15. The Battle of Al-Khaibar

15. The Battle of Al-Khaibar

15.1 Muslims March Out to Khaibar

Now, Rasūlullāhﷺ came back from Al-Hudaybiyyah. Mūsā Bin ‘Uqbah – and by the way, Mūsā Bin ‘Uqbah was an author of Seerah, and the scholars say that his narrations are among the best when it comes to the Seerah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, however, the book that he authored does not exist with us today, what exists with us today are narrations from him by other scholars, so other scholars like Ibn Is’hāq, like Al-Wāqidī, they would narrate from Mūsā Bin ‘Uqbah – Mūsā Bin ‘Uqbah says that 20 days after the arrival of Rasūlullāhﷺ to Madīnah from Al-Hudaybiyyah, he set out to Khaibar. Now, Al- Hudaybiyyah was a truce between Rasūlullāhﷺ and Quraish, and the agreement was that they would stop fighting for 10 years.

Now, rather than the Muslims taking rest from a very difficult five years of continuous fighting with Quraish and the allies of Quraish, no, they did not take rest; only 20 days after the arrival in Madīnah, Rasūlullāhﷺ is marching out to Khaibar. Rasūlullāhﷺ now has a peace agreement with Quraish, but there is the big problem of Al-Yahūd who were continuously conspiring against the Muslims, so Rasūlullāhﷺ saw this as the appropriate moment to once and for all stop the Yahūd from their conspiracies against the Muslims, and the only remaining stronghold of Al-Yahūd – there was still another community of Yahūd in Taimā, but this was the only remaining stronghold of Al-Yahūd – and this was Khaibar, in fact it was the strongest area of Al-Yahūd in the Arabian Peninsula. On the way, ‘Āmir Bin Al -Akwa’ was asked to make Nashīd for them; the Bedouin way of singing poetry, and this is Hidā, and Subhān’Allāh, this had an effect on the camels; the camels would become active and faster and stronger in their march if they [had] become tired when they heard these Anāshīd. So ‘Āmir was told to make this Nashīd and he said, Allāhumma without You we would not have been rightly guided Nor would we have given alms nor prayed We beseech You to forgive what we have done wrong May we be sacrificed for You We beseech You to send down Your serenity upon us To make our feet secure when we meet our enemies And if they cry out trying to subvert us, we will refuse Already have they loudly sought others help against us

When Rasūlullāhﷺ heard these wonderful words from ‘Āmir Bin Akwa’, Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Yarhamuhullāh – May Allāh have mercy on him.” And the Sahābah knew that when Rasūlullāhﷺ singles out an individual for mercy, that means he will die as a Shahīd. Subhān’Allāh, that is the understanding they had, as if Shahādah and mercy are related. So when Rasūlullāhﷺ would say Yarhamuhullāh – May Allāh have mercy on him, when Rasūlullāhﷺ would make that Du‘ā’, the manifestation of this Du‘ā’ would come in the form of Shahādah, in the form of martyrdom. So ‘Umar Ibn Al -Khattāb said, “Wajabat Yā Rasūlullāh – It has become inevitable. Lawlā Matta’tana Bih – Iwish you had allowed us to enjoy his company longer.” So they are not protesting that ‘Āmir would become a Shahīd, they are happy for him that he would receive this blessing from Allāh , but they just wanted to enjoy him longer because they enjoyed his company, and they would have desired that they would have spent more time with him.

15.1.1 Muslims Reach Khaibar and Al-Yahūd Panic

The Muslims reached to the Yahūd of Khaibar, and as we said, Rasūlullāh would take his enemies by surprise. They set out in the morning to go out of their fortresses into their farms, so they came out with their farming equipment ready for work, and they suddenly see the army in the horizon. They ran back into their fortresses saying, “Muhammad Wal Khamīs! Muhammad Wal Khamīs!” Muhammad Wal Khamīs; Al-Khamīs means the army. “Muhammad and the army! Muhammad and the army! Muhammad and the army!” These were their words when they were fleeing and running away from Muhammadﷺ. Now, these Yahūd of Khaibar used to brag and say that fighting us is not like fighting the rest of the Arabs, and they were proud and happy and content with their fortresses and their strong training and the famous fighting men among them such as Marhab and others, but when they saw the army of Muhammadﷺ, they fled and ran away, and this is because Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “Nusirtu Birru’b Nasīrat Shahr – I was given victory through fear.” Allāh puts fear in the hearts of the enemies of Muhammadﷺ.

15.1.2 Rasūlullāhﷺ Lays Siege to Fortresses

Rasūlullāhﷺ laid siege to the fortresses of Khaibar; we are not talking about one fortress but many fortresses scattered around on hilltops and mountains – very well protected area. The news spread and the Arabs knew very well the strength of the location and the strength of Al-Yahūd in that area, and Huwaitib Ibn ‘Abdil ‘Uzzā who was one of the members of the envoys who met with Rasūlullāh in Hudaybiyyah, when he went back to Makkah, he narrates this and he said, “When I left from Al-Hudaybiyyah, I knew that Muhammad and his followers would be victorious.” This is the impression that people [had]. When people would come and meet with Rasūlullāhﷺ and see him and hear him, and they would see the conduct of the Muslims, they would carry a certain impression, as we see with ‘Urwah Bin Mas‘ūd, the impression he had was that the way Rasūlullāhﷺ was treated by his followers was like no other in the world, it was unique, and he also came back with the impression that his followers were never going to give him up no matter what happened. Huwaitib Ibn ‘Abdil ‘Uzzā came back with the impression that these people are going to definitely win, so he and some other men from Quraish had a bet. Some of the people of Quraish like Safwān Ibn Umayyah, they were for Al-Yahūd, they said the Yahūd will win because of the reputation that they had, while Huwaitib said [that] Muhammadﷺ will win, and the wager was a hundred camels; that was the bet, a hundred camels. So the news had spread and it had gained the interest of people all over to the extent that they would have a bet about it in Makkah.

15.1.3 ‘Āmir Ibn Al-Akwa’ Becomes Shahīd

During the siege of one of the fortresses, one of the fighters of Al-Yahūd, I think it is Marhab, he came out asking for a duel, challenging the Muslims, so ‘Āmir Ibn Al -Akwa’ is the one who came out to meet him. They exchanged a few blows with their swords and then Marhab struck ‘Āmir with his sword, but the sword got stuck in the shield that ‘Āmir had; it was leather or wood, so it held this sword in it and Marhab was unable to pull it out. So ‘Āmir took this as an opportunity to strike at Marhab and kill him, but his sword was short so it came back on him and it struck the upper part of his knee, and it hit an artery or a vein and ‘Āmir bled to death and he died. So now some people started saying that ‘Āmir has lost all of his deeds because he has committed suicide. Salamah, who was his nephew, was very upset with that and depressed with what the people were saying, and Rasūlullāhﷺ saw that on his face so he asked him, “What is wrong with you?” He said, “People are claiming that my uncle ‘Āmir, Batula ‘Amalun – that he lost all of his deeds.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Kadhabū – Whoever said that lied, he will receive a double reward,” and then he raised both of his fingers to signify double the reward. “Innahū Jāhidun Mujāhid, Qallamā Mash‘a’ ‘Arabiyun Mithlih –He was a Mujāhid who struggled his best and a few Arabs have matched him.” So this is a badge of honour that ‘Āmir Ibn Al-Akwa’ received from Rasūlullāhﷺ. And what we just talked about earlier, when Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Yarhamuhullāh,” the Du‘ā’ was accepted and it was accepted very soon; he was killed in the same battle, Ghazwat Khaibar.

15.1.4 ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib – A Man who Loves Allāh and His Messenger and Allāh and His Messenger Love Him

There was a particular fortress that was giving the Muslims a hard time; one after another Rasūlullāhﷺ would appoint leaders to open it and they would all fail. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ, one evening, said, “La’u’tiyannar Rāyata Ghadan, Rajulan Yaftahullāhu ‘Alā Yadaihi, Yuhibbullāha Wa Rasūlah, Wa Yuhibbuhullāhu Wa Rasūlah –Tomorrow Iwill give the banner to a man whom Allāh will open for him, he loves Allāh and His Messenger, and Allāh and His Messenger love him.” What a wonderful – what a wonderful – honour! Allāh will open this fortress for him, he loves Allāh and His Messenger and Allāh and His Messenger love him. Sahl Ibn Sa’d said, “Next day in the morning, all of the Sahābah went to Rasūlullāh showing themselves in front of him to turn his attention towards them! Because every one of them wanted that honour for himself,” and this is in Bukhārī. And I want you to pay attention to this statement by ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, it is a striking statement, he said, and this is in Muslim, “Famā Ahbabtul Imārata Qatt Illā Yawma Idhin – Inever loved position of authority, ever, except on that day.”

Loving to be an Amīr, loving to be in a position of authority, is something that everyone has; the love of being famous, the love of being known, the love of being in authority, the love of being in power, this is something natural to humans. However, in Islām, we are not supposed to seek for positions of authority, to be dominant over others, to give orders; that is something that is discouraged. When Al-‘Abbās came to Rasūlullāhﷺ, being the uncle of Rasūlullāhﷺ, asking him to appoint him in a position of authority, Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Innā Lā Nu’tī Hādhal Amr Ahadan Sa’alahū Aw Harasa ‘Alaih –We do not give this to someone who asks for it or someone who is eager to have it.” This is the Tarbiyah of Rasūlullāhﷺ, this is the Tarbiyah of Islām, and it reached to the level that ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb does not even desire it, so it is not like he is suppressing his desire for it, he does not want it; he had reached to the level where he was able to force himself into not even wanting it, and it moved on from that level of suppressing this desire into the level of genuinely not seeking it and not loving it, except that day he wanted it; why? Because of the honour and the promise of Rasūlullāhﷺ that this is a man who loves Allāh and His Messenger and Allāh and His Messenger love him; this was something that every Sahābï wanted to have. So brothers and sisters, this is an opportunity for us to remind ourselves on this danger of Hubb Al-Imārah – of love of leadership. Rasūlullāhﷺ says in a Hadīth narrated by Tirmidī, and it is Hasan Sahīh, “If you send two hungry wolves on some sheep, they will not corrupt the sheep more than the eagerness that a person has for wealth and position of authority for his religion.” The meaning of this Hadīth is that if a person has the love and eagerness to have money and to have authority, these two things are dangerous on his religion just like the danger of sending two hungry wolves on sheep. Now, if you send two hungry wolves on sheep, what would they do? They would ruin them! And the same thing would happen to your religion if you allow the love of money and the love of authority to take over. So these are two things that we have to make Mujahādah against –we have to struggle against, and it is a continuous struggle; it is not something that you do for a while and then you leave, it is a continuous struggle that we have with our Nafs. And in Al- Bukhārī [Rasūlullāhﷺ says], “Innakum Satahrisūna ‘Alal Imarāh Wa Innahā Nadāmah Yawmul Qiyāmah – Youwill have love of authority and you will regret it on the Day of Judgement.” It will be regret on the Day of Judgement. So we need to be careful, brothers and sisters, we need to be very careful.

Whom did Rasūlullāhﷺ give the Rāyah, whom did he give the banner to? Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Where is ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib?” They told him, “Innahā Armad Yā Rasūlullāh –He is suffering a disease in his eyes.” Rasūlullāh said, “Bring him,” so they brought him. His eyes were shut, so they had to hold him by the hand and bring him to Rasūlullāhﷺ. Rasūlullāhﷺ put some of his saliva in the eyes of ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib and they were immediately cured; this is one of the many miracles of Rasūlullāhﷺ. Then ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib was handed the banner and he told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “Uqātiluhum Yā Rasūlullāh Hattā Yakūnū Mithlanā? – Should I fight them until they become like us?” And this is interesting; ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib did not say ‘Should I fight them until they become Muslim,’ what did he say? He said, ‘Should I fight them until they become like us,’ so they were the living example of Islām, they and Islām were synonymous. So whether he said, ‘Should I fight them until they become Muslim,’ or ‘Should I fight them until they become like us,’ it does not make a difference, they mean the same thing – something we cannot say today, something we cannot claim today. In Bukhārī, Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Go to them until you reach the area in front of them and then invite them to Islām and inform them about their duties towards Allāh.” And then Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “In the name of Allāh, if Allāh guides through you one man, it is better for you than the best of camels.” You are hearing an example of Ghanīmah and guidance; if Allāh guides one man through you, it is better for you than Ghanīmah, it is better for you than the greatest Ghanīmah, and this points out to us the purpose of Jihād Fee Sabeelillāh. The paramount, the most important goal of Jihād Fee Sabeelillāh, is to spread the truth, it is to invite others to Islām, it is to save them from Hellfire, it is to benefit them with the greatest benefit, it is to provide them with the best thing, and that is Islām, and this is what makes war in Islām completely different than any other type of war, any other war that happens in the world; other wars are fought for booty, they are fought for hunger for power, they are fought for revenge, they are fought for different reasons, but here we see the noble idea of fighting in order to save people, and that is why Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “I am amazed by people who are dragged into Paradise in chains,” meaning people sometimes are forced into Jannah against their will, and this is because they were fought and then they became Muslim. And Rasūlullāhﷺ is turning the attention of ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib [to the fact] that you should first give them Da’wah before fighting them, and that if one man becomes Muslim, that is better for you than the best of Ghanīmah.

15.1.5 Slogan of the Muslims

The Muslims used to have different slogans in different battles; in this particular battle it was, “Yā Mansūr, Amit! Amit! – O Victor, Kill! Kill!” or “Put to death! Put to death!” and this is something that they would repeat. Ibn Is’hāq says that Salamah narrated, “‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib carried the banner and walked to them with confidence, and we were following him until he reached next to their fortress and posted the banner in a pile of rocks under the fortress. So a Jew looked down at ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib from on top of the fortress and said, ‘Who are you?’ He said, ‘Ana Alï Ibn Abī Tālib – I am ‘Alï the son of Abū Tālib.’ The Jew said, ‘‘Alaitum Wamā Unzila ‘Alā Mūsā – You will rise in the name of what has been revealed on Mūsā.’” Because the name ‘Alï is from ‘Uluẅ and that is something that is high and exalted, so when this Yahūdī heard the name of ‘Alï, he said that you will rise, he took this as a bad omen because of the name of ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib which means ‘Uluẅ, which could mean overcoming, exalting, high; so all of the meanings are meanings that were bad omen to this Yahūdī. [Salamah continues,] “By the time he returned, ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib opened that fortress,” as Rasūlullāh had promised.

15.2 Lessons and Examples from the Battle of Khaibar

Some spotlights from the Battle of Khaibar, examples of Sahābah and other examples too, examples of good and bad.

