062 - Minor Expeditions Between Khandaq & Hudaybiyyah

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We finished the Battle of Khandaq/Ahzab, and we are now at the end of the 5th year of the Hijrah/beginning of the 6th year. The next major incident will be the incident of Hudaybiyyah which occurs at the end of the 6th year. Therefore, we have around 7-8 months to cover in between. In these months, a number of events/expeditions took place, none of which were as important as Khandaq. These skirmishes and expeditions were not that important politically, but in each one of them, certain things happened that are interesting for us to know. We will not discuss all minor events, but around 4-5.

The Conversion of Thumamah ibn Uthal

We begin with the Expedition of Muhammad ibn Maslamah to al-Qurta' (القرطاء). This was a minor expedition, a sariyya, involving 30 sahaba conquering and dealing with the tribe of Banu Bakr ibn Kilab (بنو بكر بن كلاب) in the 6th year of the Hijrah, most likely in the month of Shawwal. The expedition was a success. And on the way back, something interesting and beautiful happened. The sahaba came across a small convoy, and something seemed strange about them (the books of seerah don't mention what), so the sahaba brought these people to the Prophet PBUH as prisoners, not realizing whom they had captured. The Prophet PBUH asked them, "Do you not know who your prisoner is?" They said, "Who?" He said, "You have captured Thumamah ibn Uthal (ثمامة بن أثال)." Thumamah was the chieftain of the tribe of the Banu Hanifa. And the Banu Hanifa were one of the largest tribes in Arabia. He is a very senior figure and is the chieftain of a tribe equal in size to the Quraysh. He happened to be on a convoy that was not guarded, and some things didn't seem right, so the sahaba took these people and brought them to the Prophet PBUH.

Thumamah had a clear position before this time, he was not neutral in the war, he supported the pagans against Islam, and he had publicly threatened to kill the Prophet PBUH if he ever could. He was not of the sympathetic tribe. So the Prophet PBUH made a du'a to Allah (before Thumamah was captured) that, "O Allah, allow me to have control over Thumamah." And of course, this capturing incident is the du'a of the Prophet PBUH being answered. That literally, Thumamah came to him unexpectedly as a prisoner of war. The Companions did not recognize him, but the Prophet PBUH immediately recognized him — Allah AWJ told him through Jibril AS. The Prophet PBUH commanded the sahaba to treat him well. And as we know, there was no prison at that time, so they kept him in the Masjid of the Prophet PBUH hands tied. On that evening, the Prophet PBUH told his wives to send his own food to Thumamah. Now, the Prophet's PBUH food would not have been better than what the sahaba ate — but it was a symbolic gesture, that when the messenger would have come, he would have said to Thumamah, "This is from the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, this is his food to you"—that he is sending him his personal share.

The next morning, the Prophet PBUH went to Thumamah and asked him, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Thumamah said, "Ya Muhammad, if you are going to kill me, you are going to kill someone whose blood is very heavy (meaning you are going to have a civil war on your hands); and if you are generous, you are going to be generous to someone who recognizes your generosity and will repay you. And if you want money, ask for whatever you want and you have your price." (Note: This shows us he is a noble man who has dignity — he is not *begging* for life.) The Prophet PBUH advised Thumamah to accept Islam, but Thumamah did not say anything, so he PBUH let him that day. The next day, the second morning, the same thing happened. The Prophet PBUH said, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Thumamah replied in the same way. And the Prophet PBUH left him be. The third day, the same thing happened, and Thumamah gave the same response.

The reports do not mention this but what do you think is Thumamah going to see while in the masjid? He is hearing the Quran of the Prophet PBUH, watching the salah of the sahaba, the Prophet's PBUH halaqa and his conversations with the sahaba, etc. — he is absorbing it all in for over 72 hours. Thumamah is just sitting at the back being ignored — but what do you think is the wisdom of having him in the masjid? 'You see for yourself what our religion is'—i.e., to show Thumamah Islam, and hope that he accepts Islam.

At the end of the third day, when Thumamah still said the exact same thing, the Prophet PBUH told the sahaba to release him. So they cut off his rope and let him go. After this, Thumamah walked out of the masjid, went behind a grove of date palms, took a bath, and within 10 minutes, walked back into the masjid and became a Muslim, "أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، وأشهد أنك رسول الله (I bear witness that there is no god except Allah, and I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah)." And then he said, "Ya Muhammad"—even though he's a Muslim now, he hasn't yet learned the right etiquette, so he is still addressing the Prophet PBUH by his first name. He said, "Ya Muhammad, I swear by Allah, there was no face in the whole world that was more despised and hated to me than your face, but wallahi, it is now the most beautiful and most beloved face to me. And I swear by Allah, there was no religion I hated more than yours (Islam), but now wallahi, it's the most beloved to me. And I swear by Allah, there was no city I hated more than yours (Madinah), but now wallahi, it is the most beloved to me." And then he said, "I was on my way to do umrah." (Side note: This explains why his convoy was not guarded.) "I was intending to do umrah. Should I continue my umrah [now that I'm a Muslim]?" The Prophet PBUH said, "Yes, go and continue your umrah."

