The Killing of Khālid ibn Sufyān al-Hudhalī

Another tribe was mobilising force to fight the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and these were Hudhayl, and their leader was Khālid ibn Sufyān al-Hudhalī. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that Khālid ibn Sufyān al-Hudhalī was recruiting an army to fight the Muslims, so go and kill him. These orders were delivered to ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays (may Allah be pleased with him), who was from the tribe of Juhaynah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him that Hudhayl were gathering men under the leadership of Khālid ibn Sufyān al-Hudhalī, so go and kill him.

ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays said, "Can you describe him for me, so that I will know him, so that I will recognise him?", because he had never seen him before. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him, "If you see him, you will tremble." This man, Khālid ibn Sufyān: if you see him, you will tremble. Possibly that could be because this man, Khālid ibn Sufyān, was such a powerful figure that whenever anybody would see him, he would tremble. ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays said, "I never trembled at the sight of anyone." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him, "But if you see Khālid ibn Sufyān, you will tremble." This tells one that ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays was the right person to choose. He was a courageous man; he wasn't somebody who would fear others. He said, "I never trembled because of anyone." But this was going to be a special sign by which he would be able to recognise who Khālid ibn Sufyān was.

ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays said, "I carried my sword and I went out." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had told him that Khālid was gathering the men in ʿUranah, in ʿArafāt. He was gathering them close to Makkah, close to where his tribe lives, and obviously that territory is all supportive of the people of Quraysh. He is recruiting an army: he opens up a camp, and he is recruiting men to that camp.

ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I was walking towards this man, and when I saw him, I shivered, so I knew that this man was Khālid ibn Sufyān." He was with some women, trying to find a campground for them. These were his women: wives, daughters, sisters, whatever; women from his family. He was with them, trying to find for them a camp. "So I walked towards him," ʿAbdullāh said, "and it was time for ʿAṣr, and I was worried that my fight with him could preoccupy me from the prayer." Allah knows how long this fight will take, so it could preoccupy him from the prayer; he could be killed; and since it was already time for ʿAṣr, he needed to pray ʿAṣr. But the problem is, how can he pray ʿAṣr in the presence of this man? He would recognise that he is a Muslim. So he said, "I was praying while I was walking towards him, and my sujūd and rukūʿ would be movement of my head." He would move his head, and that would be his rukūʿ and sujūd.

He said, "When I reached him, he said, 'And who is the man? Who are you?'" ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays said, "I am a Bedouin Arab who heard about your plans to fight Muḥammad, so I came to join you." He said, "Yes, that is what I am doing. I am gathering forces to fight against Muḥammad." ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays said, "I talked with him for a while, until I felt confident that I could now attack, and I attacked him with my sword and killed him." He said, "I left him with his women crouched over him." He killed him; he was lying on the ground, and all of these women came swarming around the dead body, and ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays left.

He enters Madīnah, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saw him and said, "Aflaḥa al-wajh": "May this face succeed." He is making duʿāʾ for ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays. ʿAbdullāh said, "I killed him." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Yes, you did. You are speaking the truth." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) calls him indoors: he calls him into his house, and he gives him a stick. ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays (may Allah be pleased with him) takes the stick and leaves. His people met him and said, "Why did the Messenger of Allah give you the stick?" He said, "I don't know; he just gave it to me." They said, "Go back and ask him: why did he give you the stick?" ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays said, "I went back and I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), 'Why did you give me this stick?'" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "This will be a sign between me and you on the Day of Judgement."

ʿAbdullāh ibn Unays (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I tied that stick to my sword", meaning it was always with him. When he died, his instructions were to bury that stick with him, and it was wrapped with him in his shroud and buried with him, so that on the Day of Judgement, when he is resurrected, he can have that stick as a sign between him and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) also said in the hadith, "And on that day, few people will have something to lean on." When he told him that he was giving him this stick to be a sign between the two of them on the Day of Judgement, he also told him: and on that day, few people will have something to lean on. The scholars say that this means that few people will have deeds on which to lean on the Day of Judgement.

Anyway, this is the story of the assassination of Khālid ibn Sufyān al-Hudhalī, and his assassination ended the plan of Hudhayl to attack the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). So it shows that the Messenger of Allah did not choose to fight the tribe of Hudhayl; rather, he chose to assassinate Khālid, because the problem was with Khālid, and to spare the blood of the people the Messenger of Allah assassinated this single man. Some people might wonder: what are all of these political assassinations that the Messenger of Allah was involved in? Well, that is to save the people from bloodshed, rather than fighting the whole tribe — who would not otherwise have fought the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) if it were not for Khālid. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to take care of this problem by reducing the bloodshed, and that is by killing this man who was the cause of the whole problem. This was a man with an outstanding personality and an ability to lead the people, and he was leading them into evil. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) took him out of the way, and that spared the Muslims and the people of Hudhayl from war.