Home > Sira > The Fourth Year of the Prophetic Hijra
The year 4 of the Hijra: the betrayal of ar-Raji't and the martyrdom of Khoubayb, the well of Ma'ouna, the Ghazwa of the Banu an-Nadir and the sura al-Hachr, the prayer of fear, Dhat ar-Riqa't, Badr al-Mou'tad, and the marriages of the year.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
In Mouharram of this fourth year of the Hijra took place the expedition of Abou Salama ibn Abd al-Asad toward Toulaha al-Asadi, as far as a watering place called Qatan. The Waqidi reports: Abou Salama had taken part in Ouhoud and was wounded in the arm; he remained a month under treatment. At the crescent of Mouharram, thirty-five months after the Hijra, the Messenger of Allah called him and said: "Go out with this expedition: I have appointed you over it." He tied for him a banner and said: "March until you reach the land of the Banu Asad and raid them." He counselled him the fear of Allah and kindness toward the Muslims with him, and they went out, a hundred and fifty men. They reached the outskirts of Qatan, the water of the Banu Asad, where Toulaha al-Asadi and his brother Salama, sons of Khouwaylid, were gathered, having collected allies among the Banu Asad to make war upon the Prophet. A man of that people came to the Prophet to report their muster, and in consequence he sent Abou Salama. When they reached their land, the Banu Asad scattered, leaving behind great numbers of camels and sheep: Abou Salama seized all of it, took three slaves, turned back toward Medina, granted the guide from the Banu Asad a generous share of sheep, set aside the Prophet’s special portion, a slave, took the fifth, and divided the spoils among his companions, then entered Medina.
Oumar ibn Outhman reports: when my father recovered and the Messenger of Allah sent him in Mouharram of the year four toward Qatan, he was absent ten and some nights. Upon entering Medina his wound reopened, and he died on the third of the remaining nights of Joumada al-Oula. Oumar said: my mother observed her waiting period of four months and ten nights, then the Messenger of Allah married her, entering upon her within the remaining nights of Shawwal. My mother used to say: there is no harm in marrying in Shawwal nor in the consummation in it, since the Messenger of Allah married me in Shawwal and held the wedding feast in it. Oum Salama died in Dhoul-Qi’da of the year fifty-nine: the Bayhaqi reports it.
In Safar of this year took place the Ghazwa of ar-Raji’, seven miles from Ousfan. The Boukhari reports, through Amr ibn Abi Soufyan ath-Thaqafi, from Abou Hourayra: the Prophet sent out an expedition as scouts and appointed over them Asim ibn Thabit, grandfather of Asim ibn Oumar ibn al-Khattab. When they were between Ousfan and Mecca, their presence was reported to a clan of Hudhayl called the Banu Lihyan, who pursued them with nearly a hundred archers. They followed their tracks to a campsite where they found date pits which had been taken as provision from Medina, and said: these are the dates of Yathrib. They tracked them until they caught up with them. When Asim and his companions reached Fadfad, the men surrounded them and said: yours is the covenant and the oath if you come down to us: we shall kill not one man among you. Asim said: as for me, I shall never come down under the guarantee of an unbeliever. O Allah, inform Your messenger of us! They fought them and killed Asim and seven men with him by arrows. There remained Khoubayb, Zayd and a third man, to whom they gave covenant and oath; they came down, and when the men gained mastery over them, they untied the strings of their bows and bound them with those. The third man cried: this is the first treachery! And refused to go with them. They dragged him and tried to force him, but he would not, and they killed him. Then they carried Khoubayb and Zayd off to Mecca and sold them there.
This account the Boukhari related in the book of campaigns of his Sahih, and also in the books of tawhid and jihad by similar routes. In one of its wordings, the Messenger of Allah sent ten men as a scouting expedition, appointing over them Asim ibn Thabit ibn Abi al-Aq Lah. Mohamed ibn Ishaq, Moussa ibn Oqba and Urwa ibn az-Zoubayr diverged from him on some points. Let us mention the account of Ibn Ishaq, so that the difference may be known: Ibn Ishaq is an authority in this science, as ach-Chafi’i said: whoever wants the campaigns is dependent upon Mohamed ibn Ishaq.
Ibn Ishaq reports, from Asim ibn Omar ibn Qatada: after Ouhoud there came to the Messenger of Allah a group of Adhal and al-Qarra who said: O Messenger of Allah, there are Muslims among us: send with us some of your companions to instruct us in religion, recite to us the Quran and teach us the ordinances of Islam. The Messenger of Allah sent with them six men: Marthad ibn Abi Marthad al-Ghanawi, client of Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, who was commander of the group; Khalid ibn al-Boukayr al-Laythi, client of the Banu Adi; Asim ibn Thabit ibn Abi al-Aq Lah, milk-brother of the Banu Amr ibn Awf; Khoubayb ibn Adi, brother of the Banu Jihja; Zayd ibn ad-Dathina, brother of the Banu Bayada; and Abdallah ibn Tariq, client of the Banu Dhoufar. They went out with these people until they were at ar-Raji’, a water of Hudhayl on the borders of the Hijaz, where they were betrayed: they raised a war cry to Hudhayl, and the Muslims, in their tents, saw nothing but men enveloping them, swords in hand. They took up their weapons to fight, and were told:
by Allah, we do not intend to kill you; we wish only to gain through you something from the people of Mecca, and you have the covenant of Allah and His oath that we shall not kill you. Marthad, Khalid ibn al-Boukayr and Asim ibn Thabit answered: by Allah, never will we accept from a polytheist covenant or oath. And Asim said: Allah is most knowing, and to Allah belong praise and favour: My affliction, and I am hardy and valiant; and the bow with its red sinews; Arrows slip from its face; death is true and life false; All that the Eternal wills comes to pass, and man inclines toward Him. If I do not fight you, then my mother be bereaved! And he said also: The shield of Abou Soulayman and the plumes of al-Mouq’ad, and a shield like a blazing hell; When the couches are spread I do not tremble, and a scabbard of the hide of a bared bull, believing in what Mohamed brings. And again: The shield of Abou Soulayman, and such as I am an archer, and my people were a generous assembly. Then he fought until he was slain, and his two companions were slain with him.
