Chief of the Prophets — Page 217
Chapter Nine 217 were still present, Muḥammad sa said to his army to move quickly from that land seeking forgiveness of Allah, as the punishment of God overtook Thamūd in that land. When Muḥammad sa was forced to stay for one night in the vicinity of Al-Ḥijr he warned the Companions not to go outside the camp alone. On seeing the ruins, Muḥammad sa covered his face with his mantle, and ordered the army to march swiftly. After a journey of fourteen manāzil, 1 they reached the Tabūk spring which was their destination. Upon investigation they found out that Heraclius of Byzantine awed by the truth had not made a definite decision to fight the Muslims. Further, the Ghassānid ruler (whose formal army of 100,000 was defeated by the Muslim army of 3,000 at the Battle of Mutah) lost courage after hearing about the grand preparation of the mighty Muslim army and, thus, his army dispersed. Since Muḥammad’s objective was the establishment of peace, he did not chase them. Otherwise, if he had desired, as has been alleged by the non-Muslim historians, he could have forcefully converted all the tribes to Islam by sword. Muḥammad sa stayed there for twenty days. During this time he signed treaties with some smaller Christian rulers. Being satisfied with the situation of peace in that land, Muḥammad sa ordered the army to march back. When the army reached close to the mosque of the Hypocrites near Madīnah, he instructed certain Companions to demolish the mosque and said, “Allah the Exalted has informed me that this mosque is harmful (Masjid a-firār). ” 2 Muḥammad sa entered Madīnah after an absence of two months, in Ramaān, 9 A. H. Success of a Few Companions in a Trial As the journey to Tabūk was long and arduous, and further it was summer time when crops were almost ready, the Hypocrites came 1 A distance equivalent to 19 miles [Publisher] 2 Al-Taubah 9: 107.