15.2.1 The Good Fighter

There was this man who was doing a very good job in fighting the enemies of Allāh. Rasūlullāhﷺ pointed towards him and said, “He is one of the people of Hellfire.” And this was kind of shocking to the Sahābah because of the strength of this man and the good work that he was doing, it says in one narration, “Hattā Kāda Ba’duhum An Yartād – Some of them were going to have doubts,” because on one hand Rasūlullāhﷺ says that he is from the people of Hellfire, and on the other hand they see a Mujāhid Fee Sabeelillāh who is fighting – at least that was what they saw, because they did not know what was in the heart of this man, but they saw that he was a very strong fighter, and these Sahābah understood the Fadā’il – the virtues of fighting Fee Sabeelillāh, so they saw it as something very striking and strange, ironic. So one of them said, “I am going to follow this man and see what happens.” So if he speeded up he would speed up after him, if he slowed down he [too] would slow down; he was tailing him, following him wherever he went. And then the man was injured; it was painful and the man did not have Sabr, he did not have patience, so he took an arrow from his quiver and he slit his throat. The Sahābï who saw that went rushing to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “O Rasūlullāh, what you said became true.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Go and announce to everyone that only a Believer will enter into Paradise and that Allāh could support this Religion through a corrupt person.” This was a corrupt person whose deeds gave support to Islām, because he was a good fighter, so definitely what he did was supportive of Islām even though he was a corrupt person, so not everyone who is supporting the Religion is a Believer. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ is saying, “Announce to the people and let them know that only the Believer will enter into Jannah,” so not everybody whom you think [or] whom you see as being good is a person who would go to Jannah. This does not mean that we should start doubting the intentions of people; no, that is not what is meant by this, but we cannot make a judgement for certain that such and such person is in Jannah, that is something that we do not know, that is something that only Allāh  knows and we cannot judge and make a definite opinion that a particular person is entering into Jannah except if Rasūlullāhﷺ has given us that Shahādah, such as the Shahādah that he gave to the 10, and the Shahādah that he gave to Bilāl , and the Shahādah that he gave to ‘Abdullāh Ibn Salām, and the Shahādah that he gave to some other Sahābah .

15.2.2 The Simple Bedouin’s Refusal of Ghanīmah

The next example; there was a Bedouin – A’rābī; he became Muslim and then he went out with Rasūlullāhﷺ in the Battle of Khaibar. The Muslims won in the Battle of Khaibar and it was a great booty, so Rasūlullāhﷺ divided the booty among the Sahābah, and after a long period of poverty now they had something to live on; one of the best Ghanā’im that they ever had was the Ghanīmah of Khaibar. So Rasūlullāhﷺ told some Sahābah to take this and give it to the Bedouin; this is his share of the Ghanīmah. So his share was brought to him. He said, “Mā Hādhā? – What is this?” They said, “This is your share of the booty.” He went back to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “Mā Hādhā? – What is this?” He was told [that] this is the Ghanīmah, this is your share. He said, “Mā ‘Alā Hādhat Taba’tuk – This is not why I became Muslim and followed you. Innamat Taba’tuka ‘Alā An Urmāhā Hunā Bisahmin Fa Uqtal Fa Adkhulul Jannah – Ifollowed you so that Iwould be hit right here (and he pointed to his neck) with an arrow and then I would be killed and I would enter into Paradise.” Subhān’Allāh! Look at the purity of his Fitrah.

Ghanīmah is Halāl for him, it is in fact the best of Rizq because Allāh has made Ghanīmah the Rizq of Rasūlullāhﷺ; Rasūlullāhﷺ was a shepherd before Prophethood and he was a businessman before Prophethood, but after Nubuwwah his Rizq came from the booties of war, he discontinued his former professions and gave his time, full time, to spreading the Da’wah of Allāh. So how did he survive? He survived through his share of Al-Ghanīmah. Rasūlullāhﷺ says in the Hadīth, “Bu‘ithtu Bissayf Bayna Yadayis Sā‘ah, Wa Ju‘ila Rizqī Tahta Dhull Rumhī – Iwas sent with the sword before the hour, and my sustenance comes from under the shade of my spear.” So if Allāh  has made it the Rizq of Rasūlullāhﷺ, it is the best form of sustenance according to the opinion of Al- ‘Ulamā’ such as Ibn Rajab Al- Hanbalī when he commented on this Hadīth. So it is the best form of Rizq and this Bedouin said, ‘I do not want it’ – something that all of the Sahābah are accepting and he voluntarily said, ‘I do not want this.’ So this is a man who is not looking for the bottom line, this is a man whose heart has absorbed Islām and he has reached to the level where he is only thinking about Jannah, he is only thinking about meeting Allāh. And he is a Bedouin, a simple man who does not have a lot of knowledge, but his Fitrah was clean, he told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “Mā ‘Alā Hādhat Taba’tuk – I did not follow you for this, I followed you so that I would be struck with an arrow right here and enter into Jannah.” Let us go back and see what Rasūlullāhﷺ said when he made that statement, Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “In Tasduqallāh, Yasduq – If you are true with Allāh, Allāh will be true with you,” meaning Allāh will give you what you desire, and Subhān’Allāh we find that all over in Qur’ān and Hadīth: Walladhīnahtadaw Zādahum Hudā – And those who are guided – He increases them in guidance. Muhammad: 17

The ones who seek guidance, Allāh will give it to them. Walladhīna Jāhadū Fīhā Lanahdiyannahum Subulanā – And those who strive for Us – Wewill surely guide them to Our ways. Al-‘Ankabūt: 69

Wa In Taqarraba Ilayya Shibran Taqarrabtu Ilayhi Dhirā‘ah –And if he draws near Me by the span of a palm, I draw near him by a cubit.

Wa In Atāni Yamshi Ataytuhū Harwalatan– And if he walks towards Me, Irush towards him. Soit depends on your effort; Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “If you are truthful with Allāh, Allāh will be true with you.” And this man, you can see in this his statement truth, you can see honesty, you can see the willingness to sacrifice.

In another battle, he was hit with an arrow in the exact place where he pointed his finger towards. So he was brought to Rasūlullāhﷺ and Rasūlullāhﷺ asked, “Is it him?” They said, “Yes, it is him.” What did Rasūlullāhﷺ do? Rasūlullāhﷺ put his own garment over him to be put with him in his grave. Subhān’Allāh, the garment that has touched the skin of Rasūlullāhﷺ. You know, we talked about [how] the Sahābah would fight over the hair of Rasūlullāhﷺ, and they would fight over the droplets of Wudū’ that would fall from his body so that they would rub it over themselves; they would fight to get that blessing from Rasūlullāhﷺ and this Bedouin is getting it without any effort; Rasūlullāhﷺ is wrapping him in his own garment, the garment that has touched the skin of Rasūlullāhﷺ. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ put him in his grave and he made Du‘ā’ for him, a long Du‘ā’. The narrator of this Hadīth – and this Hadīth is authentic, it is in Bayhaqī – the narrator said, “The part that I remember or the part that I heard from the Du‘ā’ of Rasūlullāhﷺ was, ‘Allāhumma Hādhā ‘Abduka Kharaja Mujāhidan Fī Sabīlik, Qutila Shahīdan Wa Ana ‘Alā Dhālika Shahīd – OAllāh, this is Your servant, he came forth Mujāhid –struggling in Your Path, and he was killed as a Shahīd and I am a witness of that.” Allāhu Akbar, Subhān’Allāh! Rasūlullāhﷺ is saying [that] I am a witness that this man is a Mujāhid and he is a Shahīd. What a great witness, what a great badge of honour that was given to this simple Bedouin with little knowledge, but because of his Sidq, because of his truth, he was rewarded this great reward.

15.2.3 Abul Yusr

The example: Abul Yusr, a Companion of Rasūlullāhﷺ. He said, “I was with Rasūlullāhﷺ in Khaibar one day when we saw sheep belonging to one of the Yahūd and the sheep were entering into their fortress and we were besieging that fortress.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ saw these sheep and the Muslims apparently were hungry, so Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Man Rajul Yut‘imunā Min Hādhihil Ghanam? –Who will feed us from these sheep?” Abul Yusr said, “Me, O Messenger of Allāh.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Then go ahead.” [Abul Yusr says,] “Fakharajtu Ashtadd Mithlaz Zalīm – I set out running like an ostrich.” Now, Az-Zalīm is the name that Arabs give to the male ostrich. The ostrich used to live in the Arabian Peninsula, it was indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula, but now it has become extinct, Allāhu A’lam when, but we do not hear from any of our forefathers that they have seen any ostriches so it must be a while since they became extinct, but there are a lot of poetry and stories from Old Arabia that talk about the ostrich. They used to eat the egg of the ostrich and also they used to feed on its flesh and it is Halāl.

The feathers of ostrich were very expensive and the knights used to decorate their armour with feathers of the ostrich, and you might have heard that Hamzah Bin ‘Abdil Muttalib, in the Battle of Uhud, had an ostrich feather, [and] also in Badr he had an ostrich feather decorating his chest. And the ostrich is very fast; they say that the speed of an ostrich could reach to between 65 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour which is pretty fast. So this Sahābï said, “I set out running like an ostrich,” meaning that he was very fast, “and when Rasūlullāhﷺ saw me running, he said, ‘O Allāh, let us enjoy his company.’ So I reached to the sheep when the first of them had already entered the fortress.” So he was only able to catch the last of them. “So I took two of them, I hugged them under my arms and I came back running as if I was carrying nothing with me.” Subhān’Allāh, running while he is holding two of these sheep! He said, “I was so light in my running [it was] as if I had nothing with me, until I dropped them under the feet of Rasūlullāh. They slaughtered them and they had a feast.” Abul Yusr was one of the last of the Sahābah to die; why? Because of the Du‘ā’ of Rasūlullāhﷺ, Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “O Allāh, let us enjoy his company.” When Abul Yusr would mention this Hadīth he would cry, he would say, “They enjoyed my company until I became one of the last of them to die!” He was kind of sad that he was the one left behind while all of his friends and Rasūlullāhﷺ had passed away before him.

15.2.4‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal Makes Rasūlullāhﷺ Smile

Then we have the incident that occurred with ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal, one of the Companions. When they opened one of the fortresses in Khaibar, they found dried fat; [this was] fat of animals [which] they would cut into pieces and dry in the sun for future use. So there was a sack filled with this dried fat, and ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal grabbed it, he put it on his shoulder and he started walking with it towards his company to feed on it. So they must have been quite hungry without sufficient food. Now, the man responsible for dividing the booty saw ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal walking away with this sack, so he walked up to him and he held the sack from one end and he tried to pull it away saying, “Give it to me so that it be split among the Muslims,” according to the laws and regulations of dividing the booty. ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal refused [and] so they were pulling; ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal is pulling from one end and this other Companion is pulling from the other end and it is tugging between them, and Rasūlullāh saw this and smiled! And then Rasūlullāhﷺ told the man responsible for the Ghanīmah, “Just let him go.” Leave it, let him take it, Lā Abālak – just let him have it, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was laughing at ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal. ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal said, “I was quite embarrassed by that.” Having this incident happen in front of Rasūlullāhﷺ is quite embarrassing! But he said, “I took it away and I went to my Companions and we ate it all.” Scholars derive from this a Hukm that you are allowed to eat from Al- Ghanīmah food on the spot but not take anything with you back; gold, silver, weapons, clothes, all those other valuables need to be put with Al-Ghanīmah and they need to be split, and the punishment for taking from Al-Ghanīmah is very severe, however Rasūlullāhﷺ allowed for ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mughaffal to have this, because as the scholars have derived the Hukm, that food is an exception; you are allowed to eat but not take anything with you; all you can eat just like a buffet; all you can eat but you are not allowed to take anything out of the restaurant.

15.2.5 Al-Mar’ah Al-Ghafāriyyah – The Ghifāri Woman

Then we have the Al-Mar’ah Al-Ghafāriyyah, and this story is mentioned by Ibn Is’hāq. She is mentioning her story, she said, “I came to Rasūlullāhﷺ along with some women from Ghifār.” Ghifār were Bedouins who were close to Madīnah and they were famous for stealing Pilgrims; that was their reputation in Arabia before Islām, they would attack the Pilgrims and rob them. Many of them became Muslim, and eventually all of them became Muslim because of the Barakah of the Da’wah of Abū Dharr Al-Ghifārī. So [this was] a tribe with such a bad reputation, nevertheless Allāh guided them; Allāh Yahdī Mayyashā’ – Allāh guides whomever He wills. This woman came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and she came with some other women from Ghifār and she told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “We want to go forth with you in order that we can take care of the wounded and attend to the other needs of the Muslims.” Rasūlullāhﷺ told her, “‘Alā Barakatillāh – Go with the blessing of Allāh,” he allowed her to accompany him. And Rasūlullāhﷺ not only allowed them to accompany the army, but Rasūlullāhﷺ had this young girl ride on the same camel with him, so Rasūlullāhﷺ was sitting on Ar-Rahl – the seat, and then behind him was the luggage and he had her sit on top of the luggage; she was a young girl then. Now, they arrived at their destination and the camel sat down and this girl came down from the camel to see that on the luggage was some blood of hers, so she curled herself next to the camel and she was so embarrassed; this was her first period.

She was quite embarrassed by what happened, because of the blood on the luggage of Rasūlullāhﷺ, and she just sat there next to the camel doing nothing. Rasūlullāhﷺ saw that she was upset, and then he also saw the blood on the luggage, so he asked, “Mā Laki? La‘allaki Nafist? – What is wrong with you? Have you had your period?” She said, “Yes.” Rasūlullāh told her, “Clean yourself, and take a vessel of water and put some salt in it and then wipe out the blood from the baggage.” So use water with salt [and] clean the blood from the luggage. She said, “I did that, and then we participated with Rasūlullāhﷺ in the battle, and when the booty was divided…” – Now, the ‘Ulamā’ say that women and children are not given a share of the booty even if they join in fighting, but the Amīr of the army can give them what is called Razgh, he can give them something but it is not equal to the share, he can give what he sees appropriate but they are not counted as exact shares – so she said, “…when the booty was divided, Rasūlullāhﷺ called me and he had a necklace with him, and he gave me the necklace and said, ‘This is yours.’” And she said, “He, with his own hands, put it around my neck.” Now, after that she said, “Whenever I would have [my] menstrual period, I would always wash myself with water and salt.” And, in fact, in her will, she asked that she should be washed with water and salt. And she said, “In the name of Allāh, I will never part with this necklace that was put around my neck by the own hands of Rasūlullāh.” And when she died, the necklace was left on her neck.

I am going to leave this story as it is without tampering with it with my own comments, I think it is beautiful enough to leave as it is for you to derive the amazing examples of companionship and love that the Sahābah had for Rasūlullāhﷺ. Rasūlullāhﷺ did not tell her to permanently use salt for cleansing, she did that out of love of Rasūlullāhﷺ, she did that to remember Rasūlullāhﷺ.

