21- pilgrimage of retaliation
The apostle of Allah returned to
Medina
and remained there for several months, sending out various raiding parties
and expeditions. Then the month of pilgrimage came round and it was one
year since the expedition of al‑Hudaybiya when he had turned back
from
Mecca
.
Then took place what is called the Pilgrimage of
Retaliation, when the apostle retaliated against the Quraysh who had prevented
him from entering
Mecca
in the sixth year of the Hijra by entering
Mecca
in the sacred month of the seventh year. The Muslims who had been kept out
with him on the previous occasion now marched out on this pilgrimage, and
when the Meccans heard of their approach some left the city.
But some of the people of Mecca stood near the
assembly house to observe the apostle, and when he entered the mosque he
threw his mantle over his left shoulder and, stretching forth his right
arm, cried, 'May Allah have mercy on the man whom He shows this day to be
strong.' Then he embraced the stone and went out and his companions
followed him. He leapt to embrace the Yemeni stone and the Black Stone and
ran thrice round the Kaba before slowing his pace. This leaping in the
pilgrimage of valediction became a religious ordinance.
The apostle of Allah remained three days in
Mecca
and on the third day he was visited by men of the Quraysh who said to him,
'The time has expired! Depart from us!' Accordingly the apostle of Allah
departed and returned to
Medina
.
In the first month of the eighth year of the Hijra
the apostle sent an expedition to Muta on the borders of
Syria
and appointed over it Zayd, saying, 'If Zayd should be killed, Jafar is to
take the command, and if Jafar be slain, then Abdullah b. Rawaha.' The men
prepared, and when they were ready to march their number amounted to three
thousand. While some of the companions of the apostle were taking leave
of Abdullah b. Rawaha, he wept, and they asked, 'What makes thee weep?' He
replied, 'There is no love of the world in me, nor do I grieve for you,
but I heard the apostle of Allah recite a verse from the scripture of
Allah, the most high and glorious, which talks of hell‑fire thus:
"Every one of you must go down to it. This is a decree of thy Lord
which must be fulfilled." And I do not know how I shall escape after
I have gone down into it.' Then the Muslims said, 'May Allah go with you
and protect you, and bring you back to us safely.'
Then the people marched out, and the apostle
accompanied them some way and then left them.
They marched till they reached Maan in
Syria
, where they heard that the Byzantine emperor, Heraclius, was encamped at
Maab with 100,000 Greeks reinforced by another 100,000 men from Arab
tribes commanded by a man named Malik. When the Muslims received this news
they remained two nights in Maan in order to consider the matter. They
said, 'Let us write to the apostle and tell him the numbers of our foe. He
will either send us reinforcements, or give us some guidance.' Abdullah b.
Rawaha tried to raise the spirits of his men by saying, 'What you now
recoil from is just what you came in search of, martyrdom. We do not go to
fight these people with numbers, strength, or multitudes, but with the
religion of Allah! Therefore press on. Only one of two things can happen
‑ both good ‑ either victory or martyrdom.' The people
exclaimed, 'By Allah! The son of Rawaha has spoken the truth!' and they
set out again on their march until they came to the region of Balqa and
saw the armies of Heraclius. Then a battle took place at a village called
Muta.
The Muslims drew up in battle array; their right
flank was commanded by a man named Qutba, and the left by Ubaya. The two
armies met and fought. Zayd fought holding the banner of the apostle,
until he fell to the lances of the enemy. After that, Jafar grasped the
banner and fought with it, but the struggle became intense and he leapt
down from his brown horse, hamstrung it to signify 'death or victory',
and fought till he, too, was slain. He was the first man in Islam who
hamstrung his horse. Jafar was only thirty‑three years of age; he
had his arms cut off in the battle and Allah replaced them in paradise
with two wings on which he soars.
When Jafar was killed Abdullah b. Rawaha took the
flag. He dismounted and a cousin brought him a marrow‑bone, saying,
'Strengthen yourself with this, because you have undergone many
hardships.' He took it and bit into it, but hearing a disturbance among
the soldiers, he reproached himself, 'I am too much engrossed in life',
and threw the bone away, snatched up his sword and rushed into the battle,
where he fought till he was killed.
After that, Thabit snatched up the standard, crying,
'Muslims! Choose another commander’ They replied, 'Thyself', but he
refused the honour and they elected Khalid, who kept off the foe and
decided to retreat to spare the lives of his men. The enemy also withdrew
and Khalid was able to march away with his army.
Qutba, however, who commanded the right flank of the
Muslims, had killed Marith, the leader of the Arab troops reinforcing
Herachus.
