Home > Sira > The Seventh Year of the Prophetic Hijra
The year 7 of the Hijra: the conquest of Khaybar, the banner given to Ali, the duel of Marhab, the two men of the Fire, the martyr slave of Khaybar, and the expeditions of Abou Bakr, Oumar, Ghalib and Abou Hadrad.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
The seventh year of the prophetic Hijra opened with the Ghazwa of Khaybar. Shu’ba reported from al-Hakam, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, that the words of the Most High "and He will reward you with a victory near at hand" (al-Fath, 18) referred to Khaybar. Moussa ibn Oqba reports that, returning from Houdaybiya, the Messenger of Allah stayed in Medina for about twenty days, then set out for Khaybar, which Allah had promised him. Az-Zouhri places the conquest of Khaybar in the sixth year, but the correct view is that it took place at the beginning of the seventh year. Ibn Ishaq states that the Messenger of Allah stayed in Medina upon his return from Houdaybiya in Dhoul-Hijja and part of Mouharram, then set out in the remainder of Mouharram and arrived at the end of Safar. Marwan and al-Miswar report that the sura of Victory was revealed to him between Mecca and Medina.
Fearing that Ghatafan, allied with the Jews, would come to their aid, he camped at ar-Raji’, a valley lying between Khaybar and the territory of Ghatafan, in order to raise a barrier. Ibn Ishaq reports that Ghatafan, when they learned the news, gathered and set out to reinforce the Jews; but after a day’s march they heard behind them a commotion among their property and their families. Believing that the enemy had struck their rear, they turned back on their heels and remained with their families, leaving the Messenger of Allah alone before Khaybar. He appointed Noumayla ibn Abdallah al-Laythi as governor of Medina. Imam Ahmad reports through Khouthaym ibn Irak, from his father, that Abou Hourayra arrived in Medina with a group of his people while the Prophet was at Khaybar and Siba’ ibn Ourfouta al-Ghifari governed the city. Abou Hourayra said: "I came to him while he was reciting in the dawn prayer, in the first rak’a: Kaf-Ha-Ya-’Ayn-Sad (Maryam, 1), and in the second: woe to the defrauders (al-Moutaffifin, 1). I said to myself: woe to so-and-so when he measures, he will measure in full. When he had prayed, he provided us with something until we came to Khaybar, which the Prophet had already conquered, and the Muslims let us share in their portions." The Bayhaqi reports this hadith by a similar chain.
Upon leaving Medina, the Messenger of Allah took the road of Asr, where a mosque was built for him, then of as-Sahba’, and camped at ar-Raji’. The Boukhari reports through Souwayd ibn an-Nou’man that he set out with the Messenger of Allah in the year of Khaybar until they were at as-Sahba’, the point closest to Khaybar, and that he prayed the asr there. The Prophet asked for provisions and nothing was brought but sawiq; he ordered it roasted, ate, then rose for the maghreb prayer, rinsed his mouth and prayed without performing ablution anew.
The Boukhari and Mouslim report through Yazid ibn Abi Ubayd, from Salama ibn al-Akwa’: "We were marching by night toward Khaybar when a man said to Amir ibn al-Akwa’, who was a poet: O Amir, will you not let us hear your verses? He began to declaim while guiding the people: O Allah, without You we would not be guided, nor would we have given charity nor prayed. So forgive us what we have guarded against, and make firm our steps if we meet the enemy, and send down upon us tranquillity. As for us, when the war cry is raised against us, we refuse it; and by the war cry they sought shelter with us. The Messenger of Allah said: who is this guide? They said: Amir ibn al-Akwa’. He said: may Allah have mercy on him. A man said: it is our duty, O Prophet of Allah, would that you let us benefit from him." Then Amir, whose sword was short, seized with it the leg of a Jew to strike him, and the hilt of his sword swung back and struck his eye, of which he died. Salama reports that the Prophet said to those who claimed that Amir’s deed had been annulled: "He lied who said so. He has two rewards": and he joined his two fingers: "he is a striving fighter, rare is the Arab who walked as he did." Ibn Ishaq reports the same story through Abou l-Haytham ibn Nasr al-Aslami, with Oumar saying: "It is our duty, O Messenger of Allah, would that you let us benefit from him." Amir was killed on the day of Khaybar, a martyr.
