Seerah, Lesson 61 In the last series we finished the battle of Ahzab and here we are at the beginning of the

sixth year of Hijrah. The next major incident will be at the end of the 6th year and this is the treaty of Hudaybiyyah. Through-out the year though a number of things happened, none as significant as the battle of Ahzab or Hudaybiyyah, but to be chronological we will discuss some minor skirmishes and minor expeditions that took place. These were not significant politically but there are some interesting points to know from each. We will not discuss the over dozen battles and skirmishes that are found in the narrations, but only about 4-5 that have the interesting and relevant stories. To begin; the expedition of Mohammed ibn Maslama to Al-QurTaa. This was a minor sariya involving 30 sahaba dealing with the tribe of Banu Bakr ibn Qilaab in the month of Shawwal. The expedition was a success but on the way back something interesting happened. When returning from conquering this rebellious tribe they came across a small convoy which had something strange about it, we don't know what but most likely there were clear signs of this being a noble and elite group of people and the sahab did not know who they were. They were brought as prisoners to the Prophet (s) and again, the sahaba did not even realize whom they had captured. The Prophet (s) asked them when they brought the prisoners that they did not know the identity of the prisoners? And he said that they have captured Thumama ibn Athaal, the chieftain of the tribe of Banu Hanifa, one of the largest tribes of Arabia. Thumama is the equivalent of Abu Muttalib to the Quraysh and their tribe was also just as large as the Quraysh. Thumama happened to not be guarded in his trip. He had a clear position before this time and was supporting the pagans against Islam and had publicly threatened to kill the Prophet (s) if he could. The Prophet (s) however had made a du'a to Allah, "allow me to be in control over Thumama". And his du'a was thus answered. Obviously Jibreel (as) told the Prophet (s) about Thumama's identity as even the sahaba when they captured him did not recognize him. As there were no prisons at the time the Prophet (s) commanded the sahaba to treat Thumama in a good manner and he was kept in the Prophet's masjid and they tied his hands to a pillar so he could not escape. That evening the Prophet (s) told his wives to send his own food to Thumama. This is a symbolic or token gesture for the Prophet (s) to send his personal plate to Thumama. The next morning the Prophet (s) went to Thumama and asked what he had to say, and he said, "ya Mohammed, if you are going to kill me you will kill someone whose blood is very heavy (i.e. you will have a civil war) and if you are generous you will be generous to someone who recognizes your generosity and will repay you back and if you want money ask what you want and you will have your price". We see here that this man is royal, he has dignity and nobility and he is not begging for his life. He asks the Prophet (s) to realize his blood is worth a lot if killed, and if saved he is more than able to pay for his release. The Prophet (s) invites him to Islam at this time and Thumama keeps quiet. The next morning the same thing happened, the Prophet (s) asked him again and Thumama replied the exact same phrase. The third day the exact conversation repeated for a third time. The wisdom being the Prophet (s) keeping Thumama at the masjid is, that he will hear the Qur'an, the Salah, the Prophet's halaqaat and conversations with the sahaba and he will see what Islam really is. And the Prophet (s) is hoping Thumama accepts but he does not. After the 3rd day the Prophet (s) thus told the sahaba to release him and let him go. They cut him off and he stood up and exited the masjid, went behind a grove of date palms, took a bath, returned to the masjid and said the shahadah, "Ash-hadu an-La Ilaha Ilalah wa Ash-hadu anaka rasool Allah" and than he said, "ya Mohammed (s) (he is still new and did not have the adab of calling the Prophet (s) properly by his title) I swear by Allah there was no face on this Earth more despised to me than yours, but now Wallahi it is the most beautiful and most beloved face to me, and I swear by Allah there was no religion more despised to me than yours, but now Wallahi it is the most beloved religion to me, and I swear by Allah there was no city I hated more than yours, but now Wallahi it is the most beloved city to me". In three days Thumama saw the reality of Islam. And than he explained his story: "I was on my way to do 'Umrah". He expected that no one would harm him and was not expecting the Muslims to be as North as they were when he was captured. It just so happened with complete coincidence that they found him and this was obviously the decree of Allah. And he asked to continue his 'Umrah and the Prophet (s) granted him this permission. That evening his meal was brought to him again, the Prophet (s) had instructed the sahaba to be generous with

him thus they were really bringing him a lot of food and with amazing variety, such as the treatment of prisoners of war at the time by the Muslims. He was getting better food than the sahaba and the Prophet (s). They brought him the usual and he ate but a bit and left the rest, and they were astonished as for the last three days he was consuming everything. The Prophet (s) addressed the sahaba, "Why are you astonished? A man ate in the morning with the stomach of a Kaafir and now he is eating at night with the stomach of a Muslim, and verily the kaafir eats with 7 stomachs and the Muslim eats with 1 stomach". Islam had a personal impact even on his physical manners. Thumama than proceeded to Makkah, and he was the first ever Muslim to enter Makkah with the Islamic Talbiyyah according to Ibn Ishaac. The Quraysh were aware of this Talbiyyah and did proclaim it but they had added their own shirk statements into it as they would say, "you have some partners oh Allah". When they heard him with this Talbiyyah they asked him if he had become Saabih? The Quraysh spoke of anyone leaving their faith that they were a Sabian and they would make fun of the early Muslims by calling them As-Saabih. And Thumama replied, "No, I am a Muslim and I testify to Allah and His Messenger". At this some Quraysh surrounded him and unsheathed their swords - it was a tense moment - but others said, "if you kill him you will face the entire Banu Hanifa and you will face much grief". Thumama became so enraged at this encounter that he said, "Wallahi not a single seed of grain will come to you from Banu Hanifa and up north til the Prophet (s) explicitly commands me to do so" Thumama belonged to central Arabic - the Najd area - and his tribe had all the routes from the North of Quraysh covered. And he did his Tawwaf and 'Umrah and returned to Najd and did cut off the supplies of the Quraysh for months, forcing them to eat a substance called 'Ilhiz, a type of food that was only resorted to at times of famine and drought because it was disgusting. Of it's ingredients was camel blood and hair. This was how bad the situation was as the Quraysh had no access to wheat whatsoever. Abu Sufyaan had to swallow his pride and write a letter to the Prophet (s), "ya Mohammed (s) you are claiming to be good to your relatives yet here you are allowing us to die, so I ask you by our rights of kinship to allow the wheat to resume". So the Prophet (s) wrote a letter to Thumama and allowed the wheat supply to resume and it did. Some of the benefits of this story are firstly how amazingly Allah answers the du'as of the Prophet (s). In his du'as, most were answered and few were not and we do know of such situations. Thumama was a gift from nowhere, and the chieftain converting meant a large number of people of his tribe also converting. We also learn that gentleness will get you what harshness will not. Thumama was treated better in every way than the rest of the people and when he saw the reality his heart opened up, and talk about generosity - the Prophet (s) even gifted him his independence after Thumama had promised to kill him. Ibn Hajar comments on this incident as evidence that it is allowed for non-Muslims to enter masajid and this is what the vast majority of scholars say. Such incidents exist often in the Seerah. Even the Christians of Najraan were allowed to worship at the masjid by the Prophet (s) by him. And obviously idol worshiping would not be allowed. Furthermore, this Hadith is one of the fundamental evidences for the well known Islamic concept that a non-Muslim embracing Islam should take a bath. The scholars point out that this was so well known that even Thumama, who was a pagan, knew this. It is not waajib but it is recommended - a symbolic gesture - and no doubt there is a possibility of Janaba as nonMuslims do not have the concept of bathing after being in a state of major impurity. We also learn that if a non-Muslim embraces Islam he should not stop his good deeds. Thumama wanted to do 'Umrah and he continued this after embracing Islam. We also see here the hypocrisy of Quraysh in that they are the ones that kicked out, oppressed and tried to assassinate their own relatives. Yet they turn around and accuse the Prophet (s) of being unmerciful to his relatives. And see the mercy of the Prophet (s) that he responded to their requests. This also shows an interesting point; the Prophet (s) was no doubt strict with the Quraysh (they had fought 4 times already) yet at the same time he did not want to starve the women and children. He could have said no, and had he did who would complain? He had full justifications for doing so, but the Prophet (s) was a mercy to the worlds indeed. Notice that they had just cut off the Muslim supplies for one month at the battle of Ahzab yet they have the audacity to level accusations on the Prophet (s) of being harsh with them. But the Prophet (s) returned their harshness with kindness. Thumama was from Banu Hanifa, and another infamous person from the same tribe was Musaylama al-Kadhaab. When he announced his false prophecy and the battles of Rida ensued, Thumama was on the side of the Muslims against his own tribe's followers of Musaylama. This clearly shows he had fully

