The campaign of Najd: the man with the drawn sword

This is the third year of the Hijra. At its beginning was the campaign of Najd, called the campaign of Dhi Ammar. Ibn Ishaq said: when the Messenger of Allah returned from the campaign of as-Sawiq he stayed in Medina the remainder of Dhu l-Hijja or near it, then made war upon Najd intending Ghatafan, and it is the campaign of Dhi Ammar. Ibn Hisham said: he appointed over Medina Uthman ibn Affan.

Ibn Ishaq said: he stayed in Najd all of Safar or near it, then returned meeting no ruse. Al-Waqidi said: it reached the Messenger of Allah that a gathering of Ghatafan of the Banu Tha’laba ibn Muharib had gathered at Dhi Ammar intending war with him, so he went out to them from Medina on the Thursday, twelve nights having passed of Rabi’ al-Awwal of the year three, appointing over Medina Uthman ibn Affan, and was absent eleven days with four hundred and fifty-one men. The Bedouins fled from him to the mountaintops until he reached a water called Dhi Ammar, and he camped there, and abundant rain fell upon them, and the garments of the Messenger of Allah were soaked, and he alighted beneath a tree there and spread his garments to dry, and that within sight of an idolater, while the idolaters were occupied with their affairs. The idolaters sent a brave man of theirs called Ghowrath ibn al-Harith, or Duthur ibn al-Harith, and they said: Allah has given you power over the killing of Muhammad.

That man went with a polished sword until he stood over the Messenger of Allah with the sword brandished and said: O Muhammad, who protects you from me today? He said: Allah. And Gabriel pushed his chest, and the sword fell from his hand, and the Messenger of Allah took it and said: who protects you from me? He said: no one; and I testify that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and by Allah I shall never gather an army against you.

The Messenger of Allah gave him his sword, and when he returned to his companions they said: woe to you, what ails you? He said: I looked at a tall man who pushed my chest and I fell upon my back, and I knew he was an angel, and I testified that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and by Allah I shall never gather an army against him. And he began calling his people to Islam. And thereupon descended the word of the Most High: O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you when a people resolved to stretch their hands toward you, but He withheld their hands from you; and fear Allah [al-Ma’ida: 11], the verse.

Al-Bayhaqi said: there will come in the campaign of Dhat ar-Riqa’ a story resembling this; perhaps they are two stories. I say: were this one well preserved, it is categorically other than that one, for that man, also named Ghowrath ibn al-Harith, did not accept Islam but persisted in his religion, and had not covenanted with the Prophet not to fight him; and Allah knows best.