Home > Sira > The tenth year of the prophetic Hijra
Year 10 of the Hijra: Khalid at Najran, Mu’adh and Abu Musa in Yemen, the ten counsels, the zakat rates, Ali and the fifth, the gold nugget and Ali’s judgments.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
This is the tenth year of the prophetic Hijra, and the chapter of the Messenger of Allah sending Khalid ibn al-Walid. Ibn Ishaq said: then the Messenger of Allah sent Khalid ibn al-Walid in Rabi’ al-Akhira or Jumada al-Ula of the year ten to the Banu al-Harith ibn Ka’b at Najran, and ordered him to call them to Islam three days before fighting them; if they answered, accept from them, and if they did not, fight them. Khalid went out until he arrived at them, and sent out horsemen striking in every direction, calling to Islam and saying: O people, accept Islam and you will be safe. The people accepted Islam and entered what they were called to, and Khalid stayed among them teaching them Islam, the Book of Allah and the sunna of his prophet, as the Messenger of Allah had commanded, if they accepted Islam without being fought. Khalid ibn al-Walid then wrote to the Messenger of Allah: In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. To Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, from Khalid ibn al-Walid: peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings; I praise toward you Allah, there is no deity but Him. As for what follows: O Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless you: you sent me to the Banu al-Harith ibn Ka’b and commanded me, when I came to them, not to fight them three days, but to call them to Islam; if they accepted Islam I was to accept from them and teach them the marks of Islam,
the Book of Allah and the sunna of His prophet, and if they did not accept Islam I was to fight them. I came to them and called them to Islam three days as the Messenger of Allah commanded me, and sent among them horsemen saying: O Banu al-Harith, accept Islam and you will be safe. They accepted Islam and were not fought, and I am residing among them commanding them what Allah commanded and forbidding them what Allah forbade, teaching them the marks of Islam and the sunna of the Prophet, until the Messenger of Allah writes me; and peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. The Messenger of Allah wrote him: In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate, from Muhammad the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah, to Khalid ibn al-Walid: peace be upon you; I praise toward you Allah, there is no deity but Him. As for what follows: your letter came to me with your messenger, informing me that the Banu al-Harith ibn Ka’b have accepted Islam before you fought them, and have answered what you called them to of Islam, and testified that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger, and that Allah has guided them by His guidance; so give them glad tidings and warn them, and come, and let their delegation come with you; and peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Khalid returned to the Messenger of Allah, and with him came the delegation of the Banu al-Harith ibn Ka’b, among them Qays ibn al-Husayn Dhu l-Ghussa, Yazid ibn Abd al-Madan, Yazid ibn al-Muhajjal, Abdallah ibn Qurad az-Ziyadi, Shaddad ibn Ubaydallah al-Qanani and Amr ibn Abdallah ad-Dibabi. When they arrived to the Messenger of Allah and he saw them he said: who are these people as though they were men of India? It was said: O Messenger of Allah, these are the Banu al-Harith ibn Ka’b. When they stood before the Messenger of Allah they greeted him and said: we testify that you are the Messenger of Allah and that there is no deity but Allah. The Messenger of Allah said: and I testify that there is no deity but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah. Then he said: are you those who, when pushed, charge forward? They were silent and none answered him; he repeated it a second time, then a third, and none of them answered him; then he repeated it a fourth time, and Yazid ibn Abd al-Madan said: yes, O Messenger of Allah, we are those who, when pushed, charge forward. He said it four times, and the Messenger of Allah said: had Khalid not written me that you had accepted Islam and had not been fought,
I would have cast your heads beneath your feet. Yazid ibn Abd al-Madan said: by Allah, we have not praised you nor praised Khalid. He said: whom then have you praised? They said: we praised Allah who guided us by you, O Messenger of Allah. The Messenger of Allah said: you spoke truly. Then he said: by what did you overcome whoever fought you in the Jahiliyya? They said: we never overcame anyone. He said: rather you did overcome whoever fought you. They said: we overcame whoever fought us, O Messenger of Allah, because we gathered and never dispersed, and we began injustice against no one. He said: you spoke truly. Then he appointed Qays ibn al-Husayn over them. Ibn Ishaq said: they returned to their people in the remainder of Shawwal or the beginning of Dhu l-Qi’da; then he sent to them, after their delegation departed, Amr ibn Hazm to instruct them in the religion and teach them the sunna and the marks of Islam and take their alms, and wrote him a document in which he entrusted him his covenant and commanded him his affair; Ibn Ishaq has already reported it, in the delegation of the kings of Himyar, by way of al-Bayhaqi, and an-Nasa’i reported it like what Muhammad ibn Ishaq cites, without a chain.