Rasūlullāhﷺ did not tell her to wash herself when she dies with water and salt, but she did that because of the memories of Rasūlullāhﷺ that she had. And the whole story of Rasūlullāhﷺ calling her and allowing her to ride with him on his same mount, this young girl, and the fact that she offered her help and she was at that young age and she was a Bedouin woman, the love that they had for Islām, the love that they had for Rasūlullāhﷺ, the willingness to sacrifice, the willingness to help, where are these meanings now? We have lost a lot of these meanings. And the embarrassment that she had when she would have her first period, because she messed up with the luggage of Rasūlullāhﷺ! So she was so ashamed of that, and the kindness of Rasūlullāhﷺ and the instructions that he gave her, and then the fact that Rasūlullāhﷺ would call her after that and remember her, and she was just a member of this large army following Rasūlullāh; he calls this girl by name and he has a necklace and he puts it around her neck with his owns hands – the gratitude that Rasūlullāh had for his Companions and the love and attention that he gave them, all of these are wonderful and amazing examples. I think there is a lot to learn from this story if we would contemplate and think about it, and that is how we should deal with the Seerah of Rasūlullāhﷺ; we should not just listen to these stories to entertain ourselves, we should learn the lessons from them.

15.2.6 Zainab Bint Al-Hārith

Then we have the story of the two Jewish women. The first is Zainab Bint Al -Hārith; this woman belongs to the nobility of Al-Yahūd. After the Battle of Khaibar and the defeat of Al-Yahūd, she held an invitation, a Walīmah, she hosted Rasūlullāhﷺ and some of the Sahābah, and she roasted for them sheep, and she filled it with poison. She asked about the particular parts that Rasūlullāhﷺ loves and she added the poison in those pieces. Rasūlullāhﷺ accepted the Da’wah, he accepted the invitation, and he came with the Sahābah, and she offered them their meal and they started eating. Bishr Bin Barā’ was the first to swallow a bite from this meat. Rasūlullāhﷺ had the meat in his mouth but he did not swallow it yet, and then Rasūlullāhﷺ dropped it and said, “This bone is telling me that it is poisoned.” Then he called the woman and asked her, “You poisoned this for me?” She said, “Yes.” He asked, “Why did you do so?” She said, “If you are a king then you would be killed and we would be at rest because we have ridden ourselves from you, but if you are a Prophet, Allāh would tell you and you would know about it.” Then Rasūlullāhﷺ told her, “Mā Kānallāhu Yūsawwitak ‘Alaih –Allāh would not give you the ability to overcome me (or to kill me),” and Rasūlullāhﷺ forgave her. The Sahābah asked, “Should we kill her?” He said, “No, leave her.” But then Bishr Bin Al-Barā’ died because of the mouthful that he had, so it shows you that this was powerful poison, so in some narrations it says that Rasūlullāhﷺ ordered that she be executed.

Rasūlullāhﷺ survived for three years after that, and in his final days when he was suffering from fever, and this Hadīth is in Bukhārī, ‘Ā’ishah  said, “Rasūlullāhﷺ would say in his final days from the disease that he died because of, “O ‘Ā’ishah, I still find the taste of the food that I ate in Khaibar. This was the time when my Abhur would be cut because of that poison.’” Abhur is an artery – Ithink it is called in English aorta –and Rasūlullāhﷺ said [that] this is the time I felt that my Abhur would be cut because of the poison that I had in Khaibar. Ibn Hishām says, “The Muslims see that Rasūlullāhﷺ died as a Shahīd in addition to being a Prophet.” So Allāh combined for Rasūlullāhﷺ the status of Prophethood and the status of Shahādah – Martyrdom. Now, some might see this as contradicting the fact that Allāh promised Rasūlullāhﷺ that Wallāhu Ya’simuka Minan Nās – And Allāh will protect you from the people. Al-Mā’idah: 67

Sosome scholars said that Allāh did promise Rasūlullāhﷺ that He will protect him from Fitnah, He will protect him from defeat, and He will protect him from being killed before he fulfils his mission, and when the Āyah was revealed: This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islām as religion Al-Mā’idah: 3,now it was time for Rasūlullāhﷺ to leave this Dunyā and meet his Lord, so Rasūlullāhﷺ died because of this poison even though it was three years later, because as Rasūlullāhﷺ said, he told the woman that you will not have the ability to overpower me, being the Messenger of Allāh. But the pain and the effect of the poison came three years later when it was already the appointed time for Rasūlullāhﷺ to pass away. This is the opinion of some of the ‘Ulamā’ based on the authentic Ahādīth, one of them which I just narrated to you from Al-Bukhārī.

15.2.7 Safiyyah Bint Huyaÿ

We have talked about the story of one [of the two Jewish] women, she is Zainab Bint Al- Hārith who tried to poison Rasūlullāhﷺ. So on the other side, let us talk about Safiyyah Bint Huyaÿ. Safiyyah Bint Huyaÿ recalls an incident that happened while she was a very young girl, she reported that when Rasūlullāhﷺ made Hijrah from Makkh to Madīnah and he was welcomed and greeted by Al-Aws and Wal-Khazraj, the Ansār, she says that whenever her father or her uncle would see her, they would play with her and smile at her as you would do with a young child, beautiful child. However, that particular day when she went to them, and both of them were sitting under a tree, she said, “They did not welcome me as they usually did. And then I heard my uncle ask my father, ‘Is it him?’ My father said, ‘Yes.’ He asked, ‘Are you sure it is him?’ My father said, ‘Yes.’ So my uncle asked him, ‘So what do you think about him?’ He said, ‘‘Adāwatuhū Wallāhi Māhiyīt – Iwill be his enemy as long as Ilive.’” And Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab did live up to this vow of his and he was the enemy of Rasūlullāhﷺ until he was killed. This was at the time of Hijrah; three years later, Rasūlullāhﷺ would beseech fortresses of Banū Nadīr, the people of Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab, whom he was their leader, and they would be evicted, so they would move to Khaibar, [and] Safiyyah at the time was a young girl. Then following that, in the fifth year of Hijrah, it is Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab who convinces the third and last tribe of the Jews in Madīnah, Banū Qurayzah, to betray Rasūlullāh and break this contract that Rasūlullāhﷺ had with the Jews from the time he entered into Madīnah. He is the one who convinced them to betray Rasūlullāhﷺ and commit this treason, and we know the story, they were defeated and they were all executed including Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab.

Safiyyah grew up in Khaibar and she ended up marrying one of her cousins, Kinānah Ibn Abil Huqaiq. Now Rasūlullāhﷺ defeated the people of Khaibar and the agreement between him and them was that all of their properties [were to be] confiscated by the Muslims and that they were to leave Khaibar. So gold, silver, women, children, land, houses; all of this is [to be] transferred into the hands of the Muslims. But the Jews then pleaded with Rasūlullāhﷺ to allow them to remain in Khaibar and serve as workers, farming and cultivating the land, and the narrator of this story says, “The Sahābah did not have time to take care of the lands themselves.” So what would happen was that if the Jews left [then] these lands would stop producing because no one was taking care of them. Why? Because the Sahābah were busy with ‘Ilm – knowledge, Da’wah – calling to Islām, and Jihād Fee Sabeelillāh. Rasūlullāhﷺ agreed.

Then the terms of the agreement were that they would remain in Khaibar and the harvest would be split in half, and he told them that they should not conceal anything from him; all of the currency that is in their possession needs to be handed over to the Muslims and they are not to conceal anything, and they agreed. And Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “If we find out that you have concealed anything, then we will punish you as we see fit and we are free from all obligations.” They agreed to that. When they handed over their property to Rasūlullāhﷺ, it was missing. Rasūlullāhﷺ had some inside information about treasure that was taken by Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab from Banū Nadīr to Khaibar, so he asked them, “Where is the treasure of Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab?” Kinānah said, “Adh’habatul Hurūq Wan Nafaqāt – It was spent on war and provisions.” Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Al- ‘Ahd Qarīt Wal Māl Akthar Min Dhālik –This money could not have been spent because it is a large amount of money and this happened just recently.” Kinānah insisted that there is nothing left and that particular money that belonged to Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab was spent, but there was an old Jew who said, “I have seen Huyaÿ Ibn Akhtab roaming around in this particular area, in an area where nobody lives – Kharbah.” So when the Sahābah dug in that particular area they found part of the money, they found some of it, some of this treasure. So Rasūlullāhﷺ asked Kinānah, “Where is the rest of it?” Kinānah refused to admit, so Rasūlullāhﷺ handed him over to Az-Zubair Ibn Al-‘Awwām [and told him,] “Rough him up until you take what is left.” So in the end, Az-Zubair Bin Al-‘Awwām was able to extract information about where the rest of this treasure was located.

Now, Rasūlullāhﷺ ordered that Kinānah be executed, and he was, and Kinānah was the husband of Safiyyah. Safiyyah was among the captives, and Dihyah Al-Kalbī, one of the Sahābah, came to Rasūlullāhﷺ asking for a slave, so Rasūlullāhﷺ handed him over Safiyyah, because that was the rule at that time in the world; this is not something that the Muslims brought, that is the way things were. Muslims came on the international scene and this is how it was, that if women and children fall into custody after war, they were automatically enslaved. So Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Go and choose a woman that you like.” So he went and he took Safiyyah; she was described as being very beautiful so he ended up choosing her. So one of the Sahābah came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and told him, “Dihyah has taken Safiyyah, the daughter of the noble man of Al-Yahūd, and she is only befitting to be yours O Messenger of Allāh.”

So Rasūlullāhﷺ called Dihyah and told him, “Hand over Safiyyah and go and take someone else.” Dihyah did so. When Rasūlullāhﷺ saw Safiyyah, he offered her freedom as Mahr and he would marry her. So he did not take her as a slave, but he freed her and married her, so she is counted as a wife of Rasūlullāh and not a woman who is in bondage, she was not Min Mā Malakat Yamīnuh. Rasūlullāhﷺ saw some blue marks on her face; he asked her, “What is this?” She said, “One day I was sleeping, my head was on the lap of my husband, and I saw a dream; I saw the moon falling on my lap. When I woke up I told my husband about this dream, my husband slapped me in the face and said, ‘You desire the King of the Arabs.’” So Kinānah interpreted this dream to mean that she was desiring to marry Muhammad. It was not a desire that she had; this was a dream that was a true dream, it was from Allāh, and it was telling her what would happen in the future, and it happened [just] as it was interpreted that she would marry Muhammad. So those blue marks on her face were the traces of the slap from her husband Kinānah.

Anas Ibn Mālik narrates to us part of the story of Safiyyah, and there is this particular part that I found interesting, it gives us a glimpse into the private life of Rasūlullāhﷺ and how he used to deal with his family. The camel is a pretty tall animal, so when a person is sitting on a camel he is quite high; it is higher than [when] riding on a horse, so when people would ride on a camel the camel must be sitting down, but even then it is still a bit high. Anas Ibn Mālik said, “I saw Rasūlullāhﷺ sit down with his foot on the ground, and then he raised up his knee and told Safiyyah to step with her foot on his knee in order to climb the camel.” So I am sure you can sense the humbleness and the kindness and the compassion that Rasūlullāhﷺ had. He being, as described by the Yahūd, the King of the Arabs – Rasūlullāh refused kingdom; he was offered to be a Nabï and a king and he just chose to be a Nabï only – Rasūlullāhﷺ, the greatest of human beings, the greatest man that ever set foot on this earth, he sits down on the ground and has his wife step over him in order to climb that camel. And Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to soften the heart of Safiyyah, because naturally Safiyyah [must have had some hard feelings because] her father was killed, her uncle was killed, and her husband was killed all by Rasūlullāhﷺ, and she saw the complete annihilation of her people, the eviction of them from the Arabian Peninsula.

All of these events occurred in front of her eyes during her lifetime and she was a young woman at the time, so she must have had some hard feelings because of that, and she said, “Wa Kāna Rasūlullāhiﷺ Min Abghadun Nās Ilaÿ –Rasūlullāhﷺ was the most despised of people to me, he killed my husband and my father. Famā Zāla Ya’tadhiru Ilaÿ – And he continued apologising to me and telling me, ‘Your father is the one who mobilised the Arabs against me, and he is the one who did so and so and he did this and that,’ until all of the pain in my heart was taken away.” And this is how Rasūlllahﷺ won the heart of Safiyyah. She is Umm Al-Mu’minīn, may Allāh be pleased with her. This is the story of Safiyyah.

15.2.8 A Mujāhid Burning from Cloth he Stole from Al-Ghanīmah

Another incident that occurred; there was a servant of Rasūlullāhﷺ, he was struck by an arrow and he died. So the Sahābah said, “Ash-Shahīd, Ash-Shahīd! Hanī Al-Law Bish-Shahādah! –Congratulations on dying as a martyr.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “No! By the name of the One whom my soul is in His Hands, the cloak that he has taken on the Day of Khaibar from the Ghanīmah is burning on him flames!” and this is in Bukhārī. So that cloak is burning him, a single piece of cloth that was taken from Ghanīmah. This is a Muslim, a Mu’min, a Mujāhid, and a person who died Fee Sabeelillāh, but Rasūlullāhﷺ refused to pray Janāzah for him and he said [that] no, he is not a Shahīd; why? Because of that cloak that he has taken. So this is how dangerous it is to take anything from Al-Ghanīmah.

15.2.9 Flesh of Donkey Made Harām

Also in the Battle of Khaibar, when the Muslims were laying siege to some of the fortresses, they were very hungry, so they ended up slaughtering donkeys and cooking them. Rasūlullāhﷺ asked them, “What is boiling in these pots?” They said, “Humr Ahliyyah – We slaughtered some donkeys.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Throw it all away.” And that is when Rasūlullāhﷺ made the eating of the flesh of donkeys Harām; it was something that the Arabs would do before that but Islām made it Harām, so it is not allowed to eat the flesh of donkeys, it was made Harām during the Battle of Khaibar.

