• 19.1 Hawāzin Mobilise Force to Attack Muslims
  • 19.1.1 Mālik Ibn ‘Awf An-Nasrī Refuses to Listen to the Wise Old Man
  • 19.1.2 Rasūlullāhﷺ Sends ‘Abdullāh Ibn Abī Hadrad to Gather Intelligence
  • 19.1.3 Safwān Ibn Umayyah’s Attitude Softens
  • 19.1.4 Rasūlullāhﷺ Warns us from Jāhiliyyah of Banī Isrā’īl
  • 19.1.5 Anas Ibn Abī Marsad Stands Guard for Muslims
  • 19.1.6 Muslims are Caught by Surprise
  • 19.1.7 Rasūlullāhﷺ Calls for Muslims to Return to Battle
  • 19.1.8 Few Muslims Return to Battle
  • 19.1.9 Rasūlullāhﷺ Throws Handful of Dirt towards Mushrikīn
• 19.2 Events that Occurred During Battle of Hunain
  • 19.2.1 Abū Qatādah and the Ghanīmah
  • 19.2.2 Umm Sulaim Makes Rasūlullāhﷺ Laugh
  • 19.2.3 Khālid Bin Walīd Kills Non-Combatant Woman
  • 19.2.4 Āyāt Revealed Regarding Ghazwat Hunain
• 19.3 Post Hunain Victory
  • 19.3.1 Core Group who Never Retreated
  • 19.3.2 Hawāzin Retreat to At-Tā’if
  • 19.3.3 The Group Led by Abū ‘Āmir Al-Ash‘arī
  • 19.3.4 The Group Led by Rasūlullāhﷺ
• 19.4 Rasūlullāh’s Specialﷺ Love of Al-Ansār
• 19.5 Al-Khawārij
  • 19.5.1 Hawāzin Embrace Islām and Ask for Return of Family and Property
  • 19.5.2 Mālik Ibn ‘Awf Becomes Muslim and Fights against his Own People
  • 19.5.3 Ka’b Ibn Zuhair Embraces Islām
  • 19.5.4 Rasūlullāhﷺ Sends Men to Destroy Idols

19. The Battle of Hunain

19.1 Hawāzin Mobilise Force to Attack Muslims

When Rasūlullāhﷺ opened Makkah, the strongest resistance that Rasūlullāhﷺ was receiving was ended, and that was [from] Quraish. But now there was another tribe which held prominence in the land of Hijāz, in fact when the Kuffār were questioning the Prophethood of Muhammadﷺ and they came up with suggestions of who should become the Prophet, they said, “Lawlā Nuzzila Hādhal Qur’ānu ‘Alā Rajulim Minal Qaryatayni ‘Azīm – Why was this Qur’ān not sentdown upon a great man from [one of] the two cities?” Az-Zukhruf: 31

And what they meant by the two cities was Makkah and At- Tā’if, and the tribe of Thaqīf lived in At-Tā’if, and the tribe of Thaqīf are a branch of Hawāzin. Hawāzin is a big mother tribe and then there are many sub-tribes that descend from Hawāzin. They used to see themselves as prominent and important just like Quraish and there was some competition between the two tribes, and because of the Jāhiliyyah and the tribalism of Jāhiliyyah, they did not want a man from Quraish to take over their land and rule over them, and this is what they saw coming; they felt that since Rasūlullāhﷺ has now opened Makkah we are going to be next, because At-Tā’if was very close. Plus they have a sour history when it comes to their treatment of Rasūlullāhﷺ; remember what the people of At-Tā’if did to Muhammadﷺ when he went to them calling Lā Ilāha Illallāh? How they treated him? It was very bad, very evil. Where is the generosity? Where is the [good] treatment of your guest even if you disagree with your guest? The way they treated Rasūlullāh was bad even by the standards of the time, and that was a very difficult day on Rasūlullāhﷺ.

19.1.1 Mālik Ibn ‘Awf An-Nasrī Refuses to Listen to the Wise Old Man

So Mālik Ibn ‘Awf An-Nasrī tried to mobilise the various tribes of Hawāzin; some of them accepted his call and some did not, but he was able to pull together a very strong coalition, a very strong powerful army, and these were good fighters. Rasūlullāhﷺ heard the news and he marched out of Makkah in an army of 12,000; he had 10,000 with him when he entered into Makkah, and now he was accompanied by 2000 from At-Tulaqā’ – At-Tulaqā’ are the Released Ones, we talked about them; the ones whom Rasūlullāhﷺ released on the day of the Conquest of Makkah, these are the people of Makkah who became Muslim. The army was large, and Abū Bakr As-Siddīq and probably some others said, “Lam Nughlab Al-Yawma Min Qillah –We are not going to be defeated today due to lack of numbers. Our numbers are great and you will see the consequences of Disbelief.” When Mālik brought together his army and they set out, they were accompanied by a wise old man, a man who was famous, a man who was a well-known knight fighter in his youth and a very prominent poet among the Arabs, and his name is Duraid Ibn As- Simmah. Duraid was blind at the time and very frail, old in age, and there was this conversation that occurred between Duraid and Mālik. Duraid asked, “Where are we?” They said, “We are in Awtās.” He said, “A fine place for cavalry; it is neither hilly with rocks nor is it soft ground.” So he liked the location. And then he said, “Why is it that I hear the grunting of camels, the braying of donkeys, the bleating of sheep, and the crying of babies?” What Mālik Ibn ‘Awf did was he brought along with the army their women, their children, their cattle – everything, and his reasoning for that was that he thought this would prevent them from running away, because if they ran away they would realise that they would lose everything because the Muslims would take it over. [So] they told him, “This is what Mālik did, he brought with the people all of their wealth.”

And you can see through this discussion the difference in perception between the young and the old, the man who has experience and the young who does not, and the wisdom of an old warrior, Duraid Ibn As- Simmah. And you can see in it Mālik Ibn ‘Awf, the aspiring young man who wants to make victory for himself and a name for himself and is taking a large and unnecessary risk. Duraid said, “O Mālik, this day has great consequences for the future. Inna Hādhā Yawmul Lahumā Ba’dah – This is not a normal day, this day will determine our future. Mā Hamalaka ‘Alā Mā Sana‘at? – Why did you do what you have done?” Mālik said, “I brought them with the army so that everyone would fight for his family and his wealth.” Duraid said, “You sheep grazer! Would anything ever turn around someone in retreat? If the battle is to go well, it will be only men with swords and lances who do you good. If the battle goes badly, you will be disgraced with regards to your family and possessions anyway.” He said [that] nothing will turn back a person who is in retreat; when a person is afraid, they are not going to think about anything, they are going to flee away. And then he asked him, “What did Ka’b and Kulāb do?” These are two tribes of Hawāzin. “No one of them is present,” they said, and then he said, “So then skill and courage are absent. If it were to be a day of fine noble deeds, Ka’b and Kilāb would not miss it. I wish you had done the same as them.” And then he asked, “So who is with you?” They said, “Amr Bin ‘Āmir and ‘Awf Bin ‘Āmir.” These are two clans. He said, “While those two branches of ‘Āmir will do neither good nor harm.” He then said to Mālik, “You have done nothing by sending ahead the main force of Hawāzin to face up to the cavalry.” So he saw it as suicide.

And then he gave his recommendation, he said, “O Mālik, take away the families and the cattle up to the high lands of Hawāzin, (the fortified lands, in the mountains; take them to the mountain parts of our land), and then meet the apostates – As-Subāh (this is the name they used to call the Muslims) on horseback. If it is for you, then the rest will come, if it is against you, then you have at least protected your family and your wealth.” Mālik responded by saying, “Wallāhi Lā Af‘alu Dhālik – In the name of Allāh, I am not going to do that. You are an old man and your knowledge is becoming old. O Hawāzin, you will either follow me or I am going to jump on top of this sword!” He put his sword on the ground with the base down and the tip of it on the top and he said [that] I am going to jump on this sword and kill myself until it comes out from my back, [and] he did not want Duraid to have any involvement. Duraid said, “This is a day that I am not counted as part of it.” Duraid did not want to have anything to do with the consequences of this battle and he made it clear. He gave them his opinion [and] they refused to take it, so he wants to make it clear that I am not responsible for the consequences. Mālik said, “O men, when you see the enemy, break the sheaths of your swords and attack them as one man.” Meaning all of you attack at the same time.

19.1.2 Rasūlullāhﷺ Sends ‘Abdullāh Ibn Abī Hadrad to Gather Intelligence

Rasūlullāhﷺ sent ‘Abdullāh Ibn Abī Hadrad to gather intelligence for him, so ‘Abdullāh Ibn Abī Hadrad came back to Rasūlullāhﷺ and told him what he saw. He infiltrated the army and was able to see the numbers and to see the families and to see the cattle of Hawāzin, so he came back and told Rasūlullāhﷺ this report. And ‘Umar Bin Khattāb did not like what he heard so he rejected it, and ‘Abdullāh Ibn Abī Hadrad told him, “You might be rejecting the truth.” And then Rasūlullāhﷺ told ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, “You were once misled and Allāh has guided you.”