When the returning army approached
Medina
the apostle of Allah and the Muslims went out to meet them. The children
ran ahead, and the apostle followed on a mule. The people began throwing
earth at the army, shouting, 'Runaways! You have fled from the path of
Allah!' but the apostle said, 'They are not runaways, and if Allah
pleaseth they will attack again.'
After the expedition to Muta, the apostle remained in
Medina
for a time. The Banu Bakr had a feud of long standing with the Khuzaa
which had been temporarily interrupted by the hostilities between the
apostle and the Quraysh. When the treaty of peace was concluded between
the apostle and the Quraysh one of the terms of the treaty was that tribes
were free to enter into an alliance with either party. The Banu Bakr
chose to ally with the Quraysb, and the Khuzaa with the apostle. But the
Banu Bakr took advantage of the peace to revenge themselves upon the
Khuzaa, and Naufal, their leader, went out with some of the tribe; his
command was not acknowledged by all of them. He and his followers fell
upon the Banu Khuzaa in the night and killed one man; Naufal was secretly
aided by some of the Quraysh. They drove the Khuzaa back until they
reached the sacred territory [
Mecca
] and the Banu Bakr were struck with fear, saying to Naufal, 'We have
entered the sanctuary ! Take heed! Fear God’ But he replied grandly,
'There is no god this day, 0 sons of Bakr! Take your revenge! By my life,
you are accustomed to robbing sacred territory. Why not take vengeance
there, too?' When the Khuzaa fell back into
Mecca
they sought protection in the house of Budayl.
The Banu Bakr and the Quraysh, by combining against
the Khuzaa, who were allies of the apostle, had thus broken the agreement
which existed between the Quraysh and the apostle, and Amr b. Salim of the
Khuzaa went to the apostle and told him of the event.
The man entered the mosque of
Medina
, where the apostle was sitting in the midst of the people, and asked for
aid and retaliation, and the apostle replied, 'It shall be done'. Then a
cloud appeared in the firmament and he said, 'This cloud betokens
victory.'
After that Budayl and several men of the Khuzaa also
visited the apostle at
Medina
, uttering the same plea. When they had left to return to
Mecca
the apostle said to his people, 'I fancy we will have a visit from Abu
Sufyan, desirous of reinforcing our alliance and extending our agreement.'
When Budayl was two days' journey from
Mecca
he met Abu Sufyan on his way to see the apostle. When Abu Sufyan met
Budayl he asked, 'Where have you been?' and Budayl replied, 'I have been
roaming the valleys.' Abu Sufyan said, 'Have you not been with Muhammad?'
and Budayl replied, 'No.' After Budayl had left him, Abu Sufyan went to
the place where Budayl's camels had been hobbled and, examining the dung,
he found date‑kernels in it; and he said, 'Budayl has indeed been
with Muhammad in
Medina
.'
Then Abu Sufyan continued his journey till he arrived
at
Medina
and went to the apostle of Allah, who would not speak to him. So he went
to Abu Bakr and asked him to persuade the apostle to talk with him, but
Abu Bakr refused; and it was the same with every one of the companions Abu
Sufyan approached. At last Abu Sufyan went to the court of the mosque and
cried aloud: 'Listen, ye people. I promise protection between men.' Then
he mounted his camel and departed.
When he arrived back in
Mecca
the Quraysh asked, 'What is the news?' He told them what had taken place
and they poured scorn on him, saying, 'Of what use will your words be?'
and he replied, 'None. But what else could I do?'
Meanwhile, the apostle of Allah ordered preparations
to be made. Abu Bakr went to his daughter Aisha, who was arranging some of
the equipment the apostle would need in the campaign, and said, 'Has the
apostle ordered you to make things ready for him?' She confirmed that he
had and suggested Abu Bakr also prepare himself, but she said she did not
know the purpose of the expedition. Later, the apostle informed the people
that he was going to
Mecca
and ordered them to hasten their preparations.
When the apostle announced the expedition, however,
Hatib ‑ one of his trusted companions ‑ wrote a warning letter
to the Quraysh and gave it to Sara, a freedwoman, to carry to
Mecca
. She placed the letter on her head, plaited her hair over it, and
departed. But Allah told His apostle of the letter and he sent Ali after
her. Ali overtook the woman in al‑Khulayqa and made her dismount; he
examined her baggage, but found nothing. Then he said, 'I swear to thee by
Allah! The apostle has been told no lie, nor have we been told a lie!
Produce this letter, or we shall strip thee naked !'When she saw that he
was in earnest she loosed the plaited hair, took out the letter and gave
it to Ali. When it was brought to the apostle he sent for Hatib and asked
why he had sent the warning to the Quraysh. Hatib replied, 'I believe in
Allah and in His apostle. I have not altered, nor have I changed my
belief. But I hoped to benefit my wife and son, who still live in
Mecca
.' Then the apostle pardoned him, because he had fought at Badr.
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