That evening, the sahaba brought him his meal again in the usual large trays, but this time, he just ate a little bit and that was it. The sahaba were astonished that this was a man who for the last three days had been consuming all of these quantities of food, but now he is just eating a little bit. The Prophet PBUH said, "Why are you astonished? A man ate in the morning with the stomach of a disbeliever, and now he is eating at night with the stomach of a Muslim. Verily, a disbeliever eats with seven stomachs, and a Muslim eats with one stomach."

And according to Ibn Ishaq, the first person to enter Makkah with the proper Islamic talbiyah was Thumamah ibn Uthal. (Note: The pagans performed hajj and umrah too, but their talbiyah was different [see episode 4: Pre-Islamic Arabia: History of Paganism].) When the Quraysh heard him with this talbiyah, they asked him, "Have you become a Sabi', O Thumamah?" (Note: As we said many times, the Quraysh mistakenly said to anybody who left their pagan religion that, "He has become a Sabi'!" [see episode 26: Shaytan's Cry; and episode 36: Targeting of Caravan].) Thumamah said, "No, I have become a Muslim. And I testify that there is no god except Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." At this, some of the Quraysh surrounded him and unsheathed their swords, but other calmer voices prevailed and said, "If you kill him, you are going to have to face the wrath of the whole tribe of the Banu Hanifa."

So they didn't harm him. But Thumamah became so enraged at all of this and said, "Wallahi, not a single seed of grain will come to you from the Banu Hanifa and from up north until you follow the religion of Muhammad." (Note: Thumamah's tribe was in central Arabia, which is what we now call the Najd. And grain would come from up north, so he had command of the highways.) So he did his tawaf, went back, and he fulfilled his promise — he cut off all the supplies of grain to the Quraysh, and for weeks and months, their supplies dwindled. Eventually, they were forced to eat a substance called ilhiz (علهز). And this is something that they resorted to only at times of extreme drought because it's something disgusting: Of its ingredients that are mentioned are camel's blood and camel's hair.

So Abu Sufyan had to swallow his pride and write a letter to the Prophet PBUH and said, "Ya Muhammad, you claim you are preaching to be good to your relatives, yet here you are letting us wither away." And so the Prophet PBUH wrote a letter to Thumamah to allow the wheat supplies to resume, so the wheat then began to resume to the people of Makkah and the food supplies went back to normal.

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Points of Benefit From the Story

Before we move on, let us derive some benefits from the story:

1. Look at how amazingly the du'a of the Prophet PBUH was answered. And indeed, by and large, the du'as of the Prophet PBUH were answered, and this shows us the maqam and the status of the Prophet PBUH.

2. Allah helps the believers in many different ways: Thumamah was a gift from Allah out of nowhere. And since he was a chieftain, when he converted, most of his tribe also converted, so that was a huge increase in the number of believers.

3. We also see that gentleness gets you what harshness does not: For three days Thumamah was treated with the utmost respect. He was treated with dignity, he was given better food than the rest of the people, and so when he saw this, his heart opened up to Islam. And the Prophet PBUH gifted him his independence after 3 days.

4. It is allowed for non-Muslims to enter masjids. And in the seerah, there are so many instances of non-Muslims entering the masjid and staying there. The Prophet PBUH allowed the Christians of Najran to not only stay in the masjid, but to worship in it! These are people claiming Allah has a son, but he still allowed it. This shows us, as Ibn Hajar says, the permissibility of non-Muslims entering masjids.

5. This hadith is one of the fundamental evidences for a well-known Islamic concept that if a non-Muslim wants to convert to Islam, he should take a bath. And the scholars point out this was so well known that even Thumamah knows he should take a bath before accepting Islam. It's not wajib, but recommended. It's a symbolic gesture to purify oneself. (And because non-Muslims don't have it in their shariah to take a bath after janaba, there is a strong possibility that it's done to remove the state of janaba.)

6. If a non-Muslim embraces Islam, he should not stop his good deeds. Thumamah wanted to do umrah, and the Prophet PBUH told him to go ahead.

