English translation
[7016] 53 - (2769) It was narrated that Ibn Shihāb said: "Then the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ went out on the campaign of Tabūk, heading towards the Byzantines and the Arab-Christians of Ash-Shām."
Ibn Shihāb said: "And 'Abdur-Raḥmān bin 'Abdullāh bin Ka'b bin Mālik narrated, that 'Abdullāh bin Ka'b - who was the one among his children who became Ka'b's guide when he became blind - said: 'I heard Ka'b bin Mālik narrate the story of him staying behind when the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ went out on the campaign to Tabūk. Ka'b bin Mālik said: "I did not stay behind from any campaign that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ went out on, except the campaign of Tabūk. I also stayed behind from the campaign of Badr, but the Messenger of Allāh did not admonish anyone who stayed behind from it. Rather the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ and the Muslims went out seeking the
caravan of the Quraish, but Allāh brought them and their enemy face-to-face without there being any intention of fighting. I was present with the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ on the night of Al-'Aqabah, when we swore our allegiance to Islam. That was not dearer to me than being present at Badr, although (the battle of) Badr was more famous among the people. When I stayed behind from going on the campaign to Tabūk with the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, I was never stronger or better off than when I stayed behind from that campaign. By Allāh, I had never had two mounts at the same time I had two mounts at the time of that campaign. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ waged this campaign at a time of intense heat, and was undertaking a long journey in a waterless land, and aiming to confront an enemy greater in numbers. He made the situation clear to the Muslims so that they could fully prepare themselves for their campaign. He told them the direction in which he wanted to go. The Muslims who were with the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ were many, and there was no proper written record of them."
Ka'b said: "Few men wanted to stay behind, and they thought that they could easily conceal themselves, so long as no Revelation came down from Allāh, Glorified and Exalted is
He, concerning them. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ went out on that campaign when the fruits were ripe and the shade was very attractive, and I had a fondness for those fruits. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ made preparations, as did the Muslims with him. I would set out in the morning to make my preparations along with them, then I would come back and did not do anything. I said to myself: 'I can do that when I want to.' I kept on delaying that until the people were about to depart. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ set out one morning and the Muslims set out with him, but I had not made any preparations. Then I went out and came back, and I did not do anything. I continued to do that until they had covered some distance, and I thought of riding and catching up with them. Would that I had done that, but that was not decreed for me.
"When I went out among the people, after the departure of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, I would feel shocked and upset to see that there was no one else of my calibre, except a man who was accused of being a hypocrite or a man who had been excused because of physical weakness. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ did not remember me until he reached Tabūk, then he said, while he was sitting among the people in Tabūk: 'What happened to Ka'b bin Mālik?' A man from Banū
Salamah said: 'O Messenger of Allāh, his cloak and self admiration have detained him.' Mu'ādh bin Jabal said to him: 'What a bad thing you have said! By Allāh, O Messenger of Allāh, we know nothing but good about him.' The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ remained silent and while he was like that, he saw a man dressed in white, shimmering like a mirage. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: 'Re Abū Khaithamah' and it was Abū Khaithamah Al-Anṣārī, who was the one who gave a Sā' in charity and was mocked by the hypocrites."
Ka'b bin Mālik said: "When I heard that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ was on his way back from Tabūk, I became very worried and I began to think of telling a lie, but then I said: 'How will I save myself from His wrath tomorrow?' I sought the advice of every wise man among my people. When I was told that the arrival of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ was imminent, all false ideas left me, and I knew that nothing could save me from his wrath, so I decided to tell him the truth. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ arrived in the morning, and whenever he returned from a journey, he would start by going to the Masjid and praying two Rak'ah there, then he would sit to talk to the people. When he had done that, those who had stayed behind came to him and
started offering their excuses and swearing oaths to him.
“There were eighty-odd men, and the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ accepted their excuses as they appeared to be, and he accepted their oaths of allegiance and prayed for forgiveness for them, and he left their inward intentions to Allâh. Then I came, and when I greeted him with Salâm, he smiled in the manner of one who is angry. Then he said: ‘Come here.’ So I came and sat before him, and he said to me: ‘What kept you behind? Did you not buy a mount?’ I said: ‘O Messenger of Allâh, by Allâh, if I sat before anyone in this world other than you, I would have saved myself from his anger with an excuse, for I have been given the ability to argue, but by Allâh, I know that if I were to tell you a lie today that you accepted, soon Allâh would make you angry with me, but if I tell you the truth today, you will be annoyed with me, yet I hope that Allâh will cause it to end well. By Allâh, I had no excuse. By Allâh, I was never stronger or more well-off than when I stayed behind and did not accompany you.’ The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ said: ‘As for this one, he has spoken the truth. Get up and leave until Allâh decides concerning you.’