embraced Islam. Eventually Thumama died a martyr after these wars when they attacked him, may Allah accept his shahadah. Another small incident was another assassination attempt against the Prophet (s) by the Quraysh and this was Abu Sufyaan. Remember that and after Uhud he was the defacto senior leader of the Quraysh (this is why when the Prophet (s) conquered Makkah the few people that were honored by saying the people could go to his house to gain immunity was Abu Sufyaan, and he was given 100,000 flock, a fortune, all because of his leadership). Before this the elite leaders of the Quraysh were Abu Talib, Waleed Mugheera, Abu Jahl and so on. He had announced a bounty for anyone who killed the Prophet (s) A bedouin responded and offered to kill the Prophet (s) for the bounty. Do not even have the name of this man, but Abu Sufyaan gave him a camel and necessities to complete his mission. The bedouin decided to invent a story to accept Islam (this is how they knew they could approach the Prophet) and made it to Madinah in 6 days, this is very fast. He entered the masjid of the Prophet (s) and as he does so the Prophet (s) said about him that, "this is a man who has treachery written on him". As soon as he said this the sahaba tackle him and when they did so the dagger came from his belt. Meetings with senior leaders should not involve weapons, so his intentions were clear. The Prophet (s) told him, "if you are truthful with me I shall let you go otherwise.. " and so the Bedouin told the true story of his coming to Madinah. The Prophet (s) honored the promise and let him go. After this the bedouin embraced Islam. Interestingly and despite all of this, Abu Sufyaan was still honored to the level that he was and he was forgiven. The next story is slightly controversial and one that Islamophobes love to mention against the Prophet (s). This was the assassination of Salaam ibn Abl-Huqayq. We had previously mentioned the assassination of Kaab ibn Ashraf and Salaam's is similar: a targeted killing without collateral damage. We do not know the exact date but this incident occured before Khayber and after Ahzab but likely the date is in this year of 6 A.H. Sal-laam ibn Abl-Huqayq was one of the rich leaders of Khayber and he had one been one of the main financeers of the battle of Ahzab. Recall that most of the participants of this battle were hired mercineers, a large example being the tribe of Ghatafaan. They really were not interested in fighting the Muslims and this is why the first to run away when the weather and conditions turned back were these hired mercineers. Sal-laam had to be thus eliminated and a strong warning had to be sent to others. People of the Khazraj came up with the idea as this was a dangerous expedition, the Prophet (s) actually did not even initiate this idea or think of it. Khayber was 2-3 days of travel and it was fortified, with every single mini-tribe having a massive fort. Recall that the Jews had castles which the Muslims did not know how to conquer and did not have weapons to conquer and we will see this in the future that the Muslims simply had to camp outside because the massive thick walls were structured such that the Arabs could not attack them. This was thus going to be a specific expedition where a small group would pinpoint him and eliminate a specific individual, this is why in modern day this is called an assassination. This was common than but frankly this has been resurrected in our times as well. The Khazraj thus volunteered to do this. But why would they do such? Because they felt that they 'Aws had beaten them by taking care of Kaab bin Ashraf and had an extra point so they wanted to do something to show their bravery and dedication. But they took on a challenge much much harder, Sal-laam was 3 days away compared to Kaab who was but 1 hour away. The Prophet (s) gave them permission to do so but they were not allowed to kill any women or children. A footnote; those days there was no such thing as civilian versus army, all adult males were army. Anyone of fighting age would fight. There was no such thing as non-fighting men and this is the case still in some countries and this was the case back than. 5 people thus volunteer and their leader was Abdullah ibn Atique (ra) and he was chosen because he could speak fluently the language of the people of Khayber. Likely this language was a mix of Hebrew and Arabic and because he was a Yathribite and he was raised amongst the people he spoke this language fluently. They immediately made their way to Khayber, camping outside and pondering upon their strategy. Abdullah had an idea though. Until recently cities would shut doors at Maghrib time and so he waited til Maghrib time. He than made his way to within visual distance of the guard and stood there pretending to urinate. The guard saw someone urinating, not even thinking that this man could be someone dangerous because of what he was doing, and told him to hurry up before the gates closed for maghrib. So he did so, quickly rushed in and thus night fell. Later at night he went back to the gate, opened it and let the other 4 in. They than found their way to the

