No Muster From the Jews, and No Boys Underage

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) refused assistance from the polytheists. Some Jews came to help him, and he said, lā nastaʿīnu bi-mushrik: we don't need the help of … disbelievers.

When the army left, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) also turned back those who were underage — the ones who were fourteen or fifteen years old were turned back. They would not turn them back by going and asking them how old they were; it was by sizing them up — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would look at the army, and whoever he saw as looking too young, he would send back. So these youngsters were trying to hide so that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would not see them sneaking through, but the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would find them out and turn them back. Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj was one of those turned away; ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar was turned away; al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib was turned back. As for Rāfiʿ, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him that he was not allowed to join them, but Rāfiʿ said, "But O Messenger of Allah, I am a good archer" — and because of that he was allowed to join. His friend Samurah went to his stepfather and, crying, told him: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) allows Rāfiʿ, and does not allow me — when I could beat Rāfiʿ in wrestling. So his stepfather took him to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and told him that Samurah could in fact defeat Rāfiʿ in wrestling, so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called them both and had them wrestle in front of him. They both wrestled in front of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and Samurah did defeat Rāfiʿ, so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) allowed him to join. Here one can see the importance of training, and how these two were allowed to join the army because they had good training: because of their good training, they were given an exception, and the rules that applied to everyone else did not apply to them. They were an exception to the rule — why? Because of the good training that they had, and this shows the emphasis the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) placed on training. One of them was a good archer, one of them was physically fit.