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

Chapter 9: Surah al-Anfal
surprise. Their chance came when the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, was taking a steep
road. Some of them came forward while others stayed behind. It was night time. They said to each other:
‘Once he starts going down this steep road, we will push him off his mount into the ravine’. His guide
that night was ‘Ammar ibn Yasir and his navigator was Hudhayfah. When Hudhayfah heard the sound
of camels’ hoofs, he looked behind and saw veiled men. He shouted: ‘Go away, go away, O enemies of
Allah!’ They stopped and the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, proceeded to his destination.
Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (And they purposed that which they could not attain…)”.
(And of them is he who made a covenant with Allah…) [9:75].
Abu’l-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Fadl informed us> Abu ‘Amr Muhammad ibn Ja‘far ibn Matar> Abu
‘Imran Musa ibn Sahl al-Jawni> Hisham ibn ‘Ammar> Muhammad ibn Shu‘ayb> Mu‘adh ibn Rifa‘ah al-
Salami> Abu ‘Abd al-Malik ‘Ali ibn Yazid> al-Qasim ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman> Abu Umamah al-Bahili said:
“One day Tha‘labah ibn Hatib al-Ansari went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him
peace, and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, pray that Allah provides me with wealth’. The Messenger of Allah,
Allah bless him and give him peace, said: ‘Woe to you! A little for which you give thanks is better than
plenty which you cannot bear’. Another time, he said to him: ‘Do you not like to be like the Prophet of
Allah. By Him in whose Hand is my soul, if I wanted mountains would flow with gold and silver for me’.
Tha‘labah said: ‘By Him Who sent you with the truth, if you pray that Allah provides me with wealth,
I will give each one his due’. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, then prayed:
‘O Allah, give Tha‘labah wealth!’ Tha‘labah then acquired some sheep and they multiplied like worms
until Medina became too small to contain all his sheep. He left Medina and settled in one of its valleys.
At that point, he only prayed Zuhr and ‘Asr in congregation but not the other prescribed prayers. Then
his sheep multiplied even more and he stopped praying in congregation altogether except for the Friday
prayer. His sheep kept multiplying like worms until he finally stopped praying even the Friday prayer.
The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, asked about him and when they told him
that his sheep had multiplied so much that he had to leave Medina and stopped praying in congregation,
he said: ‘Woe unto Tha‘labah’, he said it thrice. Then Allah, glorious and majestic is He, revealed (Take
alms of their wealth, wherewith thou mayst purify them) [9:103] and He also revealed the obligation of
Zakah. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent two men, one from Juhaynah
and one from Banu Salim, to collect Zakat, and wrote for them instructions how to collect it. He also said
to them: ‘Go to Tha‘labah and so-and-so from Banu Salim and collect their Zakah’. When they reached
Tha‘labah, read him the letter of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and ask
him for his Zakah, he said: ‘This is nothing but the exemption tax (Jizyah)! This is nothing but the sister
of the exemption tax! I do not know what this is; go finish your job and then come back to me’. The two
men went to the man from Banu Salim and informed him about their business. The man selected the
best of his camels and gave them for Zakah. When they saw this, they said: ‘You are not obligated to do
this, nor do we want to take this from you’. He said to them: ‘No, you should take them, for I am happy to
give them; they are my camels, after all’. They took those camels from him and when they finished their
collection, they went back to Tha‘labah. He said to them: ‘Show me your letter’, and after he read it he
said: ‘This is nothing but the sister of the exemption tax. Go back until I think about what I should do’.
The two men left and went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and the moment he
saw them, he said: ‘Woe to Tha‘labah’, before even saying a word to them. And he prayed that Allah bless
the man from Banu Salim. The two men informed the Prophet about what Tha‘labah and the man from
Banu Salim did. Allah, glorious and majestic is He, revealed (And of them is he who made a covenant with
Allah (saying): If He give us of His bounty we will give alms and become of the righteous) up to His words
(… And because they lied) [9:79]. 23 One of the relatives of Tha‘labah was present with the Messenger of
Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and he heard what the Prophet said about him. He went to
Tha‘labah and said to him: ‘Woe unto you, O Tha‘labah, Allah, exalted is He, has revealed about you this
and that’. Tha‘labah went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and begged him to accept
from him his Zakah. But the Prophet said to him: ‘Allah has forbidden me from taking your Zakah’.
23
Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani is of the opinion that this story is inauthentic because Tha‘labah ibn Hatib al-Ansari was among the prophetic
Companions who fought at Badr and was later martyred at Uhud.
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