"His Two Cloaks Held Him Back"

Wa lam yadhkurnī Rasūlu Allāhi ḥattā balagha Tabūk — the Messenger of Allah made no mention of me until he reached Tabūk. The Messenger of Allah remembered him when he was at Tabūk. Fa-qāla wa huwa jālisun fī al-qawmi bi-Tabūk: mā faʿala Kaʿb? — the Messenger of Allah said, when he was sitting in a gathering: what has Kaʿb done? Fa-qāla rajulun min Banī Salimah: yā Rasūla Allāh, ḥabasahu burdāhu wa al-naẓaru fī ʿiṭfayh. A man from Banū Salimah — the same clan as Kaʿb, of al-Khazraj — said: O Messenger of Allah, he was detained by his two cloaks and by looking at the beauty of his clothes.

Now this was such a degrading statement to make. These were men — true men — and they knew what was shameful, and such a statement was a degrading one against Kaʿb ibn Mālik: to say that he was held back because of his clothes, and staring at them. It is like saying that he is a woman who is just enjoying her clothes and looking at how beautiful they are. It is not a manly thing to be concerned with how cute one's clothes are, and how handsome a man looks in a mirror, when people are fighting, when people are on the battlefield. So it was a very shameful thing to say.

And Muʿādh ibn Jabal, who was also of the Anṣār and of Kaʿb ibn Mālik's people, responded to that statement: fa-qāla Muʿādhu bnu Jabal: biʾsa mā qult; wa-llāhi yā Rasūla Allāhi mā ʿalimnā ʿalayhi illā khayrā — what a bad thing you have said; by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, we know nothing of him but good. Fa-sakata Rasūlu Allāh — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was silent. Now when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is silent, that means he approves of what was said; otherwise the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would have answered back.

And look at this for a moment. Who was Kaʿb ibn Mālik? Kaʿb ibn Mālik was a man who had been with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) from day one. Kaʿb ibn Mālik was a man of the Anṣār who came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and invited him to Madīnah — and they knew very well the consequences of such an act: they knew that the Arabs were going to fight them; they knew that they would be sacrificing themselves and their wealth for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And he was one of the twelve men who put their hands in the hand of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and gave him the pledge of allegiance. Kaʿb ibn Mālik was a man who was in the trench with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on every day of battle: he was there at Uḥud; he was there at al-Khandaq; he was there at Fatḥ Makkah; he was there at Khaybar; he was there at al-Ḥudaybiyah; he was there at every single important moment in the history of Islam. And he missed just that single occasion. Nevertheless, this man of Banū Salimah made that statement against him: that he was staring at his clothes.

So Kaʿb ibn Mālik's action made him a target for these words: he had put himself in a vulnerable position because of his actions. He did something that brought on and drew these statements against him. Even though he was such a good and great Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), because what he did was wrong, he got himself into that situation. Regardless of whether this man's statement was right or wrong, Kaʿb ibn Mālik was the one who had put himself in this situation to start with. And Muʿādh ibn Jabal spoke in defence of Kaʿb ibn Mālik, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was silent, because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went by what was apparent, and what was apparent was that Kaʿb ibn Mālik had not shown up.