Khālid and Banū Jadhīmah

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had destroyed the idols and the kufr of Makkah, and now he wanted to spread the sovereignty of Islam in the surrounding area. So he sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd, in Ramaḍān, to Banū Jadhīmah, an Arab tribe close to Makkah. In al-Bukhārī (4339): the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd to Banū Jadhīmah, and he invited them to Islam. They were not educated enough to say, we have become Muslim; instead they said: ṣabaʾnā. The kuffār of Quraysh, when somebody became Muslim, would say that he had become a ṣābiʾ. The Ṣābiʾah was one of the religions of the Jāhiliyyah, and it was a derogatory term for anyone who became Muslim: they would never say that so-and-so had become Muslim; they would say so-and-so ṣabaʾa. Now Khālid ibn al-Walīd told them to become Muslim, and they said: ṣabaʾnā. In reality they wanted to be Muslim, but they were not learned enough to know that they should use the term aslamnā; they had picked up this word that they heard everybody else say, and they were repeating it.

Khālid ibn al-Walīd killed them, and captured the rest, and he handed over one prisoner to every soldier in his army; and then Khālid ibn al-Walīd gave his instructions to the army that every soldier should execute his prisoner. ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar was in this army, and he said: by Allah, I am not going to kill my prisoner — wa-llāhi lā aqtulu asīrī wa lā yaqtulu rajulun min aṣḥābī asīrah — I am not going to kill my prisoner, and none of my companions is going to kill his. ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar saw that this was a clear mistake on the part of Khālid: these people have become Muslim, and then they were killed, and then they were taken prisoner, and now we are told to execute our prisoners; I am not going to do it.

So it was a clear disobeying of the order of the amīr on the part of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar. Now ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar knew the teaching of Islam that one should obey the umarāʾ, one should follow the amīr; but he also knew that the amīr is to be followed only when he gives an order that is ḥalāl: if he tells us to do something that is ḥarām, there is no obedience. And it is known in armies that such a thing, mutiny, is a very dangerous thing to do. But ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) not only did it himself; he also said: all of my companions — the people who will listen to me, the people who came with me — are not going to kill their prisoners.

So the matter was raised with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar that what he had done was right: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) approved of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar in his disobedience to the amīr. And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) raised his hands and said: Allāhumma innī abraʾu ilayka mimmā ṣanaʿa Khālid, Allāhumma innī abraʾu ilayka mimmā ṣanaʿa Khālid — O Allah, I declare that I am free of what Khālid has done; O Allah, I declare that I am innocent of what Khālid has done. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made it clear that what Khālid had done was wrong: these people should not have been killed. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) approved of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar in his actions. So the first lesson learned here is that ulū al-amr, walī al-amr, those in authority, are not to be followed when they tell us to do something ḥarām: they are to be disobeyed if they tell us to do something ḥarām.

Another incident happened with this sariyyah. There was a man among them who did not really belong to that tribe; he was there because the woman he loved was from that tribe — that was the only reason he was there. He was among the people who were arrested, and his hands were tied. So he said to the Muslim soldier who was guarding him: just allow me to go and speak — he pointed towards some women — just allow me to go and have a final visit, a final word, with those women over there, and then do with me whatever you want; just the last sight. So the Muslim allowed him. So he went, and he said: aslimī Ḥubaysh qabla nafādh al-ʿaysh. Aslimī means accept, or means become Muslim; Ḥubaysh is her name; qabla nafādh al-ʿaysh, before life is over. She said: fadaytuk — I would sacrifice myself for you. And then he was taken and executed. She saw that, and she came over him and sighed once or twice, and then she fell next to him, dead.

When this story was related to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: a-mā kāna fīkum rajulun raḥīm? — was there not a merciful man among you? Not only was the killing wrong, but also you killed this man in such a way. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) felt sorry for these people and what had happened to them. And therefore the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) to pay the diyah. So ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib was sent by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to pay blood money, compensation for all those who were killed — because the ones who were killed were Muslim. They made a mistake by saying ṣabaʾnā, but in reality what they meant was aslamnā. They were paid for everything — anything that was missing, their belongings that had been taken. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib compensated them for everything: blood money, in addition to any belongings that had been taken from them. And then there was some money left over with him, and he gave it to them, just in case. So this is how the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) dealt with this situation: these were Muslims who were killed by mistake, and they were paid blood money.