The Army of Islam at Tabuk

arriving at tabuk and camping there, the muslim army was ready to face the enemy. there, the messenger of allâh [pbuh] delivered an eloquent speech that included the most inclusive words. in that speech he urged the muslims to seek the welfare of this world and the world to come. he warned and cherished them and gave them good tidings. by doing that he cherished those who were broken in spirits, and blocked up the gap of shortage and mess they were suffering from due to lack of supplies, food and other substances.

upon learning of the muslims’ march, the byzantines and their allies were so terrified that none of them dared set out to fight. on the contrary they scattered inside their territory. it brought, in itself, a good credit to the muslim forces. that had gained military reputation in the mid and remote lands of arabian peninsula. the great and serious political profits that the muslim forces had obtained, were far better than the ones they could have acquired if the two armies had been engaged in military confrontation.

the head of ailah, yahna bin rawbah came to the messenger of allâh [pbuh], made peace with him and paid him the tribute (al-jizya). both of jarba’ and adhruh peoples paid him tribute, as well. so the messenger of allâh [pbuh] gave each a guarantee letter, similar to yahna’s, in which he says:

"in the name of allâh, the most beneficent, the most merciful.

this is a guarantee of protection from allâh and muhammad the prophet, the messenger of allâh, to yahna bin rawbah and the people of ailah; their ships, their caravans on land and sea shall have the custody of allâh and the prophet muhammad, he and whosoever are with him of ash-sham people and those of the sea. whosoever contravenes this treaty, his wealth shall not save him; it shall be the fair prize of him that takes it. now it should not be lawful to hinder the men from any springs which they have been in the habit of frequenting, nor from any journeys they desire to make, whether by sea or by land."

the messenger of allâh [pbuh] dispatched khalid bin al-waleed at the head of four hundred and fifty horsemen to ‘ukaidir dumat al-jandal and said to him: "you will see him hunting oryxes." so when khalid drew near his castle and was as far as an eye-sight range, he saw the oryxes coming out rubbing their horns against the castle gate. as it was a moony night khalid could see ukaidir come out to hunt them, so he captured him — though he was surrounded by his men — and brought him back to the messenger of allâh [pbuh], who spared his life and made peace with him for the payment of two thousand camels, eight hundred heads of cattle, four hundred armours and four hundred lances. he obliged him to recognize the duty of paying tribute and charged him with collecting it from dumat, tabuk, ailah and taima’.

the tribes, who used to ally the byzantines, became quite certain that their dependence oinn their former masters came to an end. therefore they turned into being pro-muslims. the islamic state had therefore enlarged its borders to an extent that it, touched the byzantines’ and their agents’ borders. so we see that the byzantine agents role was over.