Expeditions Between Khandaq and Hudaybiyyah
Thumamah, Sallam's killing, Banu Lahyan, al-Is & the whale (5–6 AH).
Hijri 5–6 AH CE 627–628 CE
The 7–8 months between the Battle of Khandaq (end of 5 AH) and the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah (end of 6 AH) saw, by some counts, ~14 sariyyas and 2 ghazwas — none as decisive as Khandaq, but several rich in lessons. Yasir Qadhi covers four or five; the rest are in Ibn Ishaq.
Date (Hijri / CE)
Between Khandaq (Shawwal 5 AH) and Hudaybiyyah (Dhu al-Qa’dah 6 AH); 627–628 CE.
The episodes covered
- Conversion of Thumamah ibn Uthal. The chief of Banu Hanifa, captured by chance on Muhammad ibn Maslamah’s raid on al-Qurta, held in the mosque for three days and treated with dignity (given the Prophet’s ﷺ own food) — then freed, upon which he embraced Islam and later blockaded Makkah’s grain until the Prophet ﷺ himself asked him to relent. Gentleness wins what harshness cannot; the permissibility of non-Muslims in the masjid; ghusl on conversion.
- Another assassination bid on the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Sufyan sent a Bedouin with a hidden dagger under a false conversion; the Prophet ﷺ named him a man “with treachery written on him,” the Companions disarmed him, and — telling the truth — he was released and converted.
- The assassination of Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq. A Khaybar “billionaire” who had financed the Confederates. Five men of the Khazraj (led by Abdullah ibn Atik), matching the Aws’s killing of Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf, infiltrated Khaybar at night and killed him — under strict orders to harm no women or children (Ibn Atik’s broken foot was healed by the Prophet’s ﷺ hand). Treated with the same disclaimers as Ka’b’s killing.
- Ghazwa of Banu Lahyan. A punitive march (the Banu Lahyan had engineered the al-Raji massacre); they fled, so no battle — but here, per the majority, Salat al-Khawf (Q 4:102) was first legislated, when Khalid ibn al-Walid shadowed the Muslims at prayer.
- Sariyya of Zayd ibn Harithah to al-Is and the story of Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi’ — the Prophet’s ﷺ son-in-law, twice a captive, whose ransom-necklace and later conversion frame the fiqh of a wife who converts before her husband.
- Sariyya al-Khabat (the whale). Under Abu Ubaydah, 300 men ran so low on food they ate withered thorn-leaves (khabat) — then found a giant whale washed ashore at Yanbu and lived off it for a month. The Prophet ﷺ ate of the leftover meat: seafood is halal without slaughter, even if found dead (“Two dead animals are lawful for us: locusts and the whale,” Q 5:96).
Participants
Muhammad ibn Maslamah, Thumamah, Abdullah ibn Atik and the five Khazraj, Khalid ibn al-Walid (at Banu Lahyan), Zayd ibn Harithah, Abu al-As, Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah and Jabir (the whale narrator).
Outcome & significance
A period of consolidation and da’wah: a great chieftain won, an enemy financier removed, a raid on the Quraysh trade-route, and several enduring points of fiqh (seafood, hunting in ihram, marriage after conversion). The laws of hijab and the marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh also fall in this window.
Lessons
The Prophet’s ﷺ pragmatic mercy (resuming Makkah’s grain though they had starved the Muslims at Khandaq); Islam’s fairness even to a pagan’s stolen wealth (al-Mughira’s booty refused — see al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba (ra)); and Allah’s provision for the patient (the whale).
Cross-references
Thumamah ibn Uthal (ra) · Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' (ra) · Zayd ibn Harithah (ra) · Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah (ra) · Salat al-Khawf (The Prayer of Fear) · The Assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf · Abu Sufyan ibn Harb (ra) · The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah · The Battle of Khandaq (al-Ahzab) · Muhammad ﷺ · Seerah Timeline
Sources
- S009 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 062. Thumamah, the whale (Q 5:96), and the hunting-in-ihram fiqh are in Sahih Bukhari & Muslim; the assassinations and al-Is via Ibn Ishaq; Salat al-Khawf via Q 4:102 with tafsir.