type: companion
sourceFile: Sirah Transcript by Yasir QadhiKhalid b. al-Walid
The main story [that illustrates this point] that we all should know is the story of al-Walid b. al-Mughirah, the father of Khalid b. al-Walid. Again, the Qur'an was completely unprecedented. Its tone, style, language etc. is completely unique and on another level. Imagine the Qur'an being recited to the masters of the Arabic language. And the biggest master was al-Walid b. al-Mughirah who was the chief of the Banu Makhzum (the tribe of Abu Jahl). He was the Shakespeare of Makkah - the best poet of Makkah. Once the Prophet ﷺ was reciting the Qur'an and al-Walid b. al-Mughirah managed to listen uninterrupted for the first time. And he is mesmerized - he stops in his tracks and listen until the Prophet ﷺ finishes, and he goes away a changed man. He muttered something as he walks away and it spread in the people of Makkah - again, the people of Makkah were few and it's a very small village, so everything spreads - gossip was rampant. As he walks away, he says a beautiful prose, describing the beauty of the Qur'an as a pagan:
(ii) Nusaybah bint Kaab (نسيبة بنت كعب) - She participated in the Battle of Uhud [later in 3 AH], and severely wounded in the battle (over 12 wounds). She also witnessed the Oath of Ridwan [in 6 AH]. Her son became a general under Khalid b. al-Walid. And he was martyred in front of her eyes by Musaylamah the Liar, in the Battle of Ridda [11-12 AH]. And in her 60s she participated in the wars against the Romans [the Battle of Yarmouk, 15 AH], and her hand was cut off. She lived up to her oath to the Prophet ﷺ. Masha'Allah.
No doubt Allah will reward him. No doubt. And who is this man? Allah gave him the honor to be the very last batch of converts before the Conquest of Makkah [8 AH]. Him, Amr b. al-As, and Khalid b. al-Walid would do Hijrah right before the Conquest of Makkah. And converting before the Conquest is a big honor, as this is a sign of a genuine conversion to Islam. Indeed, Allah says:
(Tangent: Later when the Prophet ﷺ migrated, he made du'a qunut for them and all the oppressed in Makkah, "O Allah, save Ayyash, save Hisham, save the vulnerable (mustad'afin/مستضعفين), send your Punishment upon the Quraysh." And he kept on asking the Muslims, "Who will volunteer to save Ayyash? Who will volunteer to save Hisham?" To go to save them meant to walk into the lion's den, so understandably nobody wanted to do it. However, finally al-Walid b. al-Walid, the older brother of Khalid b. al-Walid, volunteered. He said, "I will do it, O Messenger of Allah!" And so he traveled to Makkah, entered it in the middle of the night, and Allah AWJ blessed him to find out where the dungeon was, and he broke into it, cut the bonds of Ayyash and Hisham, rescued both of them, and brought them back to Madinah. Allahu'akbar!)
In any case, once this verse was revealed, the Prophet ﷺ accepted the booty and agreed to take the two prisoners of war, and he sent a message to the Quraysh to send ransom for these two. But he ﷺ said, "We will not release these two prisoners until our two companions (Sa'd and Utbah) reach us safely." Sa'd and Utbah eventually found their camel and after a week or two made their way back to Madinah. So the two prisoners were released, and amazingly, one of them, al-Hakam b. Kaisan (الحكم بن كيسان) accepted Islam. But he accepted Islam only after the ransom was paid for him. After the ransom was paid, he then return back to Madinah - to make sure the ransom is in the hands of the Prophet ﷺ. And this is not the only time this has happened. [Later on, in many battles] multiple times people have accepted Islam as prisoners of war, but only after the ransom came. Because they wanted the money to be in the hands of the Prophet ﷺ. So al-Hakam b. Kaisan is the first example of many to come, including the older brother of Khalid b. al-Walid. (Al-Hakam b. Kaisan will later die a shaheed in one of the battles at the time of the Prophet ﷺ.)
On the 7th of Shawwal in the 3rd year of the Hijrah, literally a year and a few weeks after the Battle of Badr, the Quraysh set out from Makkah to Madinah. Typically the journey would have taken 2 weeks, and if you speed up a little bit, it would be around 10 days, but in their eagerness to fight, they traversed this entire distance in 7 days! The Quraysh gathered 3,000 men, 200 horses, and 700 armors for men. (Note: Back then the average person did not have weapons and armor. To invest in armor is a lot of money. Most people simply did not need it, so they didn't have it. Also realize most of these armor is being imported from Syria, Yemen, etc., so it's even more expensive. Therefore, in the history of battles, one of the most prized items a victorious person would take from the enemy, is their armor, because it was a prized possession.) This time, they also took many of their wives with them, including the famous Hind bint Utbah (هند بنت عتبة) the wife of Abu Sufyan. It is said up to 2 dozen of the women of the Quraysh participated - when you have women, you really have to fight. They would sing their poetry, and it was somewhat sensual in nature, they were encouraging the men to show their manhood, discouraging them from coming back empty handed, etc. Abu Sufyan was the main leader of the army; on the right flank he put Khalid b. al-Walid in charge; and on the left flank Ikrimah b. Abu Jahl.
