Raid on Banu al-Mulawwih

Tabari VIII p. 139

Abu Jafar relates: Muhammad sent out Ghalib b. Abdallah al-Kalbi against the Banu al-Mulawwih in al-Kadid and commanded them to raid them. No excuses need to be made. Muhammad, being the messenger of Allah, has divine authority to raid whomever he pleases. There is no doubt that Islam is a different religion from any other we know of. Ghalib set out; I was in his raiding party. We traveled on until, when we were at Qudayd, we encountered al-Harith b. Malik, known as Ibn al-Barsa al Laythi. We took him, but he said: "I came only to become a Muslim". Ibn al-Barsa may or may not be telling the truth, but that is not important. What matters is that he submits himself willingly to Muhammad and his men, which will save him from ransom or slavery. It doesn't spare him a little humiliation, though: Ghalib b. Abdallah said: "If you have indeed come as a Muslim, it will not harm you to be bound for a day and a night; if you have come for another purpose, we shall [thereby] be safe from you." So he secured him and left a little black man who was with us in charge of him, saying: "Stay with him until we pass by you. If he gives you trouble, cut off his head." Converting to Islam is such a charming endeavour. We continued until we came to the bottom-land of al-Kadid and halted toward evening, after the midafternoon prayer. My companions sent me out as a scout. I went to a hill that gave me a view of the settlement and lay face down on the ground. One of their men came out, looked, and saw me lying on the hill. One must say that his suspicion is quite warranted. He said to his wife: "By Allah, I see a shape on this hill that I did not see at the beginning of this day. See whether the dogs may not have dragged off one of your utensils." She looked and said: "By Allah, I am not missing anything." Not yet, that is. He said: "Hand me my bow and two of my arrows." She handed them to him, and he shot me with an arrow and hit my side. I pulled it out, put it down, and did not move. Then he shot me with the other and hit the top of my shoulder. I pulled it out, put it down, and did not move. Tough fellow. He said: "By Allah, both of my arrows penetrated it. If it were a living thing, it would have moved. Go after my arrows in the morning and get them, so that the dogs do not chew them up for me." These people being herders, dogs are very useful helpers. This is from a time before Islam declared them to be impure. We gave them time until their herds had come back from pasture in the evening. After they had milked their camels, set them to rest by the watering through, and had stopped moving around, after the first part of the night had passed, we launched the raid on them. A perfect ambush. The Muslims have been lying in wait most of the day and waited for all the cattle to be assembled before launching the raid. We killed some of them, drove away the camels, and set out to return. Meanwhile, the party carrying the people's appeal for aid set out to the tribe to get help. No mercy for the infidels. It appears that Muhammad and the Muslims are in need of camels, or the value of them as the cause for the raid. Mission accomplished, they hurry off before the main force of the tribe has time to react. For lack of police, the tribe was you only protection in those days. Notice how easy plunder and killing has become? Seven years earlier, at the Raid at Nakhla, Muhammad gave the orders in secret, even to those executing it, And the murder at that expedition was cause for great worry, as all other Arabs thought that Muhammad and his men had gone much too far. The relevation of Sura 8 ("The Spoils of War") in particular justified the acts of the Muslims, and the Muslims were apparently fine with a permissive attitude to raids and booty and had great confidence in the scripture and instructions given by Muhammad, replacing booty for hard work. We traveled quickly. When we passed by al-Haridth b. Malik and his companion, we took him with us. The party summoned to aid the people came at us. They were too powerful for us. However, when only the bottom of Qudayd Canyon was between us and them, Allah sent clouds from out of the blue, although we had seen neither rain nor clouds before that, and the result was a torrent that no one could risk crossing. An amazing stroke of luck! The Muslims are saved from their pursuers, and their confidence in Allah and Muhammad only increases. We saw them looking at us, none of them able to risk it or advance, while we quickly drove off the camels. We took them up to al-Mushallah and then brought them down from it, and we eluded the tribesmen with what we had taken. I shall never forget the rajaz verses that one of the Muslims recited as he was driving the camels from behind: Abu al-Qasim [Muhammad] refuses to let you remain out all night in [pasture] whose plants are moist and luxuriant, their tops golden like the color of something gilded. Not the epitome of comprehensibility. The battle cry of the companions of Muhammad that night was: "Kill! Kill!" Sweet The raiding party led by Ghalib b. Abdallah consisted of between thirteen and nineteen men. Abdallah incidentally means 'Slave to Allah'. No doubt who is ultimately in command here.

The truth. Nothing but the truth

Raid on Banu al-Mulawwih

Raid on Banu al-Mulawwih

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