Al-Bukhari said: a chapter of the sending of Abu Musa and Mu’adh to Yemen before the Farewell Pilgrimage: Musa narrated to us: Abu Awana narrated to us: Abd al-Malik narrated to us, from Abu Burda, who said: the Prophet sent Abu Musa and Mu’adh ibn Jabal to Yemen, and appointed each of the two over a district, and Yemen has two districts. Then he said: ’Make things easy and do not make them hard; give glad tidings and do not repel’: and in a version ’cooperate and do not differ’: and each of the two went to his work. Each of the two, when he traveled in his district and was near his companion, would hold him to a covenant and greet him. Mu’adh traveled in his district near his companion Abu Musa and came riding his mule until he reached him, and there he was sitting with the people gathered around him, and there was a man whose hands had been bound to his neck. Mu’adh said: O Abdallah ibn Qays, what is this? He said: this is a man who disbelieved after his Islam. He said: I shall not dismount until he is killed. He said: he was brought only for that, so dismount. He said: I shall not dismount until he is killed. So he ordered him and he was killed; then he dismounted and said: O Abdallah, how do you recite the Quran? He said: I will excel it. He said: and how do you recite, O Mu’adh? He said: I sleep at the first of the night, then rise having completed my portion of sleep, then recite what Allah has written for me, and I credit my sleep as I credit my wake. Al-Bukhari alone reports it, without Muslim, by this route.
Then al-Bukhari said: Ishaq narrated to us: Khalid narrated to us, from ash-Shaybani, from Sa’id ibn Abi Burda, from his father, from Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, that the Messenger of Allah sent him to Yemen and asked him of drinks made there, and said: what are they? He said: the bit’ and the mizr: and I said to Abu Burda: what is the bit’? He said: the infusion of honey, and the mizr is the infusion of barley: and he said: ’every intoxicant is forbidden.’ Jarir and Abd al-Wahid reported it, from ash-Shaybani, from Abu Burda; and Muslim reported it from the hadith of Sa’id ibn Abi Burda. Al-Bukhari said: Hibban narrated to us: Abdallah informed us, from Zakariyya ibn Ishaq, from Yahya ibn Abdallah ibn Sayfi, from Abu Ma’bad, freedman of Ibn Abbas, from Ibn Abbas: the Messenger of Allah said to Mu’adh ibn Jabal when he sent him to Yemen: ’you will come to a people of the Book; when you come to them call them to testify that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; if they obey you in that, tell them Allah has prescribed five prayers upon them every day and night; if they obey you in that, tell them Allah has prescribed upon them a charity taken from their rich and returned to their poor; if they obey you in that, beware of the precious goods of them, and fear the supplication of the wronged, for there is no veil between it and Allah.’ Baqiyyat al-Jama’a reported it by multiple routes.
The Imam Ahmad said: Abu l-Mughira narrated to us: Safwan narrated to us: Rashid ibn Sa’d related to me, from Asim ibn Humayd as-Sakuni, from Mu’adh ibn Jabal, who said: when the Messenger of Allah sent him to Yemen he went out with him instructing him, Mu’adh riding and the Messenger of Allah walking beneath his mount. When he finished he said: ’O Mu’adh, you may not meet me after this year, and you may pass by this mosque of mine and my grave.’ Mu’adh wept profusely at the parting of the Messenger of Allah; then he turned his face toward Medina and said: ’the nearest of people to me are the God-fearing, whoever they are and wherever they are.’ He also reported it from Abu l-Yaman, from Safwan ibn Amr, from Rashid ibn Sa’d, from Asim ibn Humayd as-Sakuni, that when the Messenger of Allah sent Mu’adh to Yemen he went out with him instructing him, Mu’adh riding and the Messenger of Allah walking beneath his mount. When he finished he said: ’O Mu’adh, you may not meet me after this year,
and you may pass by this mosque of mine and my grave.’ Mu’adh wept profusely at the parting of the Messenger of Allah, and he said: ’weep not, O Mu’adh; weeping has its time; weeping is from the devil.’ The Imam Ahmad said: Abu l-Mughira narrated to us: Safwan narrated to us: Abu Ziyad Yahya ibn Ubayd al-Ghassani related to me, from Yazid ibn Qutayb, from Mu’adh, who used to say: the Messenger of Allah sent me to Yemen and said: ’you may pass by my grave and my mosque; I have sent you to a people soft of heart who will fight for the truth twice, so fight with whoever of them obeys you against whoever disobeys you, then they will overflow into Islam, until the woman precedes her husband and the child his father and the brother his brother; so camp between the two tribes, as-Sakun and as-Sakasik.’ This hadith contains indication and manifestation and an allusion that Mu’adh would not meet the Prophet after that, and so it occurred: he stayed in Yemen until the Farewell Pilgrimage, and his death, peace be upon him, was eighty-one days after the day of the Greater Pilgrimage.
