and said, “O Allah, You have commanded jihad and encouraged us toward it, yet You have not placed in my possession anything with which to strengthen myself, nor have You put in Your Messenger’s hand what he might use to carry me. Therefore I give in charity, for Your sake, to every Muslim any wrong I may have committed against him—in his property, his person, or his honor.”

The next morning he joined the people, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, “Where is the one who gave charity last night?” No one stood up. He repeated, “Where is that giver of charity? Let him rise.” So he stood and informed him of what he had done. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Rejoice! By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, your deed has been recorded among the zakah that is accepted.”

Concerning the verse, “Those who offered excuses from among the desert Arabs came so that permission might be granted to them” (Qur’an 9:90), they presented their excuses, but Allah did not excuse them. It is mentioned that they were a group from the clan of Ghifar.

There were also some Muslims whose resolve lagged behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so they stayed back without harboring any doubt or suspicion. Among them were Kaʿb b. Malik of Banu Salamah, Murarah b. al-Rabiʿ of Banu ʿAmr b. ʿAwf, Hilal b. Umayyah of Banu Waqif, and Abu Khaythamah of Banu Salim b. ʿAwf. They were a band of truthful men.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out on Thursday, appointing Muhammad b. Maslamah al-Ansari as his deputy over Madinah. When he departed, he encamped at Thaniyat al-Wadaʿ with more than thirty thousand people. ʿAbd Allah b. Ubayy b. Salul pitched his own camp lower down at Dhi Hiddah, and, it is claimed, his camp was not the smaller of the two. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ marched on, Ibn Salul remained behind with the hypocrites and the doubters who stayed back.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ left ʿAli b. Abi Talib in charge of his household and ordered him to remain with them. The hypocrites began to spread rumors, saying, “He only left him behind because he finds him burdensome and wants to be rid of him.” When ʿAli heard this, he took up his weapons and went out until he reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who was camped at al-Jurf. He said, “Messenger of Allah, the hypocrites claim that you left me behind because you find me a burden and wish to be free of me.” He replied, “They are lying. I left you behind because of what I have left behind me. So return and act in my stead with regard to my family …”