Ibn Ishaq reports from Ata’ ibn Abi Marwan al-Aslami, from his father, from Abou Mou’tib, that the Messenger of Allah, when he prevailed over Khaybar, said to his companions: "Halt", then he supplicated: "O Allah, Lord of the heavens and of what they shade, Lord of the earths and of what they cause to grow, Lord of the devils and of what they lead astray, Lord of the winds and of what they scatter: we ask You for the good of this city, the good of its inhabitants and the good of what it contains, and we seek refuge in You from its evil, the evil of its inhabitants and the evil of what it contains. Advance in the name of Allah." This hadith is very strange by that chain, but the Bayhaqi reported it by another, close in meaning.
Anas ibn Malik reports that the Messenger of Allah, when he made war upon a people, never attacked them before morning; if he heard a call to prayer, he held back his hand, and if he heard none, he attacked. The Boukhari and Mouslim report: "We camped at Khaybar by night. When morning came, he heard no call to prayer; he rode and we rode with him, and I rode behind Abou Talha, my foot touching the foot of the Messenger of Allah. The workers of Khaybar came out in the morning with their spades and hoes, and when they saw the Messenger of Allah and the army, they cried: Mohamed and the army with him! And they fled in rout. The Messenger of Allah said: Allah is great, Khaybar is destroyed. When we descend upon the abode of a people, woe to the morning of the forewarned." That evening fires were lit over the meat of domestic donkeys, and the Prophet ordered: "Pour them out and break them." The herald cried: "Allah and His Messenger forbid you the meat of domestic donkeys, for it is a filth."
Anas further reports that the Prophet prayed the dawn prayer near Khaybar, that their fighters were killed and their children taken captive, and that among the captives was Safiyya, who first fell to Dihya al-Kalbi and then came to the Prophet, who made her emancipation her dower. As for the hadith of Moussa al-A’war, according to which the Messenger of Allah visited the sick, followed funerals, accepted the invitation of a slave and rode a bridled donkey with a palm-fibre bridle and palm-fibre saddle on the day of Khaybar as on the day of Banu Qurayza and an-Nadir, the Tirmidhi reported it and judged it weak: we know it only by that path. Now what is established in the Sahih, from Anas, is that the Messenger of Allah ran through the lanes of Khaybar until his izar slipped from his thigh: the apparent conclusion is that he was on horseback that day. And the Boukhari reports that Anas, seeing fine garments one day, said: "As if they were at this moment the Jews of Khaybar."
The Boukhari and Mouslim report through Yazid ibn Abi Ubayd, from Salama ibn al-Akwa’: Ali ibn Abi Talib had held back from the Messenger of Allah at Khaybar, suffering from an eye ailment, saying to himself: shall I hold back from the Prophet? Then he rejoined him. "When we spent the night of the night on which Khaybar was conquered, the Prophet said: tomorrow I shall give the banner to a man loved by Allah and His Messenger, and Allah will grant victory through him. We hoped, and it was said: it is Ali. He gave it to him, and victory came through him."
The Boukhari reports through Sahl ibn Sa’d a more detailed version: "The Messenger of Allah said on the day of Khaybar: tomorrow I shall indeed give this banner to a man through whose two hands Allah will grant victory, who loves Allah and His Messenger and is loved by Allah and His Messenger. The people spent the night pondering which of them would receive it, and when morning came, all came to the Prophet hoping to receive it. He said: where is Ali ibn Abi Talib? They answered: he is, O Messenger of Allah, complaining of his eyes. He said: send for him. He was brought, the Messenger of Allah spat into his eyes, supplicated for him, and he was healed as if he had never felt any pain. Then he gave him the banner. Ali said: O Messenger of Allah, shall I fight them until they are as we are? He said: go steadily on your way until you reach their abode, then call them to Islam and inform them of what Allah the Most High makes binding upon them. By Allah, if Allah were to guide through you a single man, that would be better for you than red camels." Mouslim and an-Nasa’i report through Abou Hourayra that Oumar said: "Never did I love command except on that day." The Prophet said to him: "Go and fight until Allah grants you victory, and do not turn back." Ali asked: upon what shall I fight the people? He answered: "Fight them until they testify that there is no deity but Allah and that Mohamed is the Messenger of Allah. When they have done so, their blood and their property shall be protected from you, except by right, and their reckoning is with Allah."