When Asim was killed, Hudhayl wished to take his head to sell it to Sulafa bint Sa’d ibn Chouhayd, who had vowed, when her two sons were struck on the day of Ouhoud, that if she could attain the head of Asim she would drink wine in his skull. The Boukhari mentions this after the arrival of Khoubayb and Zayd ibn ad-Dathina in Mecca; and what Ibn Ishaq relates is better ordered. Allah sent against Asim a swarm of bees like a cloud which shielded him from their messengers, and they could get nothing of him. It was said: leave him till evening; the thing will pass and we shall take him. But Allah sent a flood of the valley which carried his body away. Asim had covenanted with Allah never to be touched by a polytheist nor to touch a polytheist, out of scruple of purity. Thus Oumar ibn al-Khattab used to say, when he was told that the bees had protected him: Allah guards the believing servant! Asim had vowed never to be touched by a polytheist nor to touch one in his lifetime, so Allah protected him after his death as He had protected him in his life.
As for Khoubayb, Zayd ibn ad-Dathina and Abdallah ibn Tariq, they wavered, softened and desired life, and gave their hands: they were seized and carried toward Mecca to be sold. When they came to adh-Dhahran, Abdallah ibn Tariq pulled his hand from the bond, took his sword and stood alone against the people: they stoned him until they killed him, and his grave is at adh-Dhahran. Ibn Hicham reports that Khoubayb and Zayd were sold to Quraysh for two captives of Hudhayl held in Mecca. Khoubayb was bought by Houjayr ibn Abi Ihab at-Tamimi, client of the Banu Nawfal, on behalf of Oqba ibn al-Harith ibn Amir ibn Nawfal, for Abou Ihab was milk-brother to the mother of al-Harith: Khoubayb had killed al-Harith on the day of Badr, and they wished to kill him in vengeance for the father. Zayd ibn ad-Dathina was bought by Safwan ibn Oumayya, to be killed in vengeance for his father: he sent him to at-Tan’im with a freedman of his called Nistas, and had him brought out of the sacred precinct to be killed.
A group of Quraysh had gathered there, among them Abou Soufyan ibn Harb. When Zayd was brought forward to be killed, Abou Soufyan said to him: I adjure you by Allah, O Zayd: would you love that Mohamed were in your place now, and that we struck off his head, and that you were with your family? He said: by Allah, I do not love that Mohamed, where he is now, be hurt by a thorn causing him pain, while I sit among my family. Abou Soufyan said: I never saw among men anyone loving anyone as the companions of Mohamed love Mohamed! Then Nistas killed him.
As for Khoubayb ibn Adi, he remained chained in the house of Maawiya, freedwoman of Houjayr ibn Abi Ihab, who had embraced Islam. She relates: Khoubayb was with me, confined in my house, and one day I looked out upon him and he held in his hand a bunch of grapes the size of a man’s head, eating from it, though I know of no edible grapes in the land of Allah at that time. It is further related, from Asim ibn Omar ibn Qatada and Abdallah ibn Abi Najih, that when death was near Khoubayb asked for a razor with which to purify himself before the killing. The razor was given, and a boy of the clan carried it to him: fear seized the woman, who thought: what is this? The man would gain his vengeance by killing this boy, man for man. Khoubayb took the razor and said: by your life, your mother feared no treachery of mine when she sent you to me with this razor. And he let him go. Ibn Hicham says: the boy was her son.
Then they carried Khoubayb out to at-Tan’im to crucify him, and he said: if you see fit to let me pray two rak’a, then do so. They said: pray, you are free to. He prayed two rak’a, completing them perfectly, then turned to the people and said: by Allah, were it not that you would think I lingered out of shrinking from death, I would pray more. And he was the first of the Muslims to institute those two rak’a at the time of execution. Then they raised him upon a tree-trunk; when they had bound him fast he said: O Allah, we have conveyed the message of Your messenger: inform him in the morning of what is being done to us. Then he said: O Allah, count them one by one, kill them one by one, and leave not one of them! Then they killed him. Mouawiya ibn Abi Soufyan used to say: I was present that day among those who stood there with Abou Soufyan, and by Allah I saw the invocation of Khoubayb strike me to the ground in terror. And people used to say: when a man is invoked against and lies down on his side, the invocation slides off him.
As-Souhayli says: the two rak’a became a Sounna at the time of execution because they were practised in the lifetime of the Prophet, who confirmed them and approved of that act. Zayd ibn Haritha also prayed them in the Prophet’s lifetime: the Bayhaqi reports, through al-Layth ibn Sa’d, that Zayd ibn Haritha hired a mule from a man of Ta’if on condition that the hirer let him alight wherever he wished. The man bore him toward a ruined place full of corpses, and when he meant to kill him, Zayd said: let me pray two rak’a. He said: pray your two rak’a: these men often prayed, and their prayer availed them nothing. He prayed, and the man came to kill him, and he said: O Most Merciful of the merciful! And behold, a voice crying: do not kill him! The man was frightened and went to look, saw nothing, came a second time to kill him, and Zayd repeated his cry; again the voice said:
do not kill him! He came a third time, and behold, a horseman on a steed, a lance in his hand at whose head blazed a sheaf of fire: he thrust him through, and he fell dead. Then he said: the first time you called upon Allah I was in the seventh heaven; the second time, in the lowest heaven; the third time, I came to you. As-Souhayli relates also that Houjr ibn Adi ibn al-Adbar prayed those two rak’a when he was brought from Iraq to Mouawiya carrying the letter of Ziyad: Mouawiya commanded his killing, and he prayed two rak’a before he was killed. Aïcha rebuked Mouawiya for it; he said: it was only he who testified against him who killed him. Then he said: leave me and Houjr: I shall cast him upon the balance on the Day of Resurrection. She said: where now has gone the forbearance of your father Abou Soufyan? He said: since one like you, of my people, left me.