7. We see the hypocrisy of the Quraysh in this incident, that after kicking their families and tribesmen out of Makkah, now they are telling the Prophet PBUH, "You are teaching people to be good to relatives, why aren't you good to us?" And the Prophet PBUH was kind and tender in that he responded to their request even still.

8. We also see an interesting point: No doubt, the Prophet PBUH was strict with the Quraysh (after all, he had gone to war with them, and on the battlefield, they attempted to kill each other), and yet he doesn't want to starve their women and children. So notice here the strictness is tempered with pragmatic mercy. And wallahi, had he stopped the supply, this would have been understandable. Just a few months ago in the Battle of Khandaq, the Quraysh completely cut off food supplies to the Muslims for a whole month. Yet still, the Prophet PBUH didn't do the same back — he allowed the supplies to resume.

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Thumamah's Genuine Islam

There was an infamous person from the tribe of Thumamah (the Banu Hanifa), and that was Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab who claimed to be a prophet. And when Musaylimah announced his false-prophethood and the Battles of Ridda took place [11-12 AH], Thumamah fought on the side of the Muslims against his own tribe — and this is a clear-cut sign that he had fully embraced Islam.

A number of things happened and eventually, he died a shaheed.

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Another Assassination Attempt on the Life of the Prophet PBUH

The next incident is a small one but we should keep it in mind — and that was another assassination attempt from the Quraysh against the Prophet PBUH. Abu Sufyan announced a bounty for anybody who killed the Prophet PBUH, and a Bedouin came. (Side note: After the Battle of Badr and Uhud, Abu Sufyan is the de facto senior leader of the Quraysh. And we are jumping the gun, but this is why when the Prophet PBUH conquered Makkah [later in 8 AH], one of the very few people the Prophet PBUH honored was Abu Sufyan — he said, "Whoever stays in the house of Abu Sufyan will be saved." And after the Battle of Hunayn [8 AH], he gave Abu Sufyan 100 camels —which is literally a fortune— to soften his heart.)

Abu Sufyan supplies the Bedouin with a camel, food, and weapons, and sends him away to kill the Prophet PBUH. The Bedouin invents a story that he wants to accept Islam, and he enters Madinah within 6 days. He enters the masjid with this false story — and when he entered, the Prophet PBUH said, "This is a man who has treachery written on him." Subhan'Allah. As soon as he said this, the sahaba tackled the man. And when they did this, a dagger dropped from his belt. And so the Prophet PBUH said, "If you are truthful to me, I shall let you go. Otherwise [...]" So he spills all the beans, and so the Prophet PBUH honored his promise and let him go. And when he let him go, the Bedouin accepted Islam.

And what is interesting here is that despite all of this, the Prophet PBUH still honored Abu Sufyan in the Conquest of Makkah and the Battle of Hunayn [later in 8 AH].

And this story is a perfect stepping stone to the next story which is seen as extremely controversial by the Islamophobes, and that is the Assassination of Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq.

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The Assassination of Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq

We already discussed in detail the Assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf [see episode 44]. And the story of Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq (سلام بن أبي الحقيق) is similar to Ka'b's — therefore, all the points that were made for Ka'b's assassination are valid here. (Side note: This was not 'collateral damage,' this was a 'targeted killing.' So in modern times —after all that has happened in the last 10+ years— no one has a right to criticize this anymore. This is now standard warfare.)

We don't know the exact date, but it clearly happened after the Battle of Khandaq and before the Battle of Khaybar, most likely around this time in 6 AH. Sallam is one of the big shots in the city of Khaybar, and he was one of the main funders of the Battle of Khandaq. He was a wealthy 'billionaire,' and he was the one who financed the tribe of Ghatafan [see episode 57]. Recall the bulk of the people of ahzab were hired mercenaries; they were not interested in the actual fight of 'Paganism vs. Islam' — and that is why when Allah sent His punishment, they were the first to run away; because they weren't there out of genuine animosity; they just wanted the money. And who gave them the money? Number one on the list was Sallam. So the Muslims decided to eliminate him — and indeed, a message had to be sent that, "You are not going to get away with this. And anybody else thinking about financing somebody to eliminate the Muslims, think again."