“So I left, and some men of Banû Salamah came rushing after me and said to me: ‘By Allâh, we
never knew you to commit any sin before this, but you were unable to offer any excuse to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ as the others who stayed behind did. It would have been sufficient for your sin if the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ had prayed for forgiveness for you.'
"By Allâh, they kept rebuking me until I wanted to go back to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ and contradict myself. Then I said to them: 'Is there anyone else in the same position as me?' They said: 'Yes, there are two men in the same position as you; they said something like what you said, and they were told something like what you were told.' I said: 'Who are they?' They said: 'Murârah bin Rabî'ah Al-Âmirî and Hilâl bin Umayyah Al-Wâqifi.' They mentioned to me two righteous men who had been present at (the battle of) Badr, and there was an example for me in them. So I went away when they mentioned them to me.
"The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ forbade the Muslims to speak to the three of us among those who had stayed behind. So the people shunned us, or their attitude towards us changed, until it seemed to me that the land itself had turned hostile towards me, and it was no longer the land that I knew. We stayed like that for fifty nights. As for my two companions, they stayed in their houses weeping, but I was the
youngest and strongest of them. I would go out and attend the prayer, and go around in the marketplaces, and no one would speak to me. I would go to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ and greet him with Salâm, when he was sitting with the people after prayer, and I would say to myself: 'Did his lips move in response or not?' Then I would pray standing close to him, stealing glances at him. When I focused on my prayer, he would look at me, then when I looked at him he would turn away. Then when this harsh treatment of the Muslims had gone on for too long, I went and climbed the wall of the garden of Abû Qatâdah, who was my paternal cousin and the dearest of people to me, and I greeted him with Salâm but by Allâh, he did not return the greeting. I said to him: 'O Abû Qatâdah, I adjure you by Allâh, do you know that I love Allâh and His Messenger?' He remained silent, so I adjured him again, and he remained silent. Then I adjured him again and he said: 'Allâh and His Messenger know best.' My eyes filled with tears, and I turned away and climbed back over the wall.
"While I was walking in the marketplace of Al-Madînah, I saw a farmer from Ash-Shâm, one of those who had brought foodstuff to sell in Al-Madînah. He was saying: 'Who will show
me where Ka'b bin Mâlik is?' The people started to point me out to him, and he came to me and gave me a letter from the king of Ghassân. I was literate, so I read it and it said:
“We have heard that your companion is treating you cruelly, and you do not have to stay in a place where you are humiliated and have no rights. Come to us and we will support you.’ When I read it, I said: ‘This is also part of the test,’ and went to the oven and threw it in. Then when forty of the fifty days had passed, and no Revelation had come, the envoy of the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ came to me and said: ‘The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ has ordered you to keep away from your wife.’ I said: ‘Should I divorce her, or what should I do?’ He said: ‘No, just keep away from her, and do not come near her.’ And he sent word to my two companions with similar orders. I said to my wife: ‘Go to your family and stay with them until Allâh decides concerning this matter.’ The wife of Hilâl bin Umayyah came to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ and said to him: ‘O Messenger of Allâh, Hilâl bin Umayyah is an old man who has no servant and no one to take care of him. Do you object if I serve him?’ He said: ‘No, but he should not come near you.’ She said: ‘By Allâh, he has no such
desire; he has not stopped weeping from the moment this happened until today.'
"Some of my family said to me: 'Why don't you ask the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ for permission concerning your wife, for he has given the wife of Hilāl bin Umayyah permission to serve him.' I said: 'I will not ask the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ for permission concerning her, for how can I know what the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ will say if I ask him for permission concerning her, when I am a young man?' I stayed like that for ten days, which completed fifty days from the time when it had become forbidden to speak to us. Then I prayed Fajr on the morning of the fiftieth day, on the roof of one of our houses. While I was sitting in the manner that Allāh, Glorified and Exalted is He, described us, my own self was straitened for me and the earth, vast as it is, was straitened for me,[1] I heard the voice of someone shouting from the top of Mount Sal', saying at the top of his voice: 'O Ka'b bin Mālik, be of good cheer!' I fell down in prostration, for I knew that a way out had come.
