Tarikh (al-Tabari) 1406
The Expedition of Muʾtah
قَالَ ابْنُ إِسْحَاقَ: ثُمَّ أَخَذَ الرَّايَةَ ثَابِتُ بْنُ أَقْرَمَ أَخُو بَنِي الْعَجْلَانِ فَقَالَ: يَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ اصْطَلِحُوا عَلَى رَجُلٍ مِنْكُمْ. فَقَالُوا: أَنْتَ. قَالَ: مَا أَنَا بِفَاعِلٍ. فَاصْطَلَحَ النَّاسُ عَلَى خَالِدِ بْنِ الْوَلِيدِ. وَرَوَى الطَّبَرَانِيُّ عَنْ أَبِي الْيُسْرِ الْأَنْصَارِيِّ ؓ قَالَ: أَنَا دَفَعْتُ الرَّايَةَ إِلَى ثَابِتِ بْنِ أَقْرَمَ لَمَّا أُصِيبَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ رَوَاحَةَ فَدَفَعْتُ إِلَى خَالِدٍ وَقَالَ [لَهُ ثَابِتُ بْنُ أَقْرَمَ] أَنْتَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْقِتَالِ مِنِّي. قَالَ ابْنُ إِسْحَاقَ: «فَلَمَّا أَخَذَ الرَّايَةَ خَالِدَ بْنَ الْوَلِيدِ دَافَعَ الْقَوْمُ وَحَاشَى بِهِمْ ثُمَّ انْحَازَ وَانْحِيزَ عَنْهُ وَانْصَرَفَ بِالنَّاسِ». هَكَذَا ذَكَرَ ابْنُ إِسْحَاقَ أَنَّهُ لَمْ يَكُنْ إِلَّا الْمُحَاشَاةُ وَالتَّخَلُّصُ مِنْ أَيْدِي الرُّومِ الَّذِينَ كَانُوا مَعَ مَنِ انْضَمَّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ مِائَتَيْ أَلْفٍ وَالْمُسْلِمُونَ ثَلَاثَةُ آلَافٍ. وَوَافَقَ ابْنَ إِسْحَاقَ عَلَى ذَلِكَ شِرْذِمَةٌ. وَعَلَى هَذَا سُمِّيَ هَذَا نَصْرًا وَفَتْحًا بِاعْتِبَارِ مَا كَانُوا فِيهِ مِنْ إِحَاطَةِ الْعَدُوِّ وَتَرَاكُمِهِمْ وَتَكَاثُرِهِمْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكَانَ مُقْتَضَى الْعَادَةِ أَنْ يُقْتَلُوا بِالْكُلِّيَّةِ وَهُوَ مُحْتَمَلٌ لَكِنَّهُ خِلَافُ الظَّاهِرِ مِنْ قَوْلِهِ ﷺ: «حَتَّى فَتَحَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ». وَالْأَكْثَرُونَ عَلَى أَنَّ خَالِدًا وَمَنْ مَعَهُ ؓ قَاتَلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَتَّى هَزَمُوهُمْ. فَفِي حَدِيثِ أَبِي عَامِرٍ عِنْدَ ابْنِ سَعْدٍ أَنَّ خَالِدًا لَمَّا أَخَذَ اللِّوَاءَ «حَمَلَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ فَهَزَمَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَسْوَأَ هَزِيمَةٍ رَأَيْتُهَا قَطُّ حَتَّى وَضَعَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ أَسْيَافَهُمْ حَيْثُ شَاءُوا». وَعَنْ مُوسَى بْنِ عُقْبَةَ قَالَ: ثُمَّ اصْطَلَحَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ بَعْدَ أُمَرَاءِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ عَلَى خَالِدِ بْنِ الْوَلِيدِ الْمَخْزُومِيِّ فَهَزَمَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى الْعَدُوَّ وَأَظْهَرَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ. وَرَوَى مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُمَرَ الْأَسْلَمِيُّ عَنْ عَطَّافِ بْنِ خَالِدٍ لَمَّا قُتِلَ ابْنُ رَوَاحَةَ مَسَاءً بَاتَ خَالِدُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ، فَلَمَّا أَصْبَحَ غَدَا وَقَدْ جَعَلَ مُقَدِّمَتَهُ سَاقَتَهُ وَسَاقَتَهُ مُقَدِّمَتَهُ وَمَيْمَنَتَهُ مَيْسَرَةً وَمَيْسَرَتَهُ مَيْمَنَةً، فَأَنْكَرُوا مَا كَانُوا يَعْرِفُونَ مِنْ رَايَاتِهِمْ وَهَيْئَاتِهِمْ وَقَالُوا وَقَدْ جَاءَهُمْ مَدَدٌ فَرُعِبُوا وَانْكَشَفُوا مُنْهَزِمِينَ. قَالَ: فَقُتِلُوا مَقْتَلَةً لَمْ يُقْتَلْهَا قَوْمٌ. وَذَكَرَ ابْنُ عَائِذٍ فِي مُغَازِيهِ نَحْوَهُ. وَرَوَى مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُمَرَ عَنِ الْحَارِثِ بْنِ الْفَضْلِ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: لَمَّا أَخَذَ خَالِدُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ الرَّايَةَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: «الْآنَ حَمِيَ الْوَطِيسُ». ثُمَّ رَفَعَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ أُصْبُعَهُ، ثُمَّ قَالَ: «اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّهُ سَيْفٌ مِنْ سُيُوفِكَ فَانْصُرْهُ». فَمِنْ يَوْمِئِذٍ سُمِّيَ خَالِدُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ «سَيْفَ اللَّهِ» ، وَعَنْ عَوْفِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ الْأَشْجَعِيِّ ؓ قَالَ: «خَرَجْتُ [مَعَ مَنْ خَرَجَ] مَعَ زَيْدِ بْنِ حَارِثَة ؓ فِي غَزْوَةِ مُؤْتَةَ وَرَافَقَنِي مَدَدِيٌّ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِنَ الْيَمَنِ، لَيْسَ مَعَهُ غَيْرُ سَيْفِهِ. فَنَحَرَ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ جَزُورًا فَسَأَلَهُ الْمَدَدِيُّ طَائِفَةً مِنْ جِلْدٍ، فَأَعْطَاهُ إِيَّاهُ فَاتَّخَذَهُ كَهَيْئَةِ الدَّرَقَةِ، وَمَضَيْنَا وَلَقِينَا جُمُوعَ الرُّومِ فِيهِمْ رَجُلٌ عَلَى فَرَسٍ لَهُ أَشْقَرَ، عَلَيْهِ سَرْجٌ مُذَهَّبٌ وَسِلَاحٌ مُذَهَّبٌ، فَجَعَلَ الرُّومِيُّ يَغْزُو الْمُسْلِمِينَ، فَقَعَدَ لَهُ الْمَدَدِيُّ خَلْفَ صَخْرَةٍ فَمَرَّ بِهِ الرُّومِيُّ فَعَرْقَبَ فَرَسَهُ بِسَيْفِهِ وَخَرَّ الرُّومِيُّ فَعَلَاهُ بِسَيْفِهِ فَقَتَلَهُ وَحَازَ سِلَاحَهُ وَفَرَسَهُ. فَلَمَّا فَتَحَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَلَى الْمُسْلِمِينَ بَعَثَ إِلَيْهِ خَالِدُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ فَأَخَذَ مِنْهُ بَعْضَ السَّلَبِ. قَالَ عَوْفٌ، فَأَتَيْتُ خَالِدًا وَقُلْتُ لَهُ: أَمَا عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَضَى بِالسَّلَبِ لِلْقَاتِلِ ؟ قَالَ: بَلَى وَلَكِنِّي اسْتَكْثَرْتُهُ. فَقُلْتُ لَتَرُدُّنَّهُ أَوْ لَأَعُرِّفَنَّكَهَا عِنْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ. فَأَبِي أَنْ يَرُدَّ عَلَيْهِ. قَالَ عَوْفٌ: فَاجْتَمَعْنَا عِنْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَقَصَصْتُ عَلَيْهِ قِصَّةَ الْمَدَدِيَّ وَمَا فَعَلَ خَالِدٌ، فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: «مَا صَنَعْتَ ؟ » قَالَ: اسْتَكْثَرْتُهُ. قَالَ: «رُدَّ عَلَيْهِ مَا أَخَذْتَ مِنْهُ». قَالَ عَوْفٌ: دُونَكَهَا يَا خَالِدُ أَلَمْ أَفِ لَكَ ؟ [فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: «وَمَا ذَاكَ ؟ » فَأَخْبَرْتُهُ]. فَغَضِبَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ وَقَالَ: «يَا خَالِدُ لَا تَرُدَّ عَلَيْهِ هَلْ أَنْتُمْ تَارِكُونَ أُمَرَائِي لَكُمْ صَفْوَةُ أَمْرِهِمْ وَعَلَيْهِمْ كَدَرُهُ». [ كَاهِنَةُ حَدَسٍ وَإِنْذَارُهَا قَوْمَهَا ] قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَقَدْ كَانَتْ كَاهِنَةٌ مِنْ حَدَسٍ حِينَ سَمِعَتْ بِجَيْشِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ مُقْبِلًا، قَدْ قَالَتْ لِقَوْمِهَا مِنْ حَدَسٍ، وَقَوْمُهَا بَطْنٌ يُقَالُ لَهُمْ بَنُو غَنْمٍ أُنْذِرُكُمْ قَوْمًا خُزْرًا، يَنْظُرُونَ شَزْرًا، وَيَقُودُونَ الْخَيْلَ تَتْرَى، ويُهْرِيقُونَ دَمًا عَكْرًا. فَأَخَذُوا بِقَوْلِهَا، وَاعْتَزَلُوا مِنْ بَيْنِ لَخْمٍ ؟ فَلَمْ تَزَلْ بَعْدُ أَثْرَى حَدَسٍ. وَكَانَ الَّذِينَ صَلَوْا الْحَرْبَ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَنُو ثَعْلَبَةَ، بَطْنٌ مِنْ حَدَسٍ فَلَمْ يَزَالُوا قَلِيلًا بَعْدُ. فَلَمَّا انْصَرَفَ خَالِدٌ بِالنَّاسِ أَقْبَلَ بِهِمْ قَافِلًا.