This is the grand opportunity Khalid b. al-Walid saw. Even as he is fleeing, he is not running for dear life. He is cautiously looking behind to see what he can do. (Note: This shows us the military genius he had. The only person who ever inflicted a genuine military loss on the Muslims in the whole Sirah was Khalid b. al-Walid. He is in his early 20s but he is showing the genius we know he is.) As soon as Khalid sees the 40 go down from the mountain, his brain clicks. [Opinion 1] One opinion is Khalid went behind the Mountain of Uhud to launch a counter attack, but this opinion does not make any academic sense - it's an impossible position to hold if you actually see the Mountain of Uhud. It would have taken 6 hours to go all the way round and attack; and by then even the Muslims would have packed up and gone if nothing happens for that long. Therefore realistically, it makes more sense to hold the opinion [Opinion 2] that when Khalid saw what was happening from the distance, he carved his way in from the right hand side - there was a ditch that goes under the land from which people cannot see at ground level - and from there he surprised the 10 archers; and after getting rid of the archers, he gathered his army for a counter attack. How many people did he have? We have no idea, but a rough estimate that makes sense is around 100-150.
The problem here is that when Khalid b. al-Walid is coming back, in effect he is cutting the Muslim army into half. He is basically walking in - on his right will be the camp of the Prophet ﷺ, and on his left will be the Muslims collecting ghanima. The Muslims on the right, the advantage of the protection of Uhud they had in the initial phase now turns against them - they have nowhere to flee. The Muslims on the left, they are dispersed, not in one group, cut off from their main supplies; and we also can infer many of them had abandoned their armor and weapons because now they are collecting ghanima, piling up things, so obviously you're not going to have sword in one hand. They assumed the war was won - an hour and a half has gone by and they were feeling very complacent. However, an hour and a half is nowhere enough time. Rather, it's just the right amount of time for Khalid to come back with an entourage and counter attack the Muslims from behind Jabal al-Ruma. The first person to see Khalid b. al-Walid was in fact the Prophet ﷺ himself. (And from this we surmise that in fact the Prophet ﷺ was feeling uneasy at the whole situation when the sahaba started being too complacent - so he was constantly monitoring as carefully as possible.)
And as can be expected, such a surprise attack led to total chaos in the ranks of the Muslims. Some of them had not even regrouped; others were in small pockets; and as the Quran mentions: many of them —because they were unarmed— simply turned their backs and fled. Again, there is symbolism here: This is what happens when you disobey the Prophet ﷺ. Other Muslims who were closer to the camp of the Prophet ﷺ, it appears shaytan did a trick on them. Shaytan wanted to cause chaos between the Muslims who were now going to face one another. (We had Muslims in the camp, and other Muslims on the battlefield, and in the middle was Khalid b. al-Walid - so what is going to happen? The two groups of Muslims are going to be facing one another.) And in the chaos, some Muslims were killed at the swords of other Muslims. And we have narrations that shaytan was the one who instigated this confusion. And unfortunately, we had some tragic deaths here.
Wahshi further related that when he heard about the advent of a false prophet called Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab (مسيلمة الكذاب - Musaylimah the Liar) [in 11 AH], he made a du'a to Allah, "O Allah, allow me to take the life of Musaylimah in substitution for what I did to Hamzah." And he took the SAME spear that he killed Hamzah with, and he went with Khalid b. al-Walid, and he targeted Musaylimah like he targeted Hamzah. "I threw my javelin. And at the same time, one of the Ansar attacked him from the other side with his sword, so Allah knows which one of us actually killed Musaylimah." But he considers this to be his kaffarah (كفارة - expiation). (And of course technically, Wahshi killed Hamzah when he was a non-Muslim, so it's not as if that sin will be on his Scales on the Day of Judgment.)
Hamzah was killed in the victory half of Uhud, not the losing half. He died in the initial assault, before Khalid b. al-Walid comes in to change the tide of the battle. We infer this from reports that say the women of the Quraysh were still on the battlefield: Hind (wife of Abu Sufyan - prime lady of Quraysh), as a sign of inflicting pain upon the Prophet ﷺ, she cuts open the stomach of Hamzah with her dagger, takes out his liver, bites it, and spits it out. She also cuts off his fingers, and according to some reports his toes, and she built a necklace out of them. ALL of this was done for nothing except to inflict pain on the Prophet ﷺ. This is the level of hatred that she had. YET, Allah still guided her to Islam [later in 8 AH].