"The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ had announced to the people that Allāh had accepted our repentance when he prayed Fajr, and the people started to give us the glad tidings.
They went to my two companions to tell them the glad tidings, and one man came to me galloping on his horse, and a man from Aslam came rushing to me, and he stood on top of the mountain and shouted. The man's voice was swifter than the horse. When the one whose voice I had heard giving me the glad tidings came to me, I took off my cloak and gave it to him in return for his good news. By Allāh, I did not have any other garment at that time, and I had to borrow two garments and put them on. I set out to go to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, and I was met by the people, group after group, congratulating me for my repentance and saying: 'Congratulations for Allāh's acceptance of your repentance.' Then I entered the Masjid and saw the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ sitting there with the people around him. Talhah bin 'Ubaidullāh got up and ran towards me to shake my hand and congratulate me, but by Allāh, no man among the Muhājirīn got up except him."
(The sub narrator said:) Ka'b never forgot that (gesture) of Talhah's.
Ka'b said: "When I greeted the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ with Salām, he said, with his face shining with joy: 'Be of good cheer, for this is the best day you have ever had since the day your mother gave birth to you.' I said: 'Is it from you, O Messenger of
Allâh, or from Allâh?' He said: 'No, it is from Allâh.' When the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ was happy, his face would shine, as if it were a piece of the moon, and we would recognize that.
"When I sat before him, I said: 'O Messenger of Allâh, as part of my repentance, I will give up my wealth as charity to Allâh and His Messenger ﷺ.' The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ said: 'Keep some of (the booty of) your wealth; that is better for you.' I said: 'I will keep my share of Khaibar.' Then I said: 'O Messenger of Allâh, Allâh saved me because I spoke the truth. As part of my repentance I shall speak nothing but the truth so long as I live.' By Allâh, I do not know of anyone among the Muslims whom Allâh put to a more severe test because of telling the truth, from the time I said that to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ until today. By Allâh, I have not told a lie from the time I said that to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ until today, and I hope that Allâh will protect me for the rest of my life."
"And Allâh revealed the words:
'Allâh has forgiven the Prophet, the Muhâjirûn and the Anshâr who followed him (Muhammad ﷺ) in the time of distress (Tabûk expedition)... Until he reached: 'Certainly, He is unto them full of
kindness, Most Merciful. And (He did forgive also) the three who did not join (the Tabûk expedition) till, for them the earth, vast as it is, was straitened and their own selves were straitened to them, and they perceived that there is no fleeing from Allâh, and no refuge but with Him. Then, He forgave them (accepted their repentance), that they might beg for His Pardon (repent to Him). Verily, Allâh is the One Who forgives and accepts repentance, Most Merciful."
[until he reached]:
"O you who believe! Be afraid of Allâh, and be with those who are true (in words and deeds)"[1]
Ka'b said; "By Allâh, Allâh did not bestow any blessing upon me, after He guided me to Islam, that was greater in my view than the fact that I told the truth to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ, and I did not lie and end up doomed as happened to those who lied, when there came Revelation in which Allâh addressed those who had lied, and spoke the harshest words ever spoken to anyone. Allâh said:
"They will swear by Allâh to you (Muslims) when you return to them, that you may turn away from them. So turn away from them. Surely, they are Rijsun [i.e. Najasun (impure) because of their evil deeds], and Hell is their
dwelling place – a recompense for that which they used to earn. They (the hypocrites) swear to you (Muslims) that you may be pleased with them, but if you are pleased with them, certainly Allâh is not pleased with the people who are Al-Fâsiqûn.”[1]
Ka'b said: “Our case was deferred, the three of us, unlike the case of those whose apology the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ accepted when they swore to him, and he accepted their oath of allegiance and prayed for forgiveness for them. The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ deferred our case until Allâh decided concerning it. Hence Allâh said: “And (He did forgive also) the three who...” What Allâh says here does not refer to our staying behind from the campaign, rather it refers to His delaying the decision concerning us, unlike those who swore an oath (to the Prophet ﷺ) and apologized to him, from whom he accepted that.”
