The Best of Creation part 13

The fifth year after the Migration

The Expedition (Ghazwah) of Dūmah al-Jandal, a city that is a distance of five nights from Damascus, occurred when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard that a group in Dūmah al-Jandal were terrorising those who would pass by them and that they were heading towards Medina to oppress its inhabitants; so he ﷺ set out towards it [Dūmah]. When they heard of his ﷺ departure, they dispersed, and so the Prophet ﷺ returned to Medina safely.

The Expedition (Ghazwah) of Dhāt al-Riqā’, according to one opinion, occurred [in this year]. According to an opinion, it was so-called because the [Muslim] army suffered cracks in their feet, and so they wrapped around them pieces of cloth [riqā’], and it has been said [that it was called that] because they patched their clothes. It took place between the Muslims and the Ghaṭafān [tribe], towards Najd; however, no fighting ensued.

The Expedition (Ghazwah) of the Confederates (Aḥzāb) happened after the Prophet ﷺ banished the tribe of Naḍīr, and Huyayy ibn Akhtṭab” began to covertly instigate the Quraysh to alblaunch an offensive against the Prophet ﷺ, and so the Quraysh agreed. Hazrat Salman suggested that a trench be dug; during the digging, miracles and magnificent, extraordinary phenomena occurred.”2 The masses of the Confederates advanced and besieged the Muslims and the situation became dire, with the weak fighters and hypocrites in disarray; regarding that, He Most High revealed, ‘When it came from above you and from beneath you, and when your eyes rolled [in fear] and your hearts reached your throats…’ [Qur’an 33: 10]. A group amongst the disbelievers plunged into a gap in the trench, as ‘Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib and a group of Muslims confronted and repelled them. Allah sent down upon them [the Confederates] a severe cold in the morning wind, and so they were shaken and totally collapsed and miserably defeated.

The expedition against Banī Qurayzah¹³ transpired when Bani Qurayzah [of Medina] resolved to breach the treaty [they had with the Muslims] and joined the polytheists on the Day of the Confederates. When he ﷺ got up on the morning after the night the Confederates departed, and it reached noon, he ﷺ took off his armour and had a bath; it was then that suddenly Jibril came to him, shaking off the dust from his head, and said, ‘You have laid down your armour? By Allah, we have not laid it down; go after them.’ So he replied, ‘Where?’ Then, Jibril pointed towards Banī Qurayzah, so the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺherald announced, “Let no one perform the mid-afternoon prayer (‘asr) except in Bani Qurayzah.’ So he ﷺ besieged them, whereupon they agreed to allow Sa’d ibn Mu’adh to rule upon them [for their act]. Sa’d was ill, but he still judged [the case and ruled] that the men be killed, the wealth be distributed and the women and children to be taken as prisoners, upon which he said, ‘You have indeed ruled upon them according to Allah’s judgement,’ and so that judgement was enforced.

Shortly [after making his ruling in the case of Banī Qurayzah], Sa’d ibn Mu’adh died, which resulted in the throne of the All- Merciful trembling.

The Expedition (Ghazwah) of Muraysī took place, which has also been called the expedition against Bani Musṭțaliq. The reason behind it was that the Prophet ﷺ heard that Bani Musṭaliq were preparing to wage war against him; so he ﷺ came out and confronted
them at a well called al-Muraysi’, where they were miserably defeated by Allah.

The following occurred during this latter expedition:

114 1. the chapter on the hypocrites (Surah al-Munafiqūn) was revealed due to a conflict that occurred between the Migrants (al-Muhajirūn) and the Supporters (al-Anṣār), in which ‘Abd-Allāh ibn Ubayy said disparaging and unwarranted things about the Muslims;¹¹4

2. the verse regarding dry ablution (tayammum) was revealed. The reason behind it was that one of Lady ‘A’ishah’s necklaces got lost, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions went about searching for it, and because they did not have any water with them, the verse of the dry ablution was revealed; Usayd ibn Huḍayr, who was one of the supervisors, said, ‘This is not the first of your blessings, O family of Abu Bakr’;

3. he ﷺ honoured Juwayriyah, the daughter of al-Ḥārith, the commander and chief of the enemy army, when she was captured [by the Muslim army]; he ﷺ assisted her in buying herself out and then married her, so she became one of the Mothers of the Believers;

4. and the slander [against Lady Ã’ishah] after she lagged behind the army in search of her necklace that she had dropped there, so she stayed in her place until Safwän ibn al-Mu’aṭṭal al-Sulami, who [also] had stayed behind the army, came; when he ﷺ arrived in Medina, the hypocrites, led by ‘Abd-Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl, began to slander her. Her innocence was revealed in ten verses of the Qur’an,beginning from His Most High’s words, ‘Verily, those who have spread the slander are a group amongst you’ [Qur’an 24: 11].

He ﷺ married Zaynab bint Jaḥsh.”

The verse regarding the veil [ḥijāb] was revealed: ‘O Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the womenfolk of the believing men to draw their outer garments over themselves’ [Qur’an 33:59].

111 He was the chief of Bani Naḍir and the father of Safiyyah, who was later to become the Prophet’sﷺ wife in the Expedition of Khaybar after she was taken captive and set free by the Prophet ﷺ. Huyayy knew of the Prophet ﷺ being true, yet refused to submit to him due to pride and enmity.

112 These events include when the entire Muslim army became satiated from hunger with a handful of dates and with a single lamb; there was also the incident when the Prophet ﷺ struck a boulder with a pickaxe after the Companions were unable to break it previously. When a third of it cracked, he said, ‘Allah is the greatest! I have been given the keys to Shām; by Allah, I can see their red palaces at this very moment.’ Then he struck it again, and another third of it split open, whereupon he said, ‘Allah is the greatest! I have been given the keys to Persia; by Allah, I can see the white palace of al-Mada’in now.’ Then he struck it a third time and said, ‘In the name of Allah,’ and he broke the rest of the boulder, and he said, ‘Allah is the greatest! I have been given the keys to Yemen; by Allah, I can see the gates of San’ä’ from my place right now.’