At the beginning of this year, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), upon returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, decided to settle permanently in al-Madīnat al-Nabawiyya and not to move elsewhere.
Many significant events took place this year. The most important of these was the death of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). The Exalted and Majestic Allah took him from this transient abode to the eternal abode of blessings, the highest station, the place of supreme degrees, namely Paradise. There is no place higher or more exalted than that. As the Exalted Allah addressed him in a verse (āya):
"And the Hereafter is better for you than the first [life]. And your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied." (al-Ḍuḥā 93:4-5)
After the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had fully discharged his mission, conveyed to his community the divine messages that Allah had commanded him to deliver, advised them, guided them to what he knew was best for them, and warned them against what would harm them in this world and the Hereafter, Allah took him from this fleeting world to the everlasting realm.
"This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion." (al-Māʾida 5:3)
When the above verse (āya) was revealed to the Messenger of God on the Day of ʿArafa, which was a Friday, ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, as narrated by both Bukhārī and Muslim, began to weep. When he was asked,
"Why are you crying?" he replied that he sensed the Prophet's impending death, saying:
"After perfection comes deficiency. That is, once a matter is completed, it begins to diminish."
According to Muslim's narration from Jābir, after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stoned the ʿAqaba Jamra, he paused and addressed the congregation, saying:
"Learn your rites from me. Perhaps I will not perform ḥajj after this year."
As previously mentioned, Abū Bakr al-Bazzār and al-Bayhaqī narrated from Ibn ʿUmar who said:
"During the middle of the Days of Tashrīq, Sūrat al-Naṣr was revealed. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) understood this as a farewell. He ordered his mount, named Qaṣwāʾ, to be prepared. After mounting, he delivered his sermon that day."
When ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbbās was asked by ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, in the presence of a group of Companions (ṣaḥāba), about the tafsīr (Qur'anic exegesis) of Sūrat al-Naṣr, he gave this explanation. ʿUmar had asked Ibn ʿAbbās this question to demonstrate his virtue, knowledge, and precedence to the Companions, as some had criticized ʿUmar for seating Ibn ʿAbbās with the elders of Badr. He replied to them, "He is from where you know." Then, in a gathering where Ibn ʿAbbās was present, he asked for the tafsīr of this sūrah:
"When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest, and you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance." (al-Naṣr 110:1-3)
In response to ʿUmar's question, the Companions interpreted this sūrah as follows:
"When victory is granted to us, we are commanded in this sūrah to remember Allah, praise Him, and seek forgiveness from Him."
Then ʿUmar turned to Ibn ʿAbbās and asked:
"What do you say, O Ibn ʿAbbās?" He replied:
"This sūrah informs that the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) appointed time has come and his death is near."
Upon this, ʿUmar said:
"I understand it as you do."
Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated from Abū Hurayra that:
"When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ḥajj with his wives, he said to them:
'This is my last ḥajj. After this, remain in your homes and do not go elsewhere.'"
In summary, people sensed that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would pass away that year. We will, with Allah's help, narrate the related ḥadīth and reports. First,
we will present the narrations of imams such as Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Yasār, Abū Jaʿfar b. Jarīr, and Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī on this matter; the number of times the Prophet performed ḥajj, the number of expeditions (ghazwas) he led, the number of military detachments (sariyyas) he dispatched, and the letters and envoys he sent to rulers. We have placed these before the account of his death. After summarizing these, we will address the topic of his passing.
In the authentic collections of Bukhārī and Muslim, it is narrated from Zayd b. Arqam:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook nineteen expeditions (ghazwas). After the Hijra, he performed the Farewell Pilgrimage and did not perform ḥajj again."
According to Abū Isḥāq, the Prophet performed ḥajj once while in Mecca. Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīghī said likewise. Zayd b. Ḥubāb narrated from Jābir:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) performed three ḥajjs: two before the Hijra and one after. With the ḥajj after the Hijra, he also performed ʿumra. He brought thirty-six sacrificial camels, all of which ʿAlī brought from Yemen."
According to multiple Companions, including Anas b. Mālik—as also found in the authentic collections of Bukhārī and Muslim—the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed four ʿumras: the ʿumra of Ḥudaybiyya, ʿUmrat al-Qaḍāʾ, the ʿumra of Jiʿrāna, and the ʿumra performed with the Farewell Pilgrimage.
Regarding the Prophet's expeditions (ghazwas), Bukhārī, through Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl from Salama b. al-Akwaʿ, narrated:
"I participated in seven expeditions with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and nine with Zayd b. Ḥāritha. The Messenger of God appointed Zayd as our commander in those expeditions."
