one of Muhammad’s envoys?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. Shurahbil thereupon ordered that he be executed, and his head was struck off. No other envoy of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was ever killed besides him.

When the news reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ it grieved him deeply. He called the people to arms and they answered at once; that was the immediate cause of the Expedition of Muʾtah.

Yunus ibn Bukayr relates from Ibn Ishaq: Muhammad ibn Ja‘far ibn al-Zubayr told me, on the authority of ‘Urwah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from the compensatory ʿumrah (ʿumrat al-qaḍāʾ) in Dhu ’l-Hijjah. He remained in Madinah until, in Jumada of the eighth year, he dispatched a force to Muʾtah, appointing Zayd ibn Harithah as commander. He said, ‘If Zayd is struck down, then Jaʿfar; if Jaʿfar is struck down, then ʿAbd Allah ibn Rawahah; and if I, too, am struck down, let the Muslims choose a leader from among themselves.’ The army prepared to leave, and the people took leave of the commanders named by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Ibn Rawahah wept. They asked him, ‘What makes you weep?’ He answered, ‘By Allah, it is not love of this world nor longing for it; rather, I heard Allah say, “Every one of you will pass over it” (Mary 19:71), and I do not know how I shall fare when I cross.’ The Muslims said, ‘May Allah accompany you, return you to us in safety, and shield you from harm.’ Then ʿAbd Allah ibn Rawahah recited:

Yet I ask the Most Merciful for forgiveness,
And for a sword-stroke, keen-edged, that sends forth foam;
Or a thrust by the hand of a fearless warrior,
Whose spear pierces entrails and splits the liver,
So that, when people pass by my grave, they will say,
‘May Allah guide this warrior—how rightly he strove!’

After that he bade farewell to the Prophet ﷺ and said:

May Allah make firm the grace He has bestowed upon you—
A firmness like Moses was granted, and a victory like theirs;
I have discerned in you supererogatory goodness,
And Allah knows that my vision is sure.