Al-W¥^idÏ's Asb¥b al-Nuz‰l - The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies ...

Chapter 4: Surah al-Nisa’
not believe him. He killed him and took his possessions which were paltry. The Messenger of Allah, Allah
bless him and give him peace, was informed of this. He said to the man: ‘You killed him even though
he claimed he was Muslim!’ The man said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, he said it only to protect himself ’. The
Messenger said: ‘Why did you not split his heart open’ ‘Why, O Messenger of Allah’, asked the man.
He said: ‘So that we see whether he was truthful or not’. The man said: ‘How was I supposed to know he
was telling the truth, O Messenger of Allah’ He said: ‘You did not know that but he expressed it with
his words’. This killer did not live long after this event. When he died, they buried him but the following
morning they found his corpse on the side of his grave. They dug another grave and buried him, and
the following day they found his corpse on the side of the grave. They did this twice or three times, and
when they saw that the earth did not accept his corpse, they threw him in some mountain trails. And
then this verse was revealed”.
Al-Hasan commented on this: “The earth contains those who are more evil than this man. However, this
was an admonition to them so that they would never do this again”. 48
Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Muzakki informed us> ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Battah>
Abu’l-Qasim al-Baghawi> Sa‘id ibn Yahya al-Umawi> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq> Yazid ibn ‘Abd
Allah ibn Qusayt> al-Qa‘qa‘ ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Hadrad> his father who said: “The Messenger of
Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent us in a military expedition to Idam. This was before his
conquest of Mecca. It happened that ‘Amir ibn al-Adbat al-Ashja‘i passed by us and greeted us with the
greeting of Islam, 49 but we mistrusted him. Muhallim ibn Jathamah attacked him, due to some feud that
they had with each other in the pre-Islamic era, and killed him. He seized from him as booty a camel, a
bedding to sleep on and some provision. We then reported to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him
and give him peace, and informed him about this incident. Allah, exalted is He, revealed (O ye who
believe! When ye go forth (to fight) in the way of Allah, be careful to discriminate…) up to the end of this
verse”.
Said al-Sudd: “The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent Usamah ibn Zayd at
the head of a military expedition during which he encountered Mirdas ibn Nuhayk al-Damri and killed
him. This man was from Fadak, and he was the only person who accepted Islam from amongst all his
people. He used to say: ‘There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’, and greeted
them with the greeting of peace. Usamah said: ‘When I went back to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless
him and give him peace, and informed him of what had happened, he exclaimed: ‘You killed a man who
says: there is no god but Allah’. I said: He said it only to protect himself ’. He said: ‘What will you do when
he comes on the Day of Judgement to dispute with you by means of ‘there is no god but Allah’’. And he
kept repeating: ‘You killed a man who says: there is no god but Allah’, until I wished that I had only embraced
Islam on that day. Then the verse (O ye who believe! When ye go forth (to fight) in the way of Allah,
be careful to discriminate) was revealed”. 50 Al-Kalbi and Qatadah also reported something of this effect.
The authenticity of this tradition is evidenced by the following tradition. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim
al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn ‘Isa ibn ‘Amrawayh> Ibrahim ibn Sufyan> Muslim> Ya‘qub
al-Dawraqi> Hushaym> Ibn Hasin> Abu Zubyan> Usamah ibn Zayd ibn Harithah relating the following:
“The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent us to al-Hirqah close by Juhaynah. We raided
them in the morning and defeated them. I and one of the Helpers chased one of their men and when we
caught up with him, he said: there is no god but Allah. The Helper stopped but I stabbed him with my
spear and killed him. When we went back the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, he heard of
what had happened. He said to me: ‘O Usamah, you killed him after he said, there is no god but Allah’. I
said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, he said it to protect himself ’. He said: ‘You killed him after he said, there is
no god but Allah’, and he kept repeating it until I wished that I had embraced Islam only that day”. 51
48
Tabari, :224, but the name of al-Hasan is not mentioned.
49
I.e. peace be with you.
50
Tabari, :224; Durr, :637.
51
Durr, :637-638.
83