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By God, it is just as the ancients said: Feed the dog, and it will bite you. I
swear by God that when we return to Madinah, the worthy and noble
ones will drive out the unworthy wretches.” By the worthy, he was
referring to himself, of course, while the unworthy one in his eyes who
deserved to be driven out was the Prophet PBUH. They told the Prophet
(SAW) that they would not go out in such intense heat. Despite these
setbacks, the Prophet (SAW) was able to gather a force of 30,000 fighters
— the largest Muslim fighting force so far — and marched to Tabuk. The
army crossed deserts and baked plains, and had very little water because
they camped in lands which once belonged to the Thamud. Eventually
their thirst was so great that Allah (SWT) sent down torrents of rain to
aid them. When the Muslim forces reached Tabuk, there were no
Byzantines there: by that time, they had abandoned the border towns, so
the Prophet (SAW) gave orders for the return march. However, this
daring venture made such an impression on the pro-Byzantine tribes in
northern Arabia that they shifted their allegiance from Constantinople
to Madinah, in the same way that the conquest of Mecca had cleared
opposition from those regions. Where they had previously feared the
near impregnable power of the Roman legions, Muslims were now
prepared to throw down the gauntlet for the superpower of that era. It is
very uncommon in the history of conflict that any conqueror shed so
little blood for such a victory. Admonishing his men, he continued: “You
yourselves have wrought this. You allowed them to settle in your
country and shared your property with them. By God, had you held back
and not been so generous, they would have surely gone
elsewhere.” Listening to Abdullah spew out his venom was a young
Companion of the Prophet , Zayd bin Arqam , who immediately brought
the matter to the Prophet’s attention. Abdullah bin Ubayy was sent for
and asked about his diatribe, which he denied upon oath, swearing the
Prophet had been misinformed. His glib words saved him on that
occasion, but the revelation of Surah Al-Munaafiqoon published the
truth, and the name of Abdullah bin Ubayy stands disgraced until the Day
of Judgment. Ironically, Abdullah’s son, who bore the same name as his
father, was a true believer who was incensed by his father’s
machinations.