51. The expedition of al-Sawīq

1. Sirat Ibn Hisham 911No grade recorded

   غَزْوَةُ السَّوِيقِ [ عُدْوَانُ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ وَخُرُوجُ الرَّسُولِ فِي أَثَرِهِ ] قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُحَمِّدٍ عَبْدُ الْمَلِكِ بْنُ هِشَامٍ: قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا زِيَادُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْبَكَّائِيَّ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ إسْحَاقَ الْمُطَّلِبِيُّ، قَالَ: ثُمَّ غَزَا أَبُو سُفْيَانَ بْنُ حَرْبٍ غَزْوَةَ السَّوِيقِ فِي ذِي الْحَجَّةِ، وَوَلَّى تِلْكَ الْحَجَّةَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ مِنْ تِلْكَ السَّنَةِ، فَكَانَ أَبُو سُفْيَانَ كَمَا حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ، وَيَزِيدُ بْنُ رُومَانَ، وَمَنْ لَا أَتَّهِمُ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ كَعْبِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، وَكَانَ مِنْ أَعْلَمِ الْأَنْصَارِ، حِينَ رَجَعَ إلَى مَكَّةَ، وَرَجَعَ فَلُّ قُرَيْشٍ مِنْ بَدْرٍ، نَذَرَ أَنْ لَا يَمَسَّ رَأْسَهُ مَاءٌ مِنْ جَنَابَةٍ حَتَّى يَغْزُوَ مُحَمَّدًا ﷺ، فَخَرَجَ فِي مِئَتَيْ رَاكِبٍ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ، لِيَبَرَّ يَمِينَهُ فَسَلَكَ النَّجْدِيَّةَ، حَتَّى نَزَلَ بِصَدْرِ قَنَاةٍ إلَى جَبَلٍ يُقَالُ لَهُ: ثَيْبٌ، مِنْ الْمَدِينَةِ عَلَى بَرِيدٍ أَوْ نَحْوِهِ، ثُمَّ خَرَجَ مِنْ اللَّيْلِ، حَتَّى أَتَى بَنِي النَّضِيرِ تَحْتَ اللَّيْلِ، فَأَتَى حُيَيُّ بْنُ أَخْطَبَ، فَضَرَبَ عَلَيْهِ بَابَهُ، فَأَبَى أَنْ يَفْتَحَ لَهُ بَابَهُ وَخَافَهُ، فَانْصَرَفَ عَنْهُ إلَى سَلَّامِ بْنِ مِشْكَمٍ، وَكَانَ سَيِّدَ بَنِي النَّضِيرِ فِي زَمَانِهِ ذَلِكَ، وَصَاحِبَ كَنْزِهِمْ، فَاسْتَأْذَنَ عَلَيْهِ، فَأَذِنَ لَهُ، فَقَرَّاهُ وَسَقَاهُ، وَبَطَنَ لَهُ مِنْ خَبَرِ النَّاسِ، ثُمَّ خَرَجَ فِي عَقِبِ لَيْلَتِهِ حَتَّى أَتَى أَصْحَابَهُ، فَبَعَثَ رِجَالًا مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ إلَى الْمَدِينَةِ، فَأَتَوْا نَاحِيَةً مِنْهَا، يُقَالُ لَهَا: الْعَرِيضُ، فَحَرَقُوا فِي أَصْوَارٍ مِنْ نَخْلٍ بِهَا، وَوَجَدُوا بِهَا رَجُلًا مِنْ الْأَنْصَارِ وَحَلِيفًا لَهُ فِي حَرْثٍ لَهُمَا، فَقَتَلُوهُمَا، ثُمَّ انْصَرَفُوا رَاجِعِينَ، وَنَذِرَ بِهِمْ النَّاسُ. فَخَرَجَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ فِي طَلَبِهِمْ، وَاسْتَعْمَلَ عَلَى الْمَدِينَةِ بَشِيرَ بْنَ عَبْدِ الْمُنْذِرِ، وَهُوَ أَبُو لُبَابَةَ، فِيمَا قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ، حَتَّى بَلَغَ قَرْقَرَةَ الْكُدْرِ، ثُمَّ انْصَرَفَ رَاجِعًا، وَقَدْ فَاتَهُ أَبُو سُفْيَانَ وَأَصْحَابُهُ، وَقَدْ رَأَوْا أَزْوَادًا مِنْ أَزْوَادِ الْقَوْمِ قَدْ طَرَحُوهَا فِي الْحَرْثِ يَتَخَفَّفُونَ مِنْهَا لِلنَّجَاءِ، فَقَالَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ، حَيْنَ رَجَعَ بِهِمْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، أَتَطْمَعُ لَنَا أَنْ تَكُونَ غَزْوَةً ؟ قَالَ: نَعَمْ.