Mus'ab b. Umayr (مصعب بن عمير) RA was most likely killed by the forces of Khalid, based upon piecing the evidences. He was targeted because unlike those who were collecting booty, he was still carrying the flag. So he was one of the first targets for the contingent of Khalid b. al-Walid. Again, the books don't mention who did it, but we assume it's the forces of Khalid, because he was killed very gruesomely, and it is hard to die such a death in the first half of the battle when the Muslims were winning.
The assumption —which is not mentioned in the narration— is that this happened at the very beginning of Khalid's counter attack. When the sahaba are dispersed around the battlefield, the group that was with the Prophet ﷺ was only 9 people. Amongst them were Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas (سعد بن أبي وقاص) and Talha b. Ubaydillah (طلحة بن عبيد الله) - the rest were all Ansar, whose name we do not know. So 2 Muhajirun and 7 Ansar. Abu Bakr RA, Umar RA, and all other sahaba are dispersed elsewhere, because the assumption is that the war has finished and the Muslims have won. So when Khalid b. al-Walid returns, the Prophet ﷺ is only with a very small band. And we said that initially, the Prophet ﷺ began shouting out to the Muslims, "Be careful! They're coming from behind you!" as Allah said in the Qur'an [3:153].
This incident shows us the human nature of our Prophet ﷺ. He bleeds, and he utters some words. But it's said when this ayah came down, the Prophet ﷺ made du'a for these people, "O Allah, forgive my people, because they do not know." And indeed many of them were forgiven. Khalid b. al-Walid was the best example.
3. Another lesson we can derive from the story of Hassan b. Thabit is that there is no need for us to put people in pigeonholes or use derogatory adjectives; there is a place for artistry in Islam. A lot of our younger Muslims don't understand that the ummah needs not just Khalid b. al-Walids (military commanders), Abu Hurairahs (hadith narrators), Ibn Abbass and Ibn Umars (fuqaha), but also Hassan b. Thabits (poets/artists) — everyone has something to contribute.
Towards the end of the Sirah, all of Arabia accepted Islam, so Uyaynah had to accept Islam too. But as soon as Tulayha b. Khuwaylid b. Nawfal, the 3rd false prophet who declared himself a prophet, declared himself a prophet, Uyaynah joined him. So after the Battles of Ridda (wars against apostates) [12 AH], when Khalid b. al-Walid captures Uyaynah and brings him back to Madinah and tied him up, the people of Madinah rebuked him, "You are a Muslim! How could you have accepted Tulayha?" He said, "I never [really] accepted Islam in the first place," i.e., "What's the big deal? I wasn't really ever a Muslim that you are now getting angry at me that I left it?" Subhan'Allah, look at his mentality. Nonetheless, after some exchange, he accepted Islam again, so Abu Bakr RA let him go, and Allah knows what state he died in — we don't say anything bad or good about his death.
Another leader was Tulayha b. Khuwaylid b. Nawfal from the Banu Asad. He too has a very interesting history. Right now he is standing outside Madinah willing to fight and get rid of the Muslims, but eventually in 9 AH, he embraces Islam. But then as soon as the Prophet ﷺ dies, Tulayha was one of the 10 people who declared themselves to be a prophet. (Side note: Musaylimah was the most famous of the false prophets, Sajah bint al-Harith [سجاح بنت الحارث] was the 2nd, and Tulayha was the 3rd.) And he started spewing forth some weird concoctions that he called his quran. Then Khalid b. al-Walid was sent against his tribe, and the tribe repented and came back to Islam, but Tulayha had a horse he had prepared to escape, so he fled to Syria unrepentant. But then amazingly, in Syria, he genuinely accepted Islam. So he then came back to Madinah repentant, asking for forgiveness. And Abu Bakr RA granted him that forgiveness. But he was always guilty of what he had done, so he kept on making du'a to Allah to accept him as a shaheed in order to make up for what he had done. And he actually fought alongside Khalid b. al-Walid in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah (معركة القادسية) [in 15 AH] against the Persians, played a big role and accomplished a lot in it, and eventually died a shaheed.
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 b. 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:
Busr b. Sufyan al-Khuza'i who went to Makkah and pretends he's a regular pilgrim to find out what the Quraysh are planning, returns to the Prophet ﷺ. At this time, the Prophet ﷺ had reached a place called Asfan (عسفان) around midway between Makkah and Madinah, closer to Makkah. Busr informs the Prophet ﷺ that the Quraysh have armed themselves and have worn their 'leopard skins,' which was a sign of war. They even took their women with them as they did in the Battle of Uhud. And he said they sent Khalid b. al-Walid to camp near Ghumaym (غميم?), which is a plain right outside Makkah, to block the Muslims and prevent them from entering Makkah. When the Prophet ﷺ heard this, he said, "Woe to Quraysh. They have been consumed by war. What would they lose if they let me and the other Arabs? If the other Arabs attack me and win, they (the Quraysh) will get the result they want. If I win over them, the honor will be theirs"—the Prophet ﷺ is a Qureshi after all, thus if he wins, automatically the Quraysh will also bask in that victory. He then said, "So what does the Quraysh think will happen [by preventing me]? For by Allah, I shall continue to fight them with what Allah has sent me until Allah either grants me victory or this neck of mine is cut off." Subhan'Allah, we sense here the anguish and pain that, "Why do my own people hate me so much?" This clearly shows us what is in his heart: He did not want to fight his own people. He loves his own people dearly he is basically saying, "Why are they doing this to me? It's a win-win if they leave me be, and it's a lose-lose if they fight me." Indeed, whoever wins out of the Quraysh and the Muslims, it's still a loss since they are killing one another and they are family.
