The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 3 of 4

424 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
been told what had happened, He asked, "Did anyone argue with him?" The
man replied that a man of pale complexion and medium stature had argued with
him, hut Khalid rebuked him and shut him up. Another man, tall and excitable,
had also argued with him and they disputed fiercely. 'Umar h. al-Khagab said,
"The first man, Messenger of God, was my son 'Ahd Allb, the other was S~lim,
the freed-man of Aha Hudhayfa."
Ihn Ishaq went on to say that Hakim b. Hakim further quoted Aba Ja'far as
saying, "Then the Messenger of God (SAAS) called for 'Ali b. Aha TZlih and
told him, "Ali, go out to those people and make enquiries. Put an end to the
practices of thejahrliyya.'
"'Ali went out to them carrying money the Messenger of God (SAAS) had
sent with hi. He paid them compensation for the deaths and for their material
losses, even paying them for a dog's howl! Having met all these obligations, he
still had some money left. He asked them whether there was anyone else to
he paid for lost blood or damages and they said not. He then gave them the
remaining money on behalf of the Messenger of God (SAAS), in case any other
demands that neither he nor they were aware of should be made later.
"Having done this, he returned to the Messenger of God (SAAS) and
reported to him. 'You acted correctly and very well,' he told him. The Messenger
of God (SAAS) then arose and, facing the qzbla and stretching his arms out
wide so that his armpits were visible, he said, '0 God, I declare to You that I am
innocent of what Khalid h. al-Walid did.' He spoke these words three times."
Ihn Ishaq stated that some who wished to excuse Khalid report h i as having
said, "I did not fight them until 'Ahd All& h. Hudhafa al-Sahmi told me to do
so. He said, 'The Messenger of God (SAAS) ordered you to combat them
because of their having refrained from accepting Islam.'"
Ihn Hisham quoted Aha 'Amr al-Madini as saying that when Khdid reached
them, they had said, "raba'na! saba'na! We have changed religion!"
These traditions are defective in their lines of transmission.
Ima Alpad stated that 'Ahd al-Razzaq related to him, quoting Macmar, from
al-Zuhri, from Salim h. 'Abd All& b. Wmar, from Ihn Wmar, who said, "The
Messenger of God (SAAS) dispatched Khalid h. al-Walid to Bana -I think he
said this - Jadhima, and he invited them to enter Islam. But they did not respond
properly by saying aslamnd, 'we accept Islam', but instead began saying '~aPnz!
~aba'na!' Khalid then took some prisoner and killed others. He gave to each of
our men a prisoner and next morning Khalid ordered that each man of us should
kill his prisoner."
Ibu Wmar went on, "I said, 'I swear by God, I'll not kill my prisoner! Nor will
any of my men kill theirs either!"'
The account continues that they then went to the Prophet (SAAS) and told him
what Khalid had done. He responded by raising his hands and saying, "0 God,
I declare to You that I am innocent of what Khalid has done!" He said this twice.