The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore instructed him to divide the Companions into two groups. He was to lead one half in prayer while the other half stood behind them on guard, keeping their caution and their weapons. After that, the second group would come and pray with him, while the first kept their caution and their weapons, so that each group would perform one rakʿah with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would complete two rakʿahs.
Al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī (1) also transmitted this ḥadīth through ʿAbd al-Ṣamad, and al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.
I say: If Abū Hurayrah actually witnessed the event, it must have occurred after Khaybar; otherwise it counts as a Companion’s mursal report, which, according to the majority, is unobjectionable. Allah knows best.
Neither Muslim’s wording of Jābir’s report nor that of Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī mentions ʿUsfān or Khālid ibn al-Walīd, yet it appears to be the same incident. The remaining issue is whether the expedition of ʿUsfān took place before or after the Battle of the Trench. Some scholars—among them al-Shāfiʿī—maintain that the prayer of fear was only legislated after the Day of the Trench, for on that day they delayed the prayer from its appointed time because of fighting; had the prayer of fear already been prescribed, they would have performed it instead of postponing the prayer.
For this reason some of the sīrah scholars say that the campaign against Banū Lihyān, during which he performed the prayer of fear at ʿUsfān, came after Banū Qurayẓah.
Al-Wāqidī (2) related with his chain from Khālid ibn al-Walīd: “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out for al-Ḥudaybiyyah I met him at ʿUsfān. I stationed myself opposite him and exposed myself to him. He led his Companions in the Ẓuhr prayer in front of us; we considered launching a raid against him, but no resolve was given to us. Allah then informed him of what we were harboring, so he led his Companions in the ʿAṣr prayer as a prayer of fear.”
I say: The ʿUmrah of al-Ḥudaybiyyah occurred in Dhū al-Qaʿdah of year six AH, after the Trench and Banū Qurayẓah campaigns, as will be mentioned below.
The wording of the report from Abū ʿAyyāsh al-Zuraqī indicates that the verse concerning the prayer of fear was revealed during this expedition, on the day of ʿUsfān, which would make it the first prayer of fear he performed. Allah knows best (4).
We shall, God willing, set out the manner of the prayer of fear and the variant narrations regarding it in the book al-Aḥkām al-Kabīr, if Allah wills. In Him do we place our trust and upon Him do we rely.
The Expedition of Dhāt al-Riqāʿ (5)
Ibn Isḥāq (6) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then remained in Madinah after the expedition against Banū al-Naḍīr for two months of Rabīʿ and some days