In the campaigns of Moussa ibn Oqba it is related that Khoubayb and Zayd ibn ad-Dathina were killed on one and the same day, and that the Messenger of Allah was heard that day saying: "And upon you be peace, O Khoubayb: Quraysh has killed you." He relates also that when they crucified Zayd ibn ad-Dathina they shot him with arrows to tempt him from his religion: it only increased him in faith and submission. Urwa and Moussa ibn Oqba relate that when they raised Khoubayb upon the tree-trunk they called to him, adjuring him: would you love that Mohamed were in your place? He said: no, by Allah the Great, I do not love to be ransomed from him by a thorn that would hurt his foot. And they laughed at him. The Boukhari relates this in the story of Zayd ibn ad-Dathina: Allah is most knowing. Moussa ibn Oqba relates that Amr ibn Oumayya is said to have buried Khoubayb. And Oqba ibn al-Harith himself denied killing him: by Allah, I did not kill Khoubayb, for I was younger than that; but Abou Maysara, milk-brother of the Banu Abd ad-Dar, took the spear, placed it in my hand, seized my hand with it, and thrust him until he died.
It is related that Oumar ibn al-Khattab appointed Sa’id ibn Amir ibn Hidhyam al-Joumahi governor over part of Syria, and that he would be seized with fainting fits among the people, until it was mentioned to Oumar, who questioned him during one of his visits and said: O Sa’id, what is this that comes upon you? He said: by Allah, O commander of the believers, there is nothing grave in me; but I was among those present at the killing of Khoubayb ibn Adi, and I heard his supplication. By Allah, never has my heart sat in an assembly but I have been seized with faintness! And that only increased him in Oumar’s esteem. Ibn Ishaq reports that Oumar said: whoever delights to look upon a man of solitary sincerity, let him look upon Sa’id ibn Amir. Ibn Hicham reports that Khoubayb remained in their hands until the sacred months had passed, and then they killed him.
The Bayhaqi finally reports, from Amr ibn Oumayya ad-Damri, that the Messenger of Allah had sent him out alone on a reconnaissance: I came to the tree-trunk of Khoubayb and encamped there, shielding myself from eyes, then I undid it, and it fell to the ground; I dashed away and hid a while, then turned around and saw nothing: it was as if the earth had swallowed it. And no grave was ever mentioned for Khoubayb down to this hour. When the companions of ar-Raji’ were killed, some hypocrites said: woe to these deluded ones who perished thus: they neither lived on among their families nor conveyed the message of their master! Allah sent down concerning them: among the people is he whose speech delights you in the present life, and who calls Allah to witness what is in his heart, yet he is the fiercest of adversaries (al-Baqara, 204), and what follows. And concerning the men of the expedition came down: among the people is he who sells his soul seeking the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is gentle with the servants (al-Baqara, 207). Hassan ibn Thabit wept for Khoubayb in beautiful verses, and satirised Hudhayl and the Banu Lihyan for their treachery; but most of the masters of poetry deny him these pieces.
There took place also in Safar of this year the expedition of the well of Ma’ouna: Makhoul places it most strangely after the Trench. The Boukhari reports through Anas ibn Malik: the Messenger of Allah sent out seventy men on an errand; they were called the readers of the Quran. Two clans of the Banu Sulaym, Ri’l and Dhakwan, came upon them near a well called the well of Ma’ouna. The men said: by Allah, we had no design against you: we are only travellers on an errand for the Prophet. They killed them. The Prophet invoked Allah against them for a month in the dawn prayer: that was the beginning of the qounout, which we did not formerly observe. Mouslim reports it likewise. He also reports, through Qatada, from Anas: Ri’l, Dhakwan, Ousayya and the Banu Lihyan had asked the Messenger of Allah for reinforcements against an enemy, and he reinforced them with seventy Ansar whom we called in their time the readers: they cut firewood by day and prayed by night, until at the well of Ma’ouna they were killed, betrayed. When the news reached the Prophet he performed the qounout for a month, supplicating in the dawn prayer against those clans of Arabs: against Ri’l, Dhakwan, Ousayya and the Banu Lihyan. Anas said: we used to recite against them a passage of the Quran, then that was abrogated: convey to our people that we met our Lord, and He is pleased with us and we are pleased with Him.
The Boukhari also reports, from Ishaq ibn Abdallah ibn Abi Talha, from Anas: the Prophet sent his maternal uncle, the brother of Oum Soulaym, at the head of seventy horsemen. The chief of the polytheists was Amir ibn at-Toufayl, who had offered the Messenger of Allah the choice between three things: that the people of the plain be yours and the people of the barren lands mine; or that I be your successor; or that I make war upon you with ten thousand riders of Ghatafan. Amir, struck by an ailment in the house of a certain woman, said in the morning: like the morning of a young camel in the house of a woman of so-and-so’s family: bring me my horse! And he died upon his horse. Haram, the brother of Oum Soulaym, a lame man, set out with a man of his people, and said: remain close to me until I reach them:
if they trust me, stay close; if they kill me, you will rejoin your companions. On arriving he said: will you grant me safe conduct, that I may deliver the message of the Messenger of Allah? One man said to another: stab him! And one came from behind him and stabbed him, with what is thought to have been a spear, thrusting it through. He said: Allah is greater! By the Lord of the Kaaba, I have triumphed! The other man joined him, and all of them were killed except the lame man, who was on the summit of the mountain: Allah sent down upon us the passage, now abrogated: we met our Lord, and He is pleased with us and we are pleased with Him. The Prophet invoked against them for thirty mornings: against Ri’l, Dhakwan, the Banu Lihyan and Ousayya, who had disobeyed Allah and His messenger.
