Likewise, what is related about the king named al-Khitār is a fabrication; no such person existed. As for the expedition to Tabūk, no fighting took place there. Rather, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, advanced towards the Byzantines, Arabs, and others in Syria. Never did more Muslims gather for an expedition with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, than gathered with him in the year of Tabūk, which was his last military expedition. He stayed at Tabūk for twenty days, but the Christians did not come out to confront him.
Likewise, during the campaign of the Confederates, there was no battle between the two armies. Rather, the Confederates besieged the Muslims from outside the trench that the Muslims had dug around Medina, while the Muslims remained inside it. There were a few skirmishes between some Muslims and some disbelievers, amounting to single combat or something similar. ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—killed ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Wudd al-ʿĀmirī. The Confederates were not defeated through combat, nor were any significant numbers killed on either side. Rather, Allah sent against them the wind—the east wind—and sent the angels, as the Most High says in the account of the Confederates:
“O you who believe, remember Allah’s favor upon you when armies came against you, and We sent against them a wind and forces you did not see.”
And the following verses.
The account given of how ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Wudd al-ʿĀmirī was killed is a lie. Likewise, the claim that ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Wudd struck a tree with his thigh and uprooted it is a lie. There were no trees there; the date palms were far from the encampment.
Likewise, the account of a caller proclaiming:
“There is no sword but Dhū