As for the hadith the Imam Ahmad reported: Waki’ narrated to us, from al-A’mach, from Abu Dhabyan, from Mu’adh: when he returned from Yemen he said: O Messenger of Allah, I saw men in Yemen among whom some prostrated to others; shall we not prostrate to you? He said: ’were I to command any created being to prostrate to any created being, I would have commanded the woman to prostrate to her husband.’ Ahmad reported it, from Ibn Numayr, from al-A’mach: I heard Abu Dhabyan relate from a man of the Ansar, from Mu’adh ibn Jabal: Mu’adh returned from Yemen and said: O Messenger of Allah, I saw men, and mentioned its meaning. It returns to an unspecified man, and the like cannot be argued from, especially as others of note contradicted it, saying: when Mu’adh returned from Syria: thus Ahmad reported it. Ahmad said:
Ibrahim ibn Mahdi narrated to us: Isma’il ibn Ayyash narrated to us, from Abdallah ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Husayn, from Shahr ibn Hawshab, from Mu’adh ibn Jabal: the Messenger of Allah said: ’the keys of Paradise are the testimony that there is no deity but Allah.’ Ahmad said: Waki’ narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Maymun ibn Abi Shabayb, from Mu’adh, that the Messenger of Allah said: ’O Mu’adh, follow the evil deed with the good deed that will erase it, and deal with the people with a good character.’ Waki’ said: I found it in my book, from Abu Dhar, and that is the first audition; and Sufyan said once: from Mu’adh. Then the Imam Ahmad said: Isma’il narrated to us, from Layth, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Maymun ibn Abi Shabayb, from Mu’adh, that he said: O Messenger of Allah,
counsel me. He said: ’fear Allah wherever you are.’ He said: add for me. He said: ’follow the evil deed with the good deed that erases it.’ He said: add for me. He said: ’deal with the people with a good character.’ At-Tirmidhi reported it in his Jami’, from Mahmud ibn Ghaylan, from Waki’, from Sufyan ath-Thawri, likewise, and said: fair. Our shaykh said in al-Atrash: Fudayl ibn Iyad followed it up, from Layth ibn Abi Sulaym and al-A’mach, from Habib, likewise. Ahmad said: Abu l-Yaman narrated to us: Isma’il ibn Ayyash narrated to us, from Safwan ibn Amr, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr al-Hadrami, from Mu’adh ibn Jabal, who said: the Messenger of Allah counseled me with ten words. He said: ’associate nothing with Allah even if you are killed and burned; disobey not your parents even if they command you to leave your family and your wealth; forsake not a prescribed prayer deliberately,
for whoever forsakes a prescribed prayer deliberately Allah’s covenant is quit of him; drink not wine, for it is the head of every obscenity; beware of disobedience, for by disobedience the wrath of Allah is attracted; beware of fleeing the battle even if the people perish; when death befalls the people and you are among them, stand firm; spend upon your family of your bounty, and raise not over them your staff in discipline, and fear them for Allah.’ Ahmad said: Yunus narrated to us: Baqiyya narrated to us, from as-Sari ibn Yan’am, from Murih ibn Masruq, from Mu’adh ibn Jabal, that the Messenger of Allah, when he sent him to Yemen, said: ’beware of softness of living, for the servants of Allah are not people of soft living.’