Thoumama ibn Abdallah ibn Anas reports from his grandfather: when Haram ibn Milhan was stabbed on the day of the well of Ma’ouna, he said with his blood, wiping it thus upon his face and head: by the Lord of the Kaaba, I have triumphed! It is also related in the Boukhari, from Hicham ibn Urwa: when the men of the well of Ma’ouna were killed and Amr ibn Oumayya ad-Damri taken captive, Amir ibn at-Toufayl said to him: who is this? Amr pointed to a slain man: this is Amir ibn Fouhayra. Amir said: I saw him, after he was killed, raised toward the sky, until I looked at the sky between him and the earth, and then he was laid down. The news came to the Prophet, who mourned them and said: your companions have been smitten, and they asked their Lord: Lord, inform our brothers that we are pleased with You and You are pleased with us. And He informed them of it. Urwa ibn Asma ibn as-Salt was smitten among them that day, and it is from him that Urwa was named; and al-Moundir ibn Amr was named after another Moundir. The Waqidi reports, from Urwa, the whole story and the raising of Amir ibn Fouhayra toward the sky: his killer was Jabbar ibn Sulma al-Kilabi. When he thrust him with the lance, Amir said: by the Lord of the Kaaba, I have triumphed! Jabbar asked afterward: what did he mean by: I have triumphed? They said: he meant Paradise. He said: he spoke truly, by Allah! And Jabbar embraced Islam after that for that reason. In the campaigns of Moussa ibn Oqba, Urwa says: the body of Amir ibn Fouhayra was never found: they thought the angels had carried him off.
Younous reports from Ibn Ishaq: after Ouhoud the Messenger of Allah remained the rest of Shawwal, Dhoul-Qi’da, Dhoul-Hijja and Mouharram, then sent the men of the well of Ma’ouna out in Safar, at the head of the fourth month after Ouhoud. Abou Bara Amir ibn Malik, called Mala’ib al-Asinna, the player of lances, came to the Messenger of Allah in Medina. He offered him Islam and invited him to it: he did not convert, nor did he refuse outright, and said: O Mohamed, if you sent men of your companions to the people of Najd to call them to your cause, I hope they would answer. He said: "I fear for them the people of Najd." Abou Bara said: I am their protector. The Messenger of Allah therefore sent al-Moundir ibn Amr, brother of the Banu Sa’ida, called al-Mou’niqi Limate, over forty men, among the best of the Muslims: among them al-Harith ibn as-Simma, Haram ibn Milhan, brother of the Banu Adi ibn an-Najjar, Urwa ibn Asma ibn as-Salt as-Soulami, Nafi’ ibn Boudayl ibn Warqa al-Khouza’i, and Amir ibn Fouhayra, freedman of Abou Bakr, with men among the best. They marched until they encamped at the well of Ma’ouna, which lies between the land of the Banu Amir and the harra of the Banu Sulaym. Upon descending they sent Haram ibn Milhan with the letter of the Messenger of Allah to the enemy of Allah, Amir ibn at-Toufayl: when he reached him, the latter did not look at the letter but fell upon the man and killed him.
Then he called on the Banu Amir to attack them: they refused, saying: never will we betray Abou Bara, who gave them his protection. He then called upon clans of the Banu Sulaym: Ousayya, Ri’l, Dhakwan and al-Qarra, who answered, went out, and enveloped the men in their camps. Seeing them, the Muslims took up their swords and fought until they were slain to the last man, except Ka’b ibn Zayd, brother of the Banu Dinar ibn an-Najjar: they left him with a remnant of life, he was pulled from among the slain, and he lived until the day of the Trench, when he was killed. Amr ibn Oumayya ad-Damri and a man of the Ansar of the Banu Amr ibn Awf were away from the party: nothing informed them of the calamity but the birds circling over the camp. They said: by Allah, these birds mean something! They came near to look: the men lay in their blood, and the horses of the attackers still stood there. The Ansari said to Amr: what do you think? He said: I think we should rejoin the Messenger of Allah and inform him. The Ansari said: I shall never be one to leave the place where al-Moundir ibn Amr was slain, nor one to tell it to men. He fought until he was killed. Amr was taken prisoner: when he told them he was of Moudar, Amir ibn at-Toufayl released him, cut off his forelock, and freed him from the price of a slave owed by his mother, as is claimed.
Amr ibn Oumayya went out, and when he was at al-Qarqara, above Qana, two men of the Banu Amir came and alighted in the shade where he was. Now the two Amirites had a covenant of protection from the Messenger of Allah which Amr did not know: he asked them whence they were, and they said: of the Banu Amir. He left them until they slept, then fell upon them and killed them both, thinking to exact from the Banu Amir vengeance for what they had done to the companions of the Messenger of Allah. When Amr came to the Prophet and reported it, the Messenger of Allah said: "You have killed two men: I shall pay their blood-price." And he said: "This is the doing of Abou Bara: I had always dreaded this and been averse to it." When it reached Abou Bara, the disgrace of Amir toward him weighed upon him, as did the death of the Messenger of Allah’s companions because of him and his protection. Hassan ibn Thabit then composed a poem blaming Amir for betraying Abou Bara and urging the Banu Abi Bara against him; and Rabi’a ibn Amir ibn Malik, cousin of Abou Bara, fell upon Amir ibn at-Toufayl and stabbed him in the thigh: he cried out, fell from his horse, and said: this is the doing of Abou Bara! If I die, let my blood spilt for my uncle not be avenged; if I live, I shall see my own counsel. Moussa ibn Oqba reports from az-Zouhri an account like that of Ibn Ishaq, saying the commander of the party was al-Moundir ibn Amr; it is also said Marthad ibn Abi Marthad. Hassan wept for the slain of Ma’ouna in famous verses, and Allah is most knowing.
The Ghazwa of the Banu an-Nadir is that concerning which Allah sent down the sura al-Hachr. In the Sahih of the Boukhari, Ibn Abbas used to call it the sura of the Banu an-Nadir. The Boukhari reports from az-Zouhri, from Urwa, that the Banu an-Nadir came six months after Badr, before Ouhoud. Ibn Abi Hatim related it with chain in his tafsir, and Hanbal ibn Ishaq reports it likewise. The Bayhaqi says: az-Zouhri held it was before Ouhoud; others held after, and even after the well of Ma’ouna. We say: such is what Ibn Ishaq mentioned, after his account of the well of Ma’ouna, the return of Amr ibn Oumayya, and his killing of the two men of the Banu Amir whose covenant of protection from the Messenger of Allah he did not know, for which the Prophet said to him: you have killed two men whose blood-price I shall pay.
