The Sealed Nectar (55 page)

As soon as they mounted and started moving the Messenger [pbuh] said:

"Say! Here we are returning, repenting, worshipping (Allâh) and to our Lord
we offer praise."

When the Messenger of Allâh was asked to invoke Allâh against Thaqif, he said:

"O Allâh, guide Thaqif and bring them to us as Muslims."

The Distribution of the Booty at Al-Ji‘ranah

Upon returning and lifting the siege in Ta’if, the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] had stayed over ten nights at Al- Ji‘ranah before starting to distribute the booty.

Distribution delay was due to the Prophet’s hope that Hawazin’s delegation might arrive and announce their repentance and consequently reclaim their loss. Seeing that none of them arrived, he started dividing the booty so as to calm down the tribes’ chiefs and the celebrities of Makkah. The first to receive booty and the ones 263

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who obtained the greatest number of shares were the people who had recently embraced Islam.

Abu Sufyan bin Harb was given a hundred camels and forty (gold) ounces and yet he said, "What about my son, Yazeed’s Share?" So he was given the same quantity for his son as well. But yet he exclaimed: "And what about the share of Mu‘âwiyah, my second son?" So the Prophet [pbuh] gave Mu‘âwiyah as much as he gave his father and brother. Hakeem bin Hizam was given a hundred camels, but he was given a hundred more when he demanded. Safwan bin Omaiyah was given three hundred camels - a hundred camels at each time. It is thus mentioned in Shifâ’ [Ash- Shifa 1/86], Book by Qadi Iyadh. The Prophet [pbuh] gave Al- Harith bin Harith bin Kilda a hundred camels. He also gave some chiefs of Quraish and other clans a hundred camels; he gave others fifty and some others had forty.

Eventually it was spread among people that "Muhammad grants generously and fears not to grow poor." This made bedouins gather around him expecting to be given some wealth. They were so many that they forced the Prophet [pbuh] to seek refuge against a tree and they even took away his garment, "O people!" He said,

"Give me back my garment! For I swear by the One in Whose Hand is Muhammad’s soul, that if I had as many numerous camels as the number of Tihama trees, I would distribute them among you. You know quite well that I am neither mean nor coward or a liar." Standing by his camel he plucked out a hair of his camel’s hump and held it between his two fingers, lifted it up and said: "O people, I swear by Allâh that I get nothing but one- fifth of your booty, and this very fifth goes back to you."

As soon as he had given the new converts, the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] ordered Zaid bin Thabit to fetch the booty and summon people. Then he ordained shares to people. A footman’s share was four camels and forty sheep, and a horseman would take twelve camels and a hundred and twenty sheep. This distribution of booty was based on a wise policy. In this world there are lots of people who know the truth only when it comes through their stomachs and they do not recognize it if it comes through their brains. The similitude of such people is as the guidance of an animal to its herd by means of a bunch of clover held at a constant distance off its mouth. The animal would try all the time to catch it, so it would eventually go into the herd safely. In the same way you have to do various kinds of temptations to make certain kind of people familiarize Islam and be pleased with. [Fiqh As-Seerah p.298,299]

The Helpers (Al-Ansar) are furious at the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]

At first the Prophet’s policy of distribution was uncomprehended by many a man.

Therefore sharp- tongued people started expressing their objections. The Helpers were among those who were afflicted by this policy. They were deprived of Hunain gifts though they had been the ones who were summoned at Hunain hard times and they were the first to rush to fight with the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] and standfast till the defeat turned into victory. Now here they are watching those who escaped fill their hands with booty while they are given nothing.

On the authority of Ibn Ishaq: "When the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] had given Quraish and Arab tribes those gifts and allotted nothing to the Helpers, a group of the Helpers felt so uneasy about it that a lot of ill- statements against the Prophet

[pbuh] were spread among them to an extent that one of them said: "By Allâh, the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] was ill- spoken of by his folksmen!" And those ill-264

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statements went on spreading till Sa‘d bin ‘Ubadah met the Messenger of Allâh

[pbuh], who in his turn faced his people after a while.