When the Prophet ﷺ heard the news from Busr, he stopped the caravan, camped in a shaded area, and addressed the entire group. He started by praising Allah and doing the normal khutbah al-Hajah, and then he explained that the Quraysh have sent out an expedition, that Khalid b. al-Walid is camped at such-and-such a place. Then he said, "We should attack the surrounding tribes that have also sent men with the Quraysh"—he first gave his own opinion, then he asked the sahaba, "What do you think we should do?" At this, Abu Bakr RA stood up and said, "Ya Rasulullah, you only left your house intending the House of Allah. You didn't want any war or battle. So let us go where we had initially intended, and we will only fight if they fight us"—this is Abu Bakr's opinion. The Prophet ﷺ liked this plan and said, "Let us go forth in the name of Allah SWT."
Obviously, 1,400 people, when they go places, they cannot go in secret. So the scouts of Quraysh come back and tell Khalid b. al-Walid of the Muslims' whereabouts, the Quraysh army returned from Ghumaym to Makkah, changed their tactics, and they then began sending a series of emissaries to meet the Muslims in Hudaybiyyah, as we will discuss in the next episode.
When he comes out and meets his companions, he didn't tell them anything. Then he makes an excuse and makes his way to Madinah, and on the way, he meets two people, Khalid b. al-Walid and Uthman b. Talha, and he says to them, "Where are you going?" They say, "We are going to Muhammad and will accept Islam." Khalid says, "The matter is crystal clear that this man is a prophet. I am going to accept Islam. For how long are we going to deny this?" Amr b. al-As says, "Wallahi, that is exactly why I have come back." And so the three of them emigrated together and they became the very last batch to enter Madinah and to accept Islam before the Conquest of Makkah. When the three of them came, Khalid was the first to accept Islam in front of the Prophet ﷺ, then it was Amr's turn. The Prophet ﷺ stretched his hand forward, and according to one report, Amr pulled the hand back, or according to another report, he held onto his hand rather than the palm. So the Prophet ﷺ said, "O Amr, what is the matter?" Amr said, "Before I embrace Islam, I have a condition." The Prophet ﷺ said, "What is that condition?" Amr said, "That all of my past sins be forgiven." So the Prophet ﷺ said, "O Amr, don't you know that three things wipe away all sins before them? (i) Embracing Islam, (ii) Migration, and (iii) Hajj." So the Prophet ﷺ is saying, "Don't you know this is already accomplished by you embracing Islam and doing Hijrah?"
"I left the presence of the Najashi feeling utterly dejected. I now was sure that there was no other way to get ahead in the world than by becoming Muslim. I made up my mind to it and secretly set out for Madinah. Then I grew aware that Khalid b. al-Walid was following me. 'Where are you going?' I asked him. Khalid was an open-minded, outspoken person. He did not yet know of my decision. He replied, 'No need remains for stubborn persistence on the way of disbelief that our fathers and forefathers have shown us. There is not a grain of doubt that Muhammad ﷺ whom we used to know as al-Amin (the Truthful One) is a true Prophet. I am on my way to Madinah into his presence to surrender all that I am and own that he may teach me the worship of the God that he preaches. I will entreat him to forgive me for all the outrage and insolence I have worked against him before this day. If I can achieve his pardon, there is no man happier than I.'"
Recall Khalid b. al-Walid's (خالد بن الوليد) father, al-Walid b. al-Mughirah was the chieftain of Abu Jahl's tribe, the Banu Makhzum. And they are the statesmen, the ones who had the most rivalry and jealousy of the Prophet's ﷺ tribe, the Banu Hashim. Recall the Quraysh were composed of several tribes, and three of them were considered to be major tribes; and others, such as Umar b. al-Khattab's tribe, the Banu Adi, were considered to be small tribes. Being a Qureshi, you are already honored, but within the Quraysh, they had their own hierarchy, and the three at the top were the Banu Hashim, the Banu Umayyah, and the Banu Makhzum. Post-Islam, the Banu Makhzum basically died out, but in the days of Jahiliyyah, these three were at the top. And al-Walid b. al-Mughirah was the chieftain of the Banu Makhzum, just like Abu Talib was the chieftain of the Banu Hashim. So al-Walid b. al-Mughirah was one of the most famous Qureshi, and he was also the official poet of the Quraysh. And this is why when the Quran was revealed, the Quraysh came to him, and he plotted and planned to say bad things about the Quran, and Allah revealed Surah al-Muddaththir in response [see episode 13]. And Khalid is referenced in the Surah, in verse [74:13], as one of the children of al-Walid.