The idea of assassinating Sallam came from a number of people of the Khazraj. Why did they come up with this idea? Because they felt that the Aws had beaten them by 'taking care' of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf. So they wanted to do something that showed that the Khazraj were just as dedicated. So the Prophet PBUH gave them permission to do this, but he said, "Make sure you do not kill any women or children." (Note: In those days, there was no such thing as 'civilians,' and there was no such thing as 'conscripted army.' Every man who is of fighting age will fight; every man of age is a military man. Therefore, there was no such thing as 'noncombatant.' So when the Prophet PBUH is telling the sahaba, "Don't kill women and children," it's not too much of a stretch to say that he was basically saying, "Don't kill civilians.")

We already mentioned that the Jews had thick fortified walls that the Muslims really did not know how to conquer. (And we will see that when the Battle of Khaybar [episode 68] takes place, the Prophet PBUH camped outside for a month not knowing what to do. It's just very difficult. Recall even during the sieges of the Banu Qaynuqa & the Banu Nadir he had to camp outside.)

So five people volunteered from the Khazraj. And their leader was Abdullah ibn Atik (عبد الله بن عتيك) — he was chosen because he could speak the language of the people of Khaybar very fluently (a Hebraic language: a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic). They immediately made their way to Khaybar —which is three days away— and they camped outside thinking of a way to get in. Abdullah ibn Atik said, "I have an idea." The way that it was in the past (in fact up until recently) was that they would always shut the doors of the cities at Maghrib time. So Abdullah waited and waited until it was just before Maghrib time. And he made his way close enough to the guard so the guard could see him, and he pretended he was urinating. The guard was about to shut the door and saw someone urinating in the distance, he didn't assume anything of it, so he (the guard) shouted out, "I am going to close the door! Hurry up!" And so Abdullah managed to get inside the city. The details are scant but he must have hidden somewhere, and then when nightfall came, he reopened the gate and let the other sahaba in. So all five are in the fortress, and they find their way to the house of Sallam (Allah knows how), make their way into the house, and they get rid of Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq. His wife saw them, she set out an alarm and cried as loud as she could, so one of the sahaba was about to kill her, but he remembered what the Prophet PBUH said: "No women and children," so he sheathed the sword back and the five of them fled. The room of Sallam was protected such that his room was connected to the lower floor via a ladder, so you had to climb the ladder to get in. And Ibn Atik, it's said had feeble eyes, so when they were racing outwards, he slipped and sprained/broke his foot. So the other sahaba had to carry him outside and they rushed back to Madinah while the cry was being given in the city. Subhan'Allah, you can imagine the situation. Allah knows how they did it. And they escaped without a single casualty other than Ibn Atik's sprained/broken foot. When they came back to the Prophet PBUH, he told him to stretch the foot out, he rubbed his hand on the foot, and lo and behold, by the permission of Allah, it became perfectly healed.

We encourage you to go back to the Story of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf [episode 44] for all of the disclaimers, but in a nutshell: Frankly, those were different times with different norms. There were wars going on. And the main point really is: This is the way the world worked back then. This was expected and understood. It was a part of the territory back then. We just talked about Abu Sufyan trying to kill the Prophet PBUH. It wasn't a one-way street.

Nobody is saying that any Muslim can just start doing this himself anywhere they are. No scholar in the history of Islam ever says this.

Can a khalifa use such a tactic in our times? Well, let's talk about this when we have a khalifa (we don't even have a khalifa right now) — then we will worry about what is allowed and what is not allowed.

And frankly, there are people like Sh. al-Qaradawi and many others who have basically extrapolated entire volumes about modern nation-state rulings, modern jihad rulings, and they have all said: Look, the shariah is a spectrum that allows you for some modifications and changes; and if there are customs in place, e.g., a United Nations treaty in place, or a type of other protocols in place, the shariah allows us to adapt to that protocol. (Once upon a time, before the U.S. opened the door for extrajudicial killing, this type of killing was considered to be illegal.) So if theoretically there were to be an Islamic Caliphate, it's not a problem for them to sign on and say, "You know what, khalas, we will also consider this to be not allowed." *Now* we don't even know — it's up in the air. As we speak, there are drones launched everywhere — this is now an accepted norm. So for anyone to criticize something that happened 1400 years ago, the best response is to say, "Look, get relevant, get pertinent. Deal with your own case that your people are doing right now before you start criticizing something that took place 1400 years ago." So frankly, we don't find this issue to be problematic at all. Some people make a very big deal out of it, but it is what it is. That's the way people operated back then.

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The Ghazwa of Banu Lahyan

The next incident is the Ghazwa of the Banu Lahyan (غزوة بني لحيان). (Note: Recall the "ghazwa" means the Prophet PBUH is with the army.) Recall the Banu Lahyan were among those tribes who tricked the sahaba to come to them and massacred them [see episode 51] — so this ghazwa is clearly called for. The Incident of al-Raji took place 4 AH, this ghazwa 6 AH — why 2 years of delay? Because the Banu Lahyan were in the Hejaz, close to Makkah, close to the Quraysh.