19.1.3 Safwān Ibn Umayyah’s Attitude Softens

Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted additional arms for the army so he spoke to Safwān Ibn Umayyah, Safwān being one of the leaders of Quraish and one of the wealthy among them, [and] he had a good stockpile of weapons. There are different narrations [but according to one] it says that Rasūlullāhﷺ asked him to give him spears and shields. Safwān asked Rasūlullāhﷺ, “A’ghasban Am ‘Āriyah? – Are you taking them by force or are you borrowing them?” Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “No, I am borrowing them and I will return them to you.” Safwān agreed. And if Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to take them by force he could [have], and keep in mind that Safwān is still a Kāfir now and he is a subject of the Muslim State, so Rasūlullāhﷺ could have taken from him the arms if he wanted but Rasūlullāhﷺ said [that] no, I will borrow them and return them back to you. And Safwān was still in that waiting period; Safwān asked for two months and Rasūlullāhﷺ gave him four, and in other narrations it gives the numbers but they are different. Anyway, after the battle some of the pieces [of weapons] were lost, so Rasūlullāhﷺ gave him what remained and then Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “I can pay you back, compensate you financially, for the pieces that were lost,” Safwān Ibn Umayyah said, “No, do not do that because I find in my heart now what I did not find then.” What Safwān is talking about is Islām; now I am close to Islām, I am beginning to come closer to Allāh, and he refused to take any compensation for the pieces that were lost.

19.1.4 Rasūlullāhﷺ Warns us from Jāhiliyyah of Banī Isrā’īl

On the way, the Muslims passed by a tree – a large tree – and the Mushrikīn used to hang their swords on this tree to get Barakah, so that they will get some blessings. It was one of the rituals of Jāhiliyyah that had no foundation; myths and superstition, but because the army of the Muslims included people who were new in their Islām and did not have Fiqh and did not have understanding of the proper ‘Aqīdah, they said, “Yā Rasūlullāh, Ij‘allanā DhātaAnwātin Kamā Lahum DhātaAnwāt – ORasūlullāh, we want to have DhātAnwāt like the Disbelievers have DhātAnwāt.” Just as they have a tree where they hang their sword and get blessings, we want to have something similar. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Qultum Walladhī Nafsī Biyadih Kamā Qāla Qawmu Mūsā Ij‘allanā Ilāhan Kamā Lahum Ālihah –In the name of Allāh whom my soul is in His Hands, you have said something similar to what the people of Mūsā have said, ‘Mūsā, we want to have a god as they have gods.’” Because when Banū Isrā’īl crossed the sea, they asked Mūsā to allow them to have gods like these people who are Mushrikīn in front of them have gods, and Allāh  says that Mūsā told them: “Innakum Qawmun Tajhalūn – Indeed, you are a people behaving ignorantly.” Al-A’rāf: 138

And then Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “These are the ways of the past. You will follow the ways of the Disbelievers before you Sunnatan Sunnah – one by one.” Meaning everything that the Disbelievers of the nation of Mūsā, people of Banī Isrā’īl did, you will find something similar to it in this Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. The difference is that the evil in the Ummah of Banū Isrā’īl was prevalent and it had overcome the good and became dominant, while with the Ummah of Muhammadﷺ there will never cease to be people on the truth who are holding firm to the Religion of Allāh, and this is how the Religion of Allāh will carry on until the Day of Judgement even if there are people who are deviant, even if there are people who are following the ways of the Disbelieving nations before us.

19.1.5 Anas Ibn Abī Marsad Stands Guard for Muslims

Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted someone to guard them this night so Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Man Yahrusnal Lailah? – Who will be our guard this night?” Who will stand guard this night? The Companion Anas Ibn Abū Marsad volunteered, so Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Irkab – ride.” So he was on horseback, [and] it came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “Face this mountain-pass until you reach to the end of it, and we do not want to be taken by surprise from your direction.” This is your responsibility, this is your part, this is your duty; we do not want to be attacked from your part, we do not want to be taken by surprise from your part. This should be the duty of every Muslim; every Muslim should be protecting Islām from his direction, from his end, and we should not allow Islām to be attacked from our end. Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “We do not want to be surprised by an attack from your end this evening.”

In this narration of Sunan Abī Dāwūd, it says that in the morning, Rasūlullāh went to the Musallā – the place where they were going to pray Fajr. So he prayed two Rak‘ah and then he said, “Did you feel your knight?” Meaning did you see him or hear his movement? They said, “O Rasūlullāh, no.” And then Rasūlullāhﷺ started Salātul Fajr. So first he prayed the Sunnah of Fajr and now they are praying the Salāh of Fajr. [The narration continues,] “And while Rasūlullāhﷺ was praying, he was looking towards the direction of the valley, and when he finished his Prayer and gave Salām he said, ‘Bear the glad-tidings, your knight has arrived.’ And we kept on staring towards the trees and we could not see anything.” So Rasūlullāh saw him before anyone else, and then he told them that the knight is coming but they were still looking but did not see him, and then after that they saw his movement between the trees on his horseback. “And then he came to Rasūlullāhﷺ and he gave him Salām and said, ‘I was in the place where you had given me instructions to be, and when it was morning, I looked from on top of the two mountains and I did not see anyone.’ Rasūlullāhﷺ asked, ‘Did you descend at all this evening?’ He said, ‘No, except if it was for Prayer or to respond to the call of nature to relieve myself.’ Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, ‘Qad Awjabt Famā ‘Alaika Allā Ta’mala Ba’dahā –Allāh will grant you Jannah, you do not have to do anything after this.’” So the guarding of Anas Ibn Abī Marsad, and fulfilling his duty as described by Rasūlullāhﷺ, is an act that granted him Jannah, and this reveals to us the great reward of guarding Fee Sabeelillāh – standing guard for the armies of the fighters Fee Sabeelillāh. This is a great reward that Rasūlullāhﷺ has promised the Companion Anas Ibn Abī Marsad.

19.1.6 Muslims are Caught by Surprise

It was a very hot day. Abū ‘Abdur Rahmān Al- Fahrī said, “Fasirnā Fī Yawmin Qā‘idin Shadīdil Harb.” Let us look at the climate on the battlefield; it was a very hot day, and this heat causes exhaustion and it affects the fighter; you can see the difficulty that was involved in this battle, so it started out as a hot day. They took a nap under whatever trees they could find and Rasūlullāhﷺ called Bilāl, and it says that Bilāl stood up from beneath a tree, Dhilluhā Ka Dhilli Tā’ir – and the shade that this tree would offer was like the shade of a bird; the shade was useless, but this was the climate that they had on that day. They started marching in this mountainous terrain – so it is hot and it is a rough mountainous terrain – and they were suddenly shocked by the attack of the horsemen of Hawāzin from in front, and then they were attacked by the archers of Hawāzin from the sides, and it says in the books of Seerah, “Wa Kānū Qawmar Rumā – the people of Hawāzin were good archers.” And the arrows were falling on the Muslims from each direction and the horses were attacking from the front, so the Muslims were caught by surprise.

The front of the army was Banū Sulaim; a tribe next to Madīnah – they retreated, they could not handle the shock, so they started fleeing from the battlefield. And then behind them was At-Tulaqā’ – the ones who were released, and these were new in Islām, their Tawakkul and Yaqīn in Allāh was weak so they also retreated, and their number was large, about 2000. And then it says in the narration, “Farakibatil Ibl Ba’dahal Ba’th – camels were stumbling on one another.” So it was a chaotic state. Camels were crowded and they were stumbling and stepping over one another, so the alignment of the army was gone, the organising of the different battalions was gone, and it was a chaotic state. You have the two groups who were in the front; they were already fleeing away from their positions, and then chaos ensued with the rest of the army and now everyone was fleeing away.

19.1.7 Rasūlullāhﷺ Calls for Muslims to Return to Battle

Rasūlullāhﷺ was calling them and saying, “Ayna Ayyuhan Nās? – Where to, O people?! Halummu Ilaÿ – Come to me! Ana Rasūlullāh! Ana Rasūlullāh! Ana Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdillāh! – Iam the Messenger of Allāh! Iam the Messenger of Allāh! I am Muhammad the son of ‘Abdillāh!” The narrator of the Hadīth Jābir Ibn ‘Abdillāh says, “Falā Shay’ – Rasūlullāh is calling them to no avail,” they were running away. When Abū Sufyān saw this, he said, “Wallāhi Lā Tantahī Hazīmatuhum Illā Fil Bahr – [By Allāh] the defeat will not end except at the sea.” Meaning they are going to carry on running until they reach to the sea. And Kaldah Ibn Al-Hanbal said, “Batulas Sihr – The magic is gone.” That is it; the magic of Muhammadﷺ worked until this day but now it is not working anymore; that is it, this is the end of the magic. You see how these people who are new in Islām, when they saw what was happening, they lost their trust in the truth and that is it, they saw that the Muslims are defeated and there is no use. Safwān however did not like what he heard, he was not happy with it, and he said, “I would rather have a man from Quraish rule over me than a Bedouin from Hawāzin.” So even though his intentions were not for the Haqq, even though it was out of tribalism and nationalism, but he still had a better position than Abū Sufyān and Kaldah Ibn Al-Hanbal; he criticised them for their words and said [that] I would rather have Rasūlullāhﷺ win than have a Bedouin rule over me. So you can see that there was some background sensitivity between the people of Quraish and the people of Hawāzin.

Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa’ narrates in Al -Bukhārī, “When the retreat started, I was fleeing.” And who is this? This is Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa’. Remember the heroic stories of Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa’? We talked about him more than once; we talked about the story of Dhū Qarad when he fought the Mushrikīn alone, we talked about the praise that Rasūlullāhﷺ praised him [with when he said] that the best of our fighters on foot is Salamah Ibn Al -Akwa’, so we are not talking about someone who was weak or was not a good fighter, we are talking about one of the best fighters. Salamah Ibn Al -Akwa’ said, “I was fleeing, and I had two garments on me and they were untied, so I tied them together and began running, and I passed next to Rasūlullāhﷺ. When Rasūlullāhﷺ saw me he said, ‘Laqad Ra’ā Ibn Al -Akwa’ Dhu’rā –The son of Al-Akwa’ has seen something terrifying.’” When Rasūlullāhﷺ saw the face of Salamah and saw the way he was running, Rasūlullāhﷺ said that he has seen something that is terrifying. So the situation was dire, the situation was difficult, but even though the situation was difficult, even though the world around you – not just the battlefield but the entire world around you – could be in a mess, but Allāh can give you Sakīnah – tranquillity, and can give you peace in your heart even in difficult times like these. While on the other hand, things could be great around you, things could be peaceful, nevertheless Allāh  puts in the heart the exact opposite feeling; feeling of despair, feeling of depression. So one cannot judge the affairs by the outside, but the judgement is based on what is inside, what is in the hearts.

With Hardship Will Be Ease: Dear brothers and sisters, if we follow the rule of Allāh even though we might go through moments of difficulty, but Allāh promised us that after difficulty there is ease: Fa Inna Ma‘al ‘Usri Yusrā. Inna Ma‘al ‘Usri Yusrā – For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. Indeed, withhardship [will be] ease. Ash-Sharh: 5-6

It is a promise from Allāh,and that is why in the Battle of Badr, which was the first meeting between the Kuffār and the Muslims, it was a moment of difficulty, it was a very difficult moment for the Muslims, they did not know what the outcome would be, but what they saw with their eyes was that they were facing an adversary who was more in numbers and better in preparation and better armed, and they were few. In that difficult time, even though there was some difficult feelings in the heart, nevertheless Allāh says: [Remember] when He overwhelmed you with drowsiness [giving] security from Him. Al-Anfāl: 11

They slept; they felt this feeling of drowsiness and sleepiness in this difficult time. And here in the Battle of Hunain, even though we talked about the situation of Salamah, and we said that Rasūlullāhﷺ was calling the people and no one was responding, everyone was running away, after this, after this difficulty, what happened? Allāh says: Then Allāh sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the Believers and sent down soldiers [angels] whom you did not see and punished those who disbelieved. And that is the recompense of the Disbelievers. At-Tawbah: 26

What are the soldiers of Allāh? Angels. There is one narration where it says, “We saw a black cloud falling from the sky, and then when it landed on the ground we saw numerous ants – it was like a carpet of ants – and we thought that these were the angels that came from Allāh.” Allāhu A’lam how authentic this might be, the Āyah could mean this or it could carry a different meaning, but regardless, Allāh says that He has provided them with soldiers, and this changed the situation and it changed it in a way that was unimaginable, because we have seen what Abū Sufyān said and what Kaldah Bin Hanbal said, and we have seen the response of the Sahābah, most of whom retreated and only a small number remained with Rasūlullāhﷺ. Initially it was only few, it was Al-‘Abbās Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib, Abū Sufyān Ibn Al-Hārith, and one of the sons of Al-‘Abbās Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib, and Ayman the son of Umm Ayman who was the nurse of Rasūlullāhﷺ, only these were surrounding Rasūlullāhﷺ and holding on to his mule, the rest had fled from their location.

19.1.8 Few Muslims Return to Battle

At this particular moment Rasūlullāhﷺ told Al-‘Abbās, because his voice was powerful, to call Al-Ansār, so Al- ‘Abbās Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib made his call to Al-Ansār. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ told him to specify Al-Khazraj, so he called Al-Khazraj, and the Khazraj were special fighters, they were strong and powerful. So it says in the narration, “They turned around like [how] cows would turn around to their calves, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was surrounded by about a hundred men.” These hundred men stood in front of an army in which some narrations the number is given at 40,000 strong, and in another narration 20,000. Anyway the number was huge; 100 standing in the face of an army that size. Rasūlullāhﷺ was marching ahead. Rasūlullāhﷺ, alone, was marching ahead, and Al-‘Abbās says, “We were pulling his mule to slow him down.” Rasūlullāhﷺ [was] facing this army of the enemy. It says that in the front of the army of the enemy there was one man from Hawāzin carrying a very long spear, and on the top of this spear there was a banner; if he was ahead, his spear would be used to stab at the Muslims, and if his companions reached to him then he would raise it up as a banner. So this first row of the army of Hawāzin was crushing the Muslim army, it was just rolling over them, and Rasūlullāhﷺ is now facing them alone, and Al-‘Abbās is saying that we were trying to pull back his mule. Until Rasūlullāhﷺ had a number around him between 80-100, and this was when the real fighting started, because in the beginning there was no fighting, it was an initial shock that caused Banū Sulaim to flee followed by At-Tulaqā’ and everyone else, and they were being slammed by arrows from every direction, but now the real fighting, fighting of the sword, began, Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Al’āna Hamyal Watīs – Now the fire of battle is waging,” this is when the fire is becoming hot.

19.1.9 Rasūlullāhﷺ Throws Handful of Dirt towards Mushrikīn

Rasūlullāh ﷺ stood in the stirrups and started making Du‘ā’, and then Rasūlullāhﷺ took with his blessed hand a handful of dirt and he threw it in the air towards the direction of Hawāzin and said, “Shāhatil Wujūh.” This handful of dirt which was in the hands of Rasūlullāhﷺ was a soldier of Allāh, because one narration says that every enemy fighter felt something in his eyes, and they also had a feeling in their hearts. One of them, who later became Muslim, would describe the feeling that they had when Rasūlullāh threw this single handful of dirt towards them. When he was asked, “What happened? How did you feel?” He would take rocks and throw them in an iron pan, and you would hear all of that clattering sound, and he would tell them, “This is how we felt in our insides.” This shaking, this clattering sound, this terror is what we felt in our insides.

We will read this Hadīth in Musnad Al-Imām Ahmad that gives a brief description. Imām Ahmad stated that it was related to him by ‘Affān quoting ‘Abdul Wāhid Bin Ziyād, quoting Al-Hārith Bin Husain, quoting Al -Qāsim Bin ‘Abdur Rahmān Bin ‘Abdillāh Bin Mas‘ūd from his father, who quoted ‘Abdullāh Bin Mas‘ūd as stating, “I was present with the Messenger of Allāh at the Battle of Hunain. The men retreated from him and 80 of the Ansār and the Muhājirīn remained there with him. We drew back some 80 feet, but we did not turn our backs to the enemy. These men were the ones upon whom Allāh sent down His Sakīnah – tranquillity. The Messenger of Allāhﷺ was meanwhile still going forward on his mule which veered to one side so that he slipped off his saddle. I called out to him, ‘Up you get, may Allāh raise you up.’ He replied, ‘Get me a handful of dirt.’ With this, he struck them in their faces and filled their mouths. Then he asked, ‘Where are the Muhājirīn and the Ansār?’ ‘They are close by,’ I replied, ‘Call for them,’ he said. I did this and they came, their swords in their right hands shining like stars, and then the Mushrikīn turned their backs in retreat.” This is the description ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mas‘ūd gave of the Battle of Hunain.

19.2 Events that Occurred During Battle of Hunain

Some events that occurred during the Battle of Hunain:

19.2.1 Abū Qatādah and the Ghanīmah

Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Man Qatala Qatīlan Falahū Salbuhū – Whoever kills an enemy gets his possessions.” In this narration [which] is in Al-Bukhārī and other books of Hadīth also, Abū Qatādah says, “There was one of Al-Mushrikīn who raised his hand to strike a Muslim, so I came from behind him and struck him with my sword on his shoulder until my sword dug deep into the armour.” So the blow was strong enough to break through the armour and dig into his shoulder. “So the man turned around and embraced me.” He embraced him so hard, Abū Qatādah said, “I felt death.” He was almost going to die because of the powerful embrace of this man. “But then he fell down dead. And then the retreat occurred and I was among those who were retreating. I saw ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb and I asked him, ‘What is happening?’ ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, ‘This is the decree of Allāh – Amrullāh.’” This is the decree of Allāh.

When Rasūlullāhﷺ said whoever kills someone then his possessions belong to him, Abū Qatādah was searching for someone to witness for him that he is the one who killed this man, so he stood up and asked, “Man Yash’had Lī? –Who will witness for me?” Noone gave witness for him. He did it again, “Man Yash’had Lī?” No one stood up. He did it a third time, “Man Yash’had Lī?” No one gave witness. And then one man from Quraish stood up and said, “O Rasūlullāh, I am the one who took the possessions of that man who was killed, so ask Abū Qatādah to allow me to have them.” Abū Bakr As-Siddīq interfered and he said, “No, in the name of Allāh! We are not going to have a lion from among the lions of Allāh have nothing and give it to a hyena from Quraish.” Abū Bakr is talking about Abū Qatādah and describing him as being a lion, and Abū Qatādah is a lion, and we have talked about Abū Qatādah and we talked about some of the incidents that relate to Abū Qatādah, one of the fighters among As-Sahābah . So Abū Bakr did not want Abū Qatādah to lose his possessions for the sake of who? For the sake of a man who probably just became Musilm from Quraish and Abū Bakr called him a hyena, and you can see the comparison between a lion and a hyena. And eventually Abū Qatādah took his possessions because Rasūlullāhﷺ told him, “A’tihī – Give him,” it belongs to him. Abū Qatādah said, “I took those possessions and I sold them and I bought with them a small number of date-palms.” And he said, “This was the first property I owned in Islām.” So Abū Qatādah had nothing and the first property that he owned came to him from Ghanīmah Fee Sabeelillāh.

