A Night Without Sleep

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was not totally secure in Madīnah, and Madīnah was small, and the number of Muslims was not that large. One night the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) could not sleep, and he said, "I wish there was somebody to guard me this night." And suddenly he heard the sound of someone outside carrying weapons. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked, "Who is it?" And it turned out to be Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ; he had come to guard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Ibn Ḥajar gives some lessons from this incident. He says this shows that the Muslim should not be careless when care is needed — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was threatened in Madīnah, and he was not careless about it; he could not sleep that night because he wanted someone to be his guard. Number two, he says that the Muslims should protect their leaders, should guard their leaders, should guard their scholars, should guard their military leaders. Number three, he said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did this as a lesson for his Ummah: the fact that he was not able to sleep, and was asking for somebody to guard him, is a lesson to his Ummah that they should be careful, they should be alert. And this carried on until Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, revealed the āyah:

Allah will protect you from people. So Allah told the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): you do not need to have guards, Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, will protect you. And that is when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came out and said, "Go back, Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, has given me His protection."