The Ghazwa of Dhat ar-Riqa’ and that of Badr al-Mou’ad

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).