Zayd ibn Haritha's raid on Judham and the Prophet's restitution

A detachment in which the Prophet sent Zayd ibn Haritha to Judham, after al-Hunayd ibn Us raided Dihya al-Kalbi. The army struck a group of them who had become Muslims on the letter of Rifa'a ibn Zayd, and the Prophet ordered that everything taken be returned. ^{1 2}

Ibn Ishaq relates it from people of Judham who had knowledge of it, "from someone I do not doubt". He says it was "from the land of Khushayn"; Ibn Hisham, speaking for himself, and al-Shafi'i, from Amr ibn Habib from Ibn Ishaq, say: from the land of Hasma. ¹

When Rifa'a ibn Zayd came to his people with the Prophet's letter and they accepted it, Dihya ibn Khalifa al-Kalbi came back from Caesar with merchandise, and when he was in a valley called Shinar, al-Hunayd ibn Us and his son Us, of the Dulay family of Judham, attacked him and took everything he had. ¹ News of this reached a group of the Dubayb, the kin of Rifa'a, who had accepted Islam; they went out against al-Hunayd and his son, among them al-Nu'man ibn Abi Ja'al, and they fought. Qarra ibn Ashqar al-Dabari of the Dulay shot al-Nu'man in the knee and said: take it, I am the son of Ubna. Hassan ibn Milla had accompanied Dihya before this and had taught him the Mother of the Book (the Fatiha). ^{1 3} Ibn Hisham says it is also said: Qarra ibn Ashqar al-Dabari and Hayyan ibn Milla. ³ They recovered what al-Hunayd and his son had and returned it to Dihya. ³

Dihya went and came to the Prophet, told him, and asked him for the blood of al-Hunayd and his son, so the Prophet sent Zayd ibn Haritha at the head of an army; that is what stirred the raid. ³ Ghatafan, Judham, Wa'il, some of Salaman and Sa'd ibn Hudhaym had settled in Harrat al-Rajla when Rifa'a came to them with the letter; Rifa'a was at Kura Rabba, with some of the Dubayb, and the rest of the Dubayb were at the valley of Mudan on the side of the lava field. ³ Zayd's army came from the direction of al-Awlaj and raided at al-Maqis from the front of the lava field, collecting whatever they found of goods or people, and killed al-Hunayd and his son, two men of the Banu al-Ahnaf (Ibn Hisham says al-Ajnaf), and a man of the Banu al-Khusayb. ³

When the Dubayb and the army in the plain of Mudan heard of it, a party of them rode out: Hassan ibn Milla on the horse of Suwayd ibn Zayd al-Ajjaja, Unayf ibn Milla on the horse of Milla Raghal, and Abu Zayd ibn Amr on his horse Shammar. Abu Zayd and Hassan said to Unayf: hold back from us and turn away, for we fear your tongue. He fell behind them, then caught up with them and said: I am more protective of the two men than you are of the two horses; so they agreed that only Hassan should speak. ^{3 4} They had a saying from the Jahiliyya: when one of them wanted to strike with his sword he said "Bawri" or "Thawri". When they came out before the army, the people came rushing at them; Hassan said: we are a Muslim people. The first man to meet them, on a dark horse, came on driving them, and Unayf said "Bawri"; Hassan said: enough. ⁴ When they stood before Zayd, Hassan said: we are a Muslim people. Zayd said: then recite the Mother of the Book; Hassan recited it. Zayd cried out to the army that God had forbidden us the place of these people from which they came, except for one who breaks a covenant. ⁴ Hassan's sister was among the captives, and Zayd said to him: take her. She took hold of his loincloth. Umm al-Fazr al-Dabiya said: will you take your daughters and leave your mothers? One of the Banu al-Khusayb said: they are the sons of the Dubayb. They continued to strike one another with tongues all day. A man of the army told Zayd, and he ordered Hassan's sister's hands unfastened from his loincloth and said to her: sit with your cousins' daughters until God judges concerning you; and he forbade the army to go down into their valley. ⁴

That night Abu Zayd ibn Amr, Abu Shamas ibn Amr, Suwayd, Ba'ja, Bar'ad, and Tha'laba and Mukhraba ibn Adi, Unayf and Hassan, sons of Milla, rode to Rifa'a ibn Zayd and reached him at dawn at Kura Rabba in the upper part of the lava field, at a well of the lava field of Layla. Hassan said to him: you are sitting milking goats while the women of Judham are captives, deceived by the letter you brought! Rifa'a called for a camel, tied his saddle on it, and said a verse. ⁵ Then he set out the next morning with them, with Umayya ibn Dafara, brother of the slain man of Khusayb, and they travelled three nights to Medina. When they entered the mosque, a man said to them: do not kneel your camels, or their hands will be cut off; so they got down and the camels were standing. When they came in to the Prophet he beckoned them to come behind the people. ⁵ When Rifa'a began to speak, a man stood and said: Messenger of God, these are a people of sorcerers, twice. Rifa'a said: may God have mercy on the one who did not find us in this day but to good. Then he handed the Prophet the letter he had written for him and said: take it, Messenger of God, an old letter and a new betrayal. The Prophet said: read it, boy, and make it known. When it was read he asked them, and they told him, and the Prophet said three times: what shall I do about the slain? Rifa'a said: you know best; we do not forbid you what is lawful, nor make lawful for you what is unlawful. Abu Zayd ibn Amr said: release for us whoever is alive, and whoever is killed is under this foot of mine. The Prophet said: Abu Zayd has spoken the truth; ride with them, Ali. ^{5 2}

Ali said: Zayd will not obey me. The Prophet gave him his sword; he had no mount, so they carried him on a camel belonging to Tha'laba ibn Amr called Makhkal. They met Zayd's messenger on a she-camel of the Abu Wabr herd called al-Shamr; they made him dismount and took her. Then they met the army at the plain of al-Fuhlatayn and took what was in their hands, until they were pulling Labid the woman from under the saddle. ² Abu Ja'al composed a poem on this, and Ibn Hisham says two verses of it are from outside Ibn Ishaq. ^{2 6}

"Thaghrat al-qawm" is the people's side which they protect; "khatar" means breach of a covenant; "al-hiqwan" are the flanks; "al-dhawd" are between three and ten camels; "alah ilayhim" means pointed to them; "lam yahdhuna" means did not give us, and is also read "lam yajidna". The copies have "al-Ahnaf / al-Akhyaf / al-Ahaff", and "Amr" in place of "Zayd" in the name of Tha'laba, and "min ma'" in place of "mimma". ^{3 4 5}

• Khushayn in Ibn Ishaq; Hasma in Ibn Hisham and al-Shafi'i. ¹
• Different names in the copies: Qarra ibn Ashqar al-Dabari / Hayyan ibn Milla. ³
• The date of the expedition is not in Ibn Ishaq.