Imam Ahmad reports through Abou Sa’id al-Khoudri that the Messenger of Allah took the banner, waved it, then said: "Who will take it upon its due right?" A man came, and he said: step aside. Another came, and he said: step aside. Then he said: "By Him in whose hand is the soul of Mohamed, I shall indeed give it to a man who does not flee. Take it, O Ali." He went forth, and Allah opened through him Khaybar and Fadak, and he brought back their dates and their flour. The chain has no flaw, but the narrator Abdallah ibn Isma (called Abou Alwan al-Ijli) drew divided judgments: Ibn Ma’in declared him reliable, Abou Zur’a said "no harm in him", Abou Hatim said "a shaykh", and Ibn Hibban listed him among the reliable while noting that he errs much, then among the weak.
Younous ibn Boukayr reports from Ibn Ishaq, from Burayda ibn Soufyan, from his father, from Salama ibn Amr ibn al-Akwa’: the Prophet first sent Abou Bakr toward some of the forts of Khaybar; he fought and returned without conquest, exhausted. He then sent Oumar, who fought and returned without conquest. The Messenger of Allah said: "Tomorrow I shall indeed give the banner to a man loved by Allah and His Messenger, loving Allah and His Messenger, through whose two hands Allah will grant victory, who does not flee." He called Ali, whose eyes were afflicted, spat into his two eyes and said: "Take the banner and march with it until Allah grants you victory." Ali went out with his head bowed, at full speed, and we followed his tracks until he planted his banner in a heap of stones beneath the fort. A Jew looked down from the top of the fort and said: who are you? He said: I am Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Jew said: you have triumphed, and what was revealed to Moussa. He did not return until Allah had granted victory through his two hands.
The Bayhaqi reports through al-Moussayyab ibn Maslama, from Abdallah ibn Bourayda, from his father, a version in which melancholy sometimes kept the Prophet back a day or two without his going out. At Khaybar the melancholy seized him again: Abou Bakr took the banner, fought fiercely and returned; Oumar took it, fought even harder and returned. The Messenger of Allah then said: "Tomorrow I shall give it indeed to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger and is loved by Allah and His Messenger, who will take it by force." Ali was not present, and each of the companions hoped to be that day the master of the honor. In the morning, Ali arrived on his camel, his eye afflicted, having bound it with a strip of qatari cloth. The Messenger of Allah said to him: what is the matter? He said: the ailment came to me after you. He said: come near me. He spat into his eye, which hurt him no more, then gave him the banner. Ali went forth wearing a crimson tunic from which the lining had been drawn out, and came to the city of Khaybar.
Out came Marhab, the master of the fort, wearing a Yemeni helmet and a perforated stone like an egg upon his head, declaiming: "Khaybar knows that I am Marhab, an armed and tried hero: when the lionesses advance, they blaze and recoil before the charge of the dreaded one." Ali answered: "I am he whom my mother named Haydara, a lion of the thickets of terrible aspect: I pay them out by the measure of the sandara cup." They exchanged two blows, then Ali fell upon him with a blow that split the stone, the helmet and the head, which fell between the molars, and he took the town. Al-Bazzar reported this story of Abou Bakr, then Oumar, then Ali, through a chain containing a man accused of shiism: a strange and rejected account. Ibn Bourayda said that his father reported that Ali "was the master of Marhab". Younous said that Ibn Ishaq reported that the first of the forts of Khaybar to be conquered was the fort of Na’im, and that Mahmoud ibn Maslama was killed beside it, slain by a millstone hurled from it.
Mouslim and the Bayhaqi report through Ikrima ibn Ammar, from Iyas ibn Salama, from his father, a version in which Amir ibn al-Akwa’ first advanced upon Marhab: the two poems were exchanged, then Marhab’s sword fell upon Amir’s shield; as he tried to disengage it, he twisted upon himself, and the sword cut through his collarbone, wherein lay his soul. Salama reports that a group was saying: Amir’s deed is annulled, he has killed himself; he wept before the Prophet, who said: "Who said that? They lied: rather a double reward." Then the Prophet sent for Ali, whose eyes were afflicted: "Today I shall indeed give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger." He spat into his eye, and it healed; he gave him the banner, and Ali, advancing upon Marhab with the poem of Haydara, struck him, split his head and killed him, and thus came the conquest. Imam Ahmad also reports from Ali himself: when I had killed Marhab, I brought his head to the Messenger of Allah.
