In Jumada he set out for the Najd region, aiming at the clans of Banū Muhārib and Banū Thaʿlabah of Ghatafān, and he appointed Abū Dharr to govern Madinah.

Ibn Hishām adds: Some say he appointed ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.

Ibn Isḥāq relates: He marched on until he halted at Nakhl, and that was the expedition of Dhāt al-Riqāʿ.

Ibn Hishām explains: It was so named because they patched their banners during it; others say the name derives from a tree there called Dhāt al-Riqāʿ.

Al-Wāqidī says: Rather, it refers to a mountain mottled with patches of red, black, and white.

In the report of Abū Mūsā it is said that the expedition was named thus because, on account of the intense heat, they tied strips of cloth around their feet.

Ibn Isḥāq continues: There he encountered a force from Ghatafān; the two sides drew close but did not engage in battle, for each feared the other, until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ led the people in the Prayer of Fear.

Ibn Hishām has supplied the isnād of the ḥadīth on the Prayer of Fear at this point (1): ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd al-Tannūrī—from Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd—from al-Ḥasan—from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh; and ʿAbd al-Wārith—from Ayyūb—from Abū al-Zubayr—from Jābir; and ʿAbd al-Wārith—from Ayyūb—from Nāfiʿ—from Ibn ʿUmar. None of these chains, however, mention the Najd expedition or Dhāt al-Riqāʿ, nor do they specify a particular time or place.

Whether the campaign of Dhāt al-Riqāʿ—conducted in Najd against Banū Muhārib and Banū Thaʿlabah of Ghatafān—took place before the Battle of the Trench is a matter of debate. Al-Bukhārī held that it was after Khaybar, citing as proof that Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī took part, which will be discussed later; his arrival, along with Jaʿfar and the others, occurred only during the nights of Khaybar. Abū Hurayrah was present as well and said, “I performed the Prayer of Fear with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the Najd expedition.”

Additional evidence that it was after the Trench is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ first permitted Ibn ʿUmar to take part in combat on the day of the Trench.

It is authentically reported from him in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (2) that he said: “I campaigned with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ toward Najd,” and he then mentioned the Prayer of Fear.

As for al-Wāqidī’s statement (3) that the Prophet ﷺ set out for Dhāt al-Riqāʿ with four hundred—some say seven hundred—of his Companions on the night of Saturday, ten days into Muḥarram of the fifth year, that too is open to objection. Even this does not resolve the fact that the Prayer of Fear was legislated only after the Trench, for the Trench occurred in Shawwāl of year five according to the most widely accepted view, though some place it in Shawwāl of year four. On the latter dating one can reconcile Ibn ʿUmar’s report, but the reports of Abū Mūsā and Abū Hurayrah remain unaffected.