The Ghazwa of the Banu Lihyan: the prayer of fear at Ousfan

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.