The Prophet PBUH took 300 sahaba, and as was his tactic, he initially did not tell anyone where they were going. He left Madinah heading north —so the people of Madinah thought they were going to some tribe up north— but then he doubled back, and so the army realized they were going towards Makkah. And when they got near Makkah, the Prophet PBUH told them they would attack the Banu Lahyan. However, the Banu Lahyan somehow knew beforehand that the Muslim army was going to attack them, so they all fled. When the Muslims entered their camping grounds, it was empty, so there was no actual battle/war took place. Then why are we talking about it? Because most likely, it was in this ghazwa Allah legislated Salat al-Khawf:

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The Legislation of Salat al-Khawf

The story is as follows: The Banu Lahyan sent an emissary to the Quraysh to help them, so the Quraysh sent a small force under the charge of Khalid ibn al-Walid. And there is no actual battle that takes place, but Khalid camps in front of the Muslims, and the Muslims in front of him, so they can see each other. And the time for Zuhr comes, and all the Muslims get up and pray in jama'ah. (And it's understood that when the Muslims are praying, they take their shields, armor, and swords off, so they are relatively defenseless.) So one of the Quraysh said to Khalid, "If only they were to do this again, this is the perfect time to attack." Khalid said, "[Indeed,] they have another time coming up (Asr)." But in the interim between Zuhr and Asr, Allah sends Jibril down with Surah al-Nisa [4] verse 102:

وَإِذَا كُنتَ فِيهِمْ فَأَقَمْتَ لَهُمُ الصَّلَاةَ فَلْتَقُمْ طَائِفَةٌ مِّنْهُم مَّعَكَ وَلْيَأْخُذُوا أَسْلِحَتَهُمْ فَإِذَا سَجَدُوا فَلْيَكُونُوا مِن وَرَائِكُمْ وَلْتَأْتِ طَائِفَةٌ أُخْرَىٰ لَمْ يُصَلُّوا فَلْيُصَلُّوا مَعَكَ وَلْيَأْخُذُوا حِذْرَهُمْ وَأَسْلِحَتَهُمْ ۗ وَدَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ تَغْفُلُونَ عَنْ أَسْلِحَتِكُمْ وَأَمْتِعَتِكُمْ فَيَمِيلُونَ عَلَيْكُم مَّيْلَةً وَاحِدَةً ۚ وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِن كَانَ بِكُمْ أَذًى مِّن مَّطَرٍ أَوْ كُنتُم مَّرْضَىٰ أَن تَضَعُوا أَسْلِحَتَكُمْ ۖ وَخُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَعَدَّ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُّهِينًا

"When you [O Prophet] are [campaigning] with them and you lead them in prayer, let one group of them pray with you — while armed. When they prostrate themselves, let the other group stand guard behind them. Then the group that has not yet prayed will then join you in prayer — and let them be vigilant and armed. The disbelievers would wish to see you neglect your weapons and belongings so they could launch a sweeping assault on you. But there is no blame if you lay aside your weapons when overcome by heavy rain or illness — but take precaution. Indeed, Allah has prepared a humiliating punishment for the disbelievers" [Quran, 4:102].

(The chapters of fiqh are very long in this regard and there are so many differences of opinion. It's not our job to discuss it in the seerah classes.)

And according to one hadith, this was the time the Prophet PBUH taught the sahaba the du'a of safar (دعاء السفر - du'a of travel):

اللّهُمّ إِنّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ وَعْثَاءِ السّفَرِ، وَكَآبَةِ الْمَنْظَرِ، وَسُوءِ الْمُنْقَلَبِ فِي الْمَالِ وَالأَهْلِ

"O Allah, I seek refuge in You from this journey's hardships, and from the wicked sights in store, and from finding our family and property in misfortune upon returning."

And then he also said on the coming back:

آيِبُونَ، تَائِبُونَ، عَابِدُونَ، لِرَبّنَا حَامِدُونَ

"We are returning, repentant, worshiping our Lord and praising Him."