Ibn Ishaq reports: the Messenger of Allah then went out to the Banu an-Nadir to ask their help in the blood-price of the two men of the Banu Amir whom Amr ibn Oumayya had killed, on account of the pact the Prophet had granted them: there was between the Banu an-Nadir and the Banu Amir covenant and oath. When he came to them they said: yes, O Abou l-Qasim, we will help you in whatever you wish. Then they consulted one another in whispers and said: never will you find the man in the state he is in now, the Messenger of Allah seated beside the wall of their houses: who will climb this roof and drop a stone upon him, ridding us of him? Amr ibn Jihhach ibn Ka’b was designated for it and volunteered. He climbed to drop a stone upon him, while the Messenger of Allah sat among a group of his companions, among them Abou Bakr, Oumar and Ali. News of what the people intended reached him from heaven: he rose and went back to Medina. When his companions tarried, they rose seeking him, met a man coming from Medina and asked him after him: he had seen the Prophet entering the city. They hastened to him, and he informed them of what the Jews had intended of treachery against him.
The Waqidi reports: the Messenger of Allah sent Mohamed ibn Maslama to them, ordering them out of his alliance and his city. The people of hypocrisy wrote to them to stand firm, inciting them to remain and promising them victory: their souls hardened, Houyayy ibn Akhtab blazed up, they wrote to the Messenger of Allah that they would not leave, and cast at him the breaking of the covenants. Thereupon he ordered the people out against them. The Waqidi says they besieged them fifteen nights. Ibn Ishaq reports: the Prophet ordered preparation for war against them and the march upon them. Ibn Hicham says he appointed Ibn Oum Maktoum over Medina, in the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal. Ibn Ishaq reports that he marched, camped against them and besieged them six nights; the prohibition of wine came down at that time; they took refuge in their forts, and the Messenger of Allah ordered the palm trees cut down and burned. They called out to him: O Mohamed, you forbade corruption and reproached it to those who committed it:
what then is this cutting of palm trees and this burning? A group of the Banu Awf ibn al-Khazraj, among them Abdallah ibn Oubay, Wadi’a, Malik, Souwayd and Da’is, had written to the Banu an-Nadir: stand firm and hold out: we shall never deliver you up; if you are fought, we shall fight with you, and if you are exiled, we shall go out with you. They waited for that help: it did not come. Allah cast terror into their hearts, and they asked the Messenger of Allah to exile them and spare their blood, on condition they take with them what their camels could carry of their property, except the coats of mail: and he did so. Al-Awfi reports from Ibn Abbas that he gave each group of three a camel which they rode by turns, and two water-skins. Mohamed ibn Maslama also reports that the Prophet granted them a respite of three nights; it is said they had debts falling due and that the Prophet said: unload and hasten: the soundness of that version is doubtful, and Allah is most knowing.
Ibn Ishaq reports: they carried off of their property what their camels could bear: the man among them tore down the lintel of his door, set it on his camel’s back, and went off. They went out to Khaybar, some of them to Syria. Among the nobles who went to Khaybar were Salam ibn Abi l-Houqayq, Kinana ibn ar-Rabi’ ibn Abi l-Houqayq and Houyayy ibn Akhtab. When they arrived, the people of Khaybar made alliance with them: they were received with women, children and wealth, to the sound of drums and flutes, singing-girls playing behind them, with a pomp and pride such as had never been seen for a people in their time. They abandoned to the Messenger of Allah their properties, meaning the palm groves and the plantations: these became his especial property, which he disposed as he wished, and he divided them among the first emigrants, to the exclusion of the Ansar, except Sahl ibn Houmayf and Abou Doujana, who pleaded poverty and were given some; some add al-Harith ibn as-Simma to them, as as-Souhayli relates. Of the Banu an-Nadir only two men converted: Yamin ibn Oumayr and Abou Sa’d ibn Wahb, who kept their property. Ibn Ishaq reports that the Prophet said to Yamin: have you not seen what your cousin did to us, and what he intended against me? And Yamin paid a man a reward to kill Amr ibn Jihhach, and he killed him: may Allah curse him. Allah then sent down upon them the sura al-Hachr entire, recounting His vengeance upon them and what He delivered into the hand of His Messenger: we have treated it at length in the tafsir, and to Allah belongs praise.
As for the palm trees: the Boukhari and Mouslim both report, through Nafi’, from Ibn Omar, that the Messenger of Allah burned the palm trees of the Banu an-Nadir and cut them down: it was al-Bouwayra. And Allah sent down: whatever palm tree you cut down, or left standing upon its roots, it was by the permission of Allah, and to disgrace the wicked (al-Hachr, 5). Hassan ibn Thabit said upon it: And it seemed a light thing to the sons of the Banu Louayy, the blaze that blazes at al-Bouwayra; and Abou Soufyan ibn al-Harith answered him in verses. Ka’b ibn Malik also mentioned in his poetry the exile of the Banu an-Nadir and the killing of Ka’b ibn al-Achraf. Ibn Ishaq relates the poem of Ibn Louqaym al-’Absi, or of Qays ibn Bahhr al-Achja’i, concerning them, and the answer attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, which no one truly knows.
As for the spoils without battle: Allah decreed that the properties of the Banu an-Nadir belonged to the Messenger of Allah and granted them to him. He disposed of them as Allah showed him: it is established in the two Sahihs, from Oumar ibn al-Khattab, that the properties of the Banu an-Nadir were part of what Allah made possible to His messenger, on which the Muslims had pressed neither horse nor rider: they were the especial property of the Messenger of Allah, who would set aside the provision of his family for a year, then apply what remained to horses and weapons for the path of Allah. The Most High then established the division of the spoils among the emigrants, the Ansar, those who followed them in goodness, the kindred, the orphans, the poor and the wayfarer, so that it should not circulate as a fortune among the rich of you. Ahmad reports from Anas that before that conquest, a man would give the Prophet from his property two palm trees, or as Allah willed:
when Qurayza and an-Nadir were conquered he began to take them back. The people of the house of Anas ordered him to go to the Prophet and ask for what they had given, or part of it; the Prophet had given Oum Aymana two of the palms, or as Allah willed. She went to ask, and he gave them to her. Oum Aymana flung the garment over her neck and said: no, by Him besides whom there is no deity, never will you give them to him when you have given them to me! And the Prophet kept saying: there, it is given to you; and she kept saying: no, by Allah! Until he gave her, as I reckon, ten times their worth. Allah finally denounced the hypocrites who had secretly inclined to the Banu an-Nadir and promised them victory, failing utterly, and struck them with the parable of the devil who says to man: disbelieve; then, when he disbelieves, says: I am innocent of you, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds (al-Hachr, 16-17).