15.2.10 Jews Resort to Bribery and Forgery

The Jews remained in Khaibar serving in the land, and the Muslims would send someone to collect the 50% of the harvest. So once ‘Abdullāh Ibn Rawāhah went to them and they tried to bribe him, and this shows you the corruption of Al-Yahūd. ‘Abdullāh Bin Rawāhah was very rough with them when they did this and he made it clear to them that I would not betray the trust of Rasūlullāhﷺ no matter what you try to do, no matter what you give me. They remained in Khaibar until the time of ‘Umar Ibn Al -Khattāb when he was Khalīfah. Al -Maqdād, Az-Zubair and Ibn ‘Umar went to Khaibar to collect their shares and the Yahūd attacked ‘Abdullāh Bin ‘Umar at night and they pushed him from a roof he was sleeping on and he fell down and dislocated both hands. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said to the Muslims, “O people, the Messenger of Allāh had an agreement with the Jews of Khaibar that we should evict them if we wished.” So the agreement that Rasūlullāhﷺ had with them was that you stay and you serve in the farms, however, whenever we want – it is up to us – whenever we want to evict you, we can evict you. So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “O people, the Messenger of Allāh had an agreement with the Jews of Khaibar that we should evict them if we wished. They have attacked ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar and dislocated his hands as you have learned, having attacked one of the Ansār before him. We have no doubt that it was they who did it; we have no enemies here besides them. Those who have properties at Khaibar should proceed to them. I am going to evict the Jews.” And they were forced to leave and they went to Ash-Shām. One of the reasons why ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb did this was because of the Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ that no two religions should exist in the Arabian Peninsula, and the Hadīth, ‘Drive the Jews and the Christians out of the Arabian Peninsula’. And even though ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb did not hear this Hadīth directly from Rasūlullāhﷺ, he investigated it and found it to be authentic and true, and he acted upon it and drove the Yahūd of Khaibar out of the Arabian Peninsula to Ash-Shām.

300 years later, the descendants of these Yahūd who were in Ash-Shām wrote up a document stating that this was an agreement between them and Rasūlullāhﷺ that they are Jizyah-free, [that] they do not have to pay Jizyah. Ibn Kathīr says, “And this document has fooled some of the scholars to believe it, and I have investigated it and found it to be a lie and a fabrication. There was no such document.” And this was 300 years later and they did not give up, 300 years later and they are still fabricating and claiming that Rasūlullāhﷺ had an agreement with them that they should not pay any Jizyah. So the document was proven to be a fabrication. Then 700 years after Hijrah, they come up with the same document again, probably with some alterations and some changes, and again it was proven to be a lie.

15.3 Rasūlullāhﷺ Receives Envoys

15.3.1 Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais and the Reward of Two Hijrahs

While Rasūlullāhﷺ was at Khaibar, he received four delegations or envoys; the first was Wafd Al-Ash‘ariyyīn. Al-Ash‘ariyyīn are people from Yemen, from the area of Zabīd, on the coast of the Red Sea, and we will read what Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī says in this Hadīth from Bukhārī. Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī  said, “We heard the news of the Prophet Muhammad while we were in Yemen, so we went out to migrate to him; me and two brothers of mine – and I was their youngest – along with 52 or 53 men from my people.” So this was quite a large group, they were all going for Hijrah Fee Sabeelillāh when they heard the news of Muhammadﷺ. They took a boat, but this boat went off course and they ended up not in Madīnah but in Abyssinia, the land of An-Najāshī. [Abū Mūsā continues,] “So we found Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib there. Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib told us that he has instructions to remain there.” So he was staying there according to the instructions of Rasūlullāhﷺ. “And we stayed with him until we came together with Ja’far when Rasūlullāhﷺ opened Khaibar.” So the next group then is Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib, the Muhājirīn of Al-Habashah. Why did the Muhājirīn of Al-Habashah return back? Ibn Is’hāq says, “Rasūlullāhﷺ sent ‘Amr Ibn Umayyah Ad-Damrī to An-Najāshī asking him to send the remaining Companions back to Madīnah.” Ash-Sha’bī says, “When Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib arrived at Khaibar, Rasūlullāhﷺ kissed him on his forehead and embraced him.” And this is what our scholars use as evidence of the permissibility of hugging, it is this incident, this is Mursal. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Mā Adrī Bi Ayyihimā Ana Asarr, Bi Fathi Khaibar Am Biqudūmi Ja’far – Ido not know which has brought me more joy, the opening of Khaibar or the arrival of Ja’far.” Rasūlullāhﷺ was extremely happy with the arrival of Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib, it had been a long time since he last saw his cousin Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib.

We carry on with the Hadīth of Bukhārī which we were reading from, narrated by Abū Mūsā, “And some people used to tell us (the people of the boat) that we have made Hijrah before you.” Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais, who was one of the women who were Muhājirīn in Abyssinia, visited Hafsah, the daughter of ‘Umar, the wife of Rasūlullāhﷺ. ‘Umar Bin Khattāb came in and he saw this woman with his daughter Hafsah, so when ‘Umar saw Asmā’ he asked, “Man Hādhih? – Who is this woman?” Hafsah said, “Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais.” ‘Umar asked, “A’Al-Habashiyyah Hādhih? A’Al- Bahriyyah Hādhih? –Is this the Abyssinian woman? Is this the seafaring woman?” Asmā’ said, “Yes.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “Sabaqnākum Bil Hijrah Fa Nahnu Ahaqq Bi Rasūlillāhiﷺ Minkum –We have made Hjirah before you therefore we have more right over Rasūlullāhﷺ than you,” meaning Rasūlullāhﷺ is closer to us or we have more right to him than you. Asmā’ was quite angry with this and she said, “Kallā Wallāh! Kuntum Ma‘a Rasūlillāhiﷺ, Yut‘imu Jā‘i’ukum Wa Ya‘idhu Jāhilukum Wa Kunnā Fī Dāril Bu‘adā’il Bughdā’i Bil Habashah, Wa Dhālika Fillāhi Wa Fī Rasūlih –No! In the name of Allāh, you were with Rasūlullāhﷺ, he was feeding the hungry among you and he was advising the ignorant among you, and we were in a land that was disliked and far away, and all of that was for the sake of Allāh and the Messenger of Allāh.

Wa Aymullāh, La’at‘amu Ta‘āman Wala Ashrabu Sharāban Hattā Adhkura Mā Qulta Li Rasūlillāhiﷺ –And in the name of Allāh, I am not going to eat anything and I am not going to drink anything until I tell Rasūlullāhﷺ what you said. Wa Nahnu Kunnā Nu’dhā Wa Nukhāf –And we were harmed and we were in a state of fear. Wa Sa’adhkuru Dhālika Linnabiyyiﷺ Wa As’aluhū Wallāhi Lā Akdhibu Walā Azīghu Wal Azīdu ‘Alaih –And Iam going to tell him the exact truth, Iam not going to add anything or subtract anything from what you said.” So she went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and she told him, “‘Umar Ibn Al -Khattāb said so and so.” Rasūlullāhﷺ asked her, “And what did you say?” And she mentioned to Rasūlullāhﷺ what her response was. What did Rasūlullāh say? Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “No, he does not have more right over me than you do. He and his Companions have one Hijrah and you have two Hijrah.” Because the Muhājirīn of Al-Habashah made Hijrah to Al-Habashah and they made Hijrah to Madīnah, so Rasūlullāhﷺ told her [that] they have the reward of one Hijrah and you have the reward of making Hijrah twice. Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais said, “After that, I would see groups and groups of the Muhājirīn who were in Abysinnia coming to me asking me to narrate to them the Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ, and nothing was more beloved to them in the world than the words of Rasūlullāhﷺ.” They were so happy, they were so happy with this reward that came to them from the tongue of Rasūlullāhﷺ, that everyone else has the reward of one Hijrah while they have the reward of Hijrah twice, that they would come in groups asking her to narrate the Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ to them. And she said, “And I would remember Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī visiting me again and again asking me to narrate the Hadīth to him.” He was not satisfied with hearing it once, he wanted to hear it once and twice and thrice, to hear the Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ that gave them this great Ajr. Brothers and sisters, we should love the Ahādīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ and we should love to hear it again and again just like Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī did. He had to probably travel and he had to come a long way to listen to this Hadīth from Asmā’; we have the books of Hadīth with us, all of them right next to us at our fingertips, we should listen to the Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ, we should bless our ears with listening to the words of Rasūlullāhﷺ.

15.3.2 The Delegation of Ad-Dāriyyīn

Then there was the delegation of Ad-Dāriyyīn. Ad-Dāriyyīn were from Ash-Shām, from the tribe of Lakhm. They visited Rasūlullāhﷺ while he was in Khaibar, among them was Tamīm Ad-Dārī. If you remember Tamīm Ad-Dārī, we talked about him in the series about the Hereafter, Tamīm Ad-Dārī is the one who narrated to Rasūlullāhﷺ his story with Ad-Dajjāl, when they were in the sea and the winds carried them away to this island, and they went to this island and they found this beast covered with [so much] hair [that] they could not tell the front of it from the back, and they went into this temple and they saw this huge man chained up, and he asked them some questions and then said that he is Ad-Dajjāl; this is the one, it is Tamīm Ad-Dārī who told Rasūlullāhﷺ this story.

15.3.3 The Delegation of Daws

And then there is the largest delegation which was the Waft of Daws. Daws are a tribe from Yemen, from Al-Azd, and these are the people of Abū Hurairah. Abū Hurairah is the one who narrates to us this story, he says, “Thamānīna Baytam Min Daws,” 50 houses or 50 families, Allāhu A’lam, from Daws, made Hijrah to Rasūlullāhﷺ, and they arrived at Madīnah but they were told that Rasūlullāhﷺ was in Khaibar. Abū Hurairah said, “Wherever Rasūlullāhﷺ is, we will go to him.” They did not want to wait until Rasūlullāhﷺ comes back, they said wherever he is, we will go. So Sabā‘ah Bin ‘Urftah Al-Ghifārī, who was appointed Amīr on Madīnah, provided them with provisions, so they travelled and met Rasūlullāhﷺ in Khaibar, and therefore we can know from this that Abū Hurairah and Abū Mūsā Al- Ash‘arī joined Rasūlullāhﷺ at that particular time. This is an important thing for the scholars of Hadīth and the scholars of Fiqh because it tells them the date in which these two Sahābah, who narrated many Ahādīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ, it tells them when they became Muslim. So they would know that the Ahādīth that were narrated by them are Ahādīth that were heard after the seventh year of Hijrah.

Rasūlullāhﷺ and Sahābah Oversleep for Fajr: On their way back, Rasūlullāhﷺ told Bilāl to wake them up for Fajr. Bilāl overslept, and so did Rasūlullāhﷺ and so did the rest of the Sahābah; they only woke up due to the heat of the sun. So when Rasūlullāhﷺ woke up – and he was the first among them to wake up – he asked Bilāl, “What happened to you?” Bilāl told him, “The same thing that happened to you.” They prayed then, and Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Man Nasiya Salāh, Fal Yusallihī Ayda Dhakarahā –When you forget about the Salāh, pray it when you remember it.” Same thing [with sleep]; if you sleep then you pray when you wake up. It is not like some people do; if they miss Fajr, they would not pray it when they would wake up, rather they would combine it with the Fajr of the next day; that is not the correct thing to do, the correct thing to do is to pray it as soon as you wake up, with every Salāh, whether it is Zuhr, ‘Asr, Maghrib, ‘Ishā’; if you sleep, then you pray it as soon as you wake up.

Rasūlullāhﷺ Tells Sahābah to Make Dhikr Quietly: Also another event occurred while they were on their way back; they came on top of this mountain and there was this valley beneath them, so they started making Dhikr loudly, “Allāhu Akbar! Allāhu Akbar! Allāhu Akbar!” Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “O people, restrain yourselves. You are not calling one who is deaf or one who is far away, but you are calling the All-Hearing and the All-Seeing.” And then Rasūlullāhﷺ saw Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī and he was making Dhikr in his heart, he was saying Lā Hawla Walā Quwwata Illā Billāh. So Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Yā ‘Abdallāh Ibn Qais, Qul Lā Hawla Walā Quwwata Illā Billāh Fa Innahā Kanzum Min Kunūzil Jannah – Say Lā Hawla Walā Quwwata Illā Billāh because it is a treasure from Paradise.” So brothers and sisters, we should say Lā Hawla Walā Quwwata Illā Billāh if we want to own treasure in Jannah. We ask Allāh to make us of the people of Jannah.

15.3.4 The Delegation from Fazārah in Ghatafān

These were the Muslim delegations that Rasūlullāhﷺ received, and then there was one which was a different case, and these were from the people of Fazārah from Ghatafān. These were the allies of the Yahūd, and ‘Uyaynah Ibn Hasan saw a dream, he saw that he was taking a mountain called Dhūr Ruqaibah. Ar-Ruqaibah is the small form of Raqabah; Raqabah means neck, so he interpreted it to mean that he would take hold of the neck of Muhammadﷺ and defeat him. So he mobilised his people when he heard that the Muslims had attacked Khaibar and he came forth to give assistance to his allies Al-Yahūd. By the time he had reached, Rasūlullāhﷺ had already conquered Khaibar and defeated the Yahūd. So this ‘Uyaynah Ibn Hasan went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and told him, “Hand me over the wealth of my allies because I took a neutral stand and did not fight you.” Look at this liar, he is now saying that I chose not to fight you; that was not the reason, [but] he had come and it was all over. Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “You are a liar, you came because of the screaming that you heard in your dreams.” ‘Uyaynah Ibn Hasan said, “Give me something.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Go and take Dhūr Ruqaibah.” He asked, “What is Dhūr Ruqaibah?” He said, “The mountain that you saw in your dream.” This is a barren dry mountain in the middle of nowhere; Rasūlullāhﷺ told him [to] go and take it. ‘Uyaynah Ibn Hasan left angrily, empty-handed, and then he met another leader from his people called Al-Hārith Bin ‘Awf. Al-Hārith told ‘Uyaynah, “Did I not tell you that you are wasting your effort for nothing? Muhammad will conquer the east and the west, I was told that by the rabbis of the Jews. They told me that they see this in their books, that they would be defeated by Muhammadﷺ. Did I not tell you that?” So Al-Hārith Bin ‘Awf had more wisdom than ‘Uyaynah Bin Hasan and both of them were chiefs of the people of Ghatafān.

15.3.5 Al-Hajjāj Bin ‘Alāt As-Sulamī

We will talk about Al-Hajjāj Bin ‘Alāt As-Sulamī. Al-Hajjāj became Muslim and he belonged to the tribe of Banū Sulaim, and as it says in the books of Seerah, he owned the rights of mining in the land of Sulaim, Now, here mining most likely, Wallāhu A’lam, would refer to the salt mines. Do not think that there were anything more developed than that; it was not known in the Arabian Peninsula that they used to mine for anything else, so this is referring to the rights of salt mining in his area. So he was a businessman, he was a wealthy man, and he had a wife in Makkah. When he became Muslim, he wanted to collect the money that was owed to him in Makkah. As a businessman he would have contracts with a lot of people and they owed him money, so he wanted to get his money back before the news spread that he had become Muslim, and he was worried that they would confiscate his money. So he came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, the people of Quraish owe me money and I want to go and collect it. Would you allow me to speak against you if I need to?” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Qul Mā Bidhalak –Say whatever you want.”