house of Sal-laam, and we would assume that he had the central or largest residence. They made their way in and killed him thus. We do not have the details of how this was done. We do know that his wife saw them and she sent out an alarm, crying as loud as she could. One of the sahaba was about to kill her but he remembered his orders to not kill women or children and the 5 of them fled. The room of Sal-laam was protected and it was very high and it was said that Ibn Ateek had feeble eyes. It is said that when they were racing outward he sprained his legs and could not walk, so the other sahaba had to carry him and they all had to rush back to Madinah. We can imagine what the situation must be like, the 4 of them carrying a crippled man escaping from an entire tribe, but they managed to escape without a single casualty and return to Madinah. When they returned to the Prophet (s) he told Ibn Ateek to stretch out his foot and the Prophet (s) used his hand, and by the permission of Allah the foot became completely healed. To comment on this story, those were different times. The main point is that this was the norm at the time and it was expected. Remember just earlier Abu Sufyaan had tried to assassinate the Prophet (s). Furthermore, no scholar in the history of Islam has ever said that a single Muslim can go out and carry out a target assassination on their own. Can a khalifah use this tactic in our times? We don't have one today so we can't even discuss this. Sheikh Al-Qardawi and other scholars have extrapolated many volumes with rulings in modern day nations and has said that the shari'ah allows modifications and changes and if there are UN protocols and other customs in place the shari'ah allows us to adapt to that protocol. Once upon a time such extra judicial killing was not allowed in our own country, but that door has been opened today. As we speak there are drones everywhere and there are targeted surgical strikes, it is an accepted norm. Thus no one can dare criticize what happened 14 centuries ago. This issue is not problematic at all really. Again, this is how people operated in those days and this was definitely a two-way street. The next incident was the Ghazwa of Banu Lahyaan. The Banu Lahyaan were one of the tribes that tricked the Muslims into sending large numbers of emissaries which they than massacred them. The Banu Lahyaan were also the ones who brutally killed Khubaib. Thus a battle against them was expected. The issue with this Banu was that they were in the Hejaz, close to Makkah. So going to them was problematic because it was close to the Quraysh. The Prophet (s) did not want to tell anyone where he was going and they exited Madinah heading north. Thus everyone thought he was going north. The Prophet (s) did not tell a single soul of his plans or when he left, but when he left the city he went back toward Makkah and he told his sahaba when they got close. In this case the Banu Lahyaan had their own spies and when they knew of the Prophet (s) coming they all fled, leaving their city. The Prophet (s), to emphasize the victory, stayed there for three days. There was no actual battle that took place and this is why it is not a significant ghazwa. But we mention it because it is most likely in this Ghazwa that Allah legislated Salat-ulKhouf. The Banu Lahyaan had sent an emissary to the Quraysh informing them of them being attacked so the Quraysh sent a small force under the charge of Khalid bin Waleed. There was no actual battle that took place but Khalid bin Waleed camped in front of the Muslims and both camps saw one another. This is when the time of Dhuhr came. After the Muslims prayed this prayer, one of the Quraysh said, "if only they were to do this again this is the perfect time for all of us to charge." So Khalid said, "wait they have another time coming up (Asr)". In this interim Allah sent Jibreel with Surah Nisa verse 102 and these are the verses of Salat-ul-Khouf:

When thou (O Messenger. art with them, and standest to lead them in prayer, Let one party of them stand up (in prayer) with thee, Taking their arms with them: When they finish their prostrations, let them Take their position in the rear. And let the other party come up which hath

