Sariyya Nakhla (The Nakhla Expedition)
First killing & captures in Islam; the Sacred-Month fitna (Q 2:217).
Hijri Rajab 2 AH CE January 624 CE
The reconnaissance expedition that became the first killing and first captures in the cause of Islam — and the first controversy over fighting in a Sacred Month. It set the stage for the Battle of Badr and occasioned Quran 2:217.
What happened
The Prophet ﷺ sent Abdullah ibn Jahsh with 8 Muhajirun and a sealed letter, to be opened only after two days’ march: “Proceed to Nakhla (between Makkah and Ta’if); watch the Quraysh and report.” The secrecy served surprise and deception (“war is deceit”). He gave leave for any to turn back; none did. Two — Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas and Utbah ibn Ghazwan — lost their camel and dropped out; six reached Nakhla.
There they found a small unguarded Quraysh caravan on the very last day of Rajab (a Sacred Month), with only 1–2 hours until Maghrib and the start of Sha’ban. Torn between losing the caravan and violating the Sacred Month, they attacked: Amr al-Hadrami was killed (the first slain), two men captured (al-Hakam ibn Kaisan — who later accepted Islam — and another), and the booty taken to Madinah.
The controversy & Q 2:217
The Prophet ﷺ was distressed — “I did not command you to fight” — and withheld the booty; Quraysh trumpeted that the Muslims had profaned the Sacred Month. Then came the revelation:
“They ask you about fighting in the Sacred Month. Say: fighting therein is a great [sin], but barring [people] from the path of Allah, disbelief in Him, [barring] al-Masjid al-Haram, and expelling its people are greater with Allah; and fitnah is greater than killing.” — Quran 2:217
Allah did not sanction the bloodshed, but weighed it against Quraysh’s far graver crimes. The Prophet ﷺ then accepted the spoils; the captives were held pending the safe return of Sa’d and Utbah, then ransomed.
Significance & lessons
- Islam’s infinite justice: a Muslim wrong is named a wrong, yet placed in the context of the oppressor’s greater wrongs.
- The expeditions targeted only the Quraysh — a rebuttal to the “highway-robber” slander, since much of the caravan wealth was itself confiscated Muslim property.
- Only Muhajirun went (no Ansar yet — the Aqabah pledge was defensive); the Prophet ﷺ repeatedly sent his own kin (his cousin Abdullah ibn Jahsh here) into the danger.
Cross-references
Abdullah ibn Jahsh (ra) · Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (ra) · The Battle of Badr · Jihad (and the Legislation of Fighting) · Quraysh · The Muhajirun (the Emigrants) · Muhammad ﷺ · Seerah Timeline
Sources
- S006 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 035–036. Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham, Ibn Sa’d, al-Waqidi; tafsir of Q 2:217 (Ibn Abbas, Ibn al-Qayyim).