So al-Walid's son was Khalid b. al-Walid, and he was raised in the lap of luxury. He was trained in the arts of war and horsemanship. He did not fight in Badr, but after this, he participated in every single battle. And in every single battle, he was the one who caused the most damage. At Uhud, he caused the destruction of the Muslims. At Khandaq, he was one of the few who broke through the defenses and made it into Madinah, but then he realized he was outnumbered, so he wisely retreated. And he was also the one who was sent to Hudaybiyyah to block the Prophet ﷺ, but the Prophet ﷺ outmaneuvered him. This clearly shows the Prophet ﷺ was the better military commander. And the story of Khalid's conversion is mentioned by him in the first person as recorded in Ibn Kathir's book:
Therefore, Amr b. al-As the symbolic statesman and politician of the Quraysh, Uthman b. Talha the symbolic person in charge of the Kabah, and Khalid b. al-Walid the real military leader of the Quraysh, the three of them marched into Madinah simultaneously. And notice the three things put together here: The Kabah, the military genius, and the statesman. This is not a coincidence. Obviously, Allah's qadr. This is clearly a sign to the Muslims and against the Quraysh that, "Your time is up."
So after this, everyone decided to go forth and face the Romans and the Arab Christians. They continued moving onwards and passed by a village, and its inhabitants knew what was going on, so they showered the back of the Muslim army with arrows, and a number of sahaba were injured, and one of them died. And this was at the back of the Muslim army, so some of them went forward and told Zayd, "Let us go back and fight the village!"—and for sure they could have defeated the village, but Zayd said, "No, for the enemy is in front of us, and I don't want to be sidetracked into another battle that will wound, tire out, and separate us before we meet the big enemy." So he refused and moved onwards north. And eventually, it was the Muslims who decided the land, and it was a large plain called Mu'tah. We have to guess why this land was chosen. (Again, because the Prophet ﷺ himself is not involved in this battle, we have considerably fewer hadiths and narrations regarding it. The whole battle is just recorded in a page or two of narrations.) They probably chose Mu'tah for logistical reasons. And one thing we know for sure is they definitely chose Mu'tah for ease of access to water since there was a river near Mu'tah. Also, probably because there was a line of retreat that they could depend on and take advantage of if needed. And indeed, as we will see in the next episode, Khalid b. al-Walid utilized this path when he decided the Muslims must retreat. But was this the reason Zayd chose Mu'tah? We don't know. But ultimately, the land did have such a retreating path.
Thabit b. Arqam (ثابت بن أرقم), a famous Badri from the Ansar, when the flag falls, he jumps in, gets the flag, runs out of the melee, and takes refuge in a small area behind the army. Note it's allowed in our religion to turn your back on the battlefield if you are trying to regroup, as Allah says in Surah al-Anfal [see Quran, 8:16]. So he turns his back because he wants to get the flag to safety. Once he gets to a safer area ~50 m away from the battlefield, he shouts out, "O Muslims! Come quickly!" He has the flag in his hands, but the sahaba notice he's not Zayd, Ja'far, nor Ibn Rawahah, so it's clear they are all dead. And when a group comes around him, he says, "Quickly choose a leader amongst you!" And someone says, "YOU be the leader!" And he says, "No way, not me!" So they look around and their eyes settle on the one who is the newest of them to Islam, barely a month or two has gone by since he has accepted Islam, and he is someone who was their most avowed enemy who has caused them the most damage in Uhud, but Islam forgives everything, so all eyes turn to Khalid b. al-Walid. And Khalid, when he sees all of this, he says, "How could I?" i.e., "I am who I am." But they insist, so Khalid takes the flag. We will discuss this in the next episode.
We are discussing the Battle of Mu'tah. Last week, we have gotten to the place of Khalid b. al-Walid having been appointed, and the Prophet ﷺ explaining in real-time what had happened in the battle. Now, let us go back to the battle and mention what did Khalid b. al-Walid do. And once again, we reiterate we only have two or three narrations from which we try to derive the entire story.
What happened the next day? The classical books don't tell us anything. And a later book stresses a technique/strategy that Khalid used (side note: we don't know where the author got it from, so Allah knows best, but it appears to be something constructed/read into the classical books) and he says: Another tactic Khalid used the next day was that he gave the impression that a group of reinforcements was arriving. So the Romans thought reinforcements were coming from Madinah, and this made them worried and paused. In this pause, Khalid b. al-Walid and the Muslims managed to escape and achieve total security. Indeed, had they left in front of the eyes of the Romans, the Romans and the Arab Christians would have followed them. But by giving the illusion that reinforcements were coming, the Romans paused for a few hours and this allowed the Muslims to escape.