Sa‘d bin ‘Ubadah said: "O Messenger of Allâh, this group of the Helpers are furious at you about the distribution of the booty that you had won. You have allotted shares to your own kinsmen and forwarded lots of gifts to the Arab tribes. But this group has obtained nothing." The Prophet [pbuh] asked Sa‘d exclaiming: "Sa‘d, what do you think of all that?" Sa‘d replied: "O Messenger of Allâh. You know that I am nothing but a member of this group." "Call out on your people and bring them forth to me into this shed." Said the Prophet [pbuh].

So Sa‘d went out and summoned them. When some Emigrants came, he let them in but forbade others. When they were all gathered together, he informed the Prophet saying: "This group of the Helpers have just arrived to meet you in compliance with your orders." As soon as the Messenger [pbuh] faced them he thanked Allâh and praised Him, then said to them inquiring, "I have been told that you are angry with me. Didn’t I come to you when you were astray and Allâh guided you? You were poor and Allâh gave you wealth. Weren’t you foes and Allâh made you love one another."

"Yes," they said, "Allâh and His Messenger are better and more gracious." Then he said: "What prevents you from replying to the Messenger of Allâh, O tribe of Helpers?" They said, "What should be the reply, O Messenger of Allâh, while to the Lord and to his Messenger belong all benevolence and grace."

The Prophet [pbuh] again said:

"But by Allâh, you might have answered and answered truly, for I would
have testified to its truth myself: ‘You came to us belied and rejected and
we accepted you; you came to us as helpless and we helped you; a fugitive,
and we took you in; poor and we comforted you’.

You Helpers, do you feel anxious for the things of this world, wherewith I
have sought to incline these people unto the Faith in which you are already
established?

Are you not satisfied, O group of Helpers that the people go with ewes and
camels while you go along with the Messenger of Allâh ([pbuh]) to your
dwellings. By Him in Whose Hand is my life, had there been no migration, I
would have been one of the Helpers. If the people would go through a valley
and passage, and the Helpers go through another valley and passage, I
would go through the valley and passage of the Helpers. Allâh! Have mercy
on the Helpers, their children and their children’s children."

The audience wept until tears rolled down their beards as they said:

"Yes, we are satisfied, O Prophet of Allâh ([pbuh] )! with our lot and share."

Then the Prophet [pbuh] left the gathering and the people also dispersed. [Ibn Hisham 2/499,500; and like this quoted by Bukhari 2/620, 621]

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Arrival of the Hawazin Delegation

Hawazin’s delegation arrived a Muslims just after the distribution of spoils. They were fourteen men headed by Zuhair bin Sard. The Messenger’s foster uncle was one of them. They asked him to bestow upon them some of the wealth and spoils. They uttered so touching words that the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] said to them: "You surely see who are with me. The most desirable speech to me is the most truthful.

Which is dearer to you, your wealth or your women and children?" They replied:

"Nothing whatsoever compares with kinship." Then when I perform the noon prayer, stand up and say: "We intercede with the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] to exhort the believers, and we intercede with the believers to exhort the Messenger of Allâh

[pbuh] to forego the captives of our people fallen to their lot." So when the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] performed the noon prayer, they stood up and said what they had been told to say. The Messenger [pbuh], then, said: "As for what belongs to me and to the children of Abdul Muttalib, you may consider them, from now on, yours. And I will ask my folksmen to give back theirs." Upon hearing that the Emigrants and the Helpers said: "What belongs to us is, from now on, offered to the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]." But Al- Aqra‘ bin Habis said, "We will grant none of what belongs to me and to Bani Tamim,"; so did ‘Uyaina bin Hisn, who said: "As for me and Bani Fazarah, I say ‘No’." Al- ‘Abbas bin Mirdas also refused and said: "No" for Bani Saleem and him. His people, however, said otherwise: "Whatever spoils belong to us we offer to the Messenger of Allâh ([pbuh].)" "You have undermined my position." Said Al- ‘Abbas bin Mirdas spontaneously. Then the Messenger of Allâh

[pbuh] said: "These people have come to you as Muslims. For this I have already tarried the distribution of the booty. Besides, I have granted them a fair option but they refused to have anything other than their women and children. Therefore he who has some of theirs and will prefer willingly to give them back, let them do. But those who favours to keep what he owns to himself, let them grant them back too, and he will be given as a recompense six times as much from the first booty that Allâh may provide us." People then said, "We will willingly offer them all for the sake of the Messenger of Allâh." The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] said: "But in this way we are not able to find out who is content and who is not. So go back and we will be waiting for your chiefs to convey to us your decisions." All of them gave back the women and children. The only one who refused to comply with the Messenger’s desire was ‘Uyaina bin Hisn. He refused to let an old woman of theirs go back at first.

