Imam Aḥmad relates (1): ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad told us, Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar told us, from al-Ḥajjāj, from al-Ḥakam, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched the expedition to Muʾtah, appointing Zayd as commander; if Zayd were killed, then Jaʿfar; and if Jaʿfar were killed, then Ibn Rawāḥah. Ibn Rawāḥah, however, stayed behind and joined the Prophet ﷺ for the congregational prayer. When the Prophet ﷺ saw him, he asked,
“What kept you back?”
He replied, “I wished to pray with you.”
The Prophet ﷺ said,
“A single morning march or evening march is better than the whole world and all it contains.”
Aḥmad also reports (2): Muʿāwiyah told us, al-Ḥajjāj told us, from al-Ḥakam, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah in command of a detachment, and that happened to be on a Friday. Ibn Rawāḥah let his companions go ahead and said, “I shall stay behind to pray the Friday prayer with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then catch up with them.” When the Prophet ﷺ had finished the prayer he saw him and asked,
“What prevented you from setting out with your companions?”
He replied, “I wanted to pray Friday with you, then overtake them.”
The Prophet ﷺ said,
“Even if you were to spend everything upon the earth, you would not equal the merit of their early departure.”
Al-Tirmidhī (3) also transmits this ḥadīth through Abū Muʿāwiyah, from al-Ḥajjāj—meaning Ibn Arṭāʾah—but he then cites the criticism reported from Shuʿbah: “Al-Ḥakam heard only five ḥadīths from Miqsam, and this is not one of them.” I say: there is further reservation about the reliability of al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāʾah in this chain; Allah knows best. The point of citing the report here is merely that it indicates the commanders’ departure for Muʾtah occurred on a Friday; Allah knows best.
Ibn Isḥāq (4) continues: They marched on until they encamped at Maʿān in the territory of Greater Syria (5). News reached them that Heraclius had taken up position at Maʾab (6) in the district of al-Balqāʾ with one hundred thousand Romans; another hundred thousand from Lakhm, Judhām, al-Qayn, Bahraʾ and Balī had joined him, under the command of a man of Balī, then of the clan of Irāshah, named Mālik ibn Zāfilah. In Yūnus’s version from Ibn Isḥāq it says: “Heraclius was encamped at Maʾab with one hundred thousand Romans and one hundred thousand Arab auxiliaries.” [Others say the Romans were two hundred thousand and the rest fifty thousand; the lowest estimate is one hundred thousand Romans and fifty thousand Arabs, as al-Suhaylī (7) reports.]
When this news reached the Muslims they remained at Maʿān for two nights, deliberating. They said, “Let us write to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and inform him of the enemy’s numbers; he may send us reinforcements, or he may command us as he wills, and we shall proceed.”