and grant him peace. He undertook the expedition to Tabūk in the ninth year, but no fighting took place there. On that expedition he marched against the Christians in the Levant, and on that occasion Allah (1) revealed Surah Barā’ah, mentioning those who stayed behind, of whom He said:

“So say, ‘You will never go out with me, nor will you ever fight an enemy with me.’” [Surah al-Tawbah: 83]

As for Mu’tah, it was an expedition dispatched by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, concerning which he said:

“Your commander is Zayd. If he is killed, then Ja‘far; if he is killed, then ‘Abd Allāh ibn Rawāhah.” (2)

It took place after the make-up ‘umrah and before the conquest of Mecca. Ja‘far had attended the make-up ‘umrah, and he, ‘Alī, and Zayd disputed over the custody of Hamzah’s daughter. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, awarded her custody to Asmā’, Ja‘far’s wife and the girl’s maternal aunt, saying:

“The maternal aunt has the same standing as the mother.” (3)

Neither Zayd, Ja‘far, nor Ibn Rawāhah witnessed the conquest of Mecca, for they had been martyred before that in the battle of Mu’tah.

With this established, the argument drawn from the verse may be stated as follows. Allah’s words:

“You will be called to face a people of great fighting strength; you will fight them, or they will submit.” [Surah al-Fath: 16]

indicate that these people possess great fighting strength and that they will either be fought or submit. They argued that this therefore cannot refer to his having called them (4) to fight the people of Mecca and Hawāzin following the year of the conquest, because these were the very people whom they had been called to fight in the year of al-Hudaybiyyah. Those who were not among them were of the same kind, no stronger in battle than they were. They were all Arabs from the Hijāz, and fighting them was of the same nature. Moreover, the people of Mecca and those