Tarikh (al-Tabari) 1555
The Expedition of Tabūk
ذِكْرُ مُشَاوَرَتِهِ ﷺ أَصْحَابَهُ فِي مُجَاوَزَةِ تَبُوكَ إِلَى نَحْوِ دِمَشْقَ قَالَ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُمَرَ - رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: شَاوَرَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ أَصْحَابَهُ فِي التَّقَدُّمِ، فَقَالَ عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، إِنْ كُنْتَ أُمِرْتَ بِالْمَسِيرِ فَسِرْ، فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: لَوْ أُمِرْتُ بِالْمَسِيرِ لَمَا اسْتَشَرْتُكُمْ فِيهِ فَقَالَ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ لِلرُّومِ جُمُوعًا كَثِيرَةً، وَلَيْسَ بِهَا أَحَدٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْإِسْلَامِ، وَقَدْ دَنَوْنَا مِنْهُمْ، وَقَدْ أَفْزَعَهُمْ دُنُوُّكَ، فَلَوْ رَجَعْنَا هَذِهِ السَّنَةَ حَتَّى تَرَى أَوْ يُحْدِثَ اللَّهُ لَكَ أَمْرًا. وَرَوَى الْبَيْهَقِيُّ وَغَيْرُهُ بِسَنَدٍ جَيِّدٍ عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ غَنَمٍ: أَنَّ الْيَهُودَ أَتَوْا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَوْمًا فَقَالُوا: يَا أَبَا الْقَاسِمِ، إِنْ كُنْتَ صَادِقًا أَنَّكَ نَبِيٌّ فَالْحَقْ بِالشَّامِ، فَإِنَّ الشَّامَ أَرْضُ الْمَحْشَرِ وَأَرْضُ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ، فَصَدَّقَ مَا قَالُوا، فَغَزَا غَزْوَةَ تَبُوكَ لَا يُرِيدُ إِلَّا الشَّامَ، فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ تَبُوكَ أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى آيَاتٍ مِنْ سُورَةِ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ بَعْدَ مَا خُتِمَتِ السُّورَةُ وَإِنْ كَادُوا لَيَسْتَفِزُّونَكَ مِنَ الأَرْضِ لِيُخْرِجُوكَ مِنْهَا وَإِذًا لا يَلْبَثُونَ خِلافَكَ إِلا قَلِيلا سُنَّةَ مَنْ قَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مَنْ رُسُلِنَا وَلا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحْوِيلا [الْإِسْرَاءِ 76، 77] فَأَمَرَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى بِالرُّجُوعِ إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ وَقَالَ: فِيهَا مَحْيَاكَ وَمَمَاتُكَ وَمِنْهَا تُبْعَثُ. فَرَجَعَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَأَمَرَهُ جِبْرِيلُ فَقَالَ: اسْأَلْ رَبَّكَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، فَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ مَسْأَلَةً - وَكَانَ جِبْرِيلُ لَهُ نَاصِحًا، وَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ لَهُ مُطِيعًا، قَالَ: "فَمَا تَأْمُرُنِي أَنْ أَسْأَلَ" قَالَ: وَقُلْ رَبِّ أَدْخِلْنِي مُدْخَلَ صِدْقٍ وَأَخْرِجْنِي مُخْرَجَ صِدْقٍ وَاجْعَلْ لِي مِنْ لَدُنْكَ سُلْطَانًا نَصِيرًا [الْإِسْرَاءِ 80] فَهَؤُلَاءِ الْآيَاتُ أُنْزِلَتْ عَلَيْهِ فِي مَرْجِعِهِ مِنْ تَبُوكَ. وَفِي هَذِهِ الْغَزْوَةِ قَالَ ﷺ مَا رَوَاهُ عِكْرِمَةُ عَنْ أَبِيهِ أَوْ عَنْ عَمِّهِ عَنْ جَدِّهِ ؓ: أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ فِي غَزْوَةِ تَبُوكَ: إِذَا وَقَعَ الطَّاعُونُ بِأَرْضٍ وَأَنْتُمْ بِهَا فَلَا تَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا ، وَإِذَا كُنْتُمْ بِغَيْرِهَا فَلَا تَقْدَمُوا عَلَيْهَا رَوَاهُ الْإِمَامُ أَحْمَدُ وَالطَّبَرَانِيُّ مِنْ طُرُقٍ قَالَ فِي بَذْلِ الطَّاعُونِ يُشْبِهُ - وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ - أَنْ يَكُونَ السَّبَبَ فِي ذَلِكَ أَنَّ الشَّامَ كَانَتْ قَدِيمَ الزَّمَانِ وَلَمْ تَزَلْ مَعْرُوفَةً بِكَثْرَةِ الطَّوَاعِينِ، فَلَمَّا قَدِمَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ تَبُوكَ غَازِيًا الشَّامَ لَعَلَّهُ بَلَغَهُ أَنَّ الطَّاعُونَ فِي الْجِهَةِ الَّتِي كَانَ يَقْصِدُهَا، فَكَانَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَسْبَابِ رُجُوعِهِ مِنْ غَيْرِ قِتَالٍ - وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ. انْتَهَى. قُلْتُ: قَدْ ذَكَرَ جَمَاعَةٌ أَنَّ طَاعُونَ شِيرَوَيْهِ أَحَدِ مُلُوكِ الْفُرْسِ، كَانَ فِي أَيَّامِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ وَإِنَّهُ كَانَ بِالْمَدَائِنِ.
