أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52644
العمر : 72
 | | موضوع: The battle of Tabouk الإثنين 12 فبراير 2018, 9:36 am | |
| The battle of Tabouk
Book 21
“Go forward (whether equipped) lightly or heavily and strive and struggle with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah. That is best for you if you (but) knew, if there had been immediate gain (in sight) and the journey short and easy they would (all) without doubt have followed you but the distance was long (and weighed) on them. They would indeed swear by Allah “If we only could we would certainly have come forth with you they would destroy their own selves; for Allah does know that they are certainly lying “ (TMQ, At-Tawba 41-42) - (the penitence)
(Scene: 1)
Hercules, the emperor of Rome, knew that Islam had spread in the Arabian Peninsula, so he decided to prepare an army to fight the Muslims. He was afraid of this new religion, as it could engulf his empire. He then gathered many groups in the Levant under the Roman flag, which had the emblem of an eagle. Hercules army was very strong and consisted of forty thousand of the best fighters.
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) knew that Hercules was preparing an army to fight him, so he decided to go to fight Hercules in the Levant instead of waiting for him to come and fight him in his country, because if he was to be defeated in his country it would be the end of his cause and of all Muslims. It was hot, people were in hardship, and it was the time of harvest, so people liked to stay in the shadows of their trees. The journey was long, and the enemy was strong, so the Prophet (Peace be upon him) told the people to be ready as he was going to Tabouk. He never told them before to where he was heading so as not to alert his enemies.
(Scene: 2)
The army needed plenty of money to equip and prepare the soldiers for this expedition, especially the poor. So the Prophet (Peace be upon him) asked the rich Muslims to donate their money. Othman Ibn-Affan donated the largest amount of money on that army. No one ever before had spent like him; he alone prepared ten thousand soldiers. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) then said, “Oh Allah please be content with Othman, as I am content with him.”
Abu-Bakr Al-Saddik donated all his money, four thousand dirhams, so the Prophet (Peace be upon him) asked him, “did you leave your family anything?” “I left them Allah and His Prophet (Peace be upon him)” said Abu-Bakr with great faith.
Omar Ibnul-Khattab donated half his money, “did you leave your family anything?” said the Prophet (Peace be upon him). “I left them the second half” Said Omar.
All Muslims had sent to Muhammad (Peace be upon him) much money in donation to prepare the army to fight the Romans; even the women donated their jewelry. All this money was used to prepare the army that was named “jaysh al usra” (the army of hardships), as it was prepared in the most difficult of years.
The Muslim army was now ready to go. Seven men came to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) asking him to accompany the army, “I do not have anything for you to ride”, he said. He did not have any camels or mules for them to ride. The men were so sad; they wanted to fight for the sake of Allah but they did not find anything to ride, and they left the Prophet (Peace be upon him), crying in grief. Just before leaving, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) found camels for them to ride, so he called them and they happily went with him.
(Scene: 3)
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) started assigning the flags and banners. He gave his great banner to Abu-Bakr, his great flag to Al-Zobyr Bin Al-Awam, and other flags to the Ansar. Just before leaving, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) knew that some of the Muslims gathered at a Jewish home and that they were saying, “we will not go to fight the Romans in that hot weather”. So Allah revealed this verse: “The fire of Hell is fiercer in heat If only they could understand” (Sûrat At-Tawba:81) (the penitence).
The Muslim army marched through the desert. The weather was very hot, and some of the men dropped behind and returned to Madinah seeking shade. Muslims then said to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) that so-and-so lagged behind, and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) replied, “leave him, if his presence is for our good, then Allah will bring him back.
The Muslim army continued marching through the desert for days. The water they had was completely consumed, and they were just about to die from thirst. Therefore, they were obliged to kill their camels and split open their stomachs in order to drink the water found in them. Abu-Bakr asked the Prophet to pray for them as he did before, and so he did, till Allah sent a cloud and the rain started. Muslims drank and took all the water they needed.
The army marched at night; they were extremely exhausted but they did not sleep because it was the time of the prayer of dawn (Fajr). Then Belal said, “go to sleep and I will wake you up”, and so they did, yet neither Belal nor the Muslims awaked. When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) woke up, he called Belal and said, “why didn’t you wake us, Belal?” He replied, “I overslept just as you”. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) did not become angry, and he prayed with the Muslims. After that, they continued their march, but the Prophet noticed that the people were whispering together, so he said, “about what are you whispering behind my back?” They replied, “we remised our prayer because of sleeping, O Prophet of Allah.” So, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) then said, “Don’t you take me as a role model? You did not remiss anything by sleeping; the remiss is when you drop a prayer till the following is due.”
(Scene: 4)
Muslims arrived at Tabouk and they did not find the Roman army, because when they knew that the Muslims were coming to fight them, they decided to withdraw and refused to fight. Therefore, Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) stayed in Tabouk and did not proceed because he went out only to defend the Muslims; he did not want war itself; he did not want to force people to enter into Islam. It was easy for him to attack the Levant had he wished to do so, because his army had seventy thousand soldiers.
Days passed and Allah's Prophet was still in Tabouk praying for Allah and waiting for the Roman army, but when he was sure that they will not attack him, he decided to return back after this hard journey as he did not like to start attacking anyone first.
Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) ordered the Muslims to return back, so they rode their camels and left. On their way back, some of the people who were Muslims but hated Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him), being hypocrites, conspired to push Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) down from his camel while passing the Aqaba path between Tabouk and Madinah. The Aqaba path was a dark narrow rocky place; they had chosen it because no one would see them while betraying the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and killing him. Allah then inspired his faithful Prophet (Peace be upon him) with their ill intentions. When the army reached the mountain path, the people were told, “Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) wants to go into the Aqaba path, so don’t take it, and go through the valley; it is wider for you.”
Therefore, the people went through the valley, and Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) went through the Aqaba road accompanied by two of his companions; one in the front and the other in the back. The road was dark and quiet. Then the traitors came; they were hiding their faces. When the Prophet felt that they were near, he shouted at them. They were afraid of him especially when they were certain that he knew everything, so they ran away and mixed with the people who were passing through the valley.
Afterwards, Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) gathered the traitors and informed them about what they had decided to do, but they swore that they neither said that nor had wanted to kill him. Some of the Prophet's companions advised him to kill them but he replied, “people will say that Muhammad is killing his companions and I hate this”. Therefore, Allah then revealed this verse, that can be translated as, “They swear by Allah that they said nothing (evil) but indeed they uttered blasphemy…” (TMQ, al-Tawbah: 74).
(Scene: 5)
Some of the hypocrites built a mosque beside Keba’a mosque, which the Prophet (Peace be upon him) built in Madinah. They used to make fun of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) while gathering in it; they also wanted to collect some weapons in this mosque. They went to the Caesar asking him to provide them with soldiers to help them in dismissing Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him) and his companions from Madinah.
While returning from Tabouk the Prophet passed by this mosque, and the hypocrites asked him to pray in it, but Allah revealed to him what can be translated as, “And there are those who put up a mosque by way of mischief and infidelity to disunite the believers and in preparation for one who warred against Allah and His apostle aforetime. They will indeed swear that their intention is nothing but good; but Allah dose declare that they are certainly liars. Never stand therein. There is a mosque whose foundation was laid from the first day on piety; it is more worthy of your standing for (for prayer) therein. In it are men who love to be purified; and Allah loves those who make themselves pure.” (TMQ, At-Tawba: 107-108). Then Allah's Prophet ordered some of his companions to burn down this mosque, because it was not really a mosque but a place where the hypocrites were conspiring against Islam and the Muslims.
Allah's Prophet went to Al-Madinah's mosque and prayed, and then sat down with the people. The people who did not go with him to Tabouk came to him and started to apologize, they swore that some excuses prevented them from going with him. The Prophet accepted what they said, because he used to accept what people said, leaving the hidden intentions to Allah. Kaab Bin-Malik came also, as he was one of the good Ansar supporters, but he did not march with Allah's Prophet (Peace be upon him). Therefore, the Prophet asked him, “What prevented you from coming with us?” Kaab hesitated because he didn’t want to lie, for he knew that Allah did not like liars, so he replied, “I do not have any excuse; I am wealthy and healthy enough.” The Prophet replied, “he says the truth, so go and wait for Allah's judgment.”
Two truthful men came to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and said that they too did not have any excuse, so the Prophet (Peace be upon him) ordered the people not to talk to these three and wait for Allah's judgment. People did not talk to them, and the three cried in grief regretting what they had done. This continued for fifty nights, and just as they were in the top of their distress and anguish, people came to congratulate them because Allah had revealed some verses about them and He the Almighty forgave them and accepted their repentance. |
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