Translation
✧ Ibn Isḥāq said: Then Thābit b. Aqram, brother of the Banū al-ʿAjlān, took the banner, and he said: “O assembly of Muslims, agree upon a man among you.” They said: “You.” He said: “I will not do it.” So the people agreed upon Khālid b. al-Walīd. Al-Ṭabarānī narrated from Abū al-Yusr al-Anṣārī ؓ, who said: I handed the banner to Thābit b. Aqram when ʿAbd Allāh b. Rawāḥah was struck, and he handed it to Khālid. Thābit b. Aqram said to him: “You are more knowledgeable in fighting than I.” Ibn Isḥāq said: “When Khālid b. al-Walīd took the banner, he defended the people and protected them with it, then he withdrew and was withdrawn from, and departed with the people.” Thus Ibn Isḥāq mentioned that there was nothing but protection and extrication from the hands of the Byzantines, who, together with those who joined them, were more than two hundred thousand, while the Muslims were three thousand. A small group concurred with Ibn Isḥāq on that. On this basis, this was called a victory and a conquest, considering the situation they were in—the enemy surrounding them, massing against them, and outnumbering them—such that the ordinary expectation was that they would be utterly slain. This is possible, but it contradicts the apparent meaning of his ﷺ saying: “until Allah granted you victory.” The majority hold that Khālid and those with him ؓ fought the polytheists until they routed them. In the ḥadīth of Abū ʿĀmir recorded by Ibn Saʿd, when Khālid took the banner, “he charged against the people and Allah routed them with the worst rout I have ever seen, until the Muslims put their swords wherever they wished.” From Mūsā b. ʿUqbah, who said: Then the Muslims, after the commanders of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, agreed upon Khālid b. al-Walīd al-Makhzūmī, and Allah Almighty routed the enemy and gave the Muslims victory. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-Aslamī narrated from ʿAṭṭāf b. Khālid: When Ibn Rawāḥah was killed in the evening, Khālid b. al-Walīd spent the night. When morning came, he went forth, having placed his vanguard in the rear and his rear in the vanguard, his right wing on the left and his left wing on the right. They disapproved of what they knew of their banners and their formations, and they said: “Reinforcements have come to them,” so they were terrified and fell back in rout. He said: They were slain with a slaughter such as no people had ever been slain. Ibn ʿĀʾidh mentioned something similar in his Maghāzī. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar narrated from al-Ḥārith b. al-Faḍl, may Allah Almighty have mercy on him: When Khālid b. al-Walīd took the banner, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Now the battle has grown hot.” Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ raised his finger and said: “O Allah, he is one of Your swords, so grant him victory.” From that day, Khālid b. al-Walīd was named “Sword of Allah.” From ʿAwf b. Mālik al-Ashjaʿī ؓ, who said: “I set out [with those who set out] with Zayd b. Ḥārithah ؓ on the expedition of Muʾtah, and a Madadī Muslim from Yemen accompanied me, having nothing with him but his sword. A man among the Muslims slaughtered a camel, and the Madadī asked him for a piece of its hide. He gave it to him, and he fashioned it like a leather shield. We proceeded and met the hosts of the Byzantines, among whom was a man on a chestnut horse, with a gilded saddle and gilded weapons. The Byzantine kept raiding the Muslims, so the Madadī lay in wait for him behind a rock. The Byzantine passed by him, and he hamstrung his horse with his sword. The Byzantine fell, and he set upon him with his sword and killed him, taking his weapons and his horse. When Allah Almighty granted the Muslims victory, Khālid b. al-Walīd sent for him and took some of the spoils from him.” ʿAwf said: I went to Khālid and said to him: “Do you not know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ decreed the spoils to the killer?” He said: “Yes, but I considered it too much.” I said: “You shall return it to him, or I will make it known to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” He refused to return it to him. ʿAwf said: We gathered before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and I related to him the story of the Madadī and what Khālid had done. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “What did you do?” He said: “I considered it too much.” He said: “Return to him what you took from him.” ʿAwf said: “Here you are, Khālid—did I not fulfill my promise to you?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “And what is that?” I told him. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ became angry and said: “O Khālid, do not return it to him. Will you leave my commanders alone? The best of their affairs is for you, and its bitterness is upon them.” [A soothsayer of Ḥadas and her warning to her people] Ibn Isḥāq said: There was a soothsayer of Ḥadas who, when she heard of the army of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ approaching, said to her people of Ḥadas—her people being a sub-tribe called Banū Ghanm: “I warn you of a people with narrow eyes, who look askance, who drive horses in succession, and who shed dark blood.” They heeded her words and withdrew from among Lakhm, and after that, Ḥadas remained the wealthiest. The ones who endured the heat of war that day were Banū Thaʿlabah, a sub-tribe of Ḥadas, and they remained few thereafter. When Khālid departed with the people, he brought them back as a returning force.
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