, we also talked about some lines of poetry from Abū Bakr and Bilāl; when they came to Madīnah they all became extremely ill with very strong fevers.

These eight men who came into Madīnah did not like the climate, it was not befitting of their constitution, so they asked Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “We are people who are shepherds and we are not urban people who are settled, and Madīnah is unhealthy for us.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “Well then I will give you permission to go out with my shepherd outside of Madīnah, and I order you to drink from the milk and urine of the camels of Sadaqah.” So they went out and they started drinking from the milk of the camels and the urine of these camels until they became healthy, and it says in one narration, “Fa ‘Ādat Ilaihim Alwānuhum – So their natural colour came back to them.” This might be one indication that they were suffering from jaundice or some liver disease which caused their colours to change, Allāhu A’lam, and now after drinking the milk and urine of these camels they became healthy again. Well, after becoming healthy, they were ungrateful; what they did was that they killed the shepherd of Rasūlullāhﷺ, and they stole the camels, and they became Murtadd – they had given up Islām, and they fled; this was in return to the generosity of Rasūlullāhﷺ. The news reached to Rasūlullāhﷺ and by the time the sun was rising they were already brought back. And it says that Rasūlullāhﷺ made a Du‘ā’ against them; Allāhumma ‘Ammī ‘Alaihim Tarīq Waja‘alhā ‘Alaihim Addiyaqa Min Miski Jamal –Rasūlullāhﷺ made a Du‘ā’ against them [asking Allāh] to blind them and to make their paths narrow, so they became lost and they were brought back. And in one narration from Seerah, it says that when the news reached to Rasūlullāhﷺ, he was sitting with 20 young men from Al-Ansār, and these are the ones whom Rasūlullāhﷺ dispatched to bring back these robbers.

What did Rasūlullāhﷺ do? How did he treat them? It says in this narration by Bukhārī, “ Fa Amara Bi Masāmīr Fa Uhmiyat Fa Kawāhum Bihā –He ordered that their eyes be branded by hot iron nails, Wa Qatta‘a Aydiyahum Warjulahum –and he severed their arms and their legs, Wa Alqāhum Fil Harrati Yastasqūna Falā Yusqawn –and he left them in Al-Harrah.” Al-Harrah is an area next to Madīnah [with] volcanic tracks, covered with black volcanic rocks; this is Al- Harrah, it is right next to Madīnah. “They were left there and they would ask for water to drink and they would not be provided with it, Hattā Mātu – until they died, Walam Yahsimahum.” Al-Hasm [is] when a limb was severed they would use boiling oil to stop the flow of blood, to stop the bleeding; in their case this was not done to them so they bled till death.

14.3.5 Lessons from Hadīth of the Bedouin Robbers

Three points to make on this Hadīth:

Using Urine: Number One: Using urine. Is urine Najis or Tāhir? So what is the Fiqh of it? Without going into much detail – one could refer to the books of Fiqh for this – some scholars, based on this Hadīth, [give] the Hukm that the urine and dung of edible animals is Tāhir, and this is the opinion of Al-Imām Ahmad and Imām Mālik, while the rest of the ‘Ulamā’ see that it is Najis.