19.2.2 Umm Sulaim Makes Rasūlullāhﷺ Laugh

Next, Abū Talhah saw his wife Umm Sulaim carrying a dagger. He asked her, “What is this?” She said, “I am going to rip open the stomach of any of the Kuffār who come next to me.” Abū Talhah said, “O Rasūlullāh, did you hear what she said?” Rasūlullāhﷺ laughed. And then she said, “Yā Rasūlullāh Uqtul Mam Ba’danā Minat Tulaqā’ih Inna Hādhahū Bik – ORasūlullāh, kill all of those Released Ones, they were the reason of our defeat.” She is talking about these new Muslims who came from Makkah, from Quraish. Rasūlullāhﷺ told her, “ Innallāha Qad Kafā Wa Ahsan – Allāh  has taken care of us and He has done us good.” We do not need to kill anyone; Allhamdulillāh we have achieved victory [so] there is no need to do that. In this incident you can see an example of the Sahābiyāt, an example of one of the women of Al-Ansār.

19.2.3 Khālid Bin Walīd Kills Non-Combatant Woman

Next, there was a group of men gathering around something so Rasūlullāh asked what it was and he was told that it was a woman who was killed by Khālid Ibn Al-Walīd. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Mā Kānat Hādhihī Lituqātil – This woman is not a combatant,” she was not fighting, and Rasūlullāhﷺ gave instructions to tell Khālid Ibn Al-Walīd not to kill women, “Walā ‘Asīfan Walā Zurriyyah –and not to kill the labourers and not to kill the children,” and this is referring to intentionally killing them.

19.2.4 Āyāt Revealed Regarding Ghazwat Hunain

We close with the Āyah that was revealed about Ghazwat Hawāzin or Hunain – it is called Hawāzin and Hunain; Hunain because it is the place, the location, and Hawāzin is the name of the tribe. Allāh says: Allāh has already given you victory in many regions and [even] on the day of Hunayn, when your great number pleased you, but it did not avail you at all, and the earth was confining for you with its vastness; then you turned back, fleeing. At-Tawbah: 25

Allāh says: Your great number pleased you. You felt confident in the numbers that you have and that is where the problem is. If we feel that we will win because of our numbers, if we feel that we will win because of our training, if we feel that we will win because of our technology, if we feel that we will win because of our arms and weapons, we are mistaken. We win because of Allāh, and whenever we attribute our victory to anything other than Allāh we will be defeated, the help of Allāh will not be with us. Therefore this is what counts; it is the Īmān, it is the trust that we have in Allāh, the Tawakkul, it is our dependence on Him. Allāh says that you thought that your numbers will give you victory; your numbers did you nothing. And then Allāh says [that] even the land became too constrained for you; you felt that you were so crowded, you felt that even the land is not enough for you, you had to flee. And then after that Allāh says: Then Allāh sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the Believers and sent down soldiers [angels] whom you did not see and punished those who disbelieved. And that is the recompense of the Disbelievers. At-Tawbah: 26

19.3 Post Hunain Victory

19.3.1 Core Group who Never Retreated

The people of Hawāzin were defeated by a core group of the Muslim army; it is said that the Muslim army was 12,000, however the ones who were steadfast with Rasūlullāhﷺ after the big retreat that occurred were between 80-100 Sahābah, and there was a core group among those who were the firmest and never retreated, in fact they only moved forward, and these were Rasūlullāhﷺ and his uncle and his cousin, and two or three other men next to them who were guarding Rasūlullāhﷺ. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ called for Al-Ansār specifically, and then he called for Al-Khazraj and then he called for Banū Najjār; these were the supporters of Rasūlullāhﷺ throughout the past years and they were his supporters now, and these are the ones who defended Rasūlullāhﷺ and then defeated the huge army of the tribes of Hawāzin.

19.3.2 Hawāzin Retreat to At-Tā’if

So Hawāzin retreated and we said that the leader was Mālik Bin ‘Awf An-Nasrī. So what happened is [that] Mālik Bin ‘Awf and the main body of the army retreated to At-Tā’if and then they shut the doors of At -Tā’if – At-Tā’if was a fortified city – while another branch of the army, a smaller branch, went to a place called Awtās. So Rasūlullāhﷺ also split his army; the major part led by Rasūlullāhﷺ followed Mālik Bin ‘Awf An-Nasrī to At-Tā’if while a smaller group led by Abū ‘Āmir Al-Ash‘arī, the uncle of Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī, went to Awtās.

19.3.3 The Group Led by Abū ‘Āmir Al-Ash‘arī

Duraid Bin As-Summah: We will start first by this smaller Sariyyah that went to Awtās, led by Abū ‘Āmir Al-Ash‘arī  . Among the Disbelievers who went to Awtās was Duraid Bin As-Summah; Duraid Bin As-Summah was with this small group of Disbelievers who went to this area. We mentioned Duraid Bin As-Summah before, he was a very old man at the time and he was a well-known poet and also a very experienced and seasoned fighter. As we mentioned before, he had this discussion with Mālik Bin ‘Awf An-Nasrī where he told him that it is a mistake to bring out the families and the wealth and to put them at such risk, and he told him, “Hal Yarudda Al- Munhazim Shay’? – Does anything bring back a person who is in retreat?” Anyway, Mālik Bin ‘Awf insisted and it eventually turned out that the words of Duraid were true. Anyhow, let us see how the turn of events went from there.

Duraid Bin As-Summah was with this group that was in Awtās. One of the members of the Muslim army, his name is Rabī‘ah Bin Rāfi’ As- Sulamī, found this camel with the compartment on top of it which was used usually for women. So he was leading this camel thinking that there was a woman in there and he was taking her as a captive. When he had the camel kneel down and then he went to take a look inside the compartment, to his amazement he found out that it was not a woman but it was an old man, so he pulled the old man out of this compartment. So the old man asked him, “What do you want to do with me?” He said, “I want to kill you.” He asked, “Who are you?” He said, “I am Rabī‘ah Bin Rāfi’ As-Sulamī,” and then he pulled out his sword and struck Duraid Bin As-Summah. The strike was not fatal, so Duraid Bin As-Summah told him, “Bi’sa Mā Sallahatka Ummuk! – Your mother did not arm you right!” And then he said, “Here, take my sword from my saddle, strike me with it, hit over the spine and below the skull; that is how I used to strike men. And then when you go back to your mother, tell her, ‘I killed Duraid Bin As-Summah.’ I swear many were the times I defended your women.” Duraid Bin As-Summah was talking to a man who is also a descendant of Hawāzin; these are clans that are closely related, but this is a Muslim and Duraid is a Kāfir. And Duraid is telling him that there were days when I fought for the sake of your people and for the sake of your women. Now, this is a young man, he does not know about this history, but Duraid is telling him about it because he knows that the older people of his clan would know about it, so he is telling him [that] when you go back to your mother, tell her that I killed Duraid Bin As-Summah. So he struck him as he was told and Duraid fell down dead. When he fell down, his private parts were exposed, so this young man said, “The skin which was high up between his thighs was like parchment from having so often ridden on his horse bareback.” The skin was so rough because he used to ride on his horse without a saddle; we are talking about here a seasoned fighter who has a long history behind him.

Let us take a look at the turn of events, Subhān’Allāh the Aqdār of Allāh, to give an example [take a look at] a man like Abū Tālib; we never know how the Qadr of Allāh turns out, and this means that a Muslim should always be prepared and ready and should always ask Allāh to give him Thabāt,to give him steadfastness. Because you find that Abū Tālib, who for all of his life was supporting Rasūlullāhﷺ and preventing any harm from reaching to him, he dies as a Disbeliever, and then you have a person like Abū Sufyān who spent all of his life fighting against Muhammadﷺ and then eventually at his old age he becomes Muslim. So here you have Mālik Bin ‘Awf who was the one who caused this disaster on the people of Hawāzin, and who insisted on following his wrong opinion and on rejecting the opinion of Duraid Bin As -Summah which was a wise opinion; Mālik Bin ‘Awf, he ends up becoming a Muslim – and we will talk about how that happened – while Duraid Bin As-Summah, who was giving him the sound advice, dies as a Disbeliever.

This young man, Rabī‘ah, went back to his mother and he told her just like he was told by Duraid, he said, “I have killed Duraid Bin As-Summah.” She said, “I swear he has freed three of your mothers,” meaning three of your relatives who are older than you, ya’nī this could refer to his mother or his grandmothers or his aunts. This is the story of Duraid Bin As-Summah.

Abū ‘Āmir Al-Ash‘arī Becomes Shahīd: Abū ‘Āmir, who was the leader of the Sariyyah, got shot in his knee. So Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī, his nephew, came to him and said, “O my uncle, who shot you?” Abū ‘Āmir pointed to the man who shot him. So Abū Mūsā went running after him, and this narration is in Bukhārī and Muslim. Abū Mūsā followed the man, [and] when the man saw Abū Mūsā pursuing him he fled. So Abū Mūsā is running behind this man and he is telling him, “Alā Tastahī? Alā Tathbut? Alasta ‘Arabiyyā? –Are you not ashamed of yourself? Are you not going to stand and fight? Are you not an Arab man?” So when this man heard these challenging words from Abū Mūsā he turned around and came to fight Abū Mūsā; they exchanged a few blows and he was killed, Abū Mūsā killed this man. Then Abū Mūsā went back to his uncle and told him, “O uncle, I have killed the man who killed you.” Then Abū ‘Āmir told Abū Mūsā to pull out the arrow from his knee; you know, the arrow must be pulled out, but the thing is that the arrow has two pointed edges, so when you would go to pull it out it could cause additional tearing. Anyway, when the arrow was pulled out bleeding increased and Abū ‘Āmir knew that he was dying, so he told Abū Mūsā, “Give my Salāms to Rasūlullāhﷺ, Was’alhu Ayyastaghfira Lī – and ask him to ask Allāh to forgive me.” And then after these words he passed away.

Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and told him this story. Rasūlullāhﷺ was sleeping on a bed that was made from ropes; these ropes were made from the dried leaves of date-palms, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was sleeping on that bed and there was no mattress on it, and when he woke up Abū Mūsā could see clearly the marks of the ropes on the side and the back of Rasūlullāhﷺ. Then Rasūlullāhﷺ asked for some water, and then Rasūlullāhﷺ made Wudū’, and then he raised his hands, Abū Mūsā says, “Until I could see his armpits,” meaning Rasūlullāhﷺ was deeply involved in his Du‘ā’, and he said, “O Allāh, forgive this servant of Yours. Waj‘alhu Yawmal Qiyāmah Fawqa Kathīrin Min Khalqik Aw Fawqa Kathīrin Minan Nās – OAllāh, forgive the sins of Your servant Abū ‘Āmir and make him above many of Your creation on the Day of Judgement.” This was a great Du‘ā’ that was made by Rasūlullāhﷺ for the Mujāhid and the Shahīd Abū ‘Āmir Al-Ash‘arī  . To make him on top of many of the creation on the Day of Judgement – what a great honour to be in that high status on the Day of Judgement, and that is all what counts; your position on the Day of Judgement. People are fighting for position in Dunyā forgetting that the most important is what will happen on the Day of Judgement, and that is why they say that the Bedouin who made the Du‘ā’ of, “O Allāh, make the best of my life the end of it, and make the best of my deeds the last of them, and make the best of my days the day I will meet you,” they said this is a very wise Du‘ā’ because the most important day of all days is the Day of Judgement, because it is equivalent to all of our days combined; the Day of Judgement is 50,000 years long. So when Allāh will make that day the best day, that is what you want. So when Abū Mūsā saw Rasūlullāh making this lovely Du‘ā’ for his uncle Abū ‘Āmir, Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī wanted to take advantage of this great opportunity that opened up for him so he said, “O Rasūlullāh, make Du‘ā’ for me.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Allāhumaghfir Li ‘Abdillāh Ibn Qais – O Allāh, forgive ‘Abdullāh Ibn Qais,” ‘Abdullāh Ibn Qais is the name of Abū Mūsā, Abū Mūsā is his Kunyah, “O Allāh, forgive the sins of ‘Abdullāh Ibn Qais, Wa Adkhilhu Yawmal Qiyāmati Mudkhalan Karīmā –and OAllāh, give him a noble admittance on the Day or Judgement (or enter him a good entrance on the Day of Judgement),” meaning to enter into Paradise. So the narrator of this Hadīth Abū Burdah says, “One Du‘ā’ was made for Abū ‘Āmir and the other Du‘ā’ was made for Abū Mūsā.” This is the story of Awtās.

19.3.4 The Group Led by Rasūlullāhﷺ

Siege of At-Tā’if and Use of Catapult: Now, we move on to the main branch of both armies which would lead us to Ghazwat At-Tā’if – The Battle of At-Tā’if. The books of Seerah say, “Hāsarahā Hisāran Shadīdā – Rasūlullāhﷺ put a very strict siege on At-Tā’if.” In fact Ibn Hishām, the scholar and writer of Seerah, the student of Ibn Is’hāq, he says, “I was told by whom I trust that the first one in Islām to use and throw the catapult is Rasūlullāhﷺ.” Rasūlullāhﷺ is the first one in Islām to use the catapult. This was a siege equipment that was used to hurl stones at the walls of At-Tā’if, and the first one to use it was Rasūlullāhﷺ. And I say in Islām meaning that it was used before, it is not like they invented it, but the first one to use it among the Muslims was Rasūlullāhﷺ, and this is the first Ghazwah in which it was used. Now, when the catapult fired, it would hurl the stone either at the wall or inside the fortress and you did not really see when it hit inside the fort; we are talking about a whole city inside these walls. When this missle arrives in the city it can hit anywhere; it could hit a home, it could hit a street, it could hit a market, it could strike anywhere, and it could cause collateral damage that is not originally intended, for example it could strike women and children even though the intention of the one who is striking is not to hit them but it is something that would land out of your line of sight, so you do not really know where it falls. And therefore this was used as evidence by contemporary scholars of the legality of using modern weaponry that is similar to the catapult in its method of striking, which is different than using an arrow where you see your target and you fire at; this is something that is similar to some modern firepower that ends up hitting the enemy indiscriminately. So again, this is one of many other evidences that is used by modern scholars in this regard.

Kuffār of At-Tā’if Use Weapons against Ad-Dabbābah: Now, even though the catapult was being used and it was fired and it was ramming At-Tā’if, they did not give up, and they had archers on the walls, and in one narration it says that the Muslims were within range and they were being struck by these arrows so they had to retreat and move out of range. And then the Sahābah used what is called Dabbābah, and this was a wooden structure where some Sahābah would enter into, and then they would use [it] as a cover to protect them from arrows until they could reach to the wall and be close to it, but the thing is that the people of Tā’if used a weapon against Ad-Dabbābah, they were using thorny pieces of iron that were heated in fire, so these pieces of iron would strike against the Dabbābah and burn it and then would penetrate it and reach to the ones who were inside, so it injured some of the Sahābah so they had to retreat and this weapon was proving ineffective. When this happened, Rasūlullāhﷺ ordered that the grapevines of At-Tā’if which were outside of the city to be cut down, and they cut down some of them. Again, this is similar to what Rasūlullāhﷺ did in the siege of the Jews of Banū Nadīr when he ordered that the palm trees be cut down as a weapon against the enemy, because when they see that their livelihood is being burned down it weakens their morale and willingness to carry on with the siege.

‘Each Arrow Gets you One Level in Paradise’: We will read this narration from Musnad Al-Imām Ahmad; Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “ Mam Balagha Bisahmin Falahū Darajatun Fil Jannah – The one who shoots an arrow, and the arrow reaches its target, will get one level in Paradise.” With each arrow you get one level; that is how great the Ajr is. And one can make Qiyās of this on modern forms of weaponry that could be shot similar to the way an arrow is shot. Now, the narrator of the Hadīth, Abū Najīh As- Sulamī, said, “I have shot 16 arrows and all of them reached the target.” So that is 16 levels in Jannah just like that, that is how great the Ajr is. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “Wa Man Shāba Shaibatan Fee Sabeelillāh Kānat Lahū Nūran Yawmal Qiyamah –And whoever grows one grey hair Fee Sabeelillāh, it will be light for him on the Day of Judgement.” And Ibn Hajar Al-‘Asqalānī says that whenever Fee Sabeelillāh is mentioned, it is referring to fighting Fee Sabeelillāh. Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “And any Muslim who frees a slave, then every bone of that slave will free the equivalent bone in him on the Day of Judgement from Hellfire,” and the same thing Rasūlullāhﷺ mentions about a woman who frees a Muslim woman. So this also shows the great Ajr of freeing slaves and this is what encouraged the Muslims to free slaves throughout the history, and probably there is no nation in history that has freed so many slaves for no economical reason, for no worldly reason, but to please Allāh; you find that only with the Ummah of Muhammadﷺ.

Rasūlullāhﷺ Seeks Shūrā: Al-Wāqidī says [that] the siege carried on for 15 days and they were getting nowhere and the people of Tā’if were still firm and strong in their resistance of the siege. At-Tā’if was a fortified city surrounded by a wall, so they were well protected, and after 15 days, Rasūlullāhﷺ sought the Shūrā – the advice of Naufal Bin Mu‘āwiyah Ad- Dailī, he asked him, “What do you think about staying and continuing the siege?” So Naufal said, “O Messenger of Allāh, they are just like a fox in a hole; if you stay at it you will take it, and if you leave it, it will not harm you anymore.” What Naufal is saying is that eventually it will fall, but you will have to carry on the siege, but if you leave it, it will not harm you because they are just like a fox in a hole; they have been weakened so much and all of the people around us have become Muslim that even if you left them alone they would not have any ability to harm the Muslims.

In Al-Bukhārī, Ibn ‘Umar narrates Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Tomorrow Inshā’Allāh we will leave.” This was a very heavy news on the Sahābah, it was like a burden on them, and they said, “Yā Rasūlullāh, we leave without opening? Lā Nabrahu Aw Naftahhā – We should not leave until we open this city.” They just came out of victory after victory; they had the victory of Fath Makkah and they had the victory of Hawāzin, and now they wanted to get this third victory of opening At-Tā’if and they still had the patience and the willingness to carry on, so they did not like the offer of leaving. So Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Faghdū ‘Alal-Qitāl – Then tomorrow go and fight.” And Ghudū is leaving in the early hours of the day to go and fight; these were the instructions of Rasūlullāhﷺ. So next day they went and they fought and it was a very strong fight and many of them became injured. On this day Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Innā Qāfilūna Ghadan Inshā’Allāh – We will leave tomorrow by the will of Allāh.” Ibn ‘Umar said, “They were silent and quiet, [so] Rasūlullāhﷺ laughed.” He laughed because yesterday they said we do not want to leave, and today because they were injured and [they were] in that stiff fighting they liked the offer of retreating.