Later on he let her go back. The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] gave every captive a garment as a gift.

Lesser Pilgrimage (Al-‘Umrah) to Makkah and leaving for Madinah
Having accomplished the distribution of the spoils at Al- Ji‘ranah he left it while wearing
Al- ‘Umrah
clothes and proceeded to Makkah to perform
Al- ‘Umrah.
The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] turned back from there to Madinah after appointing ‘Itab bin Usaid on Makkah as governor. His arrival to Madinah was by the last six nights of Dhul- Qa‘dah, in the year 8 A.H. On this occasion Muhammad Al- Ghazali said:

"What a great change it is between the victorious period of Muhammad at present which Allâh has towered with a manifest conquest, and that period of the past during which Muhammad first arrived at this town, eight years ago."

When he first came to Madinah, he was pursued and wanted. He was seeking a secure shelter. He was a lonely stranger who sought companionship and comfort.

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The people of Madinah welcomed him, gave him residence and aided him and embraced the light of Islam, which had been sent down upon him. They, for his sake, did not care about the enmity of other peoples. Here he is entering Madinah again, after the lapse of eight years of that first visit. Madinah, the town that had received him once, when he was a frightened Emigrant; it receives him once again when Makkah has become in his hands and at his disposal. It is Makkah that has got rid of its pride and
Jahiliyah
(i.e. pre- Islamic period and traditions). It is now proud again and mighty in Islam. The Messenger of Allâh forgave all the errors and wrongs of its people.

"Verily, he who fears Allâh with obedience to Him (by abstaining from sins
and evil deeds, and by performing righteous good deeds), and is patient,
then surely, Allâh makes not the reward of the good- doers to be lost."
[Al-Qur'an 12:90] [Fiqh- us- Seerah 303; Za'd Al- Ma'ad 2/160- 201; Ibn Hisham 2/389-501; Sahih Bukhari: Chapter Fath Ghazwal, Hunian, Awtas and At- Ta'if 2/612- 622.

Fath Al- Bari 8/3- 58]

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Missions and Platoons

After the Conquest

Upon returning from this long successful travel, the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]

stayed in Madinah where he received delegates and dispatched agents and appointed preachers and callers to Islam everywhere. Those whose hearts were still full of prejudice against Islam and therefore were too proud to embrace Allâh’s religion, were decisively muffled on their non- acquiescence in the
status quo
prevalent then in Arabia.

Here is a mini- image about the believed ones. We have already stated that the Messenger’s arrival in Madinah was by the last days of the eighth year of Al- Hijra. No sooner the crescent of Muharram of the ninth year turned up than the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] dispatched the believed ones, to the tribes as shown in the list below: 1. ‘Uyaina bin Hisn

to Bani Tamim.

2. Yazeed bin Husain

to Aslam and Ghifar.

3. ‘Abbad bin Bishr Al- Ashhali

to Sulaim and Muzainah.

4. Rafi‘ bin Mukaith

to Juhainah.

5. ‘Amr bin Al- ‘As

to Bani Fazarah.

6. Ad- Dahhak bin Sufyan

to Bani Kilab.

7. Basheer bin Sufyan

to Bani Ka‘b.

8. Ibn Al- Lutabiyah Al- Azdi

to Bani Dhubyan.

to Sana‘a’ (Al- Aswad Al- ‘Ansi called at him

9. Al- Muhajir bin Abi Omaiyah

when he was in it).

10. Ziyad bin Labid

to Hadramout.

11. ‘Adi bin Hatim

to Tai’ and Bani Asad.

12. Malik bin Nuwairah

to Bani Hanzalah.

13. Az- Zabraqan bin Badr

to Bani Sa‘d (a portion of them).

14. Qais bin ‘Asim

to Bani Sa‘d (a portion of them).

15. Al- ‘Alâ’ bin Al- Hadrami

to Al- Bahrain.