In the authentic collections of Bukhārī and Muslim, Salama b. al-Akwaʿ also said:
"I participated in seven expeditions with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). Including the detachments (sariyyas) he sent, I participated in nine expeditions. Once, our commander was Abū Bakr, and another time it was Usāma b. Zayd."
In the authentic collection of Bukhārī, al-Barāʾ narrated:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook fifteen expeditions."
In the authentic collections of Bukhārī and Muslim, al-Barāʾ also narrated:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook nineteen expeditions, of which he personally participated in seventeen. The first was the expedition of Ushayr or Usayr."
Muslim narrated from Burayda:
"I participated in sixteen expeditions with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him)."
Muslim also narrated from Burayda:
"I participated in nineteen expeditions with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He fought in eight of them."
In another narration from him with the same chain, it is stated: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) dispatched twenty-four detachments (sariyyas). He personally fought in the battles of Badr, Uḥud, Khandaq, Muraysīʿ, Khaybar, Ḥunayn, and the Conquest of Mecca.
In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, through Abū Zubayr from Jābir, it is narrated:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook twenty-one expeditions. I participated in nineteen of them with him. I did not participate in Badr and Uḥud because my father prevented me. After my father was killed at Uḥud, I never missed any expedition the Messenger of God undertook."
ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated from Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook eighteen expeditions."
The narrator says: On another occasion, I heard Saʿīd say: "The Messenger of God undertook twenty-four expeditions." I do not know whether this was a slip or something I heard from him later.
Qatāda said: "The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook nineteen expeditions, fought in eight of them, and dispatched twenty-four detachments (sariyyas). The total of his expeditions and detachments is forty-three."
ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr, al-Zuhrī, Mūsā b. ʿUqba, Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Yasār, and other sīra imams stated that the Prophet fought at Badr in Ramadan of the second year of the Hijra, and at Khandaq and Banū Qurayẓa in Shawwāl of the third year. Some say Khandaq and Banū Qurayẓa occurred in the fifth year. Thereafter, in Shaʿbān of the fifth year, he fought the Banū Mustaliq. In Ṣafar of the seventh year, he fought at Khaybar; some say this was in the sixth year, but the correct view is that it was at the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh year. Then, in Ramadan of the eighth year, he fought the Meccans; also in Shawwāl and part of Dhū al-Ḥijja of the eighth year, he besieged the people of Ṭāʾif. Details of this have been mentioned previously. In the eighth year, ʿAṭṭāb b. Usayd, the governor of Mecca, led the people in ḥajj. In the ninth year, Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq led the ḥajj. In the tenth year, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) led the Muslims in ḥajj.
Muḥammad b. Isḥāq said: The expeditions personally led by the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) numbered twenty. The expedition of Waddān (also called Abwāʾ), then Buwāṭ in the direction of Radwā, then Ushayra in the valley of Yanbuʿ, then the first Badr expedition to capture Kurz b. Jābir, then the Great Badr expedition in which Allah killed the leaders of Quraysh. After Badr, the Banū Sulaym expedition reached Kudr, then the Sawīq expedition to capture Abū Sufyān b. Ḥarb, then the Ghatafān expedition (also called Dhī Amr), then the Bahrān expedition in Ḥijāz, then Uḥud, then Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad, then Banū Naḍīr, then Dhāt al-Riqāʿ at Nahl, then the last Badr expedition, then Dūmat al-Jandal, then Khandaq, then Banū Qurayẓa, then the Banū Lihyān expedition against the tribe of Hudhayl, then Dhī Qarad, then Banū Mustaliq (which was against the Khuzaʿa), then Ḥudaybiyya (which was not intended as a battle, but the polytheists turned the Prophet back from Mecca), then Khaybar, then ʿUmrat al-Qaḍāʾ, then the Conquest, then Ḥunayn, then Ṭāʾif, and finally Tabūk.
Ibn Isḥāq said: The names of the nine expeditions in which the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) fought are: Badr, Uḥud, Khandaq, Qurayẓa, Mustaliq, Khaybar, the Conquest of Mecca, Ḥunayn, and Ṭāʾif.
I say: All of these have been discussed in detail with their evidence in their proper places. Praise be to Allah alone.
Ibn Isḥāq said: The number of detachments (sariyyas) and delegations sent by the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) reached thirty-eight. After stating this, the late Ibn Isḥāq began to detail these detachments and delegations. We have discussed most of them in their proper places. Praise and gratitude are due to Allah.