Using Urine as Medicine: Number Two: Using urine as a cure, as a medicine. This has been a controversial issue and the Non-Believers have used this as a gate in which they would attack Hadīth through, and also the ones who reject Hadīth and try to discredit Bukhārī and Muslim, they also use this Hadīth as an attacking point against the Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ. And the Disbelievers made a big deal about this issue of using urine as medicine. Now, I do not want to go into a lot of details regarding this point because it is outside the context of Seerah, but just briefly, I would like to say that urine has been used as medicine in many cultures around the world, and even in modern medicine it is used as an ingredient in some drugs, for example, there is a drug called Premarin which is, and this quote I am reading from Wikipedia, “The commercial name for a compound drug consisting primarily of conjugated estrogens isolated from mare’s urine. It is manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and has been marketed since 1942.” So from 1942 until today this drug is widely prescribed and it is still used, and it says, “Premarin has been one of the most widely used drugs in the United States.” So if there are medicinal³⁷³ benefits in a particular ingredient in urine, then modern medicine does not see any problem in using it, but because it is mentioned in Bukhārī and Muslim and attributed to Muhammadﷺ, it is a big deal. Without testing the validity of the prescription, without looking into whether it is beneficial or not, they are attacking with preconceived notions. Now, as a Muslim, we should believe in it as long as the Sanad of it is authentic and that is the case; we do not have to test it pharmaceutically to prove the benefit of it; as long as Rasūlullāhﷺ said so we believe it, that is the position of the Muslims. But with the Non-Muslims, they should have put this to trial and experimented with it before attacking the Muslims for it, and there are some research papers that were done on the anti- viral qualities of camel urine and the effect that it can have on the liver, and one can refer back to these research papers for more details. The thing is that it says in the Hadīth that they were cured from the disease that they had, and someone with a medical background can use the different narrations to try to find leads to what particular disease these people suffered from. I recall that in one narration, I think it is in Muslim, it says that they suffered from a digestive disease, but in another one it says that their colours changed, so it could be jaundice or it could be hepatitis or some problem with the liver. Anyway, one can compile all of the different narrations and try to find out what the disease is and then make an experiment on the different ingredients of camel urine to see how it healed them from that particular disease that they suffered from.

The Extreme Punishment These Men were Subjected to: The third point is the extreme punishment that these men were subjected to. Brothers and sisters, we never find in the Seerah of Rasūlullāhﷺ, before this event or after this event, any punishment similar to the punishment that these men were subjected to. So the question is why? Why was this particularly severe punishment prescribed by Rasūlullāhﷺ ? And also this is a point that the Disbelievers use against Muhammadﷺ to try to prove the so called violence that is in the Sunnah in Islām. Well, as I mentioned, we never find anything similar to it before or after, this is the only time in which we find such a severe punishment occurring. Abū Qulābah, one of the narrators of the Hadīth which is in Bukhārī, he said after mentioning the Hadīth, “Fa Hā’ulā’i Qatalū Wa Saratū Wa Kafarū Ba’da Īmānihim Wa Hārabullāha Wa Rasūlah – These men murdered and they stole and they disbelieved after believing and they fought against Allāh and His Messenger.” So all of these crimes combined justify that punishment, because all of these are severe crimes; murder, and then you have stealing, and then you have Riddah, and then you have Hirābah which is armed robbery, and this carries a very severe punishment which is mentioned in Qur’ān that one arm should be cut off and one foot should be cut off. And in Hadīth Muslim he says that the reason why their eyes were branded was because they branded the eyes of the shepherd of Rasūlullāhﷺ, Yasār. So in Muslim it says that the reason why their eyes were branded was because they branded the eyes of the shepherd so they were treated Bil Mithl, they were treated equally; Qisās – retribution. Also, Ibn Hajar comments that some of the ‘Ulamā’ see that this Hukm, this punishment, is abrogated – Mansūkh. Qatādah used to say, “We were told that Rasūlullāhﷺ,after that, if he gave a Khutbah, he would encourage people to give Sadaqah and he would prohibit them from mutilation, from maiming.” But this is not an agreed upon opinion, it is one opinion that this has been abrogated, some of the ‘Ulamā’ say that it is not abrogated but Rasūlullāhﷺ treated them that way as Bil Mithl – equally, as they had treated the shepherd of Rasūlullāhﷺ. And we know that in Islām if a hundred people gather together to kill one person then all of them are subjected to the Qisās – retribution. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb says, “If the residents of San‘ā’ come together to kill one man then all of them will be executed for that.” This is the Hukm of Sharī‘ah in Hudūd.

So these are some comments on this Hadīth in Bukhārī, and as Ibn Kathīr mentions, it occurred within the period of the sixth year of Hijrah.