So Al-Hajjāj went into Makkah, and this was during the time of Ghazwat Khaibar. So he reached to the outskirts of Makkah and he already found some men of Quraish outside of Makkah waiting for travellers to come in order to ask them about what happened with Rasūlullāhﷺ in Khaibar; they were so eager to know the news of this conflict. It was not like a given for them, they expected the Muslims to lose because of the fame of Khaibar; its fortresses, the fighters, the provisions. Because it was a wealthy area they had a lot of farms, they had many well-built strong fortresses, plus [they had] the strongest fighters among Al-Yahūd such as Marhab and Yāsir; the knights of the Jews were from Khaibar. So these men would go out during the daytime and wait for the travellers, for the caravans, in order to ask them what was happening; quite different to how things are today; all news is within reach of the whole globe within seconds, [whereas] with them in the Arabian Peninsula news would take days to travel.

So they saw Al-Hajjāj [and] they knew him because he had a wife from Quraish, so they said, “This is the man we are looking for, he must have information about what has happened.” So they rushed towards Al-Hajjāj and they told him, “Tell us about Khaibar, what happened?” He said, “I have some very good news for you!” Al -Hajjāj said, “They came to me and they were stuck to my camel.” You can imagine the scene of him riding on his camel and these men are so crowded around him to hear what he has to say that they were stuck to his camel and they are all looking up at him, and then they are saying, “Īhiya Hajjāj – Goahead Hajjāj, tell us.”

He said, “Muhammad has been defeated as he has never been defeated before. His Companions were killed and he was taken as prisoner and the Jews said, ‘We are not going to kill him but we are going to hand him over to his people in Quraish so that they kill him inside Makkah.’” Man, were the enemies of Allāh happy! They rushed back to Makkah to carry the news. And Al -Hajjāj told them, “The only reason why I came here is [because] I want to collect my money from you so that I can go back to Khaibar and buy the booty that the Yahūd won from the Muslims before all of the other businessmen arrive to Khaibar and compete with me.” Because after war there is going to be a lot of spoils of war and there is going to be a market where all of that stuff will be sold, so [he was saying that] I want to be the first in order to buy what I can before the prices go up! They said, “Al-Hajjāj, do not worry, we are going to collect your money for you,” and they rushed back to Makkah doing his work for him, collecting his money.

Al-Hajjāj went to his wife and he told her the same thing as he told these Disbelievers, because she was still a Kāfir herself, and the news spread all over Makkah; the Disbelievers were in joy and the Muslims were in a state of depression. The news reached to Al-‘Abbās Bin Muttalib who was Muslim, and he was so devastated by the news that he could barely stand up, and he sent one of his slaves to go to Al-Hajjāj and tell him, “What is this evil news that you brought? The promise of Allāh is better for you.” So this slave came in to Al-Hajjāj and conveyed to him the message from Al-‘Abbās. Al -Hajjāj told him, “Go back and tell your master that I have some good news for him, but he must wait for me in one of his houses alone and I will come and meet him.” So the slave went back to Al-‘Abbās and conveyed the message to him. Al-‘Abbās was so happy that he jumped up and kissed him on his forehead and said, “You are free! – A’taktuk!” He freed his slave, he was so happy about this news! Soyou can imagine, dear brothers and sisters, the state of Ghurbah, the state of loneliness and strangeness that these few Muslims who were living in Makkah were going through; they are living within the community that is leading the war against the Muslims, they are living among Quraish, and they are feeling strange, they are feeling the pressure of the society of Kufr around them. So you can see how following news for them was not a detached thing, it had so much effect on them; here you see, [as] it says in this narration, that he was barely able to stand up; that was because he heard the bad news about the battle of the Muslims, and now when he heard the good news he jumped up! And he kisses his slave and tells him, “You are free!”

Al-‘Abbās Ibn ‘Abdul Muttalib waited for Al-Hajjāj to come. Al-Hajjāj came and told him, “Abul Fadl, the news is not like what you heard, the reality of the situation is that Muhammadﷺ and the Muslims have defeated the Jews and they have conquered their land and they are dividing the spoils of war amongst them, and Muhammadﷺ has chosen the daughter of their king to be his wife, and the only reason why I said otherwise is because I wanted to get my money because I was worried that Quraish would confiscate it from me when they know that I am Muslim. Now, Al-‘Abbās, keep this secret for three days, and then say whatever you want.” Al-Hajjāj left from Makkah after he got all of his money, and then Al-‘Abbās, after three days, came and visited the wife of Al-Hajjāj and asked her, “Where is your husband?” She said, “He already left.” And then she was trying to offer her condolences to him, because even though the Islām of ‘Abbās was secret, but the Kuffār of Quraish knew that deep in his heart he was a Muslim and his sympathies were with his nephew, so she tried to offer her condolences to him, she said, “Lā Yahzunkallāhi Yā Abal Fadl, Laqad Shaqqa ‘Alainalladhī Balaghak –May Allāh not make you sad, and the news has been very difficult on us.” He said, “Yes, Allāh will not make me sad, and Alhamdulillāh nothing happened but that which we like. Allāh has allowed Muhammadﷺ to conquer Khaibar, and the spoils of Khaibar are divided among the Muslims, and Rasūlullāhﷺ has chosen the daughter of their king to be his wife, and if you care for your husband [then] you better follow him.” She said, “Azunnuka Wallāhi Sādiqā – I think that you are telling the truth,” and she left and followed her husband.

Then Al-‘Abbās put on some good clothes, special clothes, and then he passed by the gathering places of Quraish. When they saw him they said, “Lā Yusībuka Illā Khairan Yā Abal Fadl – May only good befall you O Abul Fadl.” Abul Fadl was his Kunyah. He said, “Lam Yusibnī Illā Khair Bihamdilillāh –Only good has befallen me with the praise of Allāh. Al-Hajjāj has told me that Khaibar was conquered by Rasūlullāh and that the Muslims divided Khaibar amongst themselves and that Rasūlullāhﷺ married Safiyyah, and he told me to keep this secret for three days because he only came here to take his money from you and then he was going to leave you.” And now suddenly the depression that was on the Muslims was transferred to the Kuffār, and the joy that was with the Kuffār was transferred on the Muslims; they switched places. Al-Hajjāj Bin ‘Alāt tricked them; as Malcolm X used to they, “They have been bamboozled.” Now, Al- Hajjāj Bin ‘Alāt made it out with his wealth, and his wife followed him, and then the news after that obviously reached to Makkah about the details of what happened, and they realised that it has been a devastating defeat for Al-Yahūd, the only remaining stronghold of Al-Yahūd in Al-Hijāz. There were a few other small pockets of Al-Yahūd but they would constitute no threats on the Muslims, for example there were Yahūd in Taimā and there were Yahūd in Fadak, and Rasūlullāhﷺ, after that, signed some treaties with them, but the strongest stronghold was Khaibar and now it was over. And the story of Al-Hajjāj Bin ‘Alāt is authentic, it was narrated by Al-Imām Ahmad and it fulfils the requirements of Bukhārī and Muslim.

15.4 Sarāyā after Khaibar

We will talk about some Sarāyā, some dispatches that occurred after Khaibar. All of the Sahābah would participate in Jihād Fee Sabeelillāh and in going out in the Sarāyā, and there was a lot of activity of this sort going out throughout the year. If one looks into this it is really impressive at the amount of activity that was occurring, it is amazing to see how busy the Sahābah were and how much Barakah Allāh put in their efforts. Rasūlullāhﷺ himself participated in about 19 battles; there is a difference of opinion among the scholars, some of them say 21, some say 19, some say And then there is about 55 Sarāyā – special operations or smaller dispatches – and all of this within the period of 10 years, so there was a lot of activity going on.

15.4.1 Sariyyah of Abū Bakr As-Siddīq

This Sariyyah was led by Abū Bakr As-Siddīq and they were sent to Banī Fazārah, and this is narrated in Muslim and in Ahmad. They ambushed them, and Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa’ is the one who is narrating, he said, “I saw a neck of people, within them women and children, running away from us.” Now, were all of them women and children or was it a mixture of men and women and children, Allāhu A’lam. He said, “They were running away from us and they were rushing towards a mountain,” they wanted to seek refuge in this mountain, “and I was pursuing them. I was worried that they would reach to the mountain before me, so I took an arrow and I struck it between them and the mountain,” so this arrow dropped between them and the mountain. So Salamah did not want to hit them, he did not want to kill them, he wanted to take them as captives. So what he did was he shot an arrow between them and the mountain to let them know that they are within range, and if they do not stop [then] he is going to continue firing at them and he is going to hit them next time. So when they saw this arrow fly in front of their eyes they stopped, they froze in their tracks and Salamah brought all of them back to Abū Bakr As-Siddīq. He said, “There was a Bedouin woman wearing worn-out leather clothes and with her was a girl who was extremely attractive.” He said, “Abū Bakr As-Siddīq gave me that girl. When we went back to Madīnah, I met Rasūlullāhﷺ in the Souq, in the marketplace, and he told me, ‘O Salamah, hand me over the woman.’ I told Rasūlullāhﷺ, ‘‘Ajabatnī Yā Rasūlullāh – She attracts me.’” Salamah liked her, she was very attractive, so he said, “She attracts me O Messenger of Allāh,” so Rasūlullāhﷺ left him. Next day they met again in the marketplace and Rasūlullāhﷺ told Salamah again, “O Salamah, hand me over the woman.” Salamah told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “O Messenger of Allāh, she attracts me but I will give her to you,” and he handed her over to Rasūlullāhﷺ. What did Rasūlullāhﷺ do with her? He sent her to Makkah in exchange for some Muslim prisoners who were in Makkah.

Dear brothers and sisters, Rasūlullāhﷺ was concerned about Muslim prisoners, he says in a Hadīth in Bukhārī, “Fukkul ‘Āni – Free the prisoner.” And as we said before, Rasūlullāhﷺ took hostages from the Kuffār in order to exchange them for Muslim prisoners. Rasūlullāhﷺ, in this situation here, sent this slave-woman who was very beautiful and was going to fetch a very high price to Makkah in order that they send him back some Muslims who were taken as prisoners. And the Fuqahā’ say that it is a duty, it is Wājib, it is mandatory on the Muslims to free their brethren from prisons, and the Fuqahā’ say that if a Muslim is taken by the Disbelievers as a prisoner in the East then it becomes obligatory on the Muslims even in the West to spend their money to ransom him or to free him. So it is a duty on Muslims.

15.4.2 Sariyyah of ‘Abdullāh Ibn Rawāhah

The next Sariyyah was led by ‘Abdullāh Ibn Rawāhah, and they were sent to Yusair Bin Rizām Al-Yahūdī. This was a Jew, and there were reports that he was trying to work out a deal with Fazārah to attack the Muslims when they were in Khaibar, so Rasūlullāhﷺ sent ‘Abdullāh Bin Rawāhah to bring him. What ‘Abdullāh Bin Rawāhah did [was] he went to Yusair and he told him that Rasūlullāh wants to appoint you as governor over Khaibar. Initially he resisted, [but] then ‘Abdullāh Bin Rawāhah kept on trying to convince him until he agreed, and he came along with 30 men, 30 Yahūd. On the way back, Yusair regretted his decision and he tried to pull the sword of ‘Abdullāh Bin Unais. ‘Abdullāh Bin Unais was not taken by surprise and he was able to manoeuvre and get away from Yusair Bin Rizām, and then the Muslims saw the move of Yusair and realised what he was doing, so every Muslim turned around to his Jewish companion – because the Muslims were 30 and the Yahūd were also the same number, so every Muslim had a Yahūdī companion with him riding on the same camel – so now every Muslim turned around to his companion and executed him except one of the Yahūd [who] succeeded in running away. So all of them were killed including their leader Yusair Bin Rizām.

15.4.3 Sariyyat Bashīr Bin Sa’t

[The] next Sariyyah [is] Sariyyat Bashīr Bin Sa’t. They were sent in 30 men to Banī Murrah, in an area called Fadak. They were surrounded by an overwhelming force and most of them were killed. Bashīr was able to retreat; he was injured but he was able to retreat and go back to Madīnah. Because of this defeat that Bashīr and his Sariyyah suffered, Rasūlullāhﷺ sent out another Sariyyah led by Ghālib Bin ‘Abdillāh. On the way, they met a man called Hārith Bin Mālik. Now, this man could be a spy, he could be a traveller, Allāhu A’lam, so Ghālib ordered that he should be arrested. Hārith Bin Mālik Al-Laythī said, “Innamā Ji’tu Musliman – I have come to accept Islām.” Ghālib told him, “If you are telling the truth and you came to really become a Muslim, then being held a captive for a day and a night would not harm you,” – because they only wanted to keep him for a day – “and if you have other motives, then we are going to take our precautions.” Because if he as a spy then he would disclose their location and their numbers and would give out information to the enemy and allow them time to mobilise their forces and gather an attack. You see, these Sarāyā depended on the element of surprise because they were very small in number, and you can see that most of them were ambushes that were done suddenly either at night or early in the morning, and they [would] take the enemy by surprise. So now they were spotted by this man, so Ghālib held him as a captive. Now, there is a problem here; this man claims that he is a Muslim, and it is not allowed to take a Muslim for no sin and to arrest him, but this was a necessary move on part of the leader of this Sariyyah, and then he tried to explain it to this man and he told him, ‘Listen, if you are a Muslim then it will not harm you if you are held captive for one day.’ Obviously he did not want to take this man with them, he had to leave him in that spot, and he left with him, it says in the narration, Rajulan Aswad – a black man; he gave this man instructions and told him, “If he resists, then cut off his head.” So they had to hold him where he was, on [that] spot, so that no information was leaked. This shows you the Hadhr – precautions that the Sahābah would take, they were very intelligent and wise and they would not be tricked.