The Banu an-Nadir were nobler than the Banu Qurayza, to the point that this nobility led one of them to Islam, after he beheld the marks of the Messenger of Allah in the Torah. The Waqidi reports: when the Banu an-Nadir went out of Medina, Amr ibn Sou’da came and circled their dwellings, saw their ruin, pondered, then returned to the Banu Qurayza and found them in their temple: he sounded their trumpet, and they gathered. Az-Zoubayr ibn Bata said: O Abou Sa’id, where have you been all this while that we have not seen you? That man never left the temple and devoted himself wholly to Judaism. He said: today I have seen lessons by which we have been ferried across: I saw the homes of our brothers deserted, after such nobility, such valour and such ready intelligence: they left their property for others to own, and went out in humiliation. By the Torah, never was such a lot dealt to a people whom Allah did not intend to forsake; and He has already struck down ibn al-Achraf, their noble, in his own house in security; He struck down ibn Soumayna, their chief; He struck the Banu Qaynouqa and exiled them, though they were the elders of the Jews, people of equipment, weapons and aid:
He besieged them until not one dared show his head, then sold them and left them, exiling them from Yathrib. O my people, you have seen what you have seen: obey me, and let us follow Mohamed! By Allah, you know he is a prophet: Abou Oumayr ibn al-Hayban and Ibn Hirach, the most learned of the Jews, announced his coming to us and commanded us to follow him: they came to us from Bayt al-Maqdis and bade us greet him on their behalf; then they died in their religion, and we buried them in this land of ours. The people fell silent, and not one spoke; he repeated his words, threatening them with war, disgrace and exile. Az-Zoubayr ibn Bata said: by the Torah, I read his description in the Book of Bata, the Torah sent down upon Moussa, and not in the writings we have forged. Ka’b ibn Asad said to him: what hinders you, O Abou Abd ar-Rahman, from following him? He said: it is you. Ka’b said: I? By the Torah, I never stood between you and him. He said: rather you are the holder of our covenant: if you follow him, we follow; if you refuse, we refuse. Amr ibn Sou’da then turned to Ka’b, and they exchanged long words, until Ka’b said: I have concerning him only this: does it not please my soul to become a follower? The Bayhaqi relates this story.
The Bayhaqi mentions here the Ghazwa of the Banu Lihyan, in which the Prophet prayed the prayer of fear at Ousfan. Ibn Ishaq, through the route of Ibn Hicham, places it in Joumada al-Oula of the year six, after the Trench and the Banu Qurayza, which is more plausible than what the Bayhaqi mentioned. And Allah is most knowing.
The Bayhaqi reports, from Ibn Ishaq: when Khoubayb and his companions were smitten, the Messenger of Allah went out to seek their blood, hoping to surprise the Banu Lihyan. He took the road of Syria, so as to give the impression that he did not seek the Banu Lihyan, until he encamped on their land: he found them warned, standing on guard upon the mountain tops. He said: "Were we to descend upon Ousfan, Quraysh would see that we march toward Mecca." So he went out with two hundred riders until he encamped at Ousfan, then sent out two scouts who reached kouraa al-ghamim and turned back. Abou Ayyach az-Zurqi reports that the Messenger of Allah prayed at Ousfan the prayer of fear.
Imam Ahmad reports, through Moujahid, from Abou Ayyach: we were with the Messenger of Allah at Ousfan when the polytheists came against us, led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, placed between us and the qibla. The Messenger of Allah prayed the dhouhr with us, and the polytheists said: they are in such a state that were we to take them by surprise we would overpower them. Then they said: there will come upon them now a prayer dearer to them than their children and their very souls. Jibril then came down with these verses between the dhouhr and the asr: when you are among them and lead them in prayer (an-Nisa, 102). When the time came, the Messenger of Allah ordered the people to take up their weapons: we formed ranks behind him in two rows. He bowed and we bowed all together; he raised his head and we raised ours; then he prostrated with the row nearest him, while the other stood guard. When they had prostrated and risen, the others sat and prostrated in their places; then these advanced into the ranks of those, and those came into the ranks of these. He bowed again, all bowed together, raised together; then he prostrated with the row next to him, the other row standing guard; when they rose, the others prostrated; then he gave the salam and rose. The Messenger of Allah prayed it twice: once at Ousfan and once in the land of the Banu Sulaym. Ahmad reported it by a second route, as did Abou Dawoud and an-Nasa’i: that chain meets the condition of the two Sahihs, though neither reported it. Mouslim, however, reports from Jabir:
we campaigned with the Messenger of Allah against a people of Jouhayna who fought fiercely; when he prayed the dhouhr, the polytheists said: were we to fall upon them with one thrust, we would cut them off. Jibril informed the Messenger of Allah of it, and he told us: they said: there will come upon them a prayer dearer to them than their children; and he related the hadith in like manner. At-Tayalisi reports from Jabir that the Messenger of Allah prayed the dhouhr with his companions among the palm trees, that the polytheists meant to attack, then said: leave them: they have after this prayer another dearer to them than their children; Jibril came down to inform him, and he prayed the asr with them, ranking them in two: himself between their hands, the enemy before him. The Boukhari cited Hicham’s version, from Abou az-Zoubayr, from Jabir, as evidence in his Sahih. Ahmad reports finally, from Abou Hourayra, that the Messenger of Allah encamped between Dhajnan and Ousfan, and the polytheists said: they have a prayer dearer to them than their fathers and children, it is the asr: set your affair in order and fall upon them with one thrust. Jibril came to the Messenger of Allah and ordered him to divide his companions into two halves: he would pray with one part while the other stood behind them with their weapons; then the second would pray with him while the first took up their arms: so that each group had one rak’a with the Messenger of Allah, who had two. The Tirmidhi and an-Nasa’i reported it, and the Tirmidhi judged it good and authentic.