not yet prayed - and let them pray with thee, Taking all precaution, and bearing arms: the Unbelievers wish, if ye were negligent of your arms and your baggage, to assault you in a single rush. But there is no blame on you if ye put away your arms because of the inconvenience of rain or because ye are ill; but take (every) precaution for yourselves. For the Unbelievers Allah hath prepared a humiliating punishment. The Prophet (s) was told that when he made the iqamah he stands with one group and let them have their armor on (shows they may have taken it off when previously praying at Dhuhr) while another group guards without joining the salah. Than the first group guards and the second group prays. The Prophet (s) does one Jama'ah with half the Muslims praying, and in the middle of the salah the first Jama'ah leaves and the second Jama'ah joins the Salah. How this happens and what is the fiqh of this? The chapters of fiqh are long and that is for their books and not to be discussed here in the Seerah. According to another hadith it also appears that this is when the Prophet (s) taught the sahaba the du'a of travelling (for leaving and for returning from journey) as this is the time that the du'a began to be narrated. Another interesting story because of an incident that happened and this was the Sariya of Zaid ibn Haritha to the place known as Al-'ees. This is modern day Unayzah or Qaseem which is north of Madinah. The Prophet (s) sent Zaid there and this was one of the last things he did before meeting a tragic death. Zaid was sent in Jumaadah-al-uula with 170 people to intercept the caravan of Quraysh as it was returning to Syria. This is similar to the interception of Badr and alhumdulilah the caravan was captured this time in it's entirety, including the goods, camels and all the prisoners of war. The story is interesting because of one prisoner of war, Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh. He was the son-in-law of the Prophet (s), the husband of Zaynab bint Mohammed. He was from the tribe of Banu Abdi-Shams and a pure Qurayshi. His mother was Hala and she was the older sister of Khadija. She was the one actually who first hired the Prophet (s), before Khadija did. Khadija in her days before Islam had asked the Prophet (s) to marry Zaynab to Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh and narrations say that the Prophet (s) would never refuse anything for Khadija. This is an important lesson in his loyalty to Khadija. When she requested thus it was decreed. Zaynab would marry Abul-'aas. Recall the 4 daughters of the Prophet (s); Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah who was the youngest. Likely Fatimah was born in Islam and the other three before. Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum were engaged but not married to the sons of Abu Lahab. When the da'wah began Abu Lahad cancelled these engagements. The Quraysh put pressure on Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh, "ask whatever you want and name any woman you want, but get rid of Zaynab". He refused as he loved Zaynab immensely and so he did not take the bribe and they remained married even when the Prophet (s) migrated to Madinah. Their daughter's name was Umama and she was the bay who the Prophet (s) prayed while carrying in Salah (narrated in Sahih Bokhari). Umama lived a long life and married Ali ibn Abi Talib after Fatimah passed away. They also had a few children. Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh thus married Zaynab and remained in Makkah. At the battle of Badr he is forced to join the Makkan side and he does not fight passionately thus. Recall that he is taken a prisoner of war. His wife sends in ransom of her husband a necklace that Khadijah had and to obtain this the Prophet (s) requested the Muslim who captured him to let him go. The Prophet (s) did not force them but obviously if the Prophet (s) asks what Muslim could refuse? And so Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh was let go. At the time the Prophet (s) had made him promise to send him his daughter Zaynab and he did. Recall the story of Zaynab trying to leave the city and being attacked. This is why the Prophet (s) had much respect for Abul-'aas and he mentions (in Sahih Bokhari), "as for Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh (the Prophet was speaking about all his son-in-laws), he spoke to me and told the truth and he promised me and he fulfilled his promise". Thus Zaynab is sent to Madinah and Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh remains in Makkah, and at least two-three years have gone by and he is now a p.o.w in Madinah. The next morning at Fajr the Prophet (s) stands up and says the Takbeeratul Ihram (opening Allahu Akbar) and a loud voice from the woman's side comes, "oh Muslims I am Zaynab bint Mohammed and I have given Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh my protection so oh Muslims you give him your protection as well" The entire gathering was there and Zaynab said this because she wanted the all Muslims to know this. The entire masjid was shocked. The Prophet (s) at the end of Salah verified what was heard and the people confirmed, and he said, "by Allah I had no knowledge of this as much as you (that she would do this)". Than he said the famous statement;