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The Sariyya of Zayd ibn Harithah

The next story is an interesting story which is the Sariyya of Zayd ibn Harithah to a place known as al-Is (العيص) (north of Madinah, in modern-day Unayzah [عنيزة]). The Prophet PBUH sent Zayd —the one whom he 'adopted'— to al-Is with 170 people in Jumada al-Awwal of 6 AH to intercept the caravan of the Quraysh as it was returning from Syria. He sent Zayd to get this huge caravan, and lo and behold, the caravan was captured in its entirety. So the camels, the wealth, the items, and the prisoners of war, all came to Madinah. And the story is interesting because of one of the prisoners of war. Who was that prisoner? Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi', the son-in-law of the Prophet PBUH, the husband of Zaynab bint Muhammad:

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The Story of Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'

Who is Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' (أبو العاص بن الربيع)? He is a pure Qureshi from the Banu Abd Shams; his mother is Hala (هالة) the older sister of Khadija RA. So Abu al-As is the cousin of Zaynab bint Muhammad. Before the days of Islam, Khadija had asked the Prophet PBUH to marry Zaynab to Abu al-As, her sister's son. And the report said, "The Prophet PBUH never refused anything for Khadija." (Subhan'Allah. And this again shows his love for Khadija.) So when she asked this, he accepted, and Zaynab married Abu al-As. 

(Tangent: How many daughters did the Prophet PBUH have? Four. The order was: Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Ummi Kulthum, and Fatima. And most likely, Fatima was born in Islam, the other three before Islam. In the days of Jahiliyyah, Ruqayyah and Ummi Kulthum were engaged to the sons of Abu Lahab. But when the dawah began, Abu Lahab canceled the engagements. And the Quraysh also put pressure on Abu al-As that, "Ask whatever you want and name any woman you want, but get rid of Zaynab. Divorce her and we will give you any woman you want in marriage." But he refused and said, "No one can take the place of Zaynab"—he loved her immensely and was not bribed. So they remained married, and when the Prophet PBUH Migrated to Madinah, Zaynab stayed in Makkah with her husband. And note Zaynab had a daughter whose name was Umamah [أمامة], the one whom the Prophet PBUH prayed with while carrying in salah as reported in Bukhari. Zaynab also had a son, but he died as an infant; whereas Umamah lived a long life and she married Ali ibn Abi Talib [after her aunt Fatima RA died], and they had some children as well.)

In any case, Zaynab and Abu al-As were married. Abu al-As joined the Makkan side against the Muslims in the Battle of Badr unwillingly, and was taken as a prisoner of war [see episode 41]. And his wife Zaynab sent in ransom the necklace that Khadija RA gifted her, and this brought back so many memories to the Prophet PBUH that he requested of the Muslim who captured Abu al-As, "If you feel it is appropriate, can you set him free without this item?" And obviously, when any Muslim is asked in this manner by the Prophet PBUH, khalas, "He is yours, ya Rasulullah." After this, the Prophet PBUH made Abu al-As promise to send Zaynab to Madinah once he returned to Makkah, and this was the start of that long story where Zaynab tried to leave Makkah and the Quraysh didn't let her [see episode 41: The After-Effects of the Battle of Badr]. Eventually, Zaynab did make her way to Madinah; Abu al-As had fulfilled his promise. (And this is why the Prophet PBUH had a lot of respect and even love for Abu al-As. In Sahih Bukhari, when he PBUH was talking about his sons-in-law, he said about him, "As for Abu al-As, he spoke to me and told the truth. He promised me and he fulfilled his promise.") Then at least 2-3 years have gone by since the Battle of Badr, and lo and behold, he is captured and is now a POW again in Madinah.

