This was the expedition that led to the great Battle of Badr. The great Battle of Badr was the day when the army of Islam and the army of the polytheists confronted each other, and truth was distinguished from falsehood. Allah is capable of all things.
Ibn Isḥāq said: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) returned from the first expedition of Badr, in the month of Rajab, he sent ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh b. Riʿāb al-Asadī as the commander of an expedition (sarīyya) over eight Emigrants (Muhājirūn). Among them there was no one from the Helpers (Anṣār); their names were: Abū Ḥudhayfa b. ʿUtba, ʿUkkāsha b. Miḥṣan b. Khurṣān (an ally of Banū Asad b. Khuzayma), ʿUtba b. Ghazwān (an ally of Banū Nawfal), Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ al-Zuhrī, ʿĀmir b. Rabīʿa al-Wāʾilī (an ally of Banū ʿAdiyy), Waqid b. ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbd Manāf b. ʿArīn b. Thalaba b. Yarbuʿ al-Tamīmī (also an ally of Banū ʿAdiyy), Khālid b. Bukayr (from Banū Saʿd b. Layth, also an ally of Banū ʿAdiyy), and Sahl b. Bayḍāʾ al-Fihrī. These were seven men. The eighth was their commander, ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh. May Allah be pleased with him.
Yūnus narrates from Ibn Isḥāq: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) wrote a letter and gave it to ʿAbdullāh, commanding him not to open it until he had traveled for two days. After two days’ journey, he was to open it, follow its instructions, and not compel any of his companions to continue the journey with him.
After two days’ journey, ʿAbdullāh opened and read the letter. It stated:
"When you look at my letter, proceed on your way until you reach a palm grove between Mecca and Ṭāʾif. There, observe the Quraysh and gather information for us."
Upon reading the letter, ʿAbdullāh said, "We hear and we obey." He explained the orders to his companions and said: "The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) has forbidden me from compelling any of you to continue. Whoever among us desires and seeks martyrdom, let him proceed. Whoever does not desire it, let him return. As for me, I will continue to fulfill the command of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him)." Thus, he set out, and his companions went with him; none of them stayed behind. They headed toward the Ḥijāz and reached a place called Bahrān, above Furūʿ. At that time, Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ and ʿUtba b. Ghazwān lost their camels, which they were riding in turns, and while searching for them, they fell behind the expedition. ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh and the rest continued and finally arrived at Nakhlah. There, a Quraysh trade caravan passed by, including ʿAmr b. al-Ḥaḍramī. According to Ibn Hishām, al-Ḥaḍramī’s name was ʿAbdullāh b. Ibat, from the Thaqīf tribe. ʿUthmān b. ʿAbdullāh b. Mughīra al-Makhzūmī, his brother Nawfal, and the freedman of Hishām b. Mughīra, Ḥakam b. Kaysān, were also in the caravan. When the caravan saw the Muslims, they were very afraid, as the Muslims had come close. Then ʿUkkāsha b. Miḥṣan appeared, his head shaven. Seeing him, the caravan felt reassured and said:
"These are pilgrims; you have nothing to fear from them." The Companions consulted about the caravan. It was the last day of the month of Rajab.
They said:
"By Allah, if you let them go tonight, they will enter the Ḥaram and protect themselves from you. If you kill them, you will have killed in a sacred month!"
The Companions hesitated and were reluctant to attack. Then they encouraged themselves, decided to kill whomever they could and seize the goods. Waqid b. ʿAbdullāh al-Tamīmī shot an arrow and killed ʿAmr b. al-Ḥaḍramī. ʿUthmān b. ʿAbdullāh and Ḥakam b. Kaysān were taken captive. Nawfal b. ʿAbdullāh escaped with the caravan, and the Muslims could not catch him. ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh and his companions seized the caravan and the two captives and went to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) in Medina.