They carried on, and Jundub Bin Makīf narrates that he was sent to scout, to spy on the enemy, because they reached at the time of ‘Asr. So Jundub climbed a hill or a mountain that overlooked the enemy, and he took a prone position lying down stretched on the floor in order that the enemy would not see him, but one of the men from among the enemy spotted Jundub. Now, Jundub was lying down in this position without moving, this man saw him and he told his wife, “I see some dark object on that hill, go and check if the dogs have taken any of our utensils.” So she went and checked and did not see anything missing, she said, “The dogs did not take anything.” He said, “Bring me my bow and my arrows.” So he took an arrow and he aimed at Jundub and he shot him, and it says the arrow hit him either in his Jabīn or his Jamb; Jabīn means forehead and Jamb means side, the narrator was not sure. Jundub says, “So I pulled out the arrow and put it down slowly without making any movements.” The man then aimed his arrow again and shot at Jundub another time and this time he hit him in his shoulder. Jundub said, “I pulled out the arrow and I put it down without moving.” So the man said, “Laqad Khālatāhu Sahmāiy – My two arrows have definitely struck him, Law Kāna Rabī’atal Lataharrak –If he was a scout he would have moved.” So you can see the discipline that Jundub had; being struck twice by these sharp arrows and he was not moving a bit, he was pulling them slowly without making any noticeable movement. So this man was quite content and comfortable that this object, whatever it was, was not a human being, and then he told his wife, “Tomorrow in the morning go and collect my two arrows lest the dogs chew on them.” So Jundub said, “I remained in my position until it was night time and their camels and shepherds came back, and then they had their dinner and they went to sleep and that is when we attacked.” So they attacked them when they were asleep. He said, “We killed some of them and then we took all of their camels and whatever [else] with us and we made it away with them.” And then the remaining men who were not killed gathered a force and they pursued the Muslims. Jundub says, “The forces that they gathered were overwhelming, huge numbers, and they were pursuing us and they were getting very close to us, and there was no way we could fight such a number.” He said, “Fajā’ūna Bimālā Qibala Lanā Bih –They brought forces to us that we could not handle.” He said, “While we were running away from them, we crossed a valley. There was no rain and there were no conditions for rain, nevertheless Allāh brought a flood in this valley that separated us from them, and we would look back and see them all standing on the other side of the valley looking at us unable to do anything.” And then they made it back safe to Madīnah.

Usāmah Kills Man who Says Lā Ilāha Illallāh: This story of Usāmah is also related within this Sariyyah (Sariyyat Bashīr Bin Sa’t), and it is a famous story, you must have heard of it, and this is the story of Usāmah with the man who said Lā Ilāha Illallāh. There was this man, whenever the enemy would attack he would be ahead of them and whenever they would retreat he would be the last. In this Karr and Farr process of fighting, of attack and retreat, this man was ahead in attacking and the last in retreating, so he was causing the Muslims some problems. Usāmah said, “Me and one man from Al-Ansār, we both made it our objective to get him, so we attacked, and when we were within range, he said, ‘Lā Ilāha Illallāh.’” So Usāmah said, “The Ansārī stopped and I carried on and I struck him with my sword and killed him.” The news was carried to Rasūlullāhﷺ so Rasūlullāhﷺ was angry and he told Usāmah, “Aqataltahū Ba’da An Qāla Lā Ilāha Illallāh?! – Did you kill him after he said Lā Ilāha Illallāh?!” Usāmah said, “Mā Qālahā Illā Muta‘awwidham Minas Sayf Yā Rasūlullāh –He only said it to seek refuge from the sword [ORasūlullāh].” “Aqataltahū Ba’da An Qāla Lā Ilāha Illallāh?! – Did you kill him after he said Lā Ilāha Illallāh?” And he kept on repeating that again and again until Usāmah said, “I wish that I had never become Muslim except at that moment.” And then Usāmah made a vow that he would never fight anyone in his life who says Lā Ilāha Illallāh. So there are two important lessons here:

The sanctity of Muslim Blood: Number One: The sanctity of Muslim blood. It is the greatest crime after Shirk to shed the blood of a Muslim, and the Āyāt of Qur’ān and the Ahādīth show us the danger and the greatness of this sin. The one who is murdered would come on the Day of Judgement and would hold on to the one who murdered him and will say, “O Allāh, ask this man why did he spill my blood?” And there is no sin that our scholars debated [on] whether the Tawbah is accepted or not except with the sin of killing a Muslim. Now, obviously the majority view and the right opinion is that the Tawbah is accepted, however it shows you how dangerous this thing is that it reached to the level that some of them disagreed with this opinion. So the blood of one Muslim is sacred, and in the Hadīth it says that it is more sacred than the House of Allāh.

We Take People by what is Apparent: The next important lesson: Al- Akhz Biz Zāhir – We take people by what we see, we take them by what is apparent, because in another narration it says, “Hal Lā Shaqaqata ‘An Qalbih? – Why did you not split his heart open to see what is in it?” Have you opened up his heart to know whether he was a Muslim or not? Whether he was honestly saying Lā Ilāha Illallāh or he was saying it just to seek refuge from the sword? How do you know? So we go by Az-Zāhir, we go by what we see. If a person claims to be a Muslim then we take him for his word and we leave As-Sarā’ir, we leave what is in the hearts to Allāh on the Day of Judgement. Now, this applies both ways, this applies to Kufr and it applies to Īmān; if what we see from a person is Kufr then we judge them as being Disbelievers, if what we see from a person apparently is Īmān and Islām then we judge them to be Muslim, we do not dig into their hearts and try to find out what is in them. Same thing here; we can also look at the lesson of Jundub, when he took this man as a prisoner and the man said that I am a Muslim, Jundub did not try to argue with that and say you are lying, you are a spy, [etc.]; no, he told him [that] if you are a Muslim then have Sabr and patience for one day, if you are not [then] Allāhu A’lam.

15.4.4 Sariyyat Abī Hadrad

Next Sariyyah: Sariyyat Abī Hadrad. Abī Hadrad got married to a woman from his people and he promised to pay a dowry of 200 Dirham. He offered to pay this Mahr but he did not have the money, so he came to Rasūlullāh and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, I got married and I promised to pay 200 Dirham as Mahr, so help me.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Subhān’Allāh! If you were picking up money from a stream you would not have paid more. In the name of Allāh, I have nothing to help you with.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ saw this as a lot of money to pay as Mahr and he said [that] if money was flowing in a stream, you would not have offered to pay more than what you have promised to pay. Later on, Rasūlullāhﷺ told Abī Hadrad along with two men to go and check out what was going on with a particular man who was gathering a force to fight Rasūlullāhﷺ. This man is Qais, he was gathering a force to fight Rasūlullāhﷺ, and he sent Abī Hadrad along with two men to find out what was happening. [Abī Hadrad says,] “He gave us a weak old camel and told us, ‘Make do with her.’” Now, the situation of this camel was pretty bad; the engine was not even working; when one of them was riding on the camel she could not even stand up, Abī Hadrad said that we had to push her from behind to have her stand up! So this camel was in a very bad situation; that was all that Rasūlullāhﷺ was able to offer them! This weak old camel.

So the three of them travelled with this weak camel. They arrived at night and Abī Hadrad said, “I took my position and I ordered my two companions to hide in another spot.” Then he gave them [the] orders, “When you hear my Takbīr, make your move.” So he said, “I was waiting for an opportunity – Gharrah, and no opportunity came yet.” And then, by the Qadr of Allāh, their shepherd was late; the shepherd of these Kuffār was late. So Qais said, “I am going to go and try to find him.” His people said, “Let us go.” He said, “No! In the name of Allāh no one will go but me.” They said, “Then let us come with you.” He said, “No, I am going to go alone.” Qadr of Allāh. He walked alone looking for his shepherd and he comes right in front of Abī Hadrad. Abī Hadrad said, “When he was within range, I shot an arrow at him piercing him in the heart.” He said, “I swear, he did not utter a sound, he dropped down dead without making a sound. I jumped at him and cut off his head, and then I made my Takbīr and my two companions made their Takbīr and we attacked. And the Kuffār were in a disarray, they were running in every direction, we took all of their camels and we made it. We went back to Madīnah [and] Rasūlullāhﷺ gave me 13 camels so I concluded my marriage.”

15.4.5 The Sariyyah with Muhallim Bin Jaththāmah

Another Sariyyah, and the important part of it is the story of Muhallim Bin Jaththāmah. Muhallim Bin Jaththāmah was a Musilm in this Sariyyah. They were travelling and a man called ‘Āmir Bin ‘Azwat Al-Ashjā‘ī passed them by and when he passed by he said, “Assalāmu ‘Alaikum.” This is the greeting of Muslims. Muhallim Bin Jaththāmah rushes out and kills this man! This man who just gave them Salām, he went and killed him, because he knew him from the time of Jāhiliyyah and there was a problem between them, so he sought revenge even though the man said Assalāmu ‘Alaikum. So the chief of the tribe of the murdered, ‘Uyaynah Bin Badr, came to Rasūlullāhﷺ asking for the blood [money] for retribution, and the chief of the tribe of Muhallim, Al-Aqra’ Bin Hābis, also came to Rasūlullāhﷺ asking Rasūlullāhﷺ [for] leniency. Rasūlullāhﷺ wants to prevent Fitnah from occurring between these two tribes, because the society of Arabia was a feudal society, so Rasūlullāhﷺ wants [to prevent Fitnah]. Because in a situation like this it is Qatl ‘Amd; there are two options given to the Awliyā’ of the deceased – the family members of the deceased; they can choose between asking for the execution of the one who murdered or accepting the blood-money which is one hundred camels. So Rasūlullāh wants to convince them to accept the blood-money in order to prevent the Fitnah.

‘Uyaynah Bin Badr said, “Lā Wallāh! Lā Ādā’ahū Hattā Udhīqa Nisā’ahū Minal Huzni Mithl Mā Adhāqa Nisā’ī –In the name of Allāh, Iam not going to leave him alone until I have his women taste the sorrow that my women have tasted.” He must be killed. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Take 50 camels from me now and 50 camels when we return into Madīnah.” They refused. He offered them a second time; Rasūlullāhﷺ kept on trying to solve this problem until eventually they agreed and accepted the blood-money. So now the people of Muhallim told Muhallim, “Go to Rasūlullāhﷺ and tell him to ask Allāh to forgive you.” So Muhallim came and he was already dressed in garments prepared for execution, he was prepared for death; so he came to Rasūlullāhﷺ – he was described as being a tall heavyset man – he came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and sat down and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, I am Muhallim. Ask Allāh to forgive me.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Allāhumma Lā Taghfirli Muhallim – OAllāh, do not forgive Muhallim.” He said, “ORasūlullāh, ask Allāh to forgive me!” He said it again, “Allāhumma Lā Taghfirli Muhallim – OAllāh, do not forgive Muhallim.” The narrator of the Hadīth says that Muhallim stood up covering his face to cover his tears. And this is another lesson in the sanctity of the blood a Muslim. And Allāh revealed the Āyah: O you who have believed, when you go forth [to fight] in the cause of Allāh, investigate; and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace “You are not a Believer,” aspiring for the goods of worldly life;… because Muhallim took over the camel of this man …for with Allāh are many acquisitions. You [yourselves] were like that before… Meaning there was a time when you were Disbelievers. …Then Allāh conferred His favour upon you, so investigate. Indeed Allāh is ever, with what you do, Acquainted. An-Nisā’: 94

15.4.6 Sariyyah of ‘Abdullāh Bin Huzāfah As-Sahmī

Then there is another Sariyyah, and this is the Sariyyah of ‘Abdullāh Bin Huzāfah As-Sahmī. ‘Abdullāh Bin Huzāfah, one of the Sahābah, was sent out in a Sariyyah. The members of his Sariyyah did something that angered him, so he was very upset. They had this bonfire; he told them, “Jump into it.” He told the members of his Sariyyah to jump into the fire. He said, “I am the Amīr and you know that the Tā‘ah of the Amīr is Wājib, following the Amīr is mandatory, so jump into the fire.” They refused, the Sahābah refused. And then he calmed down after that, and when they returned to Rasūlullāhﷺ they asked him about the situation; what did Rasūlullāhﷺ say? He said, “Law Dakhalūhā Mā Kharajū Minhā Innamat Tā‘ah Fil Ma’rūf –If they entered into that fire they would never have left it because obedience is in good.” Rasūlullāhﷺ is saying that if they jumped into that fire they would have remained in Hellfire because you should only obey the Amīr when he instructs you to do good, but if he orders you to do evil then you do not follow him, and this Hadīth is Muttafaq ‘Alaih380. So the rule is “Lā Tā‘ati Li Makhlūqin Fī Ma’siyatil Khāliq – We should not obey the creation in disobeying the Creator.” As long as the Amīr gives instructions that are Halāl and allowed then we follow; as soon as they tell us to do something that is Harām, we refuse. So if the ruler orders that the women should take off their Hijāb, then that order should be disobeyed; if the ruler orders Muslims to not fast in Ramadān because it affects productivity, then we disobey; if the ruler bans Jihād Fee Sabeelillāh, then he should be disobeyed; if the ruler wants the Muslims to be loyal to the Yahūd and the Christians and to be disloyal towards the ones who are practising the Religion of Allāh, he should be disobeyed. So the ruler is obeyed when he instructs good and he is disobeyed when he is instructing evil.

15.4.7 ‘Umratul Qadā’

The time had arrived for Rasūlullāhﷺ to make ‘Umrah; one year had passed since the signing of the treaty of Hudaybiyyah, so the Muslims who were with him in Hudaybiyyah joined him now to make ‘Umrah. The agreement that Rasūlullāhﷺ had with Quraish was that he would only carry with him the weapons of the traveller; swords in their sheaths, but Rasūlullāhﷺ brought with him other weapons; bows, arrows, spears. And when they reached close to Makkah, the news was carried that Rasūlullāh had brought arms other than the swords so he must be preparing for war. Quraish said, “We have done nothing wrong, we did not break any of the agreements or the terms of the conditions of the agreement, why is Muhammad attacking us?” So some of them went to Muhammadﷺ and they told him, “O Muhammad, you were not known, when you were young or when you were old, to betray. You want to enter with weapons into Haram against your people and you have given them the condition that you will only enter with the weapons of the travellers’ swords and the sheaths?” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Innī La’adkhuluhā Bissilāh – I will not enter with these weapons.” Mikraz said, “Hādhalladhī Tu’raf Bih, Al-Birr Wal Wafā – This is what you are known to be; a man of good and a man of your word.” Birr and Wafā is good and honesty, and Wafā is keeping one’s word. Soover here you can notice that this was the reputation of Muhammadﷺ, and this is the Shahādah – witness of the Kuffār, that he is a man of truth and a man of his word, and this is an important thing brothers and sisters to practise. There is a Muslim character, there are Muslim morals, there is a Muslim standard of conduct; we should uphold these virtues in our dealings with Muslim and Non-Muslim, because we do it for the sake of Allāh and it is ‘Ibādah. This is what the Kuffār knew about Muhammadﷺ, that he was a man of truth, As-Sādiq Al-Amīn – the trustworthy and the truthful. And in peace and war, the conduct of Rasūlullāhﷺ was the same; his character was that of a Muslim, the virtues of Islām, he was the living Qur’ān, and it is important for us to live up to this standard of morals in Islām.