"all Muslims are the same when it comes to Amaan (protection), the least of them can offer protection to anyone, and thus Zaynab we have given protection to him who you have granted protection for". Thus any Muslim - a child and even a slave - has the right in a state of war to say that such a person is under their protection and this is a standard principle of Islamic Fiqh. The Prophet (s) here again has to negotiate for Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh, and the problem was he just had not accepted Islam - had he done so it would not be an issue for the Prophet (s) - and so for a second time the Prophet (s) again requests his release to the Muslims in-charge of him; "you see what has happened and you know the status of Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh in my family, so if you wish you can return him and the section of caravan of his and this is more beloved and if you decide to keep it that is your right and the right that Allah has given you". Obviously again the Ansar who had taken him and his portion of the caravan (this includes not just Abu-'Aas' wealth but also investments from people) decides to release him as he can not deny the Prophet's request. But as he does so he says to him, "oh Abul'-'aas you are the son in law of the Prophet (s), isn't it time you accept Islam? If you do so we will return your money and you can stay in Madinah". They bribed him thus though the Prophet (s) had not asked them to. And he responded, "what an evil suggestion that I should change my faith and be treacherous because of that". So he refused again to embrace the faith and the Ansar still returned his money and freed him. He took the money and returned to Makkah, returning all amaanah to it's rightful owners and he than asked the people of Makkah if he owed anything else to them? And when they denied this he gave his shahadah infront of the Quraysh! He did not want to accept Islam in Madinah because his intentions would be questioned - to save his life, to save his property, the amaanah bestowed upon him - and now when he is free he does so. Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh's grandfather is Abdus-Shams, the highest lineage of Quraysh, and so they really could not harm him. He than returned to Madinah as a Muslim and so he is reunited with his wife Zaynab. This story could be problematic for two reasons; the first that when he is captured as a p.o.w he is clearly not a Muslim at this time. The Prophet (s) lets him go on the presumption that the two are still married. When he did free him, the Prophet (s) told Zaynab that this man is a mushrik so he is not allowed in marriage. And so they did not live together, so when he returned to madinah is there still a marriage? The real problem is the hadith in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and Nisa'ee that says that the Prophet (s) returned him to her without a Maher i.e. without a Nikah. This is problematic because in fiqh when the wife converts and the husband does not than the marriage is annuled (if the husband embraces Islam this is less problematic because a Christian or Jewish wife may remain), and if the husband accepts Islam within the 'iddah of the wife, the correct opinion being one menstraul cycle, the marriage remains. Thus according to the madhaahib, in this 'iddah if he converts there is no issue and the two are married. If he does not, within one month the marriage is void. If he wants her back after conversion a new nikah and new Maher would be needed. This hadith is problematic because it says that there was no Maher and there was no Nikah done between the two. The majority hold the position of the madhaahib that one month is the limit and after this if the husband converts a new Nikah is needed. A minority opinion, and Ibn Taymiyyah is one scholar, said, such a woman is in a unique situation. If she wants she can marry anybody she wants with a new Nikah and new Maher. And if her husband embraces Islam and she has not married in the mean time than she may resume marital life with him without a new Nikah or Maher. This is an interesting scenario; her ex-husband becomes halal without a Nikah or Maher if they both agree and if he converts to Islam. And so what woman can marry without a Maher or Nikah? The unique situation that she did not marry anyone else, the husband eventually converts - in this 3-4 years had gone by and Abul-'aas ibn Rabeeh had not converted to Islam and Zaynab had not married, when he does convert the Prophet (s) allows them to resume married life. This is common sense and in sha Allah the correct position. Another fiqh point to mention is that if a nonMuslim couple (they are properly married by their non-Islamic customs and are not boyfriend, common-law etc) converts simultaneously by unanimous consensus they do not need to re-do their nikah in an Islamic manner even if no Islamic conditions were met at the time of their marriage (of nikah, witnesses, Wali etc), and this is only something that some overzealous ignorant Muslims today require. This is the opinion of Ibn Hajar, showkani and others that in the lifetime of the Prophet (s) thousands of Muslim couples converted to Islam and never once did any Muslim question their marriage and how it was performed, it was simply accepted. The final mini-story is famous for in the Fqh of food. This is the Sariyah tul Khabath, Khabath