A man from the family of ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh reported that he said to his companions: "We must set aside one-fifth of this booty for the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him)." He did so, distributing the rest among his companions. This was before the revelation of the verse prescribing the khumus (one-fifth of the spoils for Allah and His Messenger). Ibn Isḥāq said that when the khumus verse was revealed, it confirmed the division made by ʿAbdullāh. When the expedition returned to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), he said:
"I did not command you to fight in the sacred month." He then withheld the caravan and the two captives, refusing to take anything from them. When he said this, the members of the expedition regretted their actions and thought they were ruined. Their fellow Muslims reproached them for what they had done. The Quraysh said: "Muḥammad and his companions have violated the sacred month, shed blood, seized goods, and taken men captive during it."
Some Muslims in Mecca who responded to the Quraysh said: "This happened in the month of Shaʿbān."
The Jews, seeking to provoke the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), said: "ʿAmr b. al-Ḥaḍramī was killed by Waqid b. ʿAbdullāh. ʿAmr brought war; al-Ḥaḍramī was present at the battle; Waqid b. ʿAbdullāh kindled the fire of war. Thus, Allah made this to their detriment, not in their favor."
When people went to extremes in this matter, the Exalted Allah revealed to His Messenger the following verse:
"They ask you about the sacred month—about fighting therein. Say, 'Fighting therein is great sin, but averting [people] from the way of Allah and disbelief in Him and [preventing access to] al-Masjid al-Ḥarām and the expulsion of its people therefrom are greater [evil] in the sight of Allah. And fitna (persecution) is greater than killing.' And they will not cease fighting you until they turn you back from your religion if they are able." (al-Baqara 2:217)
That is, if you killed in the sacred month, they also committed kufr (disbelief), turning people from the way of Allah. Your being expelled from your home, though you are its rightful inhabitants, is a greater sin in the sight of Allah than the killing you committed. "Fitna (persecution) is greater than killing"—that is, they were turning Muslims away from their religion, causing them to return to kufr after iman (faith). This is a greater sin in the sight of Allah than killing. "And they will not cease fighting you until they turn you back from your religion if they are able..."
Ibn Isḥāq said: When this command of the Qur'an was revealed, and Allah relieved the Muslims of their distress and granted them ease, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) kept the camel and the two captives. The Quraysh sent word to him about the ransom for ʿUthmān b. ʿAbdullāh and Ḥakam b. Kaysān. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
"We will not release the two captives for ransom until our two companions, Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ and ʿUtba b. Ghazwān, return to us. We fear harm may come to them. If you kill our companions, we will kill yours!"
When Saʿd and ʿUtba returned, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) accepted the ransom for the two captives. As for Ḥakam b. Kaysān, he became Muslim and practiced Islam well, remaining with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) until he was martyred at the day of Biʾr Maʿūna. ʿUthmān b. ʿAbdullāh reached Mecca and died there as a disbeliever.
Ibn Isḥāq said: When the Qur'an was revealed and the ambiguity surrounding ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh and his companions was clarified, they hoped for reward and said:
"O Messenger of Allah! Can we hope that this expedition will be counted as a battle for which the reward of the warriors will be given to us?" Upon this, the Exalted Allah revealed the following verse about them:
"Indeed, those who have believed and those who have emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah—they expect the mercy of Allah. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (al-Baqara 2:218)
Thus, Allah gave them great hope because of this.
Shuʿayb narrates from ʿUrwa: "Al-Ḥaḍramī was the first person killed in a clash between the Muslims and the polytheists."
According to ʿAbd al-Malik b. Hishām, al-Ḥaḍramī was the first person killed by the Muslims, and the spoils taken in this encounter were the first spoils obtained by the Muslims. The captives, ʿUthmān and Ḥakam b. Kaysān, were the first two captives taken by the Muslims.
I say: As mentioned on previous pages, Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated from Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ: The first amīr (commander) in Islamic history was ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh. We have cited corroborating evidence for this in our tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis), relying on Ibn Isḥāq. Likewise, Ḥāfiẓ Abū Muḥammad b. Abī Ḥātim, through his father, narrated from Jundub b. ʿAbdullāh: "The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) dispatched a caravan, appointing Abū ʿUbayda b. al-Jarrāḥ or ʿUbayda b. al-Ḥārith as its leader. When it was time to depart, the appointed leader began to weep out of love for the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and reluctance to leave him, and so he remained behind. In his place, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) appointed ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh as the commander of the expedition, gave him a letter, and instructed him not to open or read it until reaching a certain location, saying:
"When you open the letter, do not compel any of your companions to continue with you."