But Moussa ibn Oqba reports from az-Zouhri that the one who killed Marhab was Mohamed ibn Maslama, and so says Ibn Ishaq, from Abdallah ibn Sahl, from Jabir ibn Abdallah: Marhab the Jew came out of the fort of Khaybar declaiming: "Khaybar knows that I am Marhab, an armed and tried hero: sometimes I strike, sometimes I pursue; when the lionesses advance, they dodge; my fort is not approached." Ka’b ibn Malik answered him: "Khaybar knows that I am Ka’b, the dispeller of grief, of daring body: when war is kindled, war follows it; with me a sword like onyx, keen, it shall trample you until the hard one is humbled; we give the reward or the spoils return, by a cutting hand without flaw." The Messenger of Allah said: who will face this one? Mohamed ibn Maslama said: I, for him, O Messenger of Allah: they killed my brother yesterday.
He said: "Rise against him; O Allah, help him against him." An olive tree stood between the two duellists, and each sheltered behind it while his companion cut away what lay before him, until the tree stood like a bare trunk without foliage. Marhab charged Mohamed ibn Maslama and struck him; he warded it off with his shield, the sword fell into it, bit and was caught; Mohamed struck him until he killed him. The Waqidi adds that Mohamed cut off Marhab’s two legs, and Marhab cried: finish me! He said: no, taste death as Mahmoud ibn Maslama tasted it. Ali passed by him and struck off his head. The companions disputed his spoils before the Messenger of Allah, who gave Mohamed ibn Maslama his sword, his lance, his helmet and his two coats of mail. Written upon that sword was: "This is the sword of Marhab: whoever tastes it groans."
After Marhab, his brother Yasir came out demanding a duellist. Hicham ibn Urwa claims that az-Zoubayr went out against him, and that his mother Safiyya bint Abd al-Muttalib said: he will kill my son, O Messenger of Allah! He said: "Rather your son will kill him, if Allah wills." They met, and az-Zoubayr killed him. When it was said to him: by Allah, your sword that day was keen, he answered: by Allah, it was not keen, but I pressed it. Younous finally reports from Abou Rafi’, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah: we went out with Ali when the Prophet sent him with his banner. Near the fort, a Jew struck him, knocking his shield from his hand; Ali seized the gate of the fort and shielded himself with it, holding it in his hand while he fought, until Allah had granted victory through him, and then he cast it down. "We were seven, of whom I was the eighth, who tried to turn that gate and could not turn it." This account contains evident ignorance and discontinuity. The Bayhaqi and al-Hakim report a version through Layth, from Abou Ja’far al-Baqir, from Jabir: Ali carried the gate until the Muslims mounted upon it and opened the fort, and he was afterward tried, and forty men could not carry it. That hadith is weak, and one version gives seventy men.
The Boukhari reports through Sahl, and also through Ya’qoub, from Abou Hazim: the Prophet met the polytheists in one of his expeditions, and each side withdrew to its camp. Among the Muslims was a man who left no polytheist, scattered or pressed, without following him and striking him with his sword. It was said: O Messenger of Allah, none has distinguished himself as so-and-so has! He said: "Indeed, he is among the people of the Fire." It was said: which of us is among the people of Paradise, if this man is of the people of the Fire? A man said: I shall follow him; when he quickens I am with him, and when he slows I am with him. The man was wounded and hastened his death: he set the point of his sword on the ground, its hilt between his breasts, threw himself upon it and killed himself. The man came to the Prophet and said: I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah. He said: what of it? He told him. The Prophet said: "A man may do the deed of the people of Paradise as it appears to men, and be among the people of the Fire; and do the deed of the people of the Fire as it appears to men, and be among the people of Paradise."
The Boukhari also reports through az-Zouhri, from Sa’id ibn al-Moussayyab, from Abou Hourayra: at Khaybar, the Messenger of Allah said of a man professing Islam: "This one is among the people of the Fire." When the fighting came, the man fought the fiercest of fights until wounds covered him, to the point that some of the people nearly doubted. Feeling the pain of his wounds, he put his hand to his quiver, drew arrows from it and slew himself with them. Some of the Muslims hastened: O Messenger of Allah, Allah has confirmed your word, so-and-so has killed himself! He said: "Rise, O so-and-so, and announce: none enters Paradise but a believer; and Allah strengthens this religion through a wicked man."