Here, we will summarize what Ibn Isḥāq narrated. For example: ʿUbayda b. al-Ḥārith was sent to the lower part of Saniyyat Dhī al-Marwa. Then Ḥamza b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was sent to the coast in the region of Is. Some say this detachment was dispatched before that of ʿUbayda. Allah knows best.
Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ was sent to the region of Ḥarrār; ʿAbdullāh b. Jaḥsh to the region of Nakhlah; Zayd b. Ḥāritha to the region of Qarada; Muḥammad b. Maslama to kill Kaʿb b. al-Ashraf; Mirsad b. Abī Mirsad to Rajīʿ; Mundhir b. ʿAmr to Biʾr Maʿūna; Abū ʿUbayda to Dhī al-Qaṣṣa; ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb to the shrine in the land of Banū ʿĀmir; and ʿAlī to Yemen.
Ghālib b. ʿAbdullāh al-Kalbī was sent to the region of Kadīd, where he attacked Banū Mulawwiḥ at night, killed some of their men, and took their livestock. When their men came to reclaim the livestock, they were prevented by a flood. During this campaign, Ḥārith b. Mālik b. Barsaʾ was taken captive. Ibn Isḥāq details this incident, which we have previously discussed.
ʿAlī, son of Abū Ṭālib, was sent to the land of Fadak; Abū al-ʿAwjāʾ al-Sulamī was sent to the tribe of Banū Sulaym, where he and his companions were killed. ʿUkkāsha was sent to Ghamra; Abū Salama b. ʿAbd al-Asad to the region of Qatān (a water source belonging to Banū Asad in Najd).
Muḥammad b. Maslama was sent to Qartaʿa in the land of Hawāzin; Bashīr b. Saʿd to Banū Murra in Fadak and also to the region of Ḥunayn. Zayd b. Ḥāritha was sent to Jumūm in the land of Banū Sulaym.
Zayd b. Ḥāritha was also sent to Juzām in the land of Banū Khushayn. Ibn Hishām said this is in the land of Khusma. According to Ibn Isḥāq and others, the reason for this detachment was that when Dihya b. Khalīfa returned from Caesar, he had received a letter from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) inviting him to iman (faith) in Allah. Dihya sent various gifts to the Prophet. When he reached the valley of Shanar in the land of Banū Juzām, Henid b. Us and his son Us b. Henid from the Duleya tribe attacked him and seized his goods. Some Muslims among them rescued Dihya's goods and returned them to him. When Dihya returned to the Prophet and reported what had happened, he requested that Henid and his son be killed. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then sent Zayd b. Ḥāritha with a small force. They attacked Maqīs in the region of Harna, took goods and captives, and killed Henid, his son, two men from Banū Ahnaf, and one from Banū Ḥasib.
Zayd took their goods and families and set out. A delegation led by Rufāʿa b. Zayd came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with a letter inviting them to iman. Some responded to the invitation and became Muslim, but Zayd was unaware. They rode to Medina and presented the letter to the Prophet, who ordered it to be read aloud and said:
"What can I do for the dead?" He repeated this three times. Then a man named Abū Zayd b. ʿAmr stood and said:
"O Messenger of God! Release our captives; as for the dead, their blood is under my feet."
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then sent ʿAlī with them to Zayd b. Ḥāritha. Before departing, ʿAlī said: "O Messenger of God, Zayd will not obey me." The Prophet gave ʿAlī his sword as a sign of his authority. ʿAlī mounted one of their camels and went with them. At a place called Fifāʾ al-Fahlatayn, they met Zayd and his men, who had the goods and captives. ʿAlī returned them to their owners without any loss.
Zayd b. Ḥāritha was also sent to Wādī al-Qurā against the Banū Fazāra, where some of his men were killed and he was severely wounded. He vowed not to wash his head from major ritual impurity until he fought them again. When his wound healed, the Prophet sent him again with a group, and he killed them at Wādī al-Qurā. He captured Umm Kirfa Fāṭima bint Rabīʿa b. Badr, who was with Mālik b. Ḥudhayfa b. Badr and a girl. Zayd ordered Qays b. Musahhar al-Yamurī to kill Umm Kirfa, but spared her daughter. Umm Kirfa was from a noble family, and her name became proverbial for honor and nobility. Her daughter was with Salama b. al-Akwaʿ, who gave her to the Prophet at his request, and the Prophet gave her to his uncle Hazm b. Abī Wahb, from whom a son named ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was born.