Ahmad said: Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Hashimi narrated to us: Abu Bakr, meaning ibn Ayyash, narrated to us: Asim narrated to us, from Abu Wa’il, from Mu’adh, who said: the Messenger of Allah sent me to Yemen and commanded me to take from every herdsman a dinar or its equivalent in ma’afir, and commanded me to take from every forty cattle a grown cow, and from every thirty cattle a yearling bull, and commanded me a tenth upon what the sky waters and half a tenth upon what is watered by contrivance. Abu Dawud reported it from Abu Mu’awiya, and an-Nasa’i from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from al-A’mach, likewise; and the people of the four Sunan reported it by routes, from al-A’mach, from Abu Wa’il, from Masruq, from Mu’adh, likewise. Ahmad said: Mu’awiya narrated to us, from Amr and Harun ibn Ma’ruf, who said: Abdallah ibn Wahb narrated to us, from Haywa, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, from Salama ibn Usama, from Yahya ibn al-Hakam, that Mu’adh said: the Messenger of Allah sent me to collect the charity of the people of Yemen and commanded me to take of the cattle from every thirty a yearling:
Harun said: the yearling is the weaned male or female: and from every forty a grown cow. They offered me to take what is between forty and fifty, and between sixty and seventy, and between eighty and ninety, and I refused that and said to them: until I ask the Messenger of Allah about that. I came and informed the Prophet, and he commanded me to take from every thirty a yearling and from every forty a grown cow, and of sixty two yearlings, of seventy a grown cow and a yearling, of eighty two grown cows, of ninety three yearlings, of a hundred a grown cow and two yearlings, of a hundred and ten two grown cows and a yearling, of a hundred and twenty three grown cows or four yearlings. The Messenger of Allah commanded me to take nothing of what is between that unless it reaches a grown cow or a yearling; and he claimed that the intermediate numbers carry no obligation. This is among the unique hadiths of Ahmad, and it indicates that Mu’adh returned to the Messenger of Allah after his going to Yemen; and the sound view is that he never saw the Prophet after that, as came in the hadith.
Abd ar-Razzaq said: Ma’mar informed us, from az-Zuhri, from Ubayy ibn Ka’b ibn Malik, who said: Mu’adh ibn Jabal was a young man, handsome and pleasant, among the best of his people’s youths, asked for nothing but he gave, until a debt fell upon him that locked up his wealth. He spoke to the Messenger of Allah to speak to his creditors, and he did, but they did not waive him anything; had it been left to anyone by anyone’s word, it would have been left to Mu’adh by the Messenger of Allah’s word. The Messenger of Allah called him, and he went on selling his wealth and dividing it among his creditors, and Mu’adh stood with no wealth. When the Messenger of Allah made the pilgrimage he sent Mu’adh to Yemen to restore him, and the first to trade in that wealth was Mu’adh. He came to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq from Yemen, the Messenger of Allah having died. Umar came to Mu’adh and said: will you obey me and deliver this wealth to Abu Bakr, and if he gives it to you, accept it? Mu’adh said: why should I deliver it to him when the Messenger of Allah sent me to restore me? When he refused him, Umar went to Abu Bakr and said: send to this man and take from him and leave him some. Abu Bakr said: I would not do so; the Messenger of Allah sent him to restore him, and I shall take nothing from him. When Mu’adh rose in the morning he went to Umar and said:
I see none but doing what you said; I saw myself last night in sleep: as Abd ar-Razzaq believes he said: dragged to the Fire and you holding my chest. He went to Abu Bakr with everything he had brought, until he brought him his whip, and swore to him he had concealed nothing of it. Abu Bakr said: it is yours; I take nothing of it. Ibn Thawr reported it, from Ma’mar, from az-Zuhri, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ka’b ibn Malik, who mentions it, except that he said: when the year of the conquest of Mecca came, the Messenger of Allah sent him governor over a part of Yemen, and he stayed until the Messenger of Allah was taken, then came in the caliphate of Abu Bakr and went out to Syria. Al-Bayhaqi said: we already mentioned that the Messenger of Allah appointed him over Mecca with Attab ibn Usayd to teach its people, and that he witnessed the campaign of Tabuk, so the more apparent is that his sending to Yemen was after that; and Allah knows best. Then al-Bayhaqi mentioned for the story of Mu’adh’s dream a witness, through al-A’mach, from Abu Wa’il, from Abdallah, and that it was among what Abd ar-Razzaq brought of them: he brought them to Abu Bakr, and when he returned them all to him he went back with them, then stood to pray, and they all stood praying with him; when he turned he said: for whom did you pray? They said: for Allah. He said: then you are his freedmen, and he freed them.