   ✧ The expedition of al-Sawīq (Abū Sufyān's act of aggression and the Messenger's setting out in pursuit of him). He said: Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik b. Hishām narrated to us: he said: Ziyād b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Bakkāʾī narrated to us, from Muḥammad b. Isḥāq al-Muṭṭalibī, who said: Then Abū Sufyān b. Ḥarb raided the expedition of al-Sawīq in Dhū al-Ḥijjah, and the polytheists presided over that pilgrimage of that year. Abū Sufyān, as Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar b. al-Zubayr, Yazīd b. Rūmān, and one whom I do not suspect narrated to me, from ʿAbd Allāh b. Kaʿb b. Mālik, who was among the most learned of the Anṣār, when he returned to Makkah and the remnant of Quraysh returned from Badr, vowed that no water from major impurity should touch his head until he raided Muḥammad ﷺ. So he went out with two hundred riders of Quraysh to fulfill his oath, and he took the Najdiyyah route until he halted at the upper part of Qanāh, by a mountain called Thayb, about a barīd or so from Madinah. Then he went out at night until he came to the Banū al-Naḍīr under cover of night, and he came to Ḥuyayy b. Akhṭab and knocked on his door, but he refused to open his door for him and feared him. So he turned away from him to Sallām b. Mishkam, who was the chief of the Banū al-Naḍīr in that time of his and the keeper of their treasure. He asked permission to enter, and he gave him permission, and he entertained him and gave him drink, and he divulged to him some news of the people. Then he went out at the end of that night until he came to his companions. Then he sent men of Quraysh to Madinah, and they came to a district of it called al-ʿArīḍ, and they burned some enclosures of palm trees there, and they found there a man of the Anṣār and an ally of his in a field belonging to them, and they killed the two of them. Then they departed back, and the people became aware of them. So the Messenger of God ﷺ went out in pursuit of them, and he appointed Bashīr b. ʿAbd al-Mundhir, who is Abū Lubābah, as governor over Madinah, as Ibn Hishām said, until he reached Qarqarat al-Kudr. Then he turned back, and Abū Sufyān and his companions had eluded him, and they had seen some provisions of the people that they had thrown into the field, lightening themselves of them for the sake of escape. The Muslims said, when the Messenger of God ﷺ returned with them: O Messenger of God, do you hope that it may be reckoned as an expedition for us? He said: Yes.

2. Sirat Ibn Hisham 912No grade recorded

   [ سَبَبُ تَسْمِيَتِهَا بِغَزْوَةِ السَّوِيقِ ] قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: وَإِنَّمَا سُمِّيَتْ غَزْوَةَ السَّوِيقِ، فِيمَا حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ: أَنَّ أَكْثَرَ مَا طَرَحَ الْقَوْمُ مِنْ أَزْوَادِهِمْ السَّوِيقُ، فَهَجَمَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ عَلَى سَوِيقٍ كَثِيرٍ، فَسُمِّيَتْ غَزْوَةَ السَّوِيقِ. [ شِعْرُ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ فِيهَا ] قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَقَالَ أَبُو سُفْيَانَ بْنُ حَرْبٍ عِنْدَ مُنْصَرَفِهِ، لِمَا صَنَعَ بِهِ سَلَّامُ بْنُ مِشْكَمٍ: وَإِنِّي تَخَيَّرْتُ الْمَدِينَةَ وَاحِدًا لِحِلْفٍ فَلَمْ أَنْدَمْ وَلَمْ أَتَلَوَّمْ سَقَانِي فَرَوَانِي كُمَيْتًا مُدَامَةً عَلَى عَجَلٍ مِنِّي سَلَّامُ بْنُ مِشْكَمٍ وَلَمَّا تَوَلَّى الْجَيْشُ قُلْتُ وَلَمْ أَكُنْ لِأُفْرِحَهُ أَبْشِرْ بِعَزٍّ وَمَغْنَمِ تَأَمَّلْ فَإِنَّ الْقَوْمَ سُرَّ وَإِنَّهُمْ صَرِيحُ لُؤَيٍّ لَا شَمَاطِيطُ جُرْهُمِ وَمَا كَانَ إلَّا بَعْضُ لَيْلَةِ رَاكِبٍ أَتَى سَاعِيًا مِنْ غَيْرِ خَلَّةِ مُعْدِمِ

   ✧ [The reason for its being named the expedition of al-Sawīq] Ibn Hishām said: It was named the expedition of al-Sawīq because, as Abū ʿUbaydah narrated to me, most of what the people threw away from their provisions was sawīq, and the Muslims came upon much sawīq, so it was called the expedition of al-Sawīq. [Abū Sufyān's poem about it] Ibn Isḥāq said: Abū Sufyān b. Ḥarb said upon his return, because of what Sallām b. Mishkam did for him: I chose Madinah alone for an alliance, and I did not regret nor linger. Sallām b. Mishkam gave me to drink, and he quenched my thirst, a dark red wine, in my haste. When the army turned away, I said—and I would not have rejoiced him—"Rejoice in might and booty." Reflect, for the people were glad, and they are the pure stock of Luʾayy, not scattered bands of Jurhum. It was but part of a night of a rider who came striving, without any want of a destitute man.