"I Was Never Stronger"

And then he says — and now he starts to narrate the story of what happened at Tabūk — he said: I was never before stronger or better off than at the time when I missed the Battle of Tabūk. He said: never before did I own two riding camels, but I did own them at the time of the Battle of Tabūk. So Kaʿb ibn Mālik here is admitting that he has no excuse: he was strong, and he had the financial capability, which is represented by having a mount to ride — and not only did he have one; he had two.

And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would never send out an army — until the Battle of Tabūk: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) fought it in great heat, and he faced a long journey, and deserts, and many enemies; so he ordered the Muslims to prepare for the Battle of Tabūk, and he told them what he wanted. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would never send out an army to fight a particular enemy without speaking of a different destination. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did this to mislead the enemy, so that his destination would never be exposed; and he would do that in order to surprise the enemy and catch them off guard. That was the habit of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). However, with the Battle of Tabūk it was different. Kaʿb ibn Mālik says: because it was a time of extreme heat, and it was a long journey, and it was a numerous enemy, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made the announcement public to the Muslims — we are going to such-and-such a place, and we are facing the Romans — and he did that so that they would take appropriate measures and make preparations for this battle. So this shows that Tabūk was different and special.

The Muslims were numerous, and the books of sīrah say that they were thirty thousand; that is the most authentic narration, that the number of the Muslims was thirty thousand. So one can see that it surpassed every battle before it: at Fatḥ Makkah they were ten thousand, and against Hawāzin they were twelve thousand, and now suddenly there is a jump to thirty thousand — even though it was just a few months after the battle with Hawāzin. But the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had made a full mobilisation for the Battle of Tabūk, and all of the tribes were called and summoned to attend, because, again, of the special circumstances.

Kaʿb ibn Mālik says: but there was no dīwān. A dīwān is a register: meaning, the names — there was no roll; the names were not written down. And therefore he says: fa-mā rajulun yurīdu an yataghayyaba illā ẓanna an sa-yakhfā, mā lam yanzil fīhi waḥyun min Allāh — so any man who wanted to be absent would assume that he would go unnoticed, as long as no revelation came from Allah exposing him. Because of the huge numbers, a person could assume that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would not notice his absence: with thirty thousand, it is difficult to keep track of who is there and who is not.

Wa ghazā Rasūlu Allāhi tilka al-ghazwata ḥīna ṭābat al-thimāru wa al-ẓilāl. Kaʿb ibn Mālik says: and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went out on that campaign at a time when the fruits were ripe and the shade was alluring. And this is a very important statement of Kaʿb ibn Mālik. Kaʿb ibn Mālik is being honest in this narration, and he is telling us the true reasons, the hidden reasons, that are at work within the mind and the heart. He is saying that it was a time when the shade was very alluring, because it was very hot, and the fruit was ripening on the trees — and these are temptations for a person to stay behind.