The Imam Ahmad said: Muhammad ibn Ja’far narrated to us: Shu’ba narrated to us, from Abu Awn, from al-Harith ibn Amr ibn the brother of al-Mughira ibn Shu’ba, from people of the companions of Mu’adh of the people of Hims, from Mu’adh: that the Messenger of Allah, when he sent him to Yemen, said: what will you do if a judgment presents itself? He said: I shall judge by what is in the Book of Allah. He said: and if it is not in the Book of Allah? He said: then by the sunna of the Messenger of Allah. He said: and if it is not in the sunna of the Messenger of Allah? He said: I shall exert judgment with my opinion, not failing. He said: the Messenger of Allah struck my chest and said: praise be to Allah who guided the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to what pleases the Messenger of Allah. Ahmad reported it from Waki’ and from Affan, from Shu’ba, by his chain and wording; and Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi reported it from the hadith of Shu’ba likewise, and at-Tirmidhi said: we know it not except by this route, and its chain is not connected in my view. Ibn Majah reported it by another route from him, except that it is through Muhammad ibn Sa’id ibn Hassan: who is the crucified, one of the liars: from Ubada ibn Nusay, from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Ghanm, from Mu’adh, in like fashion. The Imam Ahmad reported, from Muhammad ibn Ja’far and Yahya ibn Sa’id, from Shu’ba, from Amr ibn Abi Hakim,
from Abdallah ibn Burayda, from Yahya ibn Ya’mar, from Abu l-Aswad ad-Du’li: Mu’adh was in Yemen and they rose to him concerning a Jew who died leaving a Muslim brother, and Mu’adh said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: Islam grows and does not diminish; and he made him inherit. Abu Dawud reported it from Ibn Burayda likewise. This doctrine has been related from Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, and reported by Yahya ibn Ya’mar the judge and a group of the ancients, and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh inclined to it, while the majority contradicted them, among them the four imams and their companions, arguing by what is established in the two Sahihs from Usama ibn Zayd: the Messenger of Allah said: the disbeliever does not inherit the Muslim, nor the Muslim the disbeliever. The point is that Mu’adh was judge for the Prophet in Yemen, arbiter in the wars, and collector to whom the alms were delivered, as the preceding hadith of Ibn Abbas indicates; and he was visible to the people, praying the five prayers with them, as al-Bukhari said: Sulayman ibn Harb narrated to us: Shu’ba narrated to us, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Sa’id ibn Jubayr, from Amr ibn Maymun, that Mu’adh, when he arrived in Yemen, prayed the dawn prayer with them and recited ’and Allah took Ibrahim for an intimate friend’ [an-Nisa: 125], and a man of the people said: the eye of Ibrahim’s mother has been gladdened. Al-Bukhari alone reports it.
Then al-Bukhari said: a chapter of the sending of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Khalid ibn al-Walid to Yemen before the Farewell Pilgrimage: Ahmad ibn Uthman narrated to us: Shurayh ibn Maslama narrated to us: Ibrahim ibn Yusuf ibn Abi Ishaq narrated to us: my father related to me, from Abu Ishaq: I heard al-Bara ibn Azib say: the Messenger of Allah sent us with Khalid ibn al-Walid to Yemen; then he sent Ali after that in his place and said: order the companions of Khalid: whoever of them wishes to return with you, let him return, and whoever wishes, let him come. I was among those who returned with him. He said: he gained arm-rings counted in number. Al-Bukhari alone reports this by this route. Then al-Bukhari said: Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us: Ruh ibn Ubada narrated to us: Ali ibn Suwayd ibn Manjuf narrated to us, from Abdallah ibn Burayda, from his father: the Prophet sent Ali to Khalid ibn al-Walid to take the fifth, and I harbored hatred for Ali. He had washed at morning, and I said to Khalid: do you not see this one? When we arrived to the Prophet I mentioned that to him, and he said: O Burayda, do you hate Ali? I said: yes. He said: hate him not, for he has in the fifth more than that. Al-Bukhari alone reports this, without Muslim, by this route. The Imam Ahmad said: Yahya ibn Sa’id narrated to us:
Abd al-Jalil said: I came to a circle in which were Abu Mijlaz and Ibn Burayda, and Abdallah ibn Burayda said: my father Burayda related to me that he said: I hated Ali with a hatred such as I had never hated anyone, and I loved a man of Quraysh whom I loved only through hatred of Ali. That man was sent over horses, and I accompanied him, accompanying him only through hatred of Ali. We took captives, and he wrote to the Messenger of Allah: send us one to take its fifth. He sent us Ali, and among the captives was a handmaid of the best of the captives. He took the fifth and divided, then came out with his head dripping, and we said: O Abu l-Hasan, what is this? He said: did you not see the handmaid who was among the captives? I divided and took the fifth and she fell in the fifth, then fell in the people of the Prophet’s house, then fell in the family of Ali, and I found her. The man wrote to the Prophet of Allah, and I said: send me. He sent me as a confirmer, and I began reciting the letter saying: he spoke truly. He seized my hand and the letter and said: do you hate Ali? I said: yes. He said: hate him not, and if you love him, increase in love for him; for by Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, the share of the family of Ali in the fifth is better than a handmaid. After the Prophet’s word none was dearer to me than Ali.