Rasūlullāhﷺ brought these weapons with him because he needed it as a protection, as a safeguard, but he was going to leave them outside of Makkah and enter into Makkah only with his swords. They entered into Makkah, and the people of Quraish had this hatred and this jealousy and animosity in their hearts, they could not even stand being around the Muslims so they vacated Makkah for three days to allow Muhammadﷺ and the Muslims in there, and they did not want to be with them, but they were on top of the mountains surrounding and they were looking at the Muslims, and they were saying among themselves, “Now the Muslims are going to come and they are going to be weak, feeble, because of the fever of Madīnah.” If you remember, we talked about how Madīnah was famous for these endemic diseases that existed in there. So the people of Quraish were saying that the fever of Madīnah has made them weak. So Rasūlullāhﷺ cared about the reputation of Muslims and he wanted to give an image of strength, so he told the Muslims to uncover their right shoulder and not to walk around al-Ka’bah as was the custom, but to do what is called Raml. Raml is walking fast with strength, it is like marching. So the Muslims would do that, but because between Ar-Rukn Al- Yamānī and Al-Hajr Al-Aswad they would be concealed from the Kuffār, the Kuffār could not see them, they would walk normally. So now brothers and sisters if you go to ‘Umrah or Hajj, you would notice that the Sunnah is that in the first three rounds you would walk very fast in what is called Raml, it is like marching, but between Al-Hajr Al -Aswad and Ar-Rukn Al-Yamānī we would walk normally; why? Because that was the area where the Ka’bah would cover the Muslims from the eyes of the Kuffār, and Rasūlullāhﷺ did not want to exhaust the Muslims, but at the same time he did not want the Kuffār to get the impression that the Muslims were weak, so he had them do this Raml around three corners or three sides of Al-Ka’bah while [on] the fourth side they would walk, and if it was not for the fact that it would truly exhaust the Muslims, he would have had them do it for the seven rounds. Even though this was done with that objective, but the Sunnah remained and we still do it until this day.

Rasūlullāhﷺ sent one of the Sahābah to do the engagement, he wanted to get married to Maimūnah Bint Al-Hārith. Maimūnah agreed and she said, “My Walī to sign the contract would be Al -‘Abbās.” Al -‘Abbās was married to her sister Umm Al-Fadl, and Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to hold the Walīmah in Makkah, but the three days were over so Huwaitib Ibn ‘Abdil ‘Uzzā came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “Unāshidkallāh Wal ‘Ahdalladhī Baynanā – I ask you in the name of Allāh and the contract between us to leave.” They had this hatred towards Rasūlullāhﷺ [and] they could not stand the Muslims and they were waiting for the three days to finish and they immediately came asking the Muslims to leave. Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “I have married a woman from among you, it will not harm you if I finish my wedding to her and we prepare a feast and you can join us.” You are welcome to come, you are welcome to come and join this Walīmah. They said, “We ask you in the name of Allāh to leave.” Now, when they came to him, Rasūlullāhﷺ was sitting with some of the Ansār, Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah and other Ansār, and they said, “We want you to leave from our land.” So Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah angrily responded back and said, “This is not your land or the land of your fathers!” Rasūlullāhﷺ calmed him down and said, “We will leave,” and they left. So Rasūlullāhﷺ held whatever remained from the celebration of his wedding outside of Makkah in a place called Saraf, and Subhān’Allāh, Maimūnah later on would end up dying in this same place where she married Rasūlullāhﷺ.

When Rasūlullāhﷺ was leaving from Makkah, the daughter of Hamzah, a young girl, came running saying, “Yā ‘Amm! Yā ‘Amm! Yā ‘Amm! – O Uncle! O Uncle! O Uncle!” So ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib grabbed her and handed her over to Fātimah and said, “Take care of your cousin,” [meaning] to take her back to Madīnah. Ja’far said, “No, I am going to take her.” ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib said, “I am her cousin.” Ja’far said, “I am her cousin too.” And then Zayd came in and said, “She is the daughter of my brother.” So what happened was Rasūlullāhﷺ came in to judge between them because of this conflict of who would take care of the daughter of Hamzah, and he handed her over to Ja’far because Ja’far was married to her aunt, to the aunt of the daughter of Hamzah. Zayd actually said, “She is the daughter of my uncle,” because Zayd was the adopted son of Muhammadﷺ and Hamzah is the uncle of Rasūlullāhﷺ, but also Hamzah is the brother of Rasūlullāh because of breastfeeding – the same woman breastfed both Muhammad and Hamzah, so Hamzah is the brother of Rasūlullāhﷺ and his brother in Radā‘ah too – so that makes the daughter of Hamzah the cousin of Zayd. Rasūlullāhﷺ handed her over to Ja’far and then Rasūlullāhﷺ told ‘Alï, “Anta Minnī Wa Ana Mink – You are from me and I am from you.” And he told Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib, “Ashbahta Khalqī Wa Khuluqī – You are similar to me in manners and in looks.” And he told Zayd Ibn Hārithah, “Anta Akhūnā Wa Mawlānā – You are our brother and our companion.” And then [it is narrated in Bukhārī that] ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib told Rasūlullāh, “Would you not marry Hamzah’s daughter?” So Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “She is the daughter of my brother from breastfeeding,” which makes her a Mahram for him, he cannot therefore marry her.

We are done with the events of the seventh year of Hijrah, now we move on to the events of the eighth year of Hijrah, and this is a very busy year; we have the Islām of Khālid, ‘Amr Bin Al-‘Aas and ‘Uthmān Ibn Talhah, then we have the Battle fo Mu’tah, the first proper battle between the Muslims and the Roman Empire, and then there is Fath Makkah, and the great battle of Hunain, and the siege of At-Tā’if, so it is a very busy year.

15.5 The Islām of ‘Amr Bin Al-‘Aas

15.5.1 ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas Stays Away from People

We will start with the story of the Islām of ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas and Khālid. ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas  said, “I fought against Rasūlullāhﷺ in the Battle of Badr and Allāh saved me, and then I fought against Muhammadﷺ in the Battle of Uhud and Allāh saved me, and then I fought against Muhammadﷺ in the Battle of Khandaq and Allāh saved me.” Now, when was ‘Amr Ibn Al- ‘Aas saying this? He was saying this after he became Muslim. So now he is looking back at his memories and he is thinking about it and saying, ‘Man, I was fighting the Messenger of Allāh! What in the world was I doing?!’ Then, being a Mushrik, being a Disbeliever, the way he would think about things was different, and now when he looks back at it he was saying, ‘Wait a minute, I was fighting against the Messenger of Allāh!’ And these are the Sahābah who loved Rasūlullāhﷺ more than anything in the world. So after every battle he would say, “And Allāh saved me,” meaning if I died then, I would have been in Hellfire. So he was going through his history [and] he said, “I fought against Rasūlullāhﷺ in Badr and then I fought against him in Uhud and then I fought against him in Al -Khandaq. And I was beginning to feel that no matter what, Muhammad is going to win. His armies are getting better and better, his Da’wah is spreading more and more, and we are getting more constricted and narrowed in our movement day after day.” So ‘Amr Bin Al-‘Aas was starting to feel this conflict and depression that a Kāfir would have when he sees the victory of Islām. There is so much envy, jealousy and hatred that builds up in the hearts of the Kuffār; you have to keep in mind that Shaitān is the one who is dominating the heart of the Disbeliever. So all of these feelings are bottled up inside the heart of ‘Amr Bin Al-‘Aas, so he just had enough of it and he decided that he was going to leave Makkah and go and stay in a place called Al-Wahd. He took his family, he took his wealth, and he went there and he said, “Wa Aqlaltu Minan Nās – And I stayed away from people.” He just wanted to stay away from everyone.

15.5.2 ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas and his People Migrate to Abyssinia

When some of the Sahābah complained about Uhud, Rasūlullāhﷺ reminded them about the early days of Islām and he told them, “Now Quraish have accepted peace from you.” He was turning their attention to the developments, the great developments that were occurring, and we said that Al- Hudaybiyyah was a great victory for Islām. So then when the contract of Al-Hudaybiyyah occurred, when Quraish were forced to admit the existence of the Islāmic State and they were forced to admit the authority of Muhammadﷺ, ‘Amr Ibn Al- ‘Aas said, “Tomorrow Muhammad will enter into Makkah.” It is inevitable; Muhammadﷺ is going to come in. If it reached to the degree that Quraish have been unable to fight him when he is at the doorsteps of Makkah, and they accepted to sign a treaty with him, this is a sign of the fact that sooner or later Muhammadﷺ will enter into Makkah. So he ruled out staying in Makkah and he ruled out staying in At-Tā’if, and these are the two major cities of Al-Hijāz. He called some of the members of his clan, and ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas was a man who was respected among his people, and they used to listen to him and they used to see him as being their guide. So he called these people who had trust in him and he told them, “Innī Arā Amra Muhammad Ya’lul Umūra Kullahā ‘Uluwwul Munkarā – Ican see that the affair of Muhammad is rising above all others in a horrible way.” He is seeing the events unfolding in front of his eyes, and through his wisdom and intelligence he could read through these events in history and see that Muhammadﷺ and Islām are slowly but surely rising and rising and rising against everything else; I can see this with my own eyes. And he was a Disbeliever but he could sense and feel that, he could see it, just like some of the Kuffār today can see it while unfortunately many of the Muslims are failing to see it, and they are deep in their sleep, and they cannot see what is happening and unfolding of the events of the Ummah today, and they are failing to see the victory of Allāh that is on its way. So ‘Amr Bin Al-‘Aas told his people, “Therefore I do not think it is a good idea for us to stay in Makkah, rather I believe that we should go and stay with An-Najāshī in Abyssinia.” ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas had a good relationship with An-Najāshī, so he wanted to put that into use and he said [that] let us goand stay over there. [Then he continued,] “If Muhammadﷺ is victorious then we are away from him, and if he loses and Quraish wins, then Quraish already know who we are and what our position is.” And ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said about himself, “And I would see that if all Quraish became Muslim I would never become Muslim.” That is how much hatred he had in his hearts towards Islām; if all of my people, every single one of them in Quraish becomes Muslim, I am not. So they agreed with his assessment and opinion and they decided to travel together and go to Abysinnia, to leave their land, to make Hijrah; what is the driving force behind that? It is hatred towards Islām. He said, “Let us take gifts for An-Najāshī,” and the thing that An-Najāshī loved most was hide – leather. So his people gathered all what they could from the best hide they could find and they took a boat and went to An-Najāshī in Abyssinia.

15.5.3 Hidāyah of Allāh Reaches ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas through An-Najāshī

They went to visit An-Najāshī, and who did they find coming out of the court of An-Najāshī? ‘Amr Bin Umayyah Ad-Damrī who was sent by Rasūlullāhﷺ to perform the marriage of Rasūlullāhﷺ to the daughter of Abū Sufyān, Umm Habībah, and also to call the Muhājirīn of Abysinnia to go back to Madīnah. So ‘Amr Bin Al-‘Aas saw him coming out from the palace of An- Najāshī. ‘Amr Bin Al-‘Aas entered – obviously he entered alone, the rest of his companions had to wait for him – and he went and made Sujūd to the King as was the tradition, and he was very well- received. An-Najāshī told him, “Welcome my friend! Have you brought me any gifts from your land?” He said, “Yes, I did O King, I have brought you some hide,” and then he presented the King with the pieces of hide that he had brought. The King was very happy and pleased with it, and right then and there he distributed some of it to his patriarchs, and then the rest he ordered that it be registered and recorded and then deposited and kept in a safe place. And then ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas got carried away; he saw how well the reception was and how happy the King was with the gift, so he told the King, “O King, I have seen a man come out from your palace who is the messenger of our enemy, the man who has killed the noble among us. Would you hand him over to me so that we could kill him?” An-Najāshī immediately hit ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas in the face and ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “I thought that my nose was broken, and blood started flowing out of my nostrils and I was covering it with my clothes. And I wished that the earth would swallow me because of the embarrassment I felt and the fear I felt from the King.” And then ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “O King, if I knew that you would dislike what I said, I would not have said it.” Then the King An-Najāshī said, “O Amr, you are asking me to hand you over the messenger of the man who receives An-Nāmūs Al-Akbar so that you may kill him?!” An-Nāmūs Al-Akbar is Jibrīl. ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “Right then and there I had a change of heart and I told myself [that] the Arabs and the Non-Arabs recognise the truth and I do not?! And that is when my heart changed.”

Subhān’Allāh! Look at how Allāh guided ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas. He lived with Rasūlullāhﷺ for 13 years in Makkah and he knew him very well and he did not become Muslim then, and he becomes a Muslim in the court of An-Najāshī in a foreign land. In that particular moment, ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “I asked An-Najāshī, ‘A’tash’had Bi Dhālik? – Is that your witness, is that your testimony?’” An-Najāshī said, “Na‘am, Ash’hadu ‘Indallāhi Bih – [Yes,] I testify with that in front of Allāh.” And then he said, “O ‘Amr, listen to me and follow him, because in the name of Allāh he is on truth, and he will prevail against all of his enemies just like Mūsā prevailed against Fir‘aun and his soldiers.” An-Najāshī, in this faraway land, this is his testimony about Rasūlullāhﷺ. An-Najāshī was a man of truth, he was a man who understood religion, he was a man who understood history, he was a man who understood the lives of the Prophets, and he is giving, he is giving Da’wah to ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas; ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas who knows about Rasūlullāhﷺ, and knows about Islām, and knows about the Muslims, is receiving Da’wah from An-Najāshī. You know, the way Da’wah works, it defies all logic, therefore we should not have any fixed beliefs about it. And you can see throughout the Da’wah of Rasūlullāhﷺ amazing things; Abū Tālib does not become Muslim while you have Abū Dharr Al-Ghifārī becoming Muslim, Abū Lahab, the uncle of Rasūlullāhﷺ, does not become Muslim and Salmān Al-Fārsī comes all the way from Persia and becomes Muslim; it defies all rules. Hidāyah – Guidance is something that belongs to Allāh. Innaka Lā Tahdī Man Ahbabta Walā Kinnallāha Yahdī Mayyashā’ – Indeed, [O Muhammad], you do not guide whom you like, but Allāh guides whom He wills. Al-Qasas: 56

‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “At that moment, I gave him Bay‘ah to become Muslim, and An-Najāshī took my pledge to follow and obey Rasūlullāhﷺ and become Muslim.” Subhān’Allāh, ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas came with one intention and is going back with another intention; he came for an objective and now he is coming [back] as a completely different human being. Subhān’Allāh, Wamā Ya’lamu Junūda Rabbika Illā Hū – And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him. Al-Muddaththir: 31

An-Najāshī was a soldier of Allāh and through him, ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas, this great man – and you can read the history of ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas and see what ‘Amr Ibn Al -‘Aas did for Islām – his Da’wah, his acceptance of Islām, came through An-Najāshī, and he was such a great enemy of Islām and now he becomes a Muslim. [‘Amr says,] “An- Najāshī then ordered some new clothes to be brought for me because my clothes were soaked in blood, and then I came out, and when my companions saw me wearing some new clothes they were quite happy and they felt that things were going well. Before I went in I told them that I am going to try to convince An-Najāshī to hand me over ‘Amr Bin Umayyah Ad-Damrī so that I could kill him and this would gain a good reputation for us with Quraish.” So now they asked him, “What did you do?” He said, “Well I did not feel that it was good to propose this to him in our first meeting, but I will do that next time.” They said, “That is a good idea.” ‘Amr Ibn Al- ‘Aas said, “I said I am going to go for some business I have,” and he did not tell them what his plans were. ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas left, he took a boat and went towards Madīnah; he just left them without a word. These men who he brought out with the intention of fleeing away from Muhammadﷺ, as soon as he reaches he leaves them in Abyssinia and goes to Muhammadﷺ! You know, Hidāyah is a strange thing.

