Incidents and expeditions

The Battle of Uhud had proved the Muslims’ vulnerability. The pagans smelled blood and did not miss a single chance to gore their wounded enemy. In subsequent events, the Muslims experienced several painful losses, some of which are outlined below.

The incident of Raj’i

In Safar, 4, A.H., a delegation of the Adal and Qara tribes came to the Prophet . They mentioned a surge of interest in Islam among their people, who wanted to know more about the faith. The Prophet sent ten of his Companions headed by Asim bin Thabit. The Muslims, who had set out to teach the tribes the basic tenets of faith and the Qur’an, learned a bitter lesson about the treachery of the polytheists. At Raj’i, the Adal and Qara set a branch of the Hudhayl tribe upon the Muslims. Nearly one hundred of their archers besieged the ten Muslims on a hill. They assured the Muslims on oath that they would not kill them, but Asim refused to descend, preferring instead to take on his enemy.

 Seven of the Muslims were killed in the encounter. Again, the attackers pledged that they would not kill the three remaining Muslims, who then surrendered and descended the hill. As they were being bound one of the three commented, “This is the first act of treachery.” He then resisted his captors’ attempts to tie him and was killed. The remaining two, Khubayb bin Aidy and Zayd bin Dathinna, were carried to Makkah and sold as slaves to their old tormentors, the Quraysh. Their lives were now no longer their own.

Khubayb had killed Harith bin Amir bin Naufal in the battle of Badr, and now Harith’s son laid claim to Khubayb’s life. Khubayb suffered in prison for some time and was then carried to Tanyeem to be slain. Before his execution he prayed two Rak’ah. He prayed for Allah’s wrath to overtake his killers, and as he faced his death he recited two couplets: “I care not if I am slain a Muslim, and I care not which side of mine is brutalised. This is for Allah, and if He so wills, He will bless the flesh of every joint.”

Abu Sufyan asked Khubayb: “Don’t you wish Muhammad were in your place and we had killed him, while you were safe with your family?”

Khubayb countered, “By Allah, I would not wish to be with my own family, if in return Muhammad were to be even pricked by a thorn.”

Khubayb was dead, and now Zayd bin Dathinna awaited death at the hands of Safwan bin Umayya. Safwan was given the right to slay Zayd in retribution for the death of his father, Umayya bin Mahrath, at Badr. Some Muslim sources have attributed the above quoted verbal encounter between Abu Sufyan and Khubayb to Zayd bin Dathinna.

The dead Muslims on the mountain ar Raj’i were also regarded as trophies by the Quraysh, who sent their men to retrieve Asim’s body. But they drew back because a swarm of hornets buzzing over the body. In this way, Allah protected Asim’s body from desecration at the hands of the polytheists. Asim had sworn never to touch a polytheist nor be touched by one, and his Lord had upheld his vow.