Abdallah ibn Burayda said: by Him than whom there is no deity, between me and the Prophet in this hadith there is none but my father Burayda. Abd al-Jalil ibn Atiyya, the jurist Abu Salih al-Basri, alone reports it in this account; Ibn Ma’in and Ibn Hibban declared him reliable, and al-Bukhari said: he only finds fault with a thing after another thing. Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: Aban ibn Salih narrated to us, from Abdallah ibn Niyar al-Aslami, from his uncle Amr ibn Shas al-Aslami, who was of the companions of al-Hudaybiyya: I was with Ali ibn Abi Talib among the horses in which the Messenger of Allah sent him to Yemen, and Ali offended me with some offense, and I felt resentment against him. When I came to Medina I complained of him in the assemblies of Medina and to whom I met. I came one day while the Messenger of Allah sat in the mosque, and when he saw me he looked toward his eyes gazing at me until I sat beside him, and when I sat beside him he said: by Allah, O Amr ibn Shas, you have indeed hurt me. I said: to Allah we belong and to Him we return; I seek refuge in Allah and in Islam that the Messenger of Allah be hurt. He said: whoever hurt Ali has hurt me. Al-Bayhaqi reported it by another route, from Ibn Ishaq, from Aban, from al-Fadl ibn Ma’qil ibn Sinan, from Abdallah ibn Niyar, from his uncle Amr ibn Shas,
mentioning it in its meaning. The hafiz al-Bayhaqi said: Muhammad ibn Abdallah the hafiz informed us: Abu Ishaq al-Muzakki informed us: Abu Abdallah Ahmad ibn Ali al-Jawzajani informed us: Abu Ubayda ibn Abi as-Safar informed us: I heard Ibrahim ibn Yusuf ibn Abi Ishaq, from his father, from Abu Ishaq, from al-Bara, that the Messenger of Allah sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to the people of Yemen calling them to Islam. Al-Bara said: I was among those who went out with Khalid ibn al-Walid, and we stayed six months calling them to Islam and they did not answer; then the Messenger of Allah sent Ali ibn Abi Talib and commanded him to bring back Khalid, except for a man who was of those with Khalid who wished to stay with Ali: let him stay with him. Al-Bara said: I was among those who stayed with Ali, and when we drew near the people they came out to us, and Ali prayed with us, then lined us in one row, then advanced before our hands and recited to them the letter of the Messenger of Allah, and Hamdan accepted Islam all together. Ali wrote to the Messenger of Allah of their Islam, and when the Messenger of Allah read the letter he fell prostrating, then raised his head and said: peace upon Hamdan, peace upon Hamdan. Al-Bayhaqi said: al-Bukhari reported it in abridged form by another route, from Ibrahim ibn Yusuf.
Al-Bayhaqi said: Abu l-Husayn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Qattan informed us: Abu Sahl ibn Ziyad al-Qattan informed us: Abu Ishaq Isma’il ibn Ishaq the judge narrated to us: Isma’il ibn Abi Uways narrated to us: my brother related to me, from Sulayman ibn Bilal, from Sa’d ibn Ishaq ibn Ka’b, from Ujra, from his aunt Zaynab bint Ka’b ibn Ujra, from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, that he said: the Messenger of Allah sent Ali ibn Abi Talib to Yemen. Abu Sa’id said: I was among those who went out with him, and when he took some camels of the charity we asked him that we might ride some of it and rest our camels, and we had seen a weakness in our camels; he refused us and said: you have in it only a share as the Muslims have. When Ali finished and departed from Yemen returning,
he appointed over us a man and hastened himself and caught the Hajj. When he completed his Hajj the Prophet said to him: ’return to your companions until you arrive before them.’ Abu Sa’id said: we had asked the one he appointed why Ali had forbidden it to us, and he did so; and when he perceived in the camels of the charity that they had been ridden and saw the rider’s trace, he blamed the one he appointed and reproached him. I said: Allah has indeed a bond upon me, that if I reach Medina I shall mention to the Messenger of Allah and inform him what we met of harshness and straitening. When we reached Medina I went in the morning to the Messenger of Allah intending to do what I had sworn, and I met Abu Bakr coming out from the Messenger of Allah; when he saw me he stood with me and welcomed me,
and questioned me and I questioned him, and he said: when did you arrive? I said: I arrived yesterday. He returned with me to the Messenger of Allah, entered and said: this is Sa’d ibn Malik son of the martyr. He said: permit him. I entered and greeted the Messenger of Allah and he greeted me, and he turned to me and asked me of myself and my family, making the question far-reaching, and I said: O Messenger of Allah, what we met from Ali of harshness, evil company and straitening! The Messenger of Allah grew angry, and I went on enumerating what we met from him until I was in the middle of my speech, when the Messenger of Allah struck my thigh, and I was near him, and said: ’O Sa’d ibn Malik son of the martyr, desist from part of your speech against your brother Ali, for by Allah I have known him hardest in the path of Allah.’ I said to myself: may your mother lose her son, O Sa’d ibn Malik! See me now in what he dislikes, and I know not; by Allah I shall never mention him in evil, secretly or openly. This is a good chain upon the condition of an-Nasa’i, and none of the authors of the six books reports it. Yunus said, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq: Yahya ibn Abdallah ibn Abi Amra related to me, from Yazid ibn Talha ibn Yazid ibn Rukana, who said: the army of Ali ibn Abi Talib, those who were with him in Yemen, found their grievance: when they returned he left them a man and hastened to the Messenger of Allah; the man acted deliberately and clothed every man in a robe. When they drew near Ali came out to meet them and they wore the robes.