We say: if Abou Hourayra witnessed it, it was after Khaybar; otherwise the hadith is that of a companion without chronological connection, which the majority see no harm in. The hadiths of Jabir mention neither Ousfan nor Khalid ibn al-Walid, but it is apparent they are one affair. There remains the question whether the Ghazwa of Ousfan was before the Trench or after: some of the scholars, among them ach-Chafi’i, claim the prayer of fear was only instituted after the day of the Trench, since on that day they delayed the prayer beyond its time on excuse of fighting: had the prayer of fear been legislated then, they would have performed it and not delayed it. Hence some of the scholars of campaigns say the Ghazwa of the Banu Lihyan, in which the Prophet prayed the prayer of fear at Ousfan, was after the Banu Qurayza. The Waqidi reports finally, from Khalid ibn al-Walid himself:
when the Messenger of Allah set out toward Houdaybiya I met him at Ousfan, stood before him and defied him; he prayed the dhouhr with his companions in front of us, and we considered attacking him, but no resolve was made. Allah then made known to him the thought within us, and he prayed with his companions the asr as the prayer of fear. We say: the Umra of Houdaybiya took place in Dhoul-Qi’da of the year six, after the Trench and the Banu Qurayza, as will come. And in the account of Abou Ayyach there is what implies that the verse of the prayer of fear came down in this Ghazwa, on the day of Ousfan, which would imply it was the first prayer of fear he prayed. And Allah is most knowing. We shall set out the manner of the prayer of fear and the divergence of its reports in the book of the great ordinances, if Allah wills.
Ibn Ishaq reports: after the Ghazwa of the Banu an-Nadir the Messenger of Allah remained in Medina through the two months of Rabi’ and part of Joumada, then campaigned toward Najd against the Banu Mouharib and the Banu Tha’laba of Ghatafan, appointing over Medina Abou Dharr, or it is said Outhman ibn Affan. He marched until he encamped at Nakhla: that is the Ghazwa of Dhat ar-Riqa’. Ibn Hicham says: because they patched their banners there; it is also said: after a tree there of that name; the Waqidi says: after a mountain bearing patches red, black and white. In the hadith of Abou Moussa: it was so named for the patches of cloth they tied to their feet because of the intensity of the heat. Ibn Ishaq reports that he there met a gathering of Ghatafan: the two parties drew near, with no fighting between them, each fearing the other, until the Messenger of Allah prayed with the people the prayer of fear. Ibn Hicham related there the chains of the hadiths of the prayer of fear, none of which mentions the Ghazwa of Najd or Dhat ar-Riqa’.
Whether Dhat ar-Riqa’, which was in Najd against the Banu Mouharib and the Banu Tha’laba of Ghatafan, came before the Trench, calls for reserve: the Boukhari held it was after Khaybar, arguing that Abou Moussa al-Ach’ari witnessed it, and he only arrived on the eve of Khaybar with Ja’far and his companions; and likewise Abou Hourayra, who said: I prayed with the Messenger of Allah, in the Ghazwa of Najd, the prayer of fear. But what indicates it was after the Trench is that Ibn Omar was only permitted to fight from the day of the Trench onward, and he said in the Sahih: I campaigned with the Messenger of Allah before Najd, then mentioned the prayer of fear. As for the Waqidi’s claim that the Prophet went out to Dhat ar-Riqa’ with four hundred men, or seven hundred, on the Saturday night, the tenth of Mouharram of the year five: that is doubtful; and it does not secure escape from the view that the prayer of fear was only instituted after the Trench: for the Trench was, by the well-known account, in Shawwal of the year five, or it is said of the year four.
The Ghazwa of Badr al-Akhira, that is Badr al-Mou’ad, is the one to which they had appointed to meet after Ouhoud. Ibn Ishaq reports: when the Messenger of Allah returned to Medina from Dhat ar-Riqa’ he remained there the rest of Joumada al-Oula, Joumada al-Akhira and Rajab, then went out in Cha’bane toward Badr, to the tryst of Abou Soufyan. Ibn Hicham says he appointed Abdallah ibn Abdallah ibn Oubay ibn Saloul over Medina. The Messenger of Allah encamped at Badr and remained there eight days awaiting Abou Soufyan. The latter had gone out with the people of Mecca and encamped at Majanna, on the side of adh-Dhahran; some say he reached Ousfan. Then the notion of returning came to him, and he said: O assembly of Quraysh, nothing will avail you but a year of plenty, in which you graze the trees and drink the milk: this year of yours is a year of drought, and I am returning; return then! The people returned, and the people of Mecca named them the army of sawiq, saying: you went out only to drink sawiq! Makhchi ibn Amr ad-Damri, who had made a pact on behalf of the Banu Damra with the Prophet in the Ghazwa of Waddan, came and said: O Mohamed, have you come to meet Quraysh at this water? He said: yes, O brother of the Banu Damra. And if you wish, we shall return to you what was between us and you, and leave the matter until Allah judges between us and you. He said: no, by Allah, O Mohamed, we have no need of that! And the Messenger of Allah returned to Medina, meeting with no stratagem.
Abdallah ibn Rawaha said then, recalling their waiting for Abou Soufyan and his return with Quraysh that year, verses which Abou Zayd recited to Ka’b ibn Malik: We had appointed Abou Soufyan at Badr, and found not; his tryst, truth nor fidelity; I swear that had you met us he had met you: a craven would have perished and his allies gone; You left there the limbs of Outba and his son, and Amr, Abou Jahl: you left him lying; You disobeyed the Messenger of Allah: fie upon your religion and your erring affair; For I, though you berate me, shall still say: my family and my wealth for the Messenger of Allah; We obeyed him, preferring none over him: a shooting star for us in the dark of night, a guide. Hassan ibn Thabit also said verses on it, to which Abou Soufyan ibn al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib, who later embraced Islam, replied. Moussa ibn Oqba reports, from az-Zouhri, and Ibn Lahi’a from Abou l-Aswad, from Urwa ibn az-Zoubayr, that the Messenger of Allah called the people to the tryst of Abou Soufyan, and the hypocrites mixed among the people to hold them back; but Allah preserved His allies, and the Muslims went out with the Messenger of Allah toward Badr taking goods with them, saying: if we find Abou Soufyan, well and good; otherwise we shall trade at the market of Badr.