Against these two men of the Fire stands the story of the black slave, to whom Allah granted faith and martyrdom in a single hour. Ibn Lahi’a reports from Urwa that a black Abyssinian slave of Khaybar, tending his master’s flock, saw the people take up arms and asked them: what do you seek? They said: we shall fight this man who claims to be a prophet. The remembrance of the Prophet fell into his heart. He drove the flock forward until he stopped before the Messenger of Allah and said: what do you call to? He said: "I call you to Islam: that you bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah, and that you worship none but Allah." The slave said: and what shall I have if I testify to this? He said: "Paradise, if you die upon it." The slave embraced Islam and said: O Prophet of Allah, these sheep are a trust with me. He said: "Lead them out of our camp and cast pebbles at them: Allah will render your trust." He did so, the flock returned to its master, and the Jew knew that his lad had embraced Islam. The Prophet exhorted the people, mentioning the banner given to Ali and his slaying of Marhab, and that black slave was slain that day alongside Ali. It is claimed that the Prophet then said: "Allah has honored this slave and led him to good: Islam was with him a truth, and I saw above his head two wide-eyed houris." The Bayhaqi reports through Chourahbil ibn Sa’d, from Jabir, that he was killed a martyr without ever having prostrated to Allah.
The Bayhaqi also reports through Thabit, from Anas, that a man came to the Messenger of Allah and said: O Messenger of Allah, I am a man black of color, ugly of face, foul of smell, without property: if I fight these people until I am killed, shall I enter Paradise? He said: yes. The man advanced and fought until he was killed. The Messenger of Allah came to him and said: "Allah has beautified your face, purified your scent and multiplied your property. Indeed I saw his two wives, wide-eyed houris, disputing over his garment, seeking to introduce it between his skin and it." He finally reports through Chaddad ibn al-Had the story of a Bedouin who believed in the Messenger of Allah and emigrated with him; the Prophet entrusted him to some of his companions. At Khaybar the spoils were divided and a share was allotted to him, and he was their shepherd; when he came, his share was handed to him.
The Bayhaqi summarizes here the chapters of the expeditions mentioned after the conquest of Khaybar and before the Umra of Fulfilment, though the dating of some is unclear among the scholars of the campaigns. The expedition of Abou Bakr the Truthful was sent against the Banu Fazaré. Imam Ahmad reports through Iyas ibn Salama, from his father: "We went out with Abou Bakr ibn Abi Kouhafa, whom the Messenger of Allah had placed over us, and we made war upon the Banu Fazaré. When we drew near the water, Abou Bakr ordered us and we camped; when we had prayed the dawn prayer, he ordered us and we launched the raid, and we slew by the water those whom we slew. I saw a column of people, with children and women, toward the mountain; I ran upon their tracks and shot an arrow that fell between them and the mountain, and I drove them along toward Abou Bakr.
Among them a woman of Fazaré wore a lizard skin, and with her was her daughter, among the fairest of the Arabs. Abou Bakr gave me the girl. On my return to Medina I met the Messenger of Allah in the market, and he said to me: O Salama, give me the woman. I said: by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, she has charmed me, and I have not uncovered a garment of hers. He was silent and left me. The next day he met me in the market and said: O Salama, give me the woman, and may your father redeem you. I said: O Messenger of Allah, she has charmed me, and I have not uncovered a garment of hers, and she is yours, O Messenger of Allah. The Messenger of Allah sent her to the people of Mecca, in whose hands were captives of the Muslims, and he ransomed them with this woman." Mouslim and the Bayhaqi report this hadith.
The Waqidi reports that Oumar ibn al-Khattab was sent with thirty horsemen toward Turba, a district of Hawazin lying four miles beyond Mecca, marching by night and hiding by day; when they reached the district, the people fled and Oumar returned to Medina. It was said to him: have you to fight Khath’am? He said: the Messenger of Allah ordered me only to fight Hawazin on their own land.
The Messenger of Allah also sent Abdallah ibn Rawaha with thirty horsemen against Yassir ibn Rizam, the Jew of Khaybar who was gathering Ghatafan to make war upon him. When they reached Qarqarat Thibar, six miles from Khaybar, Yassir had second thoughts and moved his hand toward the sword of Abdallah ibn Unays, who scenting it cried to his mule, charged, and drove him before him to the people until he gained the mastery and struck his leg, cutting it off. Yassir charged with a branch of chouhata and struck the face of Abdallah ibn Unays, wounding him a mortal wound. Every Muslim threw himself upon his rider and killed him, except one Jew who extricated himself; none of the Muslims was touched. The Messenger of Allah spat upon the wound of Abdallah ibn Unays, and it neither opened nor pained him until his death. The Waqidi likewise mentions the sending of Bachir ibn Sa’d with thirty horsemen against the Banu Murra in the district of Fadak: their camels were carried off, then they fought him and killed most of those with him; he endured, fought fiercely, then took refuge at Fadak, spent the night with a Jew there, and returned to Medina.
