Gathering Intelligence

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was gathering intelligence about the whereabouts of the army of Quraysh, and also the whereabouts of the caravan, in case they would be able to lay their hands on it. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and Abū Bakr met with an old Bedouin man in the desert, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked him about the whereabouts of the army of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and the whereabouts of the army of Quraysh. The old man said, "Who do you belong to? I am not going to tell you until you tell me who you are." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him, "If you tell us, then we will tell you." The old man said, "This for that." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Yes." So the old man said, "Muhammad and his followers are at this place" — and if the person who had told him that was speaking the truth, he gave the right place, of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his army. And then he said, "And the people of Quraysh were at such and such a place" — so if the person who had told him that was speaking the truth, they would now be in such and such a place. Here, then, was some valuable information, and it could be trusted, because the man had given the right location of the army of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), even though he did not know he was speaking to him — which could be an indication that the location he was giving about the army of Quraysh would also be correct.

So now it was the Bedouin's turn to ask, "Who are you?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "We are from water," and then walked away. So the old man was left to ask himself, "What does he mean by water? Does he mean the water of Iraq?" — because the Arabs would name some people according to the name of their wells or their water source, and in Iraq there are rivers. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) just walked away so that the man would not ask him some more investigative questions. What the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) meant by that was that they are from water, that is what mankind is created from, and Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, says in the Qur'an that man is created from water.