The next morning at Fajr, the Prophet PBUH stands up and says "Allahu'akbar" to start salah. But from the women's side, a loud voice comes, "O Muslims, I am Zaynab bint Muhammad! And I have given Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' my protection! So O Muslims, you give him your protection as well!" So the entire congregation hears this announcement from Zaynab. And the Prophet PBUH, after salah finishes, asked the sahaba, "Did you hear what I heard?" They said, "Yes, ya Rasulullah." The Prophet PBUH said, "Wallahi, I had no knowledge of this as much as you (i.e., I have no clue she was going to do this, this is just as much of a surprise to me as it is to you)." Then the Prophet PBUH said the famous statement, which all the madhahib agree, "All of the Muslims are the same when it comes to aman (protection): the least of them can offer protection to anyone. And so, O Zaynab, we have given protection to those whom you have given protection for." (What is this aman/protection? It means any Muslim, even a child, even a slave, has the right to say, "So-and-so is under my protection." This is a standard principle of Islamic fiqh.) And then the same thing happened again: the Prophet PBUH negotiated for Abu al-As and said to the people who had captured him and his property, "You see what has happened, and you know the status of Abu al-As in my family (that he is Zaynab's husband), so if you wish, you can return his money and his section of the caravan to him, and that is more beloved to us. But if you decide to keep it, then that is your right and the right that Allah has given you." And obviously, who could possibly say no to the request of the Prophet PBUH? So the Ansar who had taken Abu al-As's portion of the caravan were going to give it back to him, but before they did this, they walked up to him and said, "O Abu al-As, you are the son-in-law of the Prophet PBUH. Isn't it time you accept Islam? If you do so, we will give you your money back and you can stay in Madinah." But Abu al-As responded, "What an evil suggestion that I should change my faith and be treacherous because of that." So the Ansar just gave him all of the money back. (Side note: This money is not Abu al-As's personal property. It's the investments that the people of Makkah had given him.) So Abu al-As went back to Makkah with this money and he returned every single penny back to its rightful owner and asked them, "Has anybody given me anything that remains?" They all said, "No. You have done your job. Excellent." As soon as all of this had taken place, then in front of the Quraysh, Abu al-As said the shahada and converted to Islam. He didn't want to accept Islam in Madinah because someone might say, "You did it for the money," "You did it for the life." So he wanted to get rid of all his obligations and then embrace Islam publicly to show his sincerity. And Abu al-As's great-grandfather is Abd Shams, a giant of Quraysh, so you cannot harm a hair on his head. So he has the audacity and courage to announce his shahada in front of the Ka'bah. And he then returns back to Madinah as a Muslim, and is reunited with Zaynab.

This story could be problematic for two reasons:

1. When Abu al-As was captured as a prisoner, clearly he wasn't a Muslim. And the Prophet PBUH let him go basically on the presumption that the two of them were still married. But he said to Zaynab, "This man is a mushrik (pagan) so he is not allowed for you." So was there a marriage at this time or not?

2. The real fiqh problem is, when he did return back to Madinah, the authentic ahadith in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa'i say, "The Prophet PBUH returned him to her without a mahr (without a new nikah)."

This is problematic because, as we all know, in fiqh, when the wife converts to Islam and the husband does not convert within the iddah period, the marriage contract is annulled. And according to the majority of scholars, if he converts and wants her back but the iddah period is over, then a new nikah must be done with a new mahr. But here we see the Prophet PBUH returning Abu al-As to Zaynab without a new mahr. How do we reconcile this?

(Side note 1: If the husband converts within the iddah period, then obviously, there is no issue, the marriage is basically still valid.) (Side note 2: If it's the other way around: the husband embraces Islam and the wife does not, and she is a Christian or a Jew [not a pagan], then this is also less problematic, because a Christian or a Jewish wife can remain.)

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Marriage Contracts of Non-Muslims Upon Conversion

 

To make a long story short: The majority of scholars interpreted the hadith (that the Prophet PBUH returned Abu al-As to Zaynab without a mahr) in a certain way, and they still say:

If a woman converts, and...

1. Her husband doesn't convert, then...
1. after her iddah, the marriage is broken.
2. Her husband converts, and...
1. His conversion takes place within her iddah period...
1. And he still wants her, then...
1. they can resume married life without a new nikah or mahr.
2. But he doesn't want her anymore, then...
1. this leads to a whole different issue.
2. His conversion takes place after her iddah is over...
1. And he wants her back...
1. But she has been married to somebody else (and then divorced from the man), then...
1. a new nikah must be done with a new mahr.
2. And she has not been married to somebody else, then...
1. still, a new nikah must be done with a new mahr (regardless of the hadith that says, "The Prophet PBUH returned Abu al-As to Zaynab without a mahr").
2. But he doesn't want her anymore, then...
1. this leads to a whole different issue.

However, there is a minority dissenting opinion, and it was championed by Ibn Taymiyyah among others; they say, "Such a woman is in a unique scenario. If she wants, she can marry any Muslim she wants with a new nikah and a new mahr after her iddah is over. And if her husband embraces Islam and she has not married in the meantime, then she may resume marital life with him without a new nikah or mahr." So basically:

If a woman converts, and...

1. Her husband doesn't convert, then...
1. after her iddah, the marriage is broken.
2. Her husband converts, and...
1. His conversion takes place within her iddah period...
1. And he still wants her, then...
1. they can resume married life without a new nikah or mahr.
2. But he doesn't want her anymore, then...
1. this leads to a whole different issue.
2. His conversion takes place after her iddah is over...
1. And he wants her back...
1. But she has been married to somebody else (and then divorced from the man), then...
1. a new nikah must be done with a new mahr.
2. And she has not been married to somebody else, then...
1. they may resume marital life without a new nikah or mahr.
2. But he doesn't want her anymore, then...
1. this leads to a whole different issue.