The Messenger of Allah then sent Ghalib ibn Abdallah with a group of the great companions, among them Ousama ibn Zayd, Abou Mas’oud the Badri and Ka’b ibn Ujra. The Waqidi and Ibn Ishaq mention the killing of Mirdas ibn Nahik, ally of the Banu Murra, by Ousama. Imam Ahmad reports through Mohamed ibn Ousama, from his father, from his grandfather: "I overtook him, I and a man of the Ansar; and when we raised our weapons against him, he said: I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah. We did not leave him until we had killed him. When we came to the Messenger of Allah and informed him, he said: O Ousama, what will protect you from: there is no deity but Allah? I said: O Messenger of Allah, he said it only to shield himself from killing. He said: what will protect you, O Ousama, from: there is no deity but Allah? By Him who sent him with the truth, he did not cease repeating it to me until I wished that my past Islam had never been, and that I had become a Muslim that day without killing him. I said: I covenant with Allah never to kill a man who says: there is no deity but Allah. He said: after me, O Ousama? I said: after you." The Boukhari and Mouslim report the version of al-Hurqa of Jouhayna through Houchaym, similar in meaning.
Ibn Ishaq reports through Ya’qoub ibn Outba, from Mouslim ibn Ziyad al-Jouhani, from Jondab ibn Abdallah, the story of Ghalib’s expedition against the Banu al-Mouwahhid at al-Kadid: "We met al-Harith ibn Malik ibn al-Barsa’ al-Laythi and seized him. He said: I have come only to embrace Islam. Ghalib said: if you have come only to embrace Islam, it does not trouble you to be bound a day and a night; and if you are upon other than that, you betray us. He bound him and left behind him Rouwayjila, a black man who was with us, saying: stay with him until we pass you, and if he resists you, strike off his head. We marched to the belly of al-Kadid and camped in the evening after the asr. My companions sent me ahead: I betook myself to a mound overlooking the plain and lay stretched upon it before sunset. A man of them came out, saw me lying on the mound and said to his wife: I see a black mass upon that mound that I did not see at daybreak; look whether the dogs have not dragged away something of your vessels. She looked and said: by Allah, nothing of mine is missing. He said: give me my bow and two of my arrows. She gave them, and he shot an arrow at my forehead, or he said: at my side; I drew it out and laid it down without stirring.
Then he shot the other at my collarbone; I drew it out and laid it down without stirring. He said to his wife: by Allah, my two arrows have struck him; were he of flesh, he would have moved. When you rise in the morning, look for my two arrows and take them, lest the dogs gnaw them upon me. We waited until their smells had gone and they had milked and perfumed and rested, and part of the night had passed, then we launched the raid, killed, gathered the camels and set out in caravan driving them. The cry of the people reached their folk close behind us; we fled at full speed along the road of al-Harith ibn Malik, and nothing lay between us and them but the belly of the valley of Qoudayd, when Allah sent water from whence He willed such as we had never seen, rain or flood, coming with what none could withstand. I saw them standing, looking at us, none of them able to face it, while we struck it with our lances. We fled at full speed, climbed the pass and descended it, until we had rendered the people powerless with what was in our hands." Abou Dawoud reports this account from Ibn Ishaq with the variant "Abdallah ibn Ghalib": the correct is Ghalib ibn Abdallah. The Waqidi says he had a hundred and thirty companions.
The Bayhaqi also mentions, through the Waqidi, the expedition of Bachir toward the environs of Khaybar: they met a gathering of Arabs and took much booty in camels. That sending took place upon the indication of Abou Bakr and Oumar, and he had with him three hundred Muslims; his guide was Houssayl ibn Nouwayra, the very guide of the Prophet to Khaybar.