The Waqidi says the Messenger of Allah went out to it with a thousand five hundred of his companions and appointed Abdallah ibn Rawaha over Medina, and that the going out was at the beginning of Dhoul-Qi’da, meaning of the year four. The correct is the word of Ibn Ishaq: that it was in Cha’bane of this fourth year, which agrees with Moussa ibn Oqba when he says: in Cha’bane, though he says: of the year three: that is an error, for it was on the return from Ouhoud that they appointed this meeting at Badr, and Ouhoud was in Shawwal of the year three, as has been established. And Allah is most knowing. The Waqidi reports that they remained at Badr the length of the fair, eight days, then returned, having gained two dirhams of profit. Others relate that they returned according to the word of Allah: in the grace of Allah and His bounty no harm touched them, and they followed the good pleasure of Allah (Al Imran, 174).
In Joumada al-Oula of this year died Abdallah ibn Outhman ibn Affan, son of Ruqayya, daughter of the Messenger of Allah: he was six years of age. The Messenger of Allah prayed over him, and his father Outhman ibn Affan went down into his grave. That year also died Abou Salama Abdallah ibn Abd al-Asad al-Makhzoumi, son of Barra bint Abd al-Muttalib, paternal aunt of the Messenger of Allah. He had been a nursling of the Prophet: both were suckled by Thouwayba, freedwoman of Abou Lahab. His Islam was ancient, on the same day as that of Abou Oubayda, Outhman ibn Affan and al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam. He had emigrated with his wife Oum Salama to the land of Abyssinia, where children were born to them, then returned to Mecca, then emigrated from Mecca to Medina, Oum Salama following. He witnessed Badr and Ouhoud, and died from the effects of a wound received at Ouhoud. From the Prophet he relates a unique hadith on supplication at the time of trial: the Messenger of Allah said: "No Muslim is struck by an affliction but that, if he says at the moment of it: we belong to Allah and to Him we return: O Allah, reward me in my affliction and replace it for me with better, it will be done for him." Ahmad, the Tirmidhi and an-Nasa’i report it from Oum Salama.
In Cha’bane of this year was born Houssayn ibn Ali, of Fatima, daughter of the Messenger of Allah. In Ramadhan, the Messenger of Allah married Zaynab bint Khuzayma ibn al-Harith al-Hilaliyya, milk-sister of Maymouna according to Ibn Abd al-Barr, who found that kinship strange, having seen it nowhere else. She was called Oum al-Masakin, mother of the poor, for the abundance of her charities and her kindness to them. The Prophet dowered her with four hundred dirhams, twelve ounces, and entered upon her in Ramadhan: she had previously been the wife of Toufayl ibn al-Harith, who divorced her, then of his brother Oubayda ibn al-Harith; it is also said she had been the wife of Abdallah ibn Jahch, killed at Ouhoud. There is no disagreement that she died in the Prophet’s lifetime, after but two or three months with him.
In Shawwal of this year the Messenger of Allah married Oum Salama bint Abi Oumayya, widow of Abou Salama. He had been wounded at Ouhoud, treated his wound a month until it healed, then went out on an expedition from which he brought back camels and fine spoons, dwelt seventeen days after, and his wound reopened: he died on the third of the remaining nights of Joumada al-Oula of this year. When her waiting period ended in Shawwal, the Messenger of Allah sought her for himself, and sent Oumar ibn al-Khattab to her repeatedly. She replied that she was a woman of intense jealousy, and that she had children depending on her who would occupy her, needing provision: he said: "As for the children, they belong to Allah and to His messenger, it is not you who shall provide for them; as for the jealousy, I shall pray to Allah and He will take it away."
She consented, and said to Oumar: rise, then, and marry the Prophet to me! Some scholars imagined she spoke to her son Oumar ibn Abi Salama, who was then too young to contract such a marriage: the correct view is that the one sent was Oumar the caliph, and that the one who contracted for her was her son Salama ibn Abi Salama, her eldest. This is admissible: for Salama’s father was his mother’s cousin, and a son may contract his mother’s marriage apart from mere filiation, by consensus; and likewise if he be a former master or a judge. As for filiation alone, ach-Chafi’i rejects it, against Abou Hanifa, Malik and Ahmad. We have devoted to this question a separate volume, and it will be treated in the book of marriage of the great ordinances.
Oum Salama relates: Abou Salama came to me one day from the Messenger of Allah and said: I heard from the Messenger of Allah a word which gladdened me: no Muslim is struck by an affliction but that, if he says at the moment of it: O Allah, reward me in my affliction and replace it for me with better, it is done for him. I memorised that from him. When Abou Salama died I said the supplication, then retraced my thought: whence would better than Abou Salama come to me? When my waiting period ended, the Messenger of Allah sought my hand while I was tanning a skin of mine: I washed my hands of the tan, gave him leave, and set for him a leather cushion stuffed with palm fibre, on which he sat. He sought me for himself; when he had finished speaking I said: O Messenger of Allah, it is not that I have no wish for you; but I am a woman of intense jealousy, and I fear you would see in me what Allah would punish me for; and I am a woman advanced in years, and I have children. He said: "As for the jealousy you mention, Allah will take it away from you; as for the age you mention, the like of what you have mentioned has befallen me; and as for the children, your children are my children." She said: so I gave myself to the Messenger of Allah. And she said: Allah has given me in exchange for Abou Salama one better than he: the Messenger of Allah!
After Badr al-Mou’ad the Messenger of Allah returned to Medina and remained there until Dhoul-Hijja passed, and he presided over that pilgrimage.