Whenever he ventured out, people would shout after him, “You deserter—did you flee in the path of Allah?!” until he remained in his house and would no longer appear. This took place during the campaign of Muʾtah.

I say: It is possible that a group of them withdrew when they saw the vast numbers of the enemy, who outnumbered them many times over. The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were three thousand, whereas the enemy—so it is reported—stood at two hundred thousand. A disparity of that magnitude makes withdrawal permissible, as has been established. When those men withdrew, the rest held their ground; Allah granted them victory, enabled them to escape the enemy, and they inflicted a heavy slaughter upon them, as related by al-Wāqidī and before him by Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah.

This is further corroborated and its authenticity reinforced by the report recorded by Imām Aḥmad (1): Al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us, saying, “Safwān ibn ʿAmr related to me, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from his father, from ʿAwf ibn Mālik al-Ashjaʿī, who said:

‘I went out with those who accompanied Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, among the Muslims, in the expedition of Muʾtah. A helper from Yemen travelled with me carrying nothing but his sword. One of the Muslims slaughtered a camel, and the Yemeni asked him for a strip of its hide. He gave it to him, and the man fashioned it into a sort of shield. We advanced and encountered the ranks of the Byzantines. Among them was a man on a chestnut horse, its saddle and armour overlaid with gold. The Byzantine was goading the Muslims to fight. The Yemeni lay in wait for him behind a rock; when the Byzantine passed, he hamstrung his horse, so it fell. He leapt upon the rider, killed him, and took his horse and weapons. When Allah granted victory to the Muslims, Khālid ibn al-Walīd sent for him and took the spoils from him.’

ʿAwf continued: ‘I went to him and said, “O Khālid, do you not know that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—has ruled that the spoils belong to the slayer?” He replied, “Indeed, but I considered them too valuable.” I said, “Either you restore them to him, or I shall present the matter to the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him.” He refused to return them.

‘We later gathered before the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and I related to him the Yemeni’s story and what Khālid had done. The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “O Khālid, give back what you took from him.”

‘I then said, “Here you are, Khālid—did I not keep faith with you?” The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—asked, “And what is that?” When I told him, he became angry and said, “O Khālid, do not return it to him! Will you people not leave my commanders alone? To you belongs the best of what they decide, and upon them rests the dross.”’

Al-Walīd said: ‘I asked Thawr about this ḥadīth, and he narrated to me—from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from ʿAwf—a similar account. Muslim and Abū Dāwūd (3) also transmitted it through Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from ʿAwf ibn Mālik, with a comparable wording.

This indicates that they captured spoils from the enemy, stripped their nobles, and killed some of their commanders. It has already been mentioned in the report recorded by al-Bukhārī (4) that Khālid, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Nine swords were shattered in my hand on the day of Muʾtah, and nothing remained firm in my hand except….”