Ibn Ishaq reports, in the story of Abou Hadrad and his campaign toward al-Ghaba, what Ja’far ibn Abdallah ibn Aslam related from Abou Hadrad himself: "I married a woman of my people and dowered her with two hundred dirhams. I came to the Messenger of Allah seeking his help for my marriage, and he said: how much have you dowered her? I said: two hundred dirhams. He said: glory to Allah! By Allah, were you to take it from a valley, it would not grow less. And by Allah, I have nothing with which to help you. I remained some days, and then a man of Jucham ibn Mou’awiya, called Rifa’a ibn Qays, began gathering the people at al-Ghaba to fight the Messenger of Allah; he was a man of name and nobility among Jucham. The Messenger of Allah called me, with two Muslim men, and said: go out against this man until you bring back news and knowledge of him. He offered us a barren mare which one of us mounted; she could not stand until the men held her up from behind with their hands. He said: set out upon this one. We went out with our weapons to the plain at sunset; I hid on one side and ordered my two companions to hide on another, telling them:
when you hear me magnify Allah and shout into the camp, magnify and shout with me. Night covered us until the embers of the isha had died. They had a shepherd who had loosed himself into the country, who was late to them, and they feared for him. Their man Rifa’a ibn Qays rose, took his sword, hanging it at his neck, and said: by Allah, I shall see to the matter of our shepherd; he has met with harm. A group said: by Allah, do not go; we suffice you. He said: none goes but I. They said: then we are with you. He said: by Allah, let none of you follow me. He went out passing by me; when I was able, I breathed an arrow into his heart, and by Allah he did not speak. I sprang upon him, cut off his head, then shouted into the camp magnifying Allah, and my two companions shouted and magnified. There was nothing but the flight of those within it, each for himself, with all they could of their women, their children and the light goods they had. We brought back great camels and many sheep, and I came carrying the head of Rifa’a with me. He gave me of those camels thirteen camels for my dower, and I gathered my family to me."
Ibn Ishaq further reports through Yazid ibn Abdallah ibn Qousayt, from Ibn Abdallah ibn Abi Hadrad, from his father: "The Messenger of Allah sent us toward Idam in a company of Muslims, among them Abou Qatada al-Harith ibn Ribi’y and Mouhallim ibn Jathama. We were in the belly of Idam when Amir ibn al-Adhbat al-Ashja’i passed by us on his donkey, with his guide and a skin of milk. He greeted us with the greeting of Islam, and we withheld our hands from him; but Mouhallim ibn Jathama charged him and killed him over some matter between the two of them, and took his caravan and his guide. When we came to the Messenger of Allah and informed him, the Quran came down upon us: O you who believe, when you strike in the path of Allah, make discernment, and say not to him who gives you the salam: you are not a believer, seeking the goods of the present life; yet with Allah are abundant spoils. So were you before, but Allah has been gracious to you. Make discernment then: surely Allah is, of what you do, Informed (an-Nisa, 94)." Imam Ahmad reports this hadith likewise.
Ibn Ishaq reports through Ziyad ibn Doumayra, who related to Urwa ibn az-Zoubayr from his father and grandfather, both present at Houmayn: "The Messenger of Allah prayed the dhouhr, then went to the shade of a tree and sat in it. There advanced to him Ou’yané ibn Badr, seeking the blood of Amir ibn al-Adhbat, the lord of Qays, and there came al-Aqra’ ibn Habis defending Mouhallim, the lord of Khindif. The Messenger of Allah said to the people of Amir: would you take from us now fifty camels, and fifty when we return to Medina? Ou’yané said: by Allah, I will not leave him until I cause his women to taste grief such as he caused my women to taste. There rose a man of the Banu Layth, called Ibn Moukaytil, a man of middle stature and thick flesh, who said: O Messenger of Allah, I find for this slain man no parallel in the bright hour of Islam but as sheep returned from pasture, when the first is seized and the rest scatter: legislate today and change tomorrow. The Messenger of Allah said: would you take fifty camels now and fifty when we return to Medina? He did not cease speaking to them until they accepted the blood-money. The people of Mouhallim said: bring him, until the Messenger of Allah seek forgiveness for him.
