Understanding Islam — Page 128
THE BATTLE OF TABUK 126 do so in order to capture this man”. He then gave the order for his cavalry to get ready to charge. He also wrote a letter to Caesar in order to seek his permission for launching a military assault upon Muslims. This created an atmosphere of hate and intolerance against Muslims in the whole region. As a result of this, Muslims of Mad ī nah lived in a state of expectancy of an imminent attack. Secondly, the battle of Mu’ta (629 CE) had just recently taken place in which the Muslims had been victorious, against the expectations of their enemies, and the perception was that Muslims were emerging as a power to reckon with in Arabia. The neighboring powers of Caesar did not look kindly at this development for it meant losing their support in the Arabian Peninsula. Thirdly, a major method of communication in those days was to convey the message by word of mouth. Usually, the caravans travelling in the area would bring news and information that was conveyed through them. Muslims were given information by a caravan that came from that area under the influence of Caesar that an army consisting of 40,000 soldiers was preparing to attack the Muslims.