The detachment of ʿAbdullāh b. Rawāḥa was sent twice to Khaybar. On one occasion, they killed Yusayr b. Rizām, who was gathering Ghatafān to fight the Prophet. The Prophet sent a group under ʿAbdullāh b. Anīs with ʿAbdullāh b. Rawāḥa. When they found Yusayr, they tried to bring him to the Prophet, but on the way, Yusayr regretted coming. ʿAbdullāh b. Anīs struck him with his sword, severing his leg, and Yusayr struck ʿAbdullāh's head with a staff. The Muslims then killed the Jews who had been handed over to them, except one who escaped.
When ʿAbdullāh b. Anīs returned to Medina, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spat on his wound, which did not fester or cause pain.
I say: The second detachment of ʿAbdullāh b. Rawāḥa was sent to estimate the yield of the date orchards of Khaybar. Allah knows best.
ʿAbdullāh b. Atīq and his companions were sent to Khaybar and killed the Jew Abū Rāfiʿ.
ʿAbdullāh b. Anīs was sent to kill Khālid b. Sufyān b. Nubayh at ʿUrana. Ibn Isḥāq gives a lengthy account of this, previously discussed among the events of the fifth year. Allah knows best.
Zayd b. Ḥāritha, Jaʿfar b. Abī Ṭālib, and ʿAbdullāh b. Rawāḥa were sent to the expedition of Muʾta in the land of Syria, where all three were killed as martyrs, as previously mentioned.
Kaʿb b. ʿUmayr was sent to Dhāt Atlāḥ in Syria, where all his men were killed.
ʿUyayna b. Ḥiṣn b. Ḥudhayfa b. Badr was sent against the Banū Anbar branch of the Banū Tamīm. They attacked, killed some, and then a delegation from the tribe came to the Prophet to request the release of their captives. The Prophet freed some and ransomed others.
Ghālib b. ʿAbdullāh was sent to the land of Banū Murra, where Mirdās b. Nahīk was killed. Nahīk was from the Hurqah of Juhayna and their ally. He was killed by Usāma b. Zayd and a man from the Anṣār. When they drew their weapons, Nahīk said, "Lā ilāha illā Allāh," but they killed him anyway. When they returned to Medina, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) severely rebuked Usāma and the Anṣārī for killing him. They apologized, saying he only said it to save himself, but the Prophet said to Usāma:
"Did you split open his heart?" He also said:
"Who will help you against 'Lā ilāha illā Allāh' on the Day of Judgment?"
Usāma said: The Prophet kept repeating this until I wished I had not become Muslim until that day, so that my previous sins would be forgiven.
ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ was sent to Dhāt al-Salāsil in the land of Banū Uzra to mobilize the Arabs against Syria. His mother was from the Baliy tribe, so the Prophet sent him there to be more effective. When ʿAmr reached the water called Salsal, he became afraid and requested reinforcements. The Prophet sent a force under Abū ʿUbayda b. al-Jarrāḥ, including Abū Bakr and ʿUmar. When they arrived, ʿAmr took command and said:
"You were sent only to reinforce me." Abū ʿUbayda did not object, as he was gentle and accommodating. ʿAmr led them in prayer as well. When they returned to Medina, ʿAmr asked the Prophet:
"O Messenger of God, whom do you love most?"
"ʿĀʾisha."
"And among men?"
"Her father."
ʿAbdullāh b. Abī Ḥadrah was sent to Batn Idam before the Conquest of Mecca, where the story of Muḥallim b. Jassāma occurred in the seventh year. Details have been given previously. ʿAbdullāh b. Abī Ḥadrah was also sent to Ghāba.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf was sent to Dūmat al-Jandal.
Muḥammad b. Isḥāq narrated from ʿAṭāʾ b. Abī Rabāḥ:
"I saw a man from Baṣra ask ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar about the ruling on letting the end of a turban hang down from the back. ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar replied:
'If Allah wills, I will tell you its ruling. I was the tenth of ten Companions in the mosque of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf, Ibn Masʿūd, Muʿādh b. Jabal, Ḥudhayfa b. al-Yamān, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, and myself. While we were with the Messenger of God, a young man from the Anṣār came, greeted the Prophet, sat down, and asked:
"O Messenger of God, which of the believers is best?"
"Those with the best character..."
"Which of the believers is most intelligent?"
"Those who remember death most and prepare best for it. They are the wisest."