There came a man of tall stature and thick flesh, in a garment that seemed prepared for his killing, and he stood before the Prophet. The Prophet said: O Allah, forgive not Mouhallim. And he said it three times. Mouhallim rose, catching his tears with the edge of his garment." His people claim that he later sought forgiveness for him. Abou Dawoud and Ibn Majah report versions of this story; the correct one is that of Ziyad ibn Sa’d ibn Doumayra. Ibn Ishaq reports through Salim Abou an-Nadr that they did not accept the blood-money until al-Aqra’ ibn Habis rose and said to them: O assembly of Qays, the Messenger of Allah has asked you for a slain man, that he might by him make peace among the people, and you have refused him. Are you sure that the Messenger of Allah will not be angry with you, and that Allah will not be angry for his anger, or that the Messenger of Allah will not curse you, and that Allah will not curse you with his curse? By Allah, you will surely hand him over to the Messenger of Allah, or I shall come with fifty of the Banu Tamim, all testifying that the slain man was an unbeliever who never prayed, and I shall make his blood lawful. When he had said that to them, they took the blood-money. This version is discontinuous and difficult.
Ibn Ishaq also reports, through a chain whose narrator is trustworthy, from al-Hasan al-Basri, that when Mouhallim sat before the Prophet he said to him: did you place him in safety by Allah, then kill him? And the Prophet invoked against him. Al-Hasan said: and by Allah, Mouhallim did not remain but seven days before he died. The earth rejected him; they buried him, and it rejected him; they buried him, and it rejected him; they piled stones upon him until they covered him. That reached the Messenger of Allah, and he said: "Indeed the earth closes upon whoever is worse than he, but Allah willed to admonish you concerning the sanctity of what is among you, by what He has shown you of him." Ibn Jarir reports through Waki’, from Jarir, from Ibn Ishaq, from Nafi’, from Ibn Omar, a similar version: Mouhallim came in two mantles and sat before the Messenger of Allah that he might seek forgiveness for him; he said:
may Allah not forgive you. Mouhallim rose, catching his tears with his two mantles, and his seven days did not pass before he died. They buried him and the earth rejected him; they came to the Prophet and mentioned it to him, and he said: "Indeed the earth accepts whoever is worse than your companion, but Allah willed to admonish you concerning your sanctity." Then they cast him between two mountain slopes, throwing stones upon him, and the verse came down: O you who believe, when you strike in the path of Allah, make discernment. Moussa ibn Oqba reports this story from az-Zouhri, as does Chou’ayb from az-Zouhri, from Abdallah ibn Mouhab, from Qabisa ibn Dhu’ayb, without naming Mouhallim or Amir; the Bayhaqi reports it from al-Hasan al-Basri, saying that in it came down the word of the Most High. We have treated the cause of the descent of this verse and its meaning in the tafsir with what suffices, and to Allah belong praise and favor.
It is established in the two Sahihs, through al-A’mach, from Sa’d ibn Ubayda, from Abou Abd ar-Rahman as-Soulami, from Ali ibn Abi Talib: the Prophet appointed a man of the Ansar over an expedition, sending them out and commanding them to hear and obey him. They angered him in some matter, and he said: gather firewood for me. They gathered it. He said: kindle a fire. They kindled it. Then he said: did not the Messenger of Allah command you to hear and obey me? They said: yes. He said: then enter it. They looked at one another and said: we fled to the Messenger of Allah only from the Fire. His anger subsided and the fire went out. When they came to the Prophet, they mentioned it to him, and he said: "Had they entered it, they would never have come out of it: obedience is only in what is right." This story is also established in the two Sahihs through Ya’la ibn Mouslim, from Sa’id ibn Joubayr, from Ibn Abbas. We have treated this verse with what suffices in the tafsir, and to Allah belong praise and favor.
The Bayhaqi finally mentions the expedition of Ibn Abi l-Awja as-Soulami against the Banu Sulaym. He cites by his chain from the Waqidi, from az-Zouhri: when the Messenger of Allah returned from the Umra of Fulfilment, in Dhoul-Hijja of the seventh year, he sent Ibn Abi l-Awja as-Soulami with fifty men against the Banu Sulaym, and the spy of the Banu Sulaym was with him. When he had left Medina, the spy went out to his people, warning and informing them, and they gathered in great number. Ibn Abi l-Awja came upon them while the people were prepared: when the companions of the Messenger of Allah saw their gathering, they called them to Islam, but they showered them with arrows, hearkening not to their words, and said: we have no need of that to which you call us. The Muslims shot at them for an hour while the reinforcements kept coming, until they had encircled them on every side. The people fought fiercely until most of them were slain. Ibn Abi l-Awja was struck with many wounds and hastened back to Medina with those of his companions who remained, on the first day of the month of Safar of the eighth year.