On the road, when ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh opened and read the letter, he recited the verse, "Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return," and said: "We have heard and obeyed. We have followed the command of Allah and His Messenger." He read the contents to his companions and informed them of the situation. Two of the expedition members turned back, while the rest continued with him. When they encountered Ibn al-Ḥaḍramī, they killed him. They were unsure whether the day was in Rajab or Jumādā al-Ākhira. The polytheists said to the Muslims: "You killed a man in the sacred month!" Then Allah revealed the following verse:
"They ask you about the sacred month—about fighting therein. Say, 'Fighting therein is great sin.'" (al-Baqara 2:217)
Ismāʿīl b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī al-Kabīr, in his tafsir, narrates from a group of Companions regarding the above verse:
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) dispatched an expedition of seven men, led by ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh. Their names were: ʿAmmār b. Yāsir, Abū Ḥudhayfa b. ʿUtba, Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ, ʿUtba b. Ghazwān, Sahl b. Bayḍāʾ, ʿĀmir b. Fuhayra, and Waqid b. ʿAbdullāh al-Yarbuʿī, who was an ally of ʿUmar.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) gave them a letter, instructing their commander ʿAbdullāh not to open or read it until reaching Batn Melele. When the expedition reached Batn Melele, ʿAbdullāh opened the letter and found it said: "Proceed until you reach Batn Nakhlah." ʿAbdullāh told his companions:
"Whoever wishes to die, let him continue and make his will, for I will make my will, fulfill the command of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and continue on."
They continued. Saʿd and ʿUtba, having lost their mounts and searching for them, fell behind. ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh and his companions continued to Batn Nakhlah, where they encountered Ḥakam b. Kaysān, Mughīra b. ʿUthmān, and ʿAbdullāh b. Mughīra.
The narrator relates that Waqid killed ʿAmr b. al-Ḥaḍramī, they seized spoils and two captives, and returned to Medina. This was the first booty the Muslims obtained. The polytheists said:
"Muḥammad claims to obey Allah’s command, but he was the first to violate the sanctity of the sacred months, for he killed our man in Rajab!"
The Muslims said: "We killed him in Jumādā al-Ākhira."
Al-Suddī said: The Muslims killed ʿAmr on the first night of Rajab, though they thought it was the last night of Jumādā al-Ākhira.
I say: Perhaps at the time of this incident, Jumādā al-Ākhira had only twenty-nine days, so the Muslims mistook the first night of Rajab for the thirtieth of Jumādā al-Ākhira, though the new moon had appeared. Allah knows best.
ʿAwfī narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās: ʿAmr was killed thinking it was the last night of Jumādā al-Ākhira, but it was actually the first night of Rajab, though the Muslims were unaware.
As in Ibn Isḥāq’s narration, this incident occurred on the last night of Rajab. The Muslims attacked, knowing it was a sacred month, because if they missed the opportunity, the polytheists would enter the Ḥaram and could no longer be touched.
Al-Zuhrī also narrates from ʿUrwa, as reported by al-Bayhaqī, that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) paid the blood money for Ibn al-Ḥaḍramī and reaffirmed the sanctity of the sacred month. In the end, Allah revealed the verse of exoneration, declaring forgiveness for those who killed al-Ḥaḍramī in the sacred month.
This narration is reported by al-Bayhaqī.
Ibn Isḥāq said: Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, in response to the claims of the polytheists that the Muslims had violated the sanctity of the sacred month in the expedition of ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh, recited the following poem. Ibn Hishām, however, attributes the poem to ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh:
"You consider killing in the sacred month a great sin, but when one seeking the right path finds it, your turning people away from what Muḥammad says and your denial of Allah is a greater sin. Allah sees what you do.
Driving out the people of the House of Allah from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām so that none may be seen prostrating there is a greater sin than killing in the sacred month.
Though you reproach us for killing, the wicked and envious are shaken by Islam.
When Waqid kindled the war at Nakhlah, we watered our spears with the blood of Ibn al-Ḥaḍramī.
ʿAbdullāh’s son ʿUthmān is among us, a leather strap around his neck dragging him toward death!"