He says: "In the year 623." (Side note 1: Their calendar is slightly different than Gregorian calendar. In Gregorian year, this corresponds to 630.) (Side note 2: After the main date, he always mentions other dates according to the Roman emperor and dates according to the emperors of the civilizations of that year.) So he says: "Heraclius 22nd year, Abu Bakr 1st year." (Note 3: This is a mistake from his side. He is putting the Incident of Mu'tah in the first year of the khilafa of Abu Bakr. Obviously, he isn't 100% accurate. And indeed, his description of the Prophet ﷺ is full of stereotypes. But the point is, by this time, the Romans have heard of Islam, the Prophet ﷺ, and the sahaba, and it's very interesting to look at things from their perspective.) He says: "Mohammed (Muhammad ﷺ) had appointed four ameers (amirs/leaders) to fight the members of an Arab nation that were Christian." (Side note 4: This is another mistake. The Prophet ﷺ appointed three, not four.) And he says: "They came to the village Moukheon (Mukhia). And in that village was stationed Vicarius Theodore." (Side note 5: It's said this Vicarius Theodore is actually the brother of Heraclius. And in Islamic sources, we too find the brother of Heraclius fighting in Mu'tah, so this lines up.) And he says: "And they intended to fall upon the Arabs on the day when they sacrificed to their idols." (Side note 6: This is an interesting tidbit that we don't find in the Muslim side of events. He is saying the Muslims chose to launch an attack on a day that was a festival for the [pagan?] Arabs. And if this is the case, in Sh. YQ's opinion, that makes a lot of sense.) And he continues, "Vicarius, on learning this from a certain Qureshite (Qureshi), he called Koutabas (Qutaybas) who was in his pay..." (Side note 7: This means there was a spy for the Romans, and the spy must have been from the Arab Christian community.) He continues: "...He gathered all of this information and ascertained the day and time they (the Muslims) intended to attack, and he attacked them at a village called Mothous (Mu'tah). And he killed three ameers and the bulk of the army." (Side note 8: The "three ameers" is true, but the "bulk of the army" is not true. The Muslims lost less than 1%.) And he continues: "One ameer, called Khalid, whom they call 'the Sword of God' escaped." (Side note 9: Subhan'Allah. St. Theophanes is mentioning Khalid as the Sword of Allah. And this is amazing. The title that the Prophet ﷺ gave to Khalid had reached even the Roman Empire. And this is why Khalid b. al-Walid *had* to die in his bed [21 AH].)
And this is why Khalid b. al-Walid *had* to die in his bed [21 AH]. It is said when Khalid was dying, he began crying, and he said to a visitor, "Turn me around and look at me from the front and back. You will not find two fingers on my body except that there is a scar, mark, and bruise. Yet here I am dying on my bed"—he spent his whole life fighting, wanting shahada, yet now he is dying on his bed, and that's what caused him to cry. He doesn't understand there is a wisdom: Ibn Kathir and all of the later scholars say, "Khalid was the Sword of Allah. Therefore, it is not allowed (i.e., not possible) for anybody to break the Sword of Allah in a battle. Only the One who unsheathed the Sword can put it back where it belongs (and that is Allah SWT)."
The primary benefit of the Battle of Mu'tah is that it opened up the northern lands. 95% of the battles of the Sirah are southern. The Battle of Mu'tah was the largest battle up north. It was the mother of all northern battles. Mu'tah —yes, we agree that the Romans were not defeated, and the Arab Christians were not defeated, but— the reach of the ummah has spread at least to the peripheries of the Byzantium now, and the strength of the Muslims is established, and fear is put into the hearts of the Arab Christian tribes. And as we will see, when the Prophet ﷺ himself marched north [later, for the Battle of Tabuk in 9 AH], they couldn't even fight him — the Romans didn't even show up to the battle. So there's no denying Mu'tah had a huge impact. "If only 3,000 could do so much damage and still escape, what are we going to do when the real general and commander, Muhammad himself turns up?" So they don't even show up for the Battle of Tabuk. So the Battle of Mu'tah is the first and only major battle that takes place up north. It's also the first and only battle with the Romans in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ. And this opens up the door of fighting the Romans after his death ﷺ. Khalid b. al-Walid in particular gets that experience, and he knows the tactics of the Romans, he faces them in battle, and of course, Allah will use him later on to fight the Romans — all of this is intended.
