Episode 68: Expeditions After Khaybar
Post-Khaybar Expeditions Against the Confederation Tribes:
After the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had defeated the Jews at Khaybar, he sent different expeditions to punish the other tribes that participated in the confederation.
Expedition to Hawazin:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ sent a group of companions under the leadership of Umar ibn al-Khattab to go to the tribe of Hawazin.
However, this tribe was on very high alert as they knew the Prophet was punishing the tribes who were participating in the Battle of Khandaq.
By the time Umar reached their territory, the tribe of Hawazin ran away.
Expedition to Banu Kilab:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ sent a group of companions under the leadership of Abu Bakr to the tribes of Banu Kilab and the Muslims were able to defeat them and took their spoils of war.
Expedition to Banu Murra:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then sent another expedition to the tribe of Banu Murra, and the leader of this tribe was Al Harith ibn Awf.
The Prophet sent an expedition of thirty men under the leadership of Bashir ibn Sa’d. However, Banu Murra attacked the thirty Muslims before they entered their territory and the majority of the thirty companions were killed.
Bashir ibn Sa’d was injured but he managed to escape and took refuge in Fadak.
Expedition of Ghalib ibn Abdallah:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ sent another expedition consisting of one hundred and thirty men under the leadership of Ghalib ibn Abdallah to the tribes of Banu Awal and Banu Tha’labah.
The Spy’s Steadfastness:
Ghalib ibn Abdallah made sure to be extra alert and sent one of his spies to an elevated area to scope out the area of the disbelievers.
One of the disbelievers spotted the spy but because of the distance, he could not tell if it was a person or not, and he said to his wife: I see something dark up there, like a silhouette but I can’t tell if it is a person or some object.
The spy of Ghalib ibn Abdallah made sure that he stayed extremely still so that the Muslim army would not be discovered.
The disbeliever said to his wife: give me an arrow! He then shot the arrow and it hit the spy in his shoulder.
The spy knew that if he was to flinch, the Muslim army would be discovered and because of this, he remained still even after being shot by an arrow.
The disbeliever shot another arrow on the spy’s shoulder but once again, the spy did not even flinch.
The disbeliever said: there is no way that (the spy) is a human being.
The spy remained still, with the two arrows in his shoulder, until it got dark, and he went and informed Ghalib and the Muslims about the situation.
Ghalib ibn Abdallah’s Strategy:
After hearing this, Ghalib commanded his people: you shall all remain in pairs of two. I don’t want anyone to leave his partner, stay in groups of two and do not isolate yourselves.
They attacked the disbelievers and the Muslims were successful in defeating them.
Incident of Usamah ibn Zayd:
One of the disbelievers started shouting insults at Usamah ibn Zayd and he also insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Usamah ibn Zayd was angered by this and started to chase this disbeliever.
Usamah was partnered with a member from the Ansar and when he went to chase him, the Ansari man followed Usamah because they were not allowed to be separated from their partner.
They chased the disbeliever to such an extent that Usamah ibn Zayd and the man from the Ansar became separated from the main army.
The Ansari man told Usamah bin Zayd: ya Usamah, let him go. Let’s go back and join the rest of the army. Usamah replied: No, I will not leave him! He is insulting the Prophet.
Usamah ibn Zayd continued to chase disbeliever and the Ansari man continued to follow him.
Eventually, Usamah and the man from the Ansar got close to the disbeliever and as they had taken out their swords, the disbeliever said: Laa ilaha illa Allah.
When the Ansari man heard this, he put his sword away. However, Usamah ibn Zayd struck and killed him.
The man from the Ansar asked Usamah: why did you do that, didn’t you hear him say ‘Laa ilaha illa Allah’? Usamah replied: He only said it because he was afraid of death, he did not mean it.
They went back and told Ghalib ibn Abdallah (the commander) what had happened.
Ghalib ibn Abdallah addressed Usamah by saying: he said ‘Laa ilaha illa Allah’ and you still killed him, how can you do such a thing?
The Prophet’s Reaction to this Incident:
Eventually, they went back to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and informed him of what Usamah ibn Zayd did.
The Prophet ﷺ asked: how could you kill him after he said ‘Laa ilaha illa Allah’? Usamah replied: he only said it because he was afraid of death, he did not mean it.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then said: did you open up his heart to know what he meant? How can you know what he meant in his heart? What are you going to do with ‘Laa ilaha illa Allah’ when it comes on the Day of Resurrection?
Usamah ibn Zayd felt so bad about this mistake and said about it: I wished I had just accepted Islam on that day.
Usamah ibn Zayd said this because when people accept Islam, it erases all of their previous mistakes.
Second Expedition to Banu Murra:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then sent Bashir ibn Sa’d again, a second time to Banu Murra.
However, this time, instead of going with thirty Muslims, they had a group of three hundred men and were able to defeat the tribe of Banu Murra and took a great amount of spoils from them.
The leader of Banu Murra, Al-Harith ibn Awf, saw Islam getting stronger and stronger so he decided to become a Muslim so that he could get a portion of the spoils of war.
Al-Harith ibn Awf’s Influence on the Ghatafan and Others:
Al-Harith ibn Awf went to the leader of the tribe of Ghatafan, Uyaynah ibn Hisn and tried to convince him to become a Muslim as well so that they could collect the spoils of war that the Muslims were collecting.
Uyaynah ibn Hisn agreed to this and they both set out to Madinah to meet the Prophet and accept Islam.
Meeting with Furwa ibn Hubayra:
On their way to Madinah, they met one of the leaders of another tribe, Furwa ibn Hubayra.
Uyaynah and Al-Harith told Furwa that they were on their way to Madinah to meet the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and accept Islam.
Furwa ibn Hubayra told them: wait, I am going to Makkah to make Umrah. Let me go and I will meet with the Quraysh. Maybe they are planning to attack the Muslims, if they are planning to attack them, you do not want to become Muslims yet. See if the Quraysh are preparing to attack the Muslims and wait for the result. If the Muslims are victorious, accept Islam but if the Quraysh are victorious, then don’t.
Furwa went to Makkah and asked the Quraysh about their plans.
The Quraysh Breaking the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah:
The Quraysh told Furwa ibn Hubayra that they had a peace treaty from Hudaybiyyah with the Muslims and the treaty was in place for ten years.
The Quraysh informed him that they were preparing to fight the Muslims after the treaty was over.
Furwa also noticed an exchange between the leader of Banu Bakr, Nawfal ibn Muawiyah and the Quraysh.
Nawfal told the Quraysh: we have some unresolved issues with the tribe of Khuza’a (who were aligned with the Muslims) and we want to attack them and we want the help of the Quraysh.
The Quraysh agreed to help them, meaning that they were ready to secretly break the treaty of Al-Hudayybiyyah.
Furwa witnessed this and realised that the treaty of Al-Hudaybiyyah was about to fall apart.
He went back to Al-Harith ibn Awf and Uyaynah ibn Hisn and instructed them not to accept Islam because a big battle was about to start between the Quraysh and the Muslims.