Ali said: what is this? They said: so-and-so clothed us. He said: what prompted you to this before you arrived to the Messenger of Allah that he might do as he wills? And he stripped the robes from them. When they arrived to the Messenger of Allah they complained of him for that, and they had made peace with the Messenger of Allah, and Ali had been sent only for a fixed tribute. I say: this account is nearer than al-Bayhaqi’s, for Ali preceded them because of the Hajj, and took with him the sacrificial offering, and entered ihram like the Prophet’s, and he commanded him to remain in ihram; and in al-Bara ibn Azib’s version he said: I watered the offering and paired it. The point is that when the talk multiplied upon Ali from that army, because of his forbidding them use of the camels of the charity and his recovering from them the robes their deputy had granted them, and Ali was excused in what he did, yet the talk spread in the gatherings; and for that: and Allah knows best: when the Messenger of Allah returned from his pilgrimage, discharged from its rites and returned to Medina, passing by Ghadir Khumm, he stood among the people as preacher and cleared the slate of Ali, raised his worth and drew attention to his merit, to remove what had lodged in the souls of many; and this will come in detail at its place, Allah willing, and in him is trust. Al-Bukhari said: Qutayba narrated to us: Abd al-Wahid narrated to us, from Umara ibn al-Qa’qa’ ibn Shubruma: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Nu’m related to me: I heard Abu Sa’id al-Khudri say:
Ali ibn Abi Talib sent to the Prophet from Yemen a gold nugget in a raw hide, not purged of its dust. He divided it among four: Uyayna ibn Badr, al-Aqra’ ibn Habis, Zayd al-Khayl, and the fourth being either Alqama, meaning ibn Ulatha, or Amir ibn at-Tufayl. A man of his companions said: we were more deserving of this than these. That reached the Prophet and he said: ’do you not trust me, and I am the trustee of him who is in heaven, when the news of heaven comes to me morning and evening?’ A man rose, deep-set of eye, protruding of cheeks, high of forehead, thick of beard, shaven of head, with the izar tucked up, and said: O Messenger of Allah, fear Allah. He said: ’woe to you: am I not the most worthy of the people that Allah be feared?’ Then the man turned away. Khalid ibn al-Walid said: O Messenger of Allah, shall I not strike his neck? He said: ’no; perhaps he prays.’ Khalid said: how many who pray say with their tongue what is not in their heart. The Messenger of Allah said: ’I was not commanded to sift the hearts of the people, nor to split their bellies.’ Then he looked at him as he turned away and said: ’from the loin of this man a people will come reciting the Book of Allah wet, it passing not their throats; they pass through the religion as the arrow passes through the quarry. I think he said: were I to reach them I would surely slay them the slaying of Thamud.’ Al-Bukhari reported it in other places of his book, and Muslim in the chapter of zakat of his Sahih by multiple routes, to Umara ibn al-Qa’qa’, likewise.