Before we begin the Conquest of Makkah which occurred in Ramadan in 8 AH, we will discuss a few incidents that took place between Mu'tah and the Conquest. And note when we mention the smaller battles, what is really beneficial for us is not the politics of which tribe was conquered, rather, the incidents that occurred in these battles and the benefits that we can derive from them, to gain small but important moral benefits, theological benefits, and fiqh benefits. So we begin with the most significant of these minor battles, the Sariyya of Dhat al-Salasil (not to be confused with the Battle of Dhat al-Salasil which refers to the downfall of the Persian Empire during the reign of Umar RA; which had Khalid b. al-Walid on one side and Rustum & Yazdegerd on the other side. And that was the end of the Sassanid Empire — so it's very important, but it's beyond the scope of the Sirah. What we will discuss is the Dhat al-Salasil during the Prophet's ﷺ time.)
This sariyya is called Sariyyat Dhat al-Salasil (سرية ذات السلاسل) because the incident took place near a pond that was called Dhat al-Salasil. (The other battle during Umar's RA reign is called Dhat al-Salasil because the prisoners were all tied up in chains [and salasil means chains], and the Muslims had so many prisoners the whole battle was called the Battle of Dhat al-Salasil.) If we hear Dhat al-Salasil, usually it's about the famous battle during Umar's RA reign led by Khalid b. al-Walid; but right now we are discussing the small incident that occurred during the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
So Amr b. al-As was given 300 men and was told to surprise attack the tribe of Quda'a. And it's very interesting he was given this leadership role despite being only 3 months old as a Muslim. Perhaps the Prophet ﷺ is wanting to test him. This is kind of demonstrated by the fact that when Amr came to the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ gazed at him "up and down" as the hadith says — this is a sign of assessing someone. And this is in fact the role of a true leader. Even us with our children, we should test them with something small, see if they pass, and if they do, we give them something bigger and so on. Here the Prophet ﷺ is testing Amr with not a major battle, but something relatively small (300 people). Note even if Amr was a new Muslim, he was NOT a new military general. He had the upbringing of his father who was a chieftain, so he had been trained like Khalid b. al-Walid and others. He had experience. So Amr was given this leadership and he was told to go to Quda'a. And it was in the winter when this occurred, so Amr traveled only at night, not during the day. Why? To ensure the enemy did not hear of his coming. And at night, even though it was freezing cold, he refused to allow the army to light a fire throughout the entire trip, so much so they all complained and Amr said to them, "If you light a fire, I will push you into it!" (And when they returned back to Madinah, they complained to the Prophet ﷺ that Amr refused them to light a fire, so Amr explained, "O Rasulullah, our quantity was limited and I didn't want the tribe to see how small we were.") So he took harsh precautions and eventually got to the outskirts of the tribe of Quda'a, and he realized 300 was not enough for an attack, so he sent a message to the Prophet ﷺ that he needs more men.
The Prophet ﷺ divided the army up. Al-Waqidi and others have a long list of which tribe did what — in general, there were three primary contingents, and each one had many smaller subgroups. On the one, the Prophet ﷺ put the Ansar in charge; on the other side, the Muhajirun; and in the middle was a mixture, and the Prophet ﷺ was in the middle group. For the Ansar, Sa'd b. Ubadah was put in charge, who is the current leader of the Ansar. (Recall the two Sa'ds were the leaders of the Ansar, but Sa'd b. Muadh died after Khandaq [see episode 59.) And the Muhajirun have Khalid b. al-Walid in charge. Al-Waqidi mentions that there were 700 Muhajirun and 4,000 Ansar — the rest of the army was from other tribes around Madinah. And as Sa'd b. Ubadah is marching, he chants out, "Today is the day of death and destruction! Today, the Kabah itself will lose its haram and become halal!"
In this immediate chaos, a small group of Qureshis banded together and decided to fight back. They literally had just minutes to run around, gather some people and get weapons. So it wasn't an organized assault against the Muslims — it was just helter-skelter. And the one in charge was Ikrimah b. Abu Jahl along with Safwan b. Umayyah and Suhayl b. Amr (the one who did Hudaybiyyah; Abu Jandal's father). So these three senior men, the remnants of the Quraysh, decided to band together and fight back. But it was doomed to failure. The books mention only a handful were killed, around 13-20 from the Quraysh; and from the Muslims, only two were killed in the flank of Khalid b. al-Walid. After this small skirmish and all threats were eliminated, the Prophet ﷺ entered Makkah.
What else did the Prophet ﷺ do during these 19 days? He sent a number of mini-expeditions around Makkah to invite the neighboring tribes to Islam and destroy the major centers of idolatry. There were two types of idols: The personal, home idol, and then the big, public, temple idol people go to. As for the idols in the homes, the Prophet ﷺ gives a general command, "Everyone destroy your own idol, get rid of them." As for the temple idols, the Prophet ﷺ sent the sahaba to get rid of them. And he sent Khalid b. al-Walid to destroy al-Uzza, the idol mentioned in the Quran [53:19]. He also sent a group to destroy Manat [idol mentioned in Quran, 53:20] and others.