Abū Bakrah and Others Surrender: When Rasūlullāhﷺ was laying siege to At-Tā’if, an announcement was made that whoever surrenders they would be freed, even if they are slaves. So one of the ones who came down was Abū Bakrah who became one of the scholars and narrators of the Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ. Bakrah is when you have a rope coming down and it is rolling on that piece of iron, that is called a Bakrah, and he was given that title on the day of At-Tā’if because he came down from the wall using a rope, so he was given that nickname of Abū Bakrah. And Rasūlullāhﷺ freed him, so he was freed after this incident, and there were some others also who surrendered on that day. Abū Bakrah says that he heard Rasūlullāhﷺ say then, “Manid Dā‘a Ilā Ghairi Abīhi Wahuwa Ya’lamuhū Fal Jannah ‘Alaihi Harām – Anyone who claims to be the father of someone other than his real father while knowing the truth will be denied Paradise.” So this is a warning against anyone claiming that someone else is his father other than his original father, it is a sin to do so, Rasūlullāh ﷺ says that such a person will be denied Paradise.

At-Tā’if, dear brothers and sisters, was the last Ghazwah that Rasūlullāh fought with the Arabs, this was the end of the wars with the Arabs; after that there were small skirmishes but there were no more Ghazawāt. Now a new frontier will open and that is the frontier with the Roman Empire, and that is the Ghazwah of Tabūk.

19.4 Rasūlullāh’s Specialﷺ Love of Al-Ansār

Rasūlullāhﷺ Does Not Give Al-Ansār Booty from The Battle of Hunain: Al-Imām Ahmad narrates with an authentic chain of narration, and there are also equivalent narrations with some changes in the wordings by Bukhārī and Muslim and other books of Hadīth, that it is narrated by Abū Sa‘eed Al-Khudrī, “When Rasūlullāhﷺ gave out the spoils of Hunain to Quraish and the Arab tribes,” you see, the spoils of war of Hunain were huge, because remember, Mālik Bin ‘Awf took everything with him; women, children and livestock, so it was all there; as soon as they fled the Muslims took everything with them, it was a huge amount of camels and goats and sheep. Rasūlullāhﷺ [has] just finished from Fath Makkah and he has a large army with him that includes people who came for the first time. [There are] some of these Arab tribes from outside Madīnah and [then there are also] the people of Quraish. For the people of Quraish this was the first time and for some of the other tribes their involvement in Ghazū was rare, but because this was a major expedition, Rasūlullāhﷺ mobilised all of the Muslims to join him. So Rasūlullāhﷺ started giving out from these spoils of war to Quraish and to the other Arab tribes, so Rasūlullāhﷺ gave to Safwān Ibn Umayyah from Quraish and he gave people like Al-Aqra’ Bin Hābis and ‘Uyaynah Bin Husn – these are leaders of some Bedouin tribes – and he gave Al-‘Abbās Bin Mirdās who was the head of the tribe of Banū Sulaim.

Rasūlullāhﷺ gave everyone and he only left out one tribe, and that tribe is Al-Ansār. So Subhān’Allāh, the ones who fled were given and the ones who fought went empty handed. And the Ansār were saddened by that; in the time of fighting Rasūlullāhﷺ calls us and in the time of giving he gives someone else! We were the ones whom Rasūlullāhﷺ called when Rasūlullāhﷺ was standing and everyone else was running away; who did Rasūlullāhﷺ call for? He told Al-‘Abbās, “Call the Ansār,” and then he told him, “Call Al-Khazraj.” So these are the ones who came to fight and were injured and were killed, and now when it is time to split the Ghanīmah, Rasūlullāhﷺ is giving everyone but them. So there was some talk going on among the Ansār and they were sad by this, and their leader Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah had to go to Rasūlullāhﷺ and bring up the issue. So Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah went to him and said, “O Messenger of Allāh, these people (the Ansār) are sad because you have given your people and you have given great portions to the leaders of the Arab tribes,” – for example, Al-Aqra’ was given a hundred camels, and ‘Uyaynah a hundred camels, and then ‘Abbās Bin Mirdās was given 50 but then it was raised to a hundred, and a camel is very expensive so a hundred camels is a big portion, it is such a great amount of wealth – “and the Ansār are empty handed.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ asked Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah, “Fa’ayna Anta Min Dhālik? – Where do you stand, O Sa’d?” Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah said, “Yā Rasūlullāh, Mā Ana Illamru’um Min Qawmī – Iam but a man from my people.” That is a very intelligent way ofsaying that I have the same question to ask, he is saying that I am but one man from my people. He came and presented to Rasūlullāhﷺ the opinion of his people and when Rasūlullāhﷺ asked where do you stand he said [that] I am but a man from my people. So Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Bring all of your people together in this pavilion.”

Rasūlullāhﷺ Holds Private Meeting with Al-Ansār: Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubādah went and gathered the Ansār in the appointed pavilion. Some of the Muhājirīn came and they were allowed to come in while some others came and Rasūlullāhﷺ turned them back; this is a special meeting for Al-Ansār. But he did allow some of the Muhājirīn who were his advisors and some important people to come in, but the rest were prevented from entering; this is a private meeting between Rasūlullāhﷺ and the Ansār. When they were all there, Rasūlullāhﷺ was told by Sa’d, “The Ansār have gathered.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ came and everyone was there before Rasūlullāhﷺ, so Rasūlullāhﷺ came in and they were all in the pavilion. So Rasūlullāhﷺ praised Allāh and thanked Him, and that is how we should start our major events, our talks; we start them by praising Allāh, that is the Sunnah. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ spoke to the Ansār these words, he said, “Did I not come to you and you were misguided and Allāh guided you through me? I came to you when you were poor, and Allāh enriched you through me. I came to you and you were enemies, and Allāh brought you together.” They responded and said, “All favours belong to Allāh and His Messenger.” Everything that Rasūlullāhﷺ said, we agree, and all of these favours that you mentioned belong to Allāh and to you. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “Well, will you not answer back?” They said, “What should we say when all favours belong to Allāh and His Messenger?” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “In the name of Allāh, if you want you may say, and you would be telling the truth if you do, ‘You came to us rejected and we believed in you, you were betrayed and we supported you, you were a fugitive and we provided you with a home, you were poor and we enriched you.’ O people of Al-Ansār! Are you upset because of a small material gain that I am using to bring a people closer to Islām while I have entrusted you to your Islām? Are you not content O people of Al -Ansār that people would go back with sheep and camels while you would go back to your homes with Rasūlullāh? In the name of whom Muhammad’s soul is in His Hands, if it was not for Hijrah, I would be a man from Al-Ansār, and if people take a road and the Ansār take another road, I would follow the road of Al-Ansār. O Allāh! Forgive Al-Ansār, the sons of Al-Ansār, and the grandsons of Al- Ansār!” Abū Sa‘eed Al-Khudrī said [that] they started crying until their beards were wet and they said, “We are pleased with Rasūlullāhﷺ as our share.

Al-Ansār are Special: Al-Ansār are special, and Rasūlullāhﷺ told them that; you are different than the rest of the people, I am giving the other people this money to bring them closer to Islām but I trust your Īmān and I trust your faith and I know that you are not in need of these worldly things to bring you closer to me and bring you closer to Allāh, you already have that in your hearts. When the Ansār first met with Rasūlullāhﷺ what was the deal between them and Rasūlullāhﷺ? “We support you and we fight for you, and what do we get in exchange for that?” “Al-Jannah.” Rasūlullāhﷺ did not promise them Dunyā; from day one, the Ansār were in it for the right reasons. So Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “I came to you.” Rasūlullāhﷺ is reminding them with the blessings of Allāh that came to Al-Ansār when Rasūlullāh arrived in Madīnah. They were misguided, they were Kuffār, and what is a greater disaster than being a Kāfir? And they were guided through Muhammadﷺ, and what is a greater blessing than that? Nothing; nothing counts when you compare it to the blessing of Hidāyah. And that is why, brothers and sisters, the most frequent Du‘ā’ that we make is the Du‘ā’ we say in Al-Fātihah: Ihdinas Sirāt Al-Mustaqīm – Guide us to the straight path. That is better for us than money, it is better than women, it is better than children, it is better than having a house, it is better than everything! [It is] the best thing that you could ever have; it is better than being healthy.

And then Rasūlullāhﷺ told them, “And you were poor and Allāh enriched you.” How did Allāh enrich them? In terms of the economy of Madīnah, before it was based on agriculture, and agriculture in Madīnah was actually going down because of the constant state of war that they were in because of the Hijrah of Rasūlullāhﷺ , so what does Rasūlullāhﷺ mean [by saying Allāh] enriched you through me? It means through the Ghanā’im that are coming from Jihād Fee Sabeelillāh. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “And you were enemies.” Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj were at the throats of each other and Allāh has brought them together. So they agreed and they said [that] all favours belong to Allāh and His Messenger; we cannot reject that and we cannot complain. But then Rasūlullāhﷺ told them [that] on the other hand, you could also tell me that I was rejected by my people of Quraish and it is we who believed, you could say that you were betrayed by your people and we are the ones who supported you, you could say that you were a fugitive and you had nowhere to go and there was a bounty on you and it is we who provided you with a home and a base to spread the Da’wah from, and you could also say that Rasūlullāhﷺ was poor and he had nothing and we are the ones who hosted him. But the Ansār obviously would not say that, they would not complain, they would not brag about what they have done, because they consider everything to be a blessing from Allāh, and everything good that they did, they considered it to be from Allāh. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ is telling them that this is a small material gain – Lu‘ā ‘Amanad Dunyā, and I am giving it to these people not because I love them, not because I like them, it is because I want to bring them closer to Islām; Ata’allafhum – these are called Al-Mu’allafa Qulūbuhum. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ told them something which only people who understand the greatness of Rasūlullāhﷺ [would appreciate]. He told them, “People are going back with sheep and camels while you are going back to your homes with Rasūlullāh.” I am going back with you; I am not going to stay in Makkah, I am going back with you. And then Rasūlullāh is telling them that if it was not for Hijrah – because Rasūlullāhﷺ is counted as a Muhājir which is a greater status than Ansārī – then I would count myself as a member of Al-Ansār. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ is telling them that if all the people take a certain road while you take another road, I would follow yours, I would be with you. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ made this lovely Du‘ā’ for Al-Ansār, “O Allāh, forgive the Ansār, forgive the sons of Al-Ansār, and forgive the grandsons of Al-Ansār.” When the Ansār heard these words they cried until their beards were wet and they said, “We are pleased with Rasūlullāhﷺ.”