The young man fell silent. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned to us and said:
"O Emigrants! There are five things which, if they befall you—and I seek refuge with Allah lest they befall you—know this: Never did immorality appear among a people to the extent that it became widespread, but plague and pains unknown to their predecessors appeared among them. They cheated in weights and measures, so they were afflicted with famine, scarcity, and the oppression of rulers. They withheld zakāt from their wealth, so rain was withheld from the sky; were it not for the animals, they would not have received rain. They broke their covenant with Allah and His Messenger, so Allah sent enemies against them who took some of what was in their hands. Their leaders did not judge by the Book of Allah and did not uphold what Allah revealed, so Allah caused strife among them."
Muḥammad b. Isḥāq said: The Prophet then ordered ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf to prepare for a detachment. In the morning, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān wrapped a black turban of coarse cloth around his head. The Prophet called him, untied the turban, and rewrapped it himself, letting four fingers' length or so hang down the back. Then he said:
"This is how, O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf. Wear your turban like this; it is better and more proper." Then he ordered Bilāl to give him the standard, which he did. The Prophet praised Allah and invoked blessings upon himself, then said:
"Take the standard, O Ibn ʿAwf! All of you fight in the way of Allah. Fight those who disbelieve in Allah. Do not be excessive. Do not betray. Do not torture anyone. Do not kill children. This is a covenant taken from you by Allah, and this is the practice of your Prophet among you."
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf took the standard and, according to Ibn Hishām, went to Dūmat al-Jandal.
The detachment of Abū ʿUbayda b. al-Jarrāḥ went to Sīf al-Baḥr. There were about 300 horsemen. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave them dates in their bags. During this detachment, the story of the giant fish cast ashore occurred. The soldiers ate its meat for a month and even became fat. They dried some of its meat. When they returned to the Prophet, they gave him some of the fish to eat.
Ibn Hishām said: One detachment not mentioned by Ibn Isḥāq here is that of ʿAmr b. Umayya al-Ḍamrī, sent to kill Abū Sufyān Ṣakhr b. Ḥarb. This detachment was dispatched after the killing of Ḥubayb b. ʿAdiyy and his companions. Details have been given previously. ʿAmr b. Umayya was accompanied by Jabbār b. Ṣakhr, but they killed another man, not Abū Sufyān. They also took Ḥubayb down from the gallows. The detachment of Sālim b. ʿUmayr of the Bakkī tribe was sent to kill Abū ʿAfak of Banū ʿAmr b. ʿAwf. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) killed Ḥārith b. Suwayd b. Ṣāmit, Abū ʿAfak's hypocrisy became apparent. He lamented for Ḥārith and criticized Islam. May Allah curse him. In his lament, he said:
"I have lived among people, and among them, when called to a pact, I have not seen a family or group more loyal than the sons of Qayla.
Among their group were those who could topple mountains. They did not betray.
A horseman came and scattered them.
Together, they declared things lawful and unlawful.
If you had affirmed power or kingship, you would have followed a Tubbaʿ from the kings of Yemen."
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Who will rid me of this evil man?" Sālim b. ʿUmayr responded and killed him. Regarding this, Umāma al-Murīdiyya said:
"You deny the religion of Allah and Aḥmad.
I swear by Him who forgot you—what a terrible forgetting!
A Muslim stabbed you with a spear at the end of the night. O Abū ʿAfak, though you were old, take it!"
Umayr b. ʿAdiyy al-Ḥatmī, from Banū Umayya b. Zayd, was sent to kill Asmāʾ bint Marwān, who insulted Islam and the Muslims. When Abū ʿAfak was killed, she revealed her hypocrisy and said:
"You obeyed a stranger, not of your kin, with the feelings of Banū Mālik, Nabīt, and ʿAwf of Banū Ḥazraj. He is neither of Murād nor Madhḥij. After heads are cut off, what do you expect from him? As one expects from cooked soup. The one who pulls the head is deceived, and the one who hopes is disappointed."
Ḥassān b. Thābit replied to her:
"Banū Wāʾil, Banū Wāqif, and Ḥatma are below Banū Ḥazraj. Woe to the woman who, whenever she foolishly raises her voice, death comes.
She disturbed a noble man, of noble lineage, whose comings and goings were generous.
After an hour of the night, she was covered in red blood."
When news reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: "Who will remove the head of Marwān's daughter?" Umayr b. ʿAdiyy al-Ḥatmī heard this and, that night, went to her house and killed her. In the morning, he went to the Prophet and said:
"O Messenger of God, I killed her."
"O Umayr, you have helped Allah and His Messenger."
