Year Six of the Prophetic Hijrah

Al-Bayhaqī (1) relates that in Muḥarram of this year the detachment led by Muḥammad ibn Maslamah set out toward Najd, during which Thumāmah ibn Uthāl al-Yamāmī was taken captive.

I say: Yet in Ibn Isḥāq’s version, transmitted through Saʿīd al-Maqburī from Abū Hurayrah, the latter claims to have been present—whereas Abū Hurayrah did not migrate until after Khaybar. The event must therefore be dated later, and Allah knows best.

This is also the year whose earliest part saw the campaign against Banū Liḥyān, according to the soundest view.

Ibn Isḥāq (2) says: “The conquest of Banū Qurayẓah occurred in Dhū al-Qaʿdah and the beginning of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, and that ḥajj was performed by the polytheists”—that is, in Year Five, as noted earlier.

He continues: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then remained in Madinah for the rest of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, Muḥarram, Ṣafar, and the two months of Rabīʿ; six months after the fall of Banū Qurayẓah, in Jumādā al-Ūlā, he marched out against Banū Liḥyān to avenge those slain at al-Rajīʿ—Khubayb and his companions—while giving the impression that he was heading for Syria, so as to take the people by surprise.”

Ibn Hishām (3) adds: “He appointed Ibn Umm Maktūm in charge of Madinah.” When the Prophet ﷺ reached the tribe’s dwellings, they fled before him and fortified themselves atop the mountains. He therefore turned toward ʿUsfān, met a band of idolaters there, and performed the Prayer of Fear.

This expedition was previously listed under Year Four, and al-Bayhaqī placed it there as well. Yet Ibn Isḥāq’s placement—after the Battle of the Trench—is the more persuasive, for the Prayer of Fear, according to the majority, was first performed only after the Day of the Trench.

It is authentically reported that the Prophet ﷺ led that prayer at ʿUsfān on the day of Banū Liḥyān; hence the account belongs here and should be transferred from there, following the lead of the foremost authority on the campaigns of his time and those who came after. Indeed, Imām al-Shāfiʿī (﵀) said: “Whoever wishes to study the Maghāzī is indebted to Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq.”

Kaʿb ibn Mālik (4) also composed verses concerning the expedition of Banū Liḥyān:

[al-Ṭawīl metre]