All of this greatness was marred by a mini-tragedy done by one of the companions. And this, by the way, shows us that no matter how much greatness you have, there is no perfection in this world. Humans are always prone to errors and mistakes. This is the greatest time in Islam, but still, something trivial happens that mars it. And the mistake was made by Khalid b. al-Walid. Now recall, Khalid is a brand new Muslim — he converted just before the Conquest and so right now he doesn't know much fiqh. So he makes a very serious mistake.
Another cause of confusion appears to be that, the tribe of Banu Jadhimah did not say the appropriate and usual phrase. They didn't say, "Aslamna (أسلمنا - We have embraced Islam)," rather, they said, "Saba'na (صبئنا - We have embraced Sabianism)!" Recall, the Arabs would consider the new religion of Islam to be Sabianism (Sabi'un/صابئون). So when somebody embraced Islam, they would incorrectly say, "Saba'ta (صبئت - You have embraced Sabianism)!" And this is what the people of Banu Jadhimah said, "Saba'na (We have embraced Sabianism)!" Now the senior companions understood the reference and didn't do anything. But Khalid b. al-Walid did not take this into account; he didn't understand, so he ended up killing the innocents.
Who is this hadith being said to? Khalid b. al-Walid, i.e., another companion. Khalid is being told, "You had better not curse the senior companions. If you were to give a mountain of gold, it wouldn't be equal to half of what they give." If this is being said to Khalid, then where do *we* stand on that scale? No doubt, Khalid is a brand new Muslim right now, but we all know who he would eventually become — one of the most respected sahaba. So Khalid's status itself is way up there. Yet, even he was being told, "You can never reach the level of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Abd al-Rahman b. Awf, et al." So where do we stand? The context of this hadith makes us respect the sahaba —especially the senior sahaba— even more.
It's also reported that in the aftermath, when the Thaqif and Hawazin have run away, the Prophet ﷺ was walking on the battlefield and he saw that a woman had been killed. So he said, "It was not right for her to have been killed (i.e., this should not have happened)," and he said, "Who did this?" And he was told that it was Khalid b. al-Walid. So he said, "Go and catch Khalid b. al-Walid before he goes forward (i.e., he had been sent on another expedition, so go and catch him before he goes further). And tell him that he is not to kill any more women, children, or servants/elderly (i.e., those who are not fighting — civilians)." This is the famous hadith and ruling used in all of the books of fiqh to show that the Prophet ﷺ clearly forbade the killing of noncombatants.
Of the things that happened of a political nature: He sent Khalid b. al-Walid with a few hundred of the sahaba on a mini-expedition to one of the northern Arab tribes, in a small area called Dawmat al-Jandal (دومة الجندل) (40 km away from modern-day Sakaka [سكاكا] in al-Jawf [الجوف] province), close to the Syrian border. There was a very famous Christian Arab tribe, originally from Yemen, called the tribe of Kindah (كندة), and they were one of the largest and most prestigious tribes in Arabia who had a strong relationship with the Emperor of Rome. And they were known for their bravery and warriorship, and also one of the few tribes whose chieftain was called a king (ملك/malik). The Prophet ﷺ sent Khalid and said, "You will find the chieftain (named Ukaydir b. Abd al-Malik [أكيدر بن عبد الملك]) away from his entourage in the midst of some cows"—he ﷺ prophesied this bizarre scenario.
On one evening, Ukaydir was in his palace when his herd of cows came to the door of the palace and began barging against it all night long. His wife got fed up and said, "You have to stop this." Ukaydir said, "Okay, I will take care of it"—so he went himself with some servants to take the cows out. And lo and behold, Khalid b. al-Walid with 350 sahaba came and found the king in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of cows and a few servants. He was captured and brought in front of the Prophet ﷺ. He didn't convert (at the time), but he agreed to break off his relationship with the Romans, to pay the jizya to the Prophet ﷺ, and NOT to attack the Muslims. This was one of the big successes during Tabuk.
One final incident of accepting Islam also took place in the 9th year in the province of Najran. And Najran is a little bit above Yemen and south of Hejaz. It's the southernmost province of modern Saudi Arabia. To this province, our Prophet ﷺ sent Khalid b. al-Walid in the beginning of the 10th year. And he told Khalid, "Do not attack them until you give them three days and tell them they have the option of accepting Islam, or if they're Christian or Jew, they pay jizya, or they have to leave." So three days. This shows us again the mercy of the shariah that the Prophet ﷺ gave three days. So Khalid b. al-Walid sent criers to inform the people of Najran, and lo and behold, the entire province of Najran accepted Islam. And so Khalid b. al-Walid was really confused since he brought an army but there's no fighting. So he sent a letter to the Prophet ﷺ to tell him the people have all accepted Islam and asked what he should do next. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Send a delegation up to me," i.e., he wants to test them.