Anas Ibn Mālik : ‘And where else Would I be?’: There are different narrations as I mentioned in Bukhārī and Muslim, [and] in one of them there was a statement that caught my attention; Hishām, who is the Tābi‘ī narrating the Hadīth, is asking Anas Ibn Mālik whose Kunyah is Abū Hamzah, “O Abū Hamzah, and you have witnessed that?” Anas said, “And where else would I be?” What caught my attention here is the response that Anas gave. He did not say, ‘Yes, I was there,’ he told him, “And where else would I be?” And this shows us a virtue of Anas Ibn Mālik; being the servant of Rasūlullāhﷺ, he was always with Rasūlullāhﷺ and such an event would not miss him, he would definitely be there, and that is why it is mentioned that Anas Ibn Mālik used to have so many dreams of Rasūlullāh that it goes to the extent that they mention that he used to dream about Rasūlullāhﷺ every night, because he was always with Rasūlullāhﷺ.

Rasūlullāhﷺ Was Not a Poet: Az- Zuhrī narrates that Rasūlullāhﷺ gave Al-Aqra’ Bin Hābis 100 camels and he gave ‘Uyaynah Bin Husn 100 camels, but he gave ‘Abbās Bin Mirdās who is also a chief of a tribe only 50, so Al-‘Abbās made some lines of poetry talking about this and saying, “How can my share be less than the share of Al-Aqra’ Bin Hābis and ‘Uyaynah when my father and their fathers were on an equal footing?” And Az-Zuhrī mentions this narration [and] he says that these words reached to Rasūlullāhﷺ so Rasūlullāhﷺ asked him, “Are you the one who says…” and then Rasūlullāhﷺ mentioned one line of this poem, “…My share and the share of my horse is less than the share of Al-Aqra’ and ‘Uyaynah?” While in the poem, ‘Uyaynah is mentioned before Aqra’, Rasūlullāhﷺ mentioned Al-Aqra’ before ‘Uyaynah, so Rasūlullāhﷺ did not mention the line of poetry correctly. So Abū Bakr told Rasūlullāhﷺ, “That is not how he said it, but in the name of Allāh, you are not a poet and it is not appropriate for you to be one.” And then Rasūlullāhﷺ asked, “What did he say?” So Abū Bakr mentioned the line as it should be and then Rasūlullāhﷺ said [that] they are equal, it does not matter which one is mentioned first.

And the reason why I am bringing up this narration is to show you that Rasūlullāhﷺ was not a poet, and even when he came to recite that line, he did not follow the meter of the poetry as was known in those times because Allāh has kept Rasūlullāhﷺ away from poetry, but Abū Bakr mentioned that to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said that it is not Al-Aqra’ before ‘Uyaynah but ‘Uyaynah should be before Al-Aqra’. Anyway, the man said, “Yes.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Cut away his tongue.” Some people thought that Rasūlullāhﷺ literally meant that the tongue of Al-‘Abbās should be cut when Rasūlullāhﷺ meant that you should give him another 50 and that would cut away his tongue figuratively speaking, he will not go around mentioning these words anymore, and he was given a hundred just like Al-Aqra’ and ‘Uyaynah.

Rasūlullāhﷺ was Softening the Hearts: To show you what Rasūlullāhﷺ was doing, the reason, the justification behind it, in an authentic narration from Safwān Ibn Umayyah, he says, “Rasūlullāhﷺ kept on giving me from the booty of Hunain and he was the worst of the creation to me until Allāh has not created anything that was more beloved to me than him.” So it was these gifts that Rasūlullāhﷺ was giving them that softened their hearts and made them love Rasūlullāhﷺ. Really, brothers and sisters, when you look at the Seerah of Rasūlullāhﷺ, you see that Rasūlullāhﷺ was a master in dealing with people; Rasūlullāh was blessed by Allāh with the ability of drawing together the hearts of the community and forging together an Ummah, and Allāh told him: If you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have brought their hearts together; but Allāh brought them together. Al-Anfāl: 63

Allāh has brought these people together. Rasūlullāhﷺ was the means for bringing them together, and Allāh is telling Muhammadﷺ that it is not you but it is from Allāh . But the point here to make is that we need to understand and learn the Sunnah of Rasūlullāhﷺ. You know, we sometimes have a limited understanding of what Sunnah is. The way Rasūlullāhﷺ dealt with people is Sunnah, the way he made Da’wah is Sunnah, the way Rasūlullāhﷺ fought is Sunnah; these are all parts of Sunnah. So Rasūlullāhﷺ was giving Safwān Ibn Umayyah – who was an enemy of Rasūlullāhﷺ until that moment, Rasūlullāhﷺ put all of that aside, put it behind him – and was giving Safwān until Safwān was pleased and happy and he says and admits that Muhammadﷺ was the most disliked person to me and now I love him more than anybody else.

Al-Bukhārī narrates that ‘Amr Ibn Taghlib says that Rasūlullāhﷺ was distributing money or Sabī – Sabī are the women and children. So he distributed it and he gave some men and he left others. Rasūlullāhﷺ was told that the ones whom he left were upset that they were left out, so Rasūlullāhﷺ praised Allāh and thanked Him and then said, “In the name of Allāh, I would give a man and I would leave out another man, and the one I leave out is more beloved to me than the one I give. But I am giving people because I see greed in their hearts, and I entrust others to what Allāh has blessed them with contentment and good in their hearts, and one of them is ‘Amr Ibn Taghlib.” ‘Amr Ibn Taghlib then says, “In the name of Allāh, I love these words of Rasūlullāhﷺ more than all of the red camels.” And the red camels [as] we mentioned before are the most valuable type of camels. If you would give me the entire world of red camels, I would leave that and rather have Rasūlullāhﷺ give me this badge of honour. So you see how Rasūlullāhﷺ has given Safwān and that made Safwān love Rasūlullāhﷺ, and Rasūlullāhﷺ prevented ‘Amr Ibn Taghlib and that made ‘Amr Ibn Taghlib love Rasūlullāhﷺ more because Rasūlullāhﷺ mentioned his name and said that I entrust him to his Īmān.

19.5 Al-Khawārij

But there were some people who not only were greedy but they were complaining, and we will see an example of that and this is mentioned in Bukhārī. Abū Sa‘eed Al-Khudrī narrates, “We were with Rasūlullāhﷺ while he was distributing a booty and he was approached by Dhul Khuwaisirah and he is a man from Banū Tamīm. So he said, ‘O Rasūlullāh, be just.’” Subhān’Allāh, ya’nī this man is speaking to Rasūlullāhﷺ, the Messenger from Allāh, and he is telling him, “Be just.” This man who was until quite a short while ago a Disbeliever making Sujūd to an idol is telling the best of creation, “Be just.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Woe to you! And who would be just if I am not just?” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “O Rasūlullāh, allow me to cut off his neck!” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Leave him, because he will have companions; you will belittle your Salāh to their Salāh, and you will belittle your fasting compared to their fasting. They would recite Qur’ān but it would not go beyond their throats. They would leave the Religion just like an arrow would leave its target, so you would look at the blade and there is not blood on it, and then you would look at the binding and you would find nothing on it, and you would look at the rest of the arrow and you would find the shaft and you would find nothing on it.”

An explanation of what this is; if an archer is strong and he shoots the arrow with such force, the arrow could hit the game and could pass through it so fast that the archer cannot even recognise that the target was hit, and then he goes to pick up the arrow to see of there is any traces of blood on it and he would find nothing; he would look at the blade, there is nothing, he would look at the binding that brings the blade to the shaft, he would find nothing, then he would look at the shaft itself and he would find nothing. This is an analogy that Rasūlullāhﷺ gave of how fast these people would leave Religion; they are so extreme that they would leave the Religion so swiftly you could not even recognise that. And this is a very interesting analogy that Rasūlullāhﷺ gave about these people, because they pray, and Rasūlullāh is saying that they are praying more than the Sahābah, and they are fasting, and they are fasting more, and they recite Qur’ān but it does not leave their throats; why? Because they are not following the meanings; it is just voice coming out from the throat but there is no implication of it. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “And their sign is a dark man and one of his arms (he does not have a full arm, he just has a trunk of an arm) looks like a breast of a woman.” So Abū Sa‘eed Al-Khudrī said, “I testify that I heard these words from Rasūlullāhﷺ, and I testify that ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib is the one who fought them and I was with him, and he ordered that we search for that man and we found him and we saw that this man fitted exactly the description given by Rasūlullāhﷺ.”