The Imam Ahmad said: Yahya narrated to us, from al-A’mach, from Amr ibn Murra, from Abu l-Bakhtari, from Ali, who said: the Messenger of Allah sent me to Yemen while I was young of age. I said: you send me to a people among whom there will be youths, and I have no knowledge of judgment. He said: ’Allah will guide your tongue and establish your heart.’ He said: I never doubted a judgment between two after that. Ibn Majah reported it from the hadith of al-A’mach likewise. The Imam Ahmad said: Aswad ibn Amir narrated to us: Sharik narrated to us, from Simak, from Hanash, from Ali, who said: the Messenger of Allah sent me to Yemen. I said: O Messenger of Allah, you send me to a people older than I, and I a youth, who does not perceive judgment! He placed his hand upon my chest and said: ’O Allah, establish his tongue and guide his heart. O Ali, when the two disputants sit with you, judge not between the two until you hear from the other as you heard from the first, for when you do that the judgment will become clear to you.’ He said: no judgment became hard for me after that, or: no judgment was obscure to me after that. Ahmad also and Abu Dawud reported it by routes, from Sharik, and at-Tirmidhi from the hadith of Zayda, both from Simak ibn Harb, from Hanash ibn al-Mu’tamir: it is said ibn Rabi’a, the Kufan Kinani: from Ali, likewise. The Imam Ahmad said:
Sufyan ibn Uyayna narrated to us, from al-Ajlah, from ash-Sha’bi, from Abdallah ibn Abi l-Khalil, from Zayd ibn Arqam, that a group lay with a woman in purity, and Ali said to two: can you ransom a soul for that? They said: no. He turned to the others and said: can you ransom a soul for that? They said: no. He said: you are perfect partners; I shall cast lots among you: upon whoever the lot falls, I bind him two-thirds of the blood-price and bind the child upon him. That was mentioned to the Prophet and he said: ’I know nothing but what Ali said.’ Ahmad said: Surayj ibn an-Nu’man narrated to us: Hushaym narrated to us: al-Ajlah informed us, from ash-Sha’bi, from Abu l-Khalil, from Zayd ibn Arqam, that Ali was approached, while he was in Yemen, concerning three persons who shared in a child; he cast lots among them, and bound the one whom the lot struck two-thirds of the blood-price and made the child his. Zayd ibn Arqam said: I came to the Prophet and informed him of Ali’s judgment, and he laughed until his molars showed. Abu Dawud reported it, from Musaddad, from Yahya al-Qattan, and an-Nasa’i, from Ali ibn Hujr, from Ali ibn Mushir, both from al-Ajlah ibn Abdallah, from Amir ash-Sha’bi, from Abdallah ibn al-Khalil: an-Nasa’i says in his version Abdallah ibn Abi l-Khalil: from Zayd ibn Arqam, who said: I was with the Prophet when a man of the people of Yemen came and said:
three persons came to Ali disputing over a child; they lay with a woman in one purity. He mentioned like what preceded, and said: the Prophet laughed. The two, meaning Abu Dawud and an-Nasa’i, reported it from the hadith of Shu’ba, from Salama ibn Kuhayl, from ash-Sha’bi, from Abu l-Khalil or Ibn al-Khalil, from Ali, his word: so he released them and did not raise them. The Imam Ahmad also reported it, from Abd ar-Razzaq, from Sufyan ath-Thawri, from al-Ajlah, from ash-Sha’bi, from Abd Khayr, from Zayd ibn Arqam, mentioning like what preceded; and Abu Dawud and an-Nasa’i both reported it from Khushaysh ibn Asram, and Ibn Majah from Ishaq ibn Mansur, both from Abd ar-Razzaq, from Sufyan ath-Thawri, from Salih al-Hamdani, from ash-Sha’bi, from Abd Khayr, from Zayd ibn Arqam, likewise. Our shaykh said in al-Atrash: perhaps this Abd Khayr is Abdallah ibn al-Khalil, but the reporter did not fix his name. I say: upon that the hadith is strengthened, and were it otherwise he would be more generous in following him; but al-Ajlah ibn Abdallah al-Kindi has some criticism, and the Imam Ahmad adopted the drawing of lots in lineages, and it is among his unique hadiths. The Imam Ahmad said: Abu Sa’id narrated to us: Isra’il narrated to us: Simak narrated to us, from Hanash, from Ali, who said: the Messenger of Allah sent me to Yemen, and we came to a people who had built a pit-trap for a lion.
While they were thus pushing one another, a man fell and clung to another, then a man clung to another, until they were in it four, and the lion wounded them. A man was sent for it with a spear and killed it, and they all died of their wounds. The heirs of the first rose against the heirs of the last and drew weapons to fight, and Ali came to them at the forenoon of that and said: do you wish to fight while the Messenger of Allah lives? I shall judge between you a judgment: if you are content, it is the judgment; otherwise hold back from one another until you come to the Prophet and it be he who judges between you, and whoever attacks after that has no right. Gather from the tribes of those who were present at the pit a fourth of the blood-price, a third of the blood-price, half the blood-price and the full blood-price: for the first a fourth, for those above him perished; the second a third of the blood-price; the third half the blood-price; the fourth the blood-price. They refused to accept, and came to the Prophet while he was at the Station of Ibrahim and related the story to him, and he said: ’I shall judge between you.’ A man of the people said: O Messenger of Allah, Ali has judged between us. They related the story to him, and the Messenger of Allah validated his judgment. The Imam Ahmad also reported it, from Waki’, from Hammad ibn Salama, from Simak ibn Harb, from Hanash, from Ali, who mentions it.