The campaign of Ta'if — the Prophet's wives with the army

شأن غزوة الطائف — نساء النبي مع الجيش

At Ta'if Waqidi notes the Prophet ﷺ camped at al-Akama accompanied by two of his wives, Umm Salama and Zaynab, while the Muslims stormed the fortress and its defenders rained arrows on them; Abu Bakr was wounded by a poisoned splinter. Khubayb ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Harith al-Thaqafi's reports carry the siege, and the army withdrew after sixteen nights.

Depth

At a glance

«ولما نزل رسول الله الأكمة ومعه امرأتان من نسائه أم سلمة، وزينب، وثار المسلمون إلى الحصن»

A verbatim excerpt of the text, forty words at most; the full text is in the edition cited under sources

Connections

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Mentions: Umm Salama (Hind bint Abi Umayya)· Zaynab bint Jahsh· Abu Bakr al-Siddiq· Muhammad· The siege of Ta'if· Ta'if

People and things also explored

Mecca· Medina· The siege of Ta'if· Muhammad· The Battle of Hunayn· The delegation of Thaqif· The Hijra· The slander affair — the exoneration of Aisha read from the pulpit

Sources

Kitab al-Maghazi by al-Waqidi — al-Maktaba al-Shamila digital text of the Marsden Jones edition (Oxford 1966)

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The campaign of Ta'if — the Prophet's wives with the army”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/passage/waqidi-maghazi-taif/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-11.

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Mecca

The most sacred city of Islam, in the Hejaz about 72 km inland from Jeddah, where the Prophet Muhammad was born, the Kaaba stands and the annual Hajj is held. The Encyclopaedia of Islam presents it as a trading centre dominated by Quraysh before Islam, then a city ruled by Umayyads, Abbasids, sharifs and Ottomans until Abd al-Aziz Al Saud took it in 1924. Ibn Battuta describes the Sacred Mosque in his day, counting its ten gates, domes and porticoes, measuring the distance between al-Safa and al-Marwa in steps, and noting that Dar al-Nadwa was made a congregational mosque attached to the haram. The Arabic Papyrology Database preserves two paper documents sent from Mecca to business friends in Fustat, a business letter about the pilgrimage dated 901-1000 CE and a private greeting from the pilgrimage dated 1101-1200 CE