15.5.4 ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas Meets Khālid Bin Walīd and ‘Uthmān Ibn Talhah on his Path to Madīnah

So ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas reached to a place called Shu‘aibah and then he reaches to Marr Ad-Dahrān. When he gets to this place called Marr Ad-Dahrān and he is travelling towards Madīnah, he sees two men; one of them was in a tent and the other one was tying the camels. Who were these men? Khālid Ibn Walīd and ‘Uthmān Ibn Talhah. He walked up to them and asked, “What are you doing? Where are you going?” Khālid Ibn Walīd said, “There is no one worthy left and Muhammadﷺ is prevailing, so we want to go and become Muslim.” ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “This is the same reason that brought me.” And I see this also as a striking thing that these men who were, [let us] say, among the leaders of the effort to fight Islām, [that they become Muslim]; ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas, Khālid Ibn Walīd [and ‘Uthmān Bin Talhah]. Khālid Ibn Walīd belonged to the family of Banū Makhzūm who were enemies of Islām; many Āyāt were revealed about his father, and then also Abū Jahl belonged to the same family. And then you have ‘Uthmān Bin Talhah; ‘Uthmān Bin Talhah belonged to Banū ‘Abd Ad-Dār, a very noble family in Quraish, they were the ones who carried the banner in war and they are the ones who hold the key of Al-Ka’bah, and by the way they still hold it until this day, the key was inherited from father to son all the way until this day, and Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “The key should remain among you until the Day of Judgement. No one shall take it from you but a transgressor.” So these three men belonged to these prominent families in Quraish and they were very important figures, and Subhān’Allāh, they all meet, and what a coincidence, and nothing is a coincidence; everything happens through the Qadr of Allāh, it is preordained. Now we are talking about 20 years [of] fighting Islām, and they meet along the path to Madīnah so that they would travel and enter Madīnah together, the three of them.

They reached to the outskirts of Madīnah and they heard someone say, “Yā Rabāh! Yā Rabāh! Yā Rabāh!” The derivative of Rabāh is Ribh,and that means profit – something that you gain. So ‘Amr Ibn Al -‘Aas said, “We took it as a good omen. And then someone saw us and said, ‘Qad Alqat Makkah Ilaikum Maqālīdahā Ba’da Hādhain –Makkah has handed over its reigns to you after these two men.’” And he was referring to ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas and Khālid Bin Walīd. Meaning that what is left? Who is left in Makkah after ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas and Khālid Bin Walīd became Muslim? It is as if Makkah has handed over its reigns to Rasūlullāhﷺ after these men became Muslim. Now, as I said, these men constitute the second generation of leadership that was fighting Islām. You have the first generation and these are Abū Jahl, Abū Lahab, Umayyah Bin Khalaf, Ubaÿ Ibn Khalaf, Abū Sufyān, Al-Walīd Bin Mughīrah; these were the prominent personalities who were leading the effort to fight Islām in the early days up to the Battle of Badr. The Battle of Badr was the day in which the forces of evil were crushed and the entire first generation of leadership was exterminated. The only one who remained from those men was Abū Sufyān, he was the only man who survived and the reason he survived was because he did not attend Badr, because the whole reason why Badr occurred was to protect his caravan that he was leading. ‘Utbah Bin Rabī‘ah, Shaibah, Al-Walīd, Abū Jahl, Umayyah Bin Khalaf, Ubaÿ Ibn Khalaf, they were all killed, and some of them already died before that like Abū Lahab; he did not die in the Battle of Badr [but] he died in Makkah. So the next generation that took over leadership were people like Khālid Bin Walīd, ‘Ikrimah Bin Abī Jahl, Safwān Bin Umayyah, ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas; so they represented the new blood, the new leadership in Makkah. For these men to become Muslim was such a devastating blow to the people of Makkah, and that is why this man saw it as if Makkah had lost it and that was it, they were handing over the reigns of leadership to Rasūlullāhﷺ after the Islām of these men.

15.5.5 Rasūlullāhﷺ Delightfully Welcomes All Three of them into Madīnah

They came into Madīnah and Rasūlullāhﷺ was eagerly waiting for them, smiling all the time while they were walking towards him. They could see this beaming smile on the face of Rasūlullāhﷺ, he was so happy for their Islām, and this is the true Da’wah. Rasūlullāhﷺ did not have anything against them even though they had fought against him in battlefields, they had spoken against him, they had harmed him, they had driven him out of his land, but Rasūlullāhﷺ was looking at the interest of Islām and was happy because these men were now going to become soldiers of Allāh. ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “I told Rasūlullāhﷺ, ‘O Rasūlullāh, I pledge my allegiance to you with the condition that Allāh forgives for me all my past sins.’ I forgot to ask him to forgive for me my forthcoming sins. Rasūlullāh told me, ‘Yā ‘Amr, Amā Ta’lam Annal Islāma Yajubbu Mā Qablah Wa Annal Hijrata Tajubbu Mā Qablahā Wa Annal Hajja Yajubbu Mā Qablah? – O ‘Amr, do you not know that Islām erases everything before it, and that Hijrah erases everything before it, and that Hajj erases everything before it?’” So these three deeds, they erase everything. So you can see how important Hajj and Hijrah are; Rasūlullāhﷺ equated them to Islām, that they erase everything that occurs before. ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “Rasūlullāh took a lot of care of us and he used to put us ahead of many of the Companions, and that remained to be the case until he passed away. And then the same thing [happened] with Abū Bakr; he took a lot of care of me and Khālid Bin Walīd, and then in the time of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, he used to give a lot of attention to me and appoint me in important positions of responsibility,” however the relationship between ‘Umar and Khālid, as ‘Amr says, “Kāna Kal ‘Ātib ‘Alā Khālid – He was disapproving of some of the actions of Khālid Ibn Walīd.” So this is the story according to the narration of ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas, we will see what Khālid Ibn Walīd said.

15.6 The Islām of Khālid Ibn Walīd

15.6.1 Rasūlullāhﷺ Attracts Khālid to Islām

Khālid said, “I have attended all of these battles against Muhammad, and in every situation I attended, I left with this feeling in my heart that I am putting my effort in something that is wasted and that in the end Muhammad will prevail.” So he had this deep feeling in his heart that what he was doing was wrong; there was something wrong with it, and that this man will be victorious and will prevail. He said, “Until Hudaybiyyah came; I led a contingent of Kuffār – 200 men – and Rasūlullāhﷺ and the Muslims were praying Salātul Zuhr. I met Muhammadﷺ face to face while they were praying and that was my opportunity to attack them in Salāh, but I was reluctant to do so.” Now, this word coming from Khālid Ibn Walīd  is strange because he was the furthest from being a reluctant person; he was a very decisive man, so for Khālid to say that I was reluctant to attack him [is strange], and he said, “That was good.” Allāh saved him, and he was reluctant at that moment because Allāh wanted something good for Khālid Bin Walīd. He said, “So Salāh finished. I did not take that opportunity so I decided that I am going to attack them in Salātul ‘Asr, [but] by the time they came to pray ‘Asr, Rasūlullāhﷺ was already praying Salātul Khawf,” the Salāh where half of the army prays and half of them protects the rest. “Fa ‘Alimtu Annar Rajula Manū’ – I knew that this man is being protected.” Khālid Ibn Walīd carries on with the narration and says [that] when Rasūlullāhﷺ came the following year to do ‘Umrat Al-Qadā’, his brother Al-Walīd Bin Walīd came looking for him. Now, Khālid Bin Walīd was among the Kuffār who vacated Makkah for the Muslims because they did not want to see them, they just left. So Al-Walīd came looking for his brother Khālid and when he did not find him he left him a letter. What did he say? He said, Bismillāhir Rahmānir Rahīm. Ammā Ba’d: Fa Innī Lam Arā A’jab Min Dhahābi Ra’yika ‘Anil Islām. Wa ‘Aqluqa ‘Aqluq, Wa Mithlul Islāmi Mā Jahilahū Ahad? Waqad Sa’alanī Rasūlullāhiﷺ ‘Ank, Wa Qāla Ayna Khālid? Faqult Ya’tī Bihillāh. Faqāl, Mā Mithluhū Jahilal Islām? Walaw Kāna Ja‘ala Nikāyatahū Wa Haddahū Ma‘al Muslimīn Kāna Khairallah, Walaqaddamnāhu ‘Alā Ghairih. Fastadrik Yā Akhī Mā Fātak, Faqad Fātaka Muwātun Salāh.

In the name of Allāh, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate. I know of nothing more strange than your antipathy for Islām, being as intelligent as you are. Could anyone disregard something like Islām? Rasūlullāhﷺ has asked me about you, he said, ‘Where is Khālid?’ I replied, ‘Allāh will bring him.’ He then asked, ‘Could someone like him disregard Islām? If he were to put his energy and bravery to work with the Muslims it would be better for him, we would certainly give him precedence before others.’ Take note brother of what good things you are missing.

Rasūlullāhﷺ is asking about Khālid; where is Khālid? And then Rasūlullāhﷺ is sending Khālid a message through his brother, he is telling him that it is not appropriate for someone like you, as intelligent as you are, to stay away from Islām, and if you become Muslim we will put you ahead of many others. This is true Da’wah dear brothers and sisters; the fact that Rasūlullāhﷺ is asking about him, cares about him. Because Khālid said, “When Rasūlullāhﷺ asked about me, that affected me a lot,” and this is what made Khālid decide to make his move and become a Muslim. It is the fact that Rasūlullāhﷺ had him on his mind, it is the fact that Rasūlullāhﷺ thought about him, gave him a thought. And even though he was a Kāfir, but to say that he is an intelligent man, how could this mind not understand and recognise Islām? And then also the fact that Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “We will put him ahead of many others.” The status in Islām is according to how early you become Muslim; that was the status that the Sahābah held. The earlier a Sahābï becomes Muslim the higher he is held, and that is only reasonable because As-Sabq – being ahead, shows a state of heart with a person. But here Rasūlullāhﷺ is saying [that] even though Khālid may become Muslim late but we will put him ahead of many others; why? Because of the consideration that Rasūlullāhﷺ had for the status of Khālid; his intelligence, his abilities. And this is an important thing for the leader and the Dā‘iyah; to recognise the abilities of people. People are not the same, they are different. Some people have qualities that others do not possess, some people have specialties that others do not possess, some people are strong, some people are weak, some people are intelligent, some people are less intelligent. You know, people are different, Allāh has divided this Rizq among people and everyone has a different capability, and leadership is the ability to put the right person in the right place.

15.6.2 Khālid Decides to Make Hijrah

Khālid Bin Walīd decided that he was going to leave and he was going to become Muslim, and he had a dream; he saw himself in a very narrow, constricted place, and he was walking out of this place into a very vast and beautiful area. When he asked for the interpretation of this dream later on, Abū Bakr told him, “It means that this is you leaving Shirk and entering into Islām.” He wanted to talk to his close friend, Safwān Ibn Umayyah being one of them, so he went to Safwān and told him, “I want to become Muslim, would you like to join me?” Safwān said, “If no one but me remains, I am not going to become Muslim.” So Khālid Bin Walīd said, “Well, this is a man whose father and brother were killed by the Muslims.” So then he went to ‘Ikrimah Bin Abī Jahl [and] he told him, “Our situation with Muhammad is like a fox in a hole; you drop a bucket of water over him and he is going to come out running.” In other words, Muhammadﷺ is surrounding us and we are like a fox in a hole, and all what Muhammadﷺ and the Muslims have to do is douse us with a bucket of water and we are going to come out running, we have nothing left. [So Khālid asked,] “So what do you think about becoming Muslim?” ‘Ikrimah refused, so Khālid Bin Walīd told him, “Well, do not tell anybody about it.”

15.6.3 Khālid Bin Walīd Meets ‘Uthmān Bin Talhah and they Migrate

Then Khālid met ‘Uthmān Bin Talhah and said, “How about I talk to him?” And then he said, “No, I am not going to talk to him because he lost his family in Uhud.” Seven family members of ‘Uthmān Bin Talhah were killed under the banner of the Mushrikīn. So he said I am not going to speak to him, and then he said, “What difference does it make? I am leaving anyway so let me just talk to him.” And he went to ‘Uthmān and proposed the idea to him and Subhān’Allāh, he found him to be very receptive and he agreed to go immediately. And this tells us that we should not have pre-judgements about people. And again we go back to the issue of Hidāyah; we do not know who is going to be guided and who will not, and we should not rule out anything and we should never close the gates of hope for anyone. This is a man who Khālid thought in the beginning that he will not be receptive and then Subhān’Allāh he found him to be the most receptive among the three, even though he is the one who lost seven of his family members in the Battle of Uhud. So never give up on anyone. We spread out the message, our responsibility is to give Balāgh and then it is Allāh who guides; we are not responsible for the results. We have to do our part, we do it as an ‘Ibādah for Allāh, but it is Allāh who controls the hearts of men. Khālid told ‘Uthmān, “We [will] meet in this particular place. If you arrive before me you wait until I come, if I arrive there before you I will wait for you until you come.” They travelled and then they met with ‘Amr Ibn Al- ‘Aas – we already talked about that. When they reached the outskirts of Madīnah, Khālid said, “We stopped and then we changed our clothes and we put our best clothes on.” This is how they wanted to meet Rasūlullāhﷺ; they were dressed up in their best clothes to go and meet Rasūlullāhﷺ, preparing themselves for the greatest moment in their lives. When Khālid met Rasūlullāhﷺ and he gave him his pledge, Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Come here,” and then Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Alhamdulillāh Alladhī Hadāk. Qad Kuntu Arā Laka ‘Aqlan Rajawt Allā Yuslimaka Illā Ilā Khair –Praise be to Allāh who guided you. I used to see that you were intelligent and I hoped that your intelligence would only guide you towards good.” Khālid Bin Walīd said, “Rasūlullāhﷺ put me ahead of many of his Companions and took a lot of care of me,” and we will see the manifestation of that in the rest of Seerah.