14.3.6 Other Sarāyā that Occurred in Sixth Year of Hijrah

Some other events that occurred during this year [the sixth year of Hijrah], these are small Sarāyā – dispatches:

‘Ukāshah Bin Mahsan Sent to Ghimr Marzūq: In Rabī’ Al-Awwal of that year, Rasūlullāhﷺ sent ‘‘Ukāshah Bin Mahsan with a force of 40 men to Ghimr Marzūq. The enemy fled from him and he encamped at their wells, he then sent some men in pursuit of them and took 200 of their camels which he led to Madīnah, these were taken as Ghanīmah.

Abū ‘Ubaidah Dispatched to Dhul Qissah: Also that year was the dispatch of Abū ‘Ubaidah to Dhul Qissah. He had with him 40 men. He made for them on foot, reaching them in the morning while it was still dark. They fled from him into the mountain heights. He captured one of their men and brought him to the Messenger of Allāh.

Dispatch of Muhammad Ibn Maslamah: And then there was the dispatch of Muhammad Ibn Maslamah with a force of 10 men. The enemy hid from him until night, and then all of the men of Muhammad Bin Maslamah were killed except [him], he escaped but he was wounded. Al-Ayyām Duwal – one day you win the next day you lose, that is the Sunnah of Allāh  in Dunyā, so one cannot stop the struggle just because of suffering a setback. Muhammad Ibn Maslamah was the only one from this group who escaped alive.

Zayd Bin Hārithah Sent to Three Sarāyā: And then Rasūlullāhﷺ sent Zayd Bin Hārithah to Al-Jamūm. He also sent Zayd Ibn Hārithah to Banū Tha’labah, [and] he sent Zayd Ibn Hārithah to Al-‘Īs. Here we see Zayd Ibn Hārithah sent to lead three Sarāyā within one year, and this shows us the level of the trust Rasūlullāhﷺ had in Zayd Ibn Hārithah who was his former slave and Rasūlullāhﷺ freed him, and then Rasūlullāhﷺ married him to a woman who belonged to the nobility of Makkah, Zainab Bint Jahsh , we talked about her story. And this shows us again the trust that Rasūlullāhﷺ had in Zayd Ibn Hārithah, a man who without Islām would never imagine in his life that he would lead an army, he would not even imagine that he would be a free man honoured in the society let alone lead an army that had some of the great men of Quraish or Al-Khazraj or Al-Aws. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ would appoint him some time later, as we will talk about, to lead in one of the great battles of Islāmic history – Ghazwat Mu’tah, only to be honoured by Allāh and die as a Shahīd.

‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib Sent to Banī Sa‘eed Bin Bakr: Rasūlullāhﷺ sent ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib to Banī Sa‘eed Bin Bakr, and they were sent because Rasūlullāhﷺ heard that these people were planning on giving the Jews of Khaibar some assistance, so Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to prevent that and he sent ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib them. They did not fight; they fled from ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib. He captured one of their men and this man admitted to being a spy for them, and they retrieved some information from him. So you can see from this story that Rasūlullāhﷺ was very aware of what was happening around him, he had very strong intelligence of everything that was going on in Arabia. He had, for example, Khuzā‘ah acting as intelligence officers for him getting information from Quraish, he had information from the areas in which the Jews were living, he had intelligence coming to him for what was happening in Ghatafān; Rasūlullāh was not taken by surprise, in fact he would take his enemies by surprise. We can see that not only were the Muslims strong in the battlefield, but they were very strong in reconnaissance and gathering information.

‘Abdur Rahmān Ibn ‘Awf Sent to Dawmatul Jandal: ‘Abdur Rahmān Ibn ‘Awf was sent to Dawmatul Jandal, and the instructions were to go and give them Da’wah to Islām. If they accept Islām, then offer to marry the daughter of their king. And that did happen, and ‘Abdur Rahmān Ibn ‘Awf married the daughter of their king Al-Usbagh Al-Kalbī, her name was Tamādur and she was married to ‘Abdur Rahmān Ibn ‘Awf .

These are some scattered events that occurred in the sixth year of Hijrah. We [now] move on to the seventh year.