Chief of the Prophets

Chief of the Prophets — Page 95

Chapter Six 95 missions. The objective was first to give the impression to the enemies that the Muslims were vigilant, and second the show of strength was necessary to maintain the impartiality of certain tribes. As a result, certain tribes realized that the Muslims were not as weak as they had previously thought, and they signed treaties with Muḥammad sa. In this way, the Muslims were—to an extent—able to establish their influence in the surrounding areas of Madīnah. Attack of Kurz bin Jābir Despite such caution and care of the Companions, the Quraish found a way of mischief. A chieftain of Makkah, Kurz bin Jābir Fihrī very cunningly raided a pasture of Muslims along with a party of the Quraish, and captured camels and other belongings. Muḥammad sa along with his companions chased him quite a distance but he got away. Expedition of ‘Abdullāh bin Jaḥsh ra Seeing this nerve of the Quraish, Muḥammad sa became concerned that the Quraish might try to raise an army in Makkah to fight with the Muslims in light of the previous threats. Therefore, he sent a party under the command of ‘Abdullāh bin Jaḥsh ra to Makkah to monitor the situation, but intentionally did not tell them their destination and objective. He gave a sealed envelope to ‘Abdullāh bin Jaḥsh ra , the commander of the party, and told him to open it after a journey of two days and act on the instructions in the letter. When the letter was opened, it contained the instructions to go to the Nakhlah valley between Makkah and Ṭā’if, and bring back information about the Quraish. 1 Shortly after they reached there, a party of the Quraish unexpectedly arrived on their way from Ṭā’if to Makkah and the two parties encountered each other. Since the Muslims were on a covert 1 Aṭ-Ṭabarī and Ibni Hishām.