"O Messenger of God, is there any liability upon me regarding her?"
"Not even two goats will butt heads over her." (i.e., her matter is insignificant). Umayr returned to his people. The Banū Ḥatma were greatly disturbed by the killing of Marwān's daughter, who had five sons. When Umayr returned from the Prophet, he said:
"I killed her. Do what you wish. Do not delay. Today is the first day Islam has found strength in the land of Banū Ḥatma."
Seeing Islam's strength, many from Banū Ḥatma became Muslim.
Then Ibn Hishām narrates the detachment that captured Thumāma b. Uṣāl al-Ḥanafī and his conversion to Islam. Authentic ḥadīth on this have been previously mentioned.
Ibn Hishām narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding Thumāma: "A believer eats with one intestine, but a disbeliever eats with seven."
Thumāma ate less after becoming Muslim, hence the Prophet's statement. After leaving Medina, Thumāma went to Mecca for ʿumra, reciting the talbiya. The Meccans forbade him, but he did not comply and threatened to cut off their supplies if they came to Yamāma. When he returned to Yamāma, he withheld supplies from them until the Prophet wrote him a letter, after which he resumed sending provisions. Someone from Banū Ḥanīfa said:
"Despite Abū Sufyān, there are those among us who openly recite the talbiya in Mecca during the sacred months."
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also sent ʿAlqama b. Mujazziz al-Mudlijī to avenge his brother Waqqās b. Mujazziz, who was killed on the day of Dhī Qarad. ʿAlqama requested permission to pursue his brother's killers, and the Prophet appointed him as commander over a group. On their return, he allowed some to go ahead under the command of ʿAbdullāh b. Ḥudhāfa, who was somewhat playful. He lit a fire and ordered the soldiers to enter it. Some intended to do so, but he said, "I was joking. Do not enter the fire." When this reached the Prophet, he said: "If anyone commands you to do something involving disobedience to Allah, do not obey him."
Kurz b. Jābir was sent to kill a group that had come to Medina from the Qays tribe, from the region of Bajīla. They disliked Medina's climate and became ill. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered them to go to the camels outside Medina and drink their milk and urine. When they recovered, they killed the camel herder, the Prophet's freedman Yasār, slaughtered him, gouged out his eyes, and drove off the camels. Kurz b. Jābir was sent with a group to pursue them. They were caught at Bajīla and brought back to the Prophet, who ordered their hands and feet cut off and their eyes gouged out.
If this group is the same as the eight from ʿUkal or ʿUrayna mentioned in the agreed-upon ḥadīth of Anas in Bukhārī and Muslim, as the apparent meaning suggests, their story has been detailed previously. If they are another group, we have cited the key points from Ibn Hishām. Allah knows best.
Ibn Hishām said: Regarding the two expeditions of ʿAlī, son of Abū Ṭālib, Abū ʿAmr al-Madanī said:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent ʿAlī to Yemen and sent Khālid with another group. He instructed: 'If you meet, the commander is ʿAlī.'"
Ibn Isḥāq mentioned Khālid's dispatch but did not include it among the detachments and delegations. Thus, the total number of the Prophet's expeditions and detachments is thirty-nine.
Ibn Isḥāq said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Usāma b. Zayd b. Ḥāritha to Syria, instructing them to take their horses to the borders of Balqāʾ and Dārum, both in Palestine. People began preparing for the campaign. The earliest Emigrants joined Usāma on this expedition.
Ibn Hishām said: This was the last detachment sent by the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).
Bukhārī, through Ismāʿīl, narrated from ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar:
"The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent a detachment and appointed Usāma b. Zayd as commander. People criticized his leadership. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood and said:
'You criticize Usāma's command, but you also criticized his father's command before. By Allah, he was worthy of command and the most beloved of people to me. And this one is the most beloved to me after his father.'"
Many leading figures from the earliest Emigrants and the Anṣār joined Usāma's army, including ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb. It is mistaken to say that Abū Bakr was among them, for when the Prophet's illness worsened, Usāma's army camped at Jurf. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as will be explained, appointed Abū Bakr to lead the prayers. How could Abū Bakr, the imam of the Muslims by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, be a mere soldier in the army? If, hypothetically, he had joined the army, the Lawgiver explicitly exempted him for the imamate of prayer, which is the greatest pillar of Islam. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) died, Abū Bakr asked Usāma to let ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb remain with him, and Usāma agreed. Abū Bakr confirmed the continuation of Usāma's army's mission.