Ibn Hajar’s Commentary on the Khawārij: Let us see some words from Ibn Hajar in his commentary on this Hadīth. Ibn Hajar says that Ibn Hubayrah said, “In this Hadīth, we learn that fighting the Khawārij is a priority over fighting the Disbelievers, and the wisdom behind that is because fighting the Khawārij is a protection of the capital while fighting the Disbelievers is seeking profit, and protecting the capital takes precedence over making a profit.” And this is a rule that applies to fighting all of the Murtaddīn because they are eating the Ummah from within, while when you fight the Disbelievers – obviously here they are talking about fighting the Disbelievers in terms of Da’wah – you are fighting them to bring them [to Islām]. So protecting the capital takes precedence over making profit. And then he says, “There is a warning in this Hadīth from going to extremes in Religion and going to extremes in worship in ways that the Sharī‘ah (or Islām) has not allowed.” And then he says, “Our religion has encouraged us to be rough with the Kuffār and soft with the Believers, and the Khawārij did the opposite of that like we have seen.” Because Rasūlullāh gives us a very important sign of the signs of Al-Khawārij, and it is very important to keep in mind whenever we want to know who the Khawārij are, and that sign is, “Yaqtulūna Ahlal Islāmi Wa Yatrukūna Ahlal Awsān –They kill the Muslims and they leave the Disbelievers.” This is an important sign of the signs of the Khawārij.

An example of that; ‘Abdullāh Bin Khabbāb is the son of the Companion Khabbab Ibn Al-Aratt. He was travelling along with his wife and he was stopped by the Khawārij. They asked, “Who are you?” He said, “I am the son of Khabbāb Ibn Al- Aratt.” Everyone knows who he is; a Companion of Rasūlullāhﷺ. And they killed him, and they opened up the stomach of his wife and killed her and drew out the fetus; she was pregnant. And then they took some belongings that were owned by a Christian or a Jew, and then some of them said, “No, you have to return it because these are Ahl Adh- Dhimmah.” So you can see an example here; they are following Warā and Taqwā when it comes to Ahl Adh-Dhimmah but when it comes to the Muslims, they kill the son of a Companion of Rasūlullāhﷺ. And this is one of the most important qualities of Al-Khawārij, [it] is their animosity and hatred and roughness towards Muslims, and then when it comes to the Kuffār they turn a blind eye towards them. And by the way, that incident that I mentioned was [what] started the war between ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib and Al-Khawārij, because ‘Alï said, “Leave them alone until they kill or they rob, then we will fight them.” So when they killed ‘Abdullāh Bin Khabbāb and they took his belongings, that is when ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib ordered that they should be fought.

And then he says, “There is evidence here for fighting the ones who revolt against the just Imām (the just leader), and the ones who fight for a false belief.” So there is evidence here for fighting the ones who are fighting for a false belief and fighting the ones who revolt against a just leader, such as the ones who revolted against ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib. “And the ones who spread corruption on earth and they commit armed robbery, there is evidence here that they should be fought.”

And keep note of what Ibn Hajar is saying next, he says, “But the ones who revolt against an oppressive leader,” and notice here he is not saying a Disbelieving leader, he is saying an oppressive leader, “who wants to take over his wealth or to kill him or to abuse his family, then he is excused and it is not allowed to fight him.” So the ones who revolt against the unjust leaders, Ibn Hajar is saying that it is Harām to fight them and they are excused for fighting, and he says that if the police force or the army of an unjust ruler comes to take away your wealth or to kill you or to abuse your family, then you can fight back, he says, “And you can defend yourself and your wealth and your family according to your ability.” And this is talking about the unjust leader, but if the leader is a Disbeliever then it is the consensus of the ‘Ulamā’ that it is Wājib, it is obligatory to fight him; you cannot submit to a Disbelieving leader. He said, “And we will explain that in the book of Fitan.” And then he says, “At-Tabarī narrates with an authentic chain from ‘Abdullāh Ibn Al-Hārith from a man from from Banī Nazr from ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib that he said about Al- Khawārij, ‘If they go against a just ruler then they should be fought, but if they go against an unjust ruler then do not fight them because they have an evidence.’” And then he says, “And that is what we should consider happened with Al-Husain Bin ‘Alï and the people of Madīnah when they revolted, and ‘Abdullāh Bin Az-Zubair, and then the scholars who revolted against Al-Hajjāj in the story of ‘Abdur Rahmān Bin Muhammad Ibn Al-Ash‘ath, and Allāh knows best.” So Ibn Hajar here is mentioning examples of those who revolted against unjust leaders and he mentions ‘Abdullāh Ibn Az-Zubair and Al-Husain Ibn ‘Alï and the people of Madīnah and ‘Abdur Rahmān Ibn Al-Ash’ath as examples.

19.5.1 Hawāzin Embrace Islām and Ask for Return of Family and Property

The people of Hawāzin sent a delegation to Rasūlullāhﷺ asking Rasūlullāhﷺ to give them back their property because they lost everything;their women and their children and their livestock was all gone; imagine an entire tribe [where] only the men are left and everything else is taken away from them. And this narration is in Al- Bukhārī; when Hawāzin came to accept Islām, they asked Rasūlullāhﷺ to return to them their wealth and their women and children. So Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “The most beloved words to me are the most truthful so choose one of two; either your women and children or the wealth.” Rasūlullāhﷺ told them [that] I cannot give both back; I will give you either the women and children or the wealth, “And I waited for you.” Rasūlullāhﷺ is telling them [that] I actually waited before distributing the Ghanīmah with the hope that you would come to me so I could give it back to you, but now it is already divided, it is already now within the property of Muslim individuals, so I cannot take it away from them and give it back to you. But he told them [to] choose one of the two, so they said, “If you are giving us the choice then obviously we are going to choose our women and children.” So Rasūlullāh told them, “I am going to give them back to you but I have to appeal to the Muslims.”

So Rasūlullāhﷺ stood up in front of the Muslims, praised Allāh and then said, “Your brothers have come repenting (they became Muslim) and I want to give back to them their women and children. So whoever among you would allow to give them back what belongs to them then he should do so, and whoever wants to be compensated then I will compensate them from the first Ghanīmah that we get.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ is telling them [that] if you want to give them back what belongs to them then that is better; do it, [and] if you want to give it back with a promise of reimbursement for what you have given then I will do that from the first Ghanīmah that I get after this battle. In the narration of Al-Bukhārī it says that the Muhājirīn and Ansār, they all gave it back, but Ibn Is’hāq mentions [that] the scholars of Seerah say that Al-Muhājirīn said [that] we will give up what we have, the Ansār said the same thing, but then Al-Aqra’ Bin Hābis stood and said, “Me and my tribe will not give up what we have.” ‘Uyaynah Bin Husn said, “We will not give up what we have.” And then ‘Abbās Bin Mirdās said, “We will not give up what we have.” But then his tribe Banū Sulaim stood up and said, “No, we are going to give up what we have.” So ‘Abbās told them, “Wahhantumūnī – You have disgraced me.” But they had done the right thing; Rasūlullāhﷺ appealed to the people to give it back. And then Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “I will not know who has given back and who has not, so let your ‘Urafā (the Shuyūkh of the tribes, the leaders of the tribes) report to me who has given up what they have and who has not.” Anyway, the women and children were returned to Hawāzin while the livestock was split. It says that every individual got 40 sheep; this tells you that there was a huge Ghanīmah.

19.5.2 Mālik Ibn ‘Awf Becomes Muslim and Fights against his Own People

Mālik Ibn ‘Awf received the message from Rasūlullāhﷺ saying that if you become Muslim I will give you what belongs to you and on top of that I will give you a hundred camels. So Subhān’Allāh, Mālik Ibn ‘Awf sneaked out from At-Tā’if, and he was there when it was besieged and he carried on resisting until that moment. So now when he is told by Rasūlullāhﷺ that I will give you your property back, he came and he accepted Islām and then he led an army from his people who became Muslim against the people of At -Tā’if! He is the one who started the war against Rasūlullāhﷺ and now he became Muslim and he is fighting against the ones whom he encouraged to fight Rasūlullāhﷺ in the first place. So again, this shows us how Rasūlullāhﷺ was winning the hearts of people.

19.5.3 Ka’b Ibn Zuhair Embraces Islām

Ka’b Ibn Zuhair also became Muslim; Ka’b Ibn Zuhair was one of the poets who used to use their poetry against Rasūlullāhﷺ. His brother sent him a message telling him, “Rasūlullāhﷺ is executing the poets who spoke against him, so you either come to him as Muslim or flee before you are killed.” So Ka’b was very worried about this and he was concerned that he might be killed, and the people who were advising him were causing him this fear, but he decided that he will give it a try and go back to Rasūlullāhﷺ. So he went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and Rasūlullāhﷺ did not know him, so he went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “Ka’b Ibn Zuhair came to you repenting and he wants to become Muslim, do you accept his Islām?” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Yes, let him come.” He said, “I am Ka’b Ibn Zuhair.” And then he gave his Bay‘ah to Rasūlullāhﷺ and he stood and gave a wonderful poem praising Rasūlullāhﷺ, and the story goes that Rasūlullāh told the Sahābah to listen to this poem and then Rasūlullāhﷺ gave him his cloak – Al-Burdah, and it is this Burdah, according to the stories, that ended up in the hands of the Khulafā’ of Banū ‘Abbās; they considered it to be Barakah because it belonged to Rasūlullāhﷺ, and it would be handed down from one Khalīfah to the next.

19.5.4 Rasūlullāhﷺ Sends Men to Destroy Idols

We are talking here about events that happened within that year. Also during this year, Rasūlullāhﷺ sent men from the tribe of Ahmus to Dhul Khalasah to destroy it [idols] and they destroyed it. So Rasūlullāhﷺ was destroying all of the remnants of Jāhiliyyah; all of these false idols, the Asnām, were being destroyed, and this was bringing an end to the false worship in the land of Hijāz and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.

This is the end of the events of the eighth year of Hijrah, Inshā’Allāhu Ta‘ālā we will move on to the next in our following session.