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Delegations
and Expeditions following Al-Muraisi' Ghazwah
- A military expedition led by ‘Abdur Rahman bin
‘Auf was despatched to the habitation of Bani Kalb in Doumat
Al-Jandal in Sha‘ban 6 Hijri. Before setting out, the Prophet
[pbuh] summoned ‘Abdur Rahman, and placed his hand on the latter’s
hand invoking Allâh’s blessings and giving him commandments to act
magnanimously during the war. He told him to marry the king’s
daughter if they obeyed him. ‘Abdur Rahman stayed among those
people for three days, invited them to Islam and they responded
positively. He then did marry the king’s daughter Tamadur bint
Al-Asbagh.
- In the same month and year, ‘Ali bin Abi Talib
was despatched at the head of a platoon to the habitation of Bani
Sa‘d bin Bakr in a place called Fadk. Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] had
been reported that those had rallied ranks to support the Jews.
The Muslim fighters used to march in the day and lurk at night. On
their way, they captured an enemy scout who admitted being sent to
Khaibar tribe, to offer them support in return for their dates.
‘Ali and his companions raided their encampment, captured five
hundred camels and two thousand goats, but Banu Sa‘d, with their
chieftain Wabr bin ‘Aleem had fled away.
- An expedition led by Abu Bakr As-Siddiq or Zaid
bin Haritha was despatched to Wadi Al-Qura in Ramadan 6 Hijri
after Fazara sept had made an attempt at the Prophet’s life.
Following the morning prayer, the detachment was given orders to
raid the enemy. Some of them were killed and others captured.
Amongst the captives, were Umm Qirfa and her beautiful daughter,
who was sent to Makkah as a ransom for the release of some Muslim
prisoners there.[] Umm Qirfa’s attempts at the Prophet’s life
recoiled on her, and the thirty horsemen she had gathered and
sustained to implement her evil scheme were all killed.
- Anas bin Malik reported that some people
belonging to tribe of ‘Uraina came to Allâh’s Messenger [pbuh] and
made pretensions to Islam. They stayed in Madinah but found its
climate uncongenial, so they were asked to pitch their tents in
the pastures nearby. They did so and were all right. They then
fell on the Prophet’s shepherd and killed him, turned apostates
from Islam and drove off the camels. This news reached the Prophet
[pbuh] , who sent a group of twenty Muslims led by Karz bin Jabir
Al-Fihri on their track. They were brought and handed over to him.
He had their hands and feet cut off, their eyes gouged out in
recompense for their behaviour, and then they were thrown on the
stony ground until they died. [Za'd Al-Ma'ad 2/122]
Biographers also reported ‘Amr bin
Omaiya Ad-Damari and Salamah bin Abi Salamah to have been sent on
an errand to kill Abu Sufyan, the chief of Quraish, who had
already sent a bedouin to kill the Prophet [pbuh]. The two-men
mission failed except for three polytheists killed on the way. It
is noteworthy that all the foregone invasions did not imply real
bitter fighting, they were rather skirmishes or punitive military
manoeuvres carried out to deter some enemies still unsubdued. Deep
meditation on the development of war circumstances reveal the
continuous collapse of the morale among the enemies of Islam, who
had come to understand that they were no longer in a position to
contain the Islamic call or weaken its active drive. This state of
affairs reached its climax in Al-Hudaibiyah Treaty when the two
belligerent parties, believers and disbelievers, entered into a
truce agreement that pointed markedly to the ever-growing power of
Islam, and recorded unequivocally the perpetuity of this heavenly
religion in pan-Arabia.
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