Indeed, as we saw in Abu al-As's case, Zaynab had not married somebody else, so the Prophet PBUH simply allowed him to resume married life with her even though a few years had gone by. So insha'Allah, this is the correct position.

Another fiqh point is that, if a non-Muslim couple converts simultaneously, by unanimous consensus of all scholars of Islam, they do not need to redo their nikah in an Islamic way. If they both convert and they are married in whatever way their society deems them to be married, then their marriage contract automatically becomes an Islamic contract. As Ibn Hajar, al-Shawkani, and others say: In the lifetime of the Prophet PBUH, thousands of couples converted, and never once did they 'remarry Islamically.'

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Sariyya al-Khabat & the Fiqh of Eating Whale Meat

The final mini-story involves the fiqh of food. It's called Sariyya al-Khabat (سرية الخبط - the Expedition of Withered Leaves). It's called this because the sahaba were forced to eat khabat. We don't know exactly when, but sometime before the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet PBUH sent another large caravan of 300 men, led by Abu Ubaydah Amir ibn al-Jarrah (أبو عبيدة عامر بن الجراح), to intervene and block the caravan of the Quraysh — we don't have any other details, but most likely, it was when the caravan was going up to Syria. However, they were not successful and the Quraysh managed to elude them. When the Muslims tried to chase them, eventually, they ran very low on supplies, and when their supplies became critical, Abu Ubaydah commanded everybody to give any food that they had, so all of the food of the army was collected, and then he rationed a portion for each person. Then the ration continued to dwindle until finally, they had one date per person per day. But even that ran out —and Jabir ibn Abdillah narrates that— they would put the date seeds in their mouth and suck on it throughout the day, and they would drink water with the date seed so that they get some type of taste; and they were forced to eat khabat —which is the dried withered leaves of thorn bushes— just to survive. And eventually, they made their way to the shore called Yanbu (ينبع) which was relatively close to Madinah, and lo and behold, they found a massive whale (most likely a blue whale) washed ashore, and the hadith describes it as being simply unbelievably large. In Bukhari, it's mentioned that 13-14 sahaba sat in the eye socket of the whale — and it's also mentioned that they took one of the bones of the whale, planted it on the beach, and Abu Ubaydah chose the largest camel and sat on it, and he managed to walk right underneath the bone without having to lower his head — so you can imagine how huge the whale was. They rejoiced so much that they camped for one whole month because of the whale — they were about to die of starvation and then Allah gifted them this whale. So for a whole month, 300 people ate from this whale, and they actually gained fat because of it.

And then finally, they packed their bags with leftover meat and went back to Madinah. When they got back, they asked the Prophet PBUH if what they did was allowed, i.e., eating a dead animal. The Prophet PBUH said, "Do you have any meat of it left?" They said, "Yes." He PBUH said, "Bring it to me," and he ate from it. (And most likely, the one and only time the Prophet PBUH ate seafood was this time.) Why did he eat it? To demonstrate to them that it is completely halal to eat seafood.

This incident shows that seafood does not require slaughter, and in fact, it does not even require to be caught. The sahaba did not catch the whale, it was dead already. In terms of fiqh, all madhhabs except Hanafi say everything from the sea is permissible to eat. A whale is technically not a fish, it's a mammal, but the Prophet PBUH still ate of it; and he said, "Two dead animals are allowed for us: Locusts and the whale"—he intentionally mentioned the biggest creature from the sea to tell us that if the biggest creature is halal, then clearly all the smaller ones are also halal. And Allah said in the Quran, "It is lawful for you to hunt and eat seafood, as a provision for you and for travelers" [Quran, 5:96]. And Abu Bakr al-Siddiq commented that "صيد البحر" in the verse refers to what you catch, and "طعام البحر" is what is dead and it throws at you. So all types of seafood, all animals that live in the ocean, are halal for us, regardless of how they got on the table, regardless of who captured them, how they captured them, and whether they were already dead or still alive.

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Legislation of Hijab

It was also during this time that Allah SWT revealed the legislation of hijab (end of 5th year/beginning of 6th year).

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Marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh

And the Prophet PBUH married Zaynab bint Jahsh around this time too. This is one of the most controversial stories in the whole seerah [see episode 69].

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According to some authorities, our Prophet PBUH sent 14 sariyyas and participated in 2 ghazwas between the Battle of Khandaq [5 AH] and the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah [6 AH]. We only covered 4-5 of them; the rest are available in Ibn Ishaq in Arabic.

[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, June 2021]