being withered leaves that are on thorns and shrubs. It is called such because the sahaba were forced to eat this. Sometime before the treaty of Hudaybiyyah the Prophet (s) sent another group to intercept a large caravan of the Quraysh, and we do not know if they were going north or returning south. Likely this was when they were going North, but Allah knows best. 300 men were sent to capture the caravan however they were not successful and the Quraysh alluded them. When the Muslims chased the Quraysh their supplies dwindled. Their leader was Abu Ubaydah 'aamr ibn Al-Jarrah and when the supplies became critical he commanded everyone to surrender any food they had. All the food was collected and rationed, and even that dwindled til they would eat one date per day, and when that finished Jaabir bin Abdullah narrates they had to take the date seeds in their mouth and suck on it through out the date and drink water with the date seed to get some psychological taste. Eventually they were forced to eat Khabbath. They eventually made their way to the shore, a city close to Madinah called Yanbu'. Here they found a dead massive whale, likely a blue whale, one of the largest creatures on Earth. This was a gift from Allah and they narrate that they had never seen anything like it. There are many stories of how large this whale was including a narration that 13-14 Sahaba actually sat in the eye socket of the whale. Another story is that they took one of the bones of the whale and planted it on the beach, and Abu Ubaydah chose the largest camel which he sat on, and he managed to walk right underneath the bone of this whale without having to lower his head. This was likely 15 feet in height! They rejoiced so much that they camped one month because of the whale. They went from dying of starvation to camping one month in food, and the 300 continued to eat of this whale for the month until they finally decided to return and they packed their bags with the meat. They return and tell the Prophet (s) of what happened, worried that they had been eating a dead animal (though in the shari'ah it is completely clear that in times of need this is allowable) and asking him of it's permissiveness. The Prophet (s) asked for meat that was left over and asked to be brought in front of him, and this was likely the one and only time he tasted sea food. He did this to demonstrate that it is completely halal to eat sea-food. This also shows us that sea food does not require slaughter or even to be caught. This clearly shows us that any creature from the sea (and only the Hanafi madhab disagrees), from shrimps to crabs to eel to crustaceans, are halal because whale is actually a mammal not a fish. The Prophet (s) ate of it and said, "two dead animals are allowed for us; the locusts and the whale." And by mentioning the whale Allah gave them the biggest creature from the sea to show us that if the biggest creature is halal what about the smaller creatures? And Allah says in Surah Ma'idah, verse 96

To hunt and to eat the fish of the sea is made lawful for you, a provision for you and for seafarers; but to hunt on land is forbidden you so long as ye are on the pilgrimage. Be mindful of your duty to Allah, unto Whom ye will be gathered. That basically the catch of the ocean is halal for you, and the food of the ocean is halal for you (and Abu Bakr said the first sentence is about what is caught from the sea, and the second is what is dead and the sea throws out). Therefore it is clear that all sea animals are halal for us regardless of how they were presented to us. . It was also during this time where Allah revealed the legislation of Hijab and this was also the time the Prophet (s) married Zaynab bint Jahsh, and this may be the most controversial story of the Seerah. This story will be likely be delayed to be covered in the series on the wives of the Prophet (s). According to some authorities the Prophet (s) sent 14 sareeyas and participated in 2 ghazwas between Khandaq and Hudaybiyyah, and we only covered 4-5 of them. The rest are mentioned in Ibn Ishaac but frankly these are mere names, details and tribes that are not relevant to us. This is for advanced students of knowledge and scholars.