Translation
✧ Mention of his ﷺ consulting his Companions about proceeding beyond Tabūk toward the direction of Damascus Muḥammad b. ʿUmar — may God Almighty have mercy on him — said: The Messenger of God ﷺ consulted his Companions about advancing. ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said: O Messenger of God, if you have been commanded to march, then march. The Messenger of God ﷺ said: Had I been commanded to march, I would not have consulted you about it. He said: O Messenger of God, the Byzantines have many hosts, and there is no one there from the people of Islam, and we have drawn near to them, and your nearness has alarmed them. Would that we return this year until you see, or God brings about for you a matter. Al-Bayhaqī and others related with a sound chain from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ghanam: that the Jews came to the Messenger of God ﷺ one day and said: O Abū al-Qāsim, if you are truthful that you are a prophet, then join Syria, for Syria is the land of the gathering and the land of the prophets. He believed what they said, so he raided the expedition of Tabūk, intending only Syria. When he reached Tabūk, God Almighty sent down verses from Sūrat Banī Isrāʾīl after the sūrah had been sealed: "And indeed they were about to provoke you from the land to drive you out of it, and then they would not have remained after you except a little — [such is] the way of those whom We sent before you of Our messengers, and you will not find in Our way any alteration" [al-Isrāʾ 76, 77]. Then God Almighty commanded him to return to Madinah, and He said: In it is your living and your dying, and from it you shall be raised. So the Messenger of God ﷺ returned, and Gabriel commanded him, saying: Ask your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, for every prophet has a request — and Gabriel was a sincere adviser to him, and the Messenger of God ﷺ was obedient to him. He said: "What do you command me to ask?" He said: And say, "My Lord, cause me to enter with a true entry and to leave with a true exit, and grant me from Yourself a supporting authority" [al-Isrāʾ 80]. These are the verses that were sent down to him on his return from Tabūk. And in this expedition he ﷺ said: What ʿIkrimah related from his father or from his paternal uncle from his grandfather ؓ: that the Messenger of God ﷺ said during the expedition of Tabūk: If the plague occurs in a land while you are in it, do not leave it, and if you are elsewhere, do not advance upon it. Imām Aḥmad and al-Ṭabarānī related it from several routes. He said in Badhl al-Ṭāʿūn: It seems — and God knows best — that the reason for that is that Syria had been, and continued to be, known of old for the frequency of plagues. When the Prophet ﷺ came to Tabūk as a raider against Syria, perhaps it reached him that the plague was in the direction he intended, and that was among the causes of his returning without fighting — and God knows best. End quote. I say: A group has mentioned that the plague of Shīrawayh, one of the kings of the Persians, was in the days of the Prophet ﷺ, and that it was in al-Madāʾin.
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