The Prophet’s Directive Regarding Not Giving Respite to Some of the Rejecters

روي أنه لما كان يوم فتح مكة أمن رسول الله الناس إلا أربعة نفر وامرأتين. وقال: اقتلوهم وإن وجدتموهم متعلقين بأستار الكعبة. ]وهم[ عكرمة بن أبي جهل وعبد الله بن خطل ومقيس بن صبابة وعبد الله بن سعد بن أبي السرح وقينتان كانتا لمقيس تغنيان بهجاء رسول الله.

 

فأما عبد الله بن خطل فأدرك وهو متعلق بأستار الكعبة فاستبق إليه سعيد بن حريث وعمار بن ياسر فسبق سعيد عمارا وكان أشب الرجلين فقتله.

 

وأما مقيس بن صبابة فأدركه الناس في السوق فقتلوه.

 

وأما عكرمة فركب البحر فأصابتهم عاصف فقال أصحاب السفينة أخلصوا فإن آلهتكم لا تغني عنكم شيئا هاهنا فقال عكرمة والله لئن لم ينجني من البحر إلا الإخلاص لا ينجيني في البر غيره اللهم إن لك علي عهدا إن أنت عافيتني مما أنا فيه أن آتى محمدا حتى أضع يدي في يده فلأجدنه عفوا كريما فجاء فأسلم.

 

وأما عبد الله بن سعد بن أبي السرح فإنه اختبأ عند عثمان بن عفان. فلما دعا رسول الله الناس إلى البيعة جاء به حتى أوقفه على النبي. قال: يا رسول الله بايع عبد الله. قال فرفع رأسه فنظر إليه ثلاثا كل ذلك يأبى، فبايعه بعد ثلاث. ثم أقبل على أصحابه فقال: أما كان فيكم رجل رشيد يقوم إلى هذا حيث رآني كففت يدي عن بيعته فيقتله. فقالوا وما يدرينا يا رسول الله ما في نفسك هلا أومأت إلينا بعينك؟ قال: إنه لا ينبغي لنبي أن يكون له خائنة أعين.

 

وأما قينتان قتلت إحداهما وأفلتت الأخرى وأسلمت.

It is narrated that on the day that Makkah was conquered, the Prophet (pbuh) granted general impunity except to four men and two women^.1 He said: Kill them, even if you find them hanging on to the curtains of the Ka`bah. [These people who were not granted impunity were:] Ikramah ibn Abi Jahal, Abd Allah ibn Khat’l, Maquees ibn Sabbabah and Abd Allah Ibn Sa`d ibn Abi Sar’h and there were two slave girls of Maquees, who used to [write and] sing hate-inspiring songs against the Prophet (pbuh).

 

As for Abd Allah ibn Khat’l, he was seized sticking to the curtains of the Ka`bah, Sa`eed ibn Hurayth and Ammar ibn Yasir raced each other towards him and being a young man, Sa`eed beat Yasir in reaching him, and he killed Abd Allah ibn Khatal.

 

As for Maquees ibn Sabbabah, he was apprehended by a group in the market and they killed him.

 

As for Ikramah, he escaped to ride the sea. [While he was on the ship], they were faced with a severe storm. The people of the ship called out: ‘Call upon the One God only, as your false gods shall not benefit you, in the least out here’. Hearing this call, Ikramah thought: ‘If nothing would save me except my call to the one true God, out here in the sea. Then, indeed, nothing besides Him would save me on the land either. My Lord, I promise you, if you save me from what I am in today, then I shall go to Muhammad, so I can put my hand in his [indicating my allegiance to him]. I am sure that I shall find from him an extremely respectable forgiveness.

 

As for Abd Allah ibn Sa`d ibn Abi Sar’h, he hid himself at the house of Uthman ibn Affaan. Subsequently, when the Prophet (pbuh) called the people for pledge of allegiance, Uthman brought him and stood him by the Prophet (pbuh) and said: ‘O Prophet, accept the pledge of Abd Allah.’ The Prophet (pbuh) raised his head and looked at Abd Allah three times and each time [silently] refused to accept his pledge. Then he accepted his pledge after the third time. Then [after Abd Allah left], the Prophet turned towards his companions and said: ‘Is there no sensible person among you who could have stood up and killed this man, after seeing me refrain from accepting his pledge?’ They said: ‘O Prophet, we did not know what you were thinking. Why did you not give us a signal with your eye?’ The Prophet said: ‘It is not appropriate for a prophet to secretly make signals with his eyes.’

 

As for the slave girls, one of them was killed while the other was released and she accepted Islam.

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General Notes:

1. In some historical reports the total number of persons who were not granted impunity was nine – six men and three women (see: Zaad al-Ma`aad, Vol. 3, Pg. 411) – while in some others it was ten – six men and four women (see: Al-Tabaqaat al-Kubraa Vol. 2, Pg. 136) rather than six, as given in the stated text. The names of these people have been reported as: Abd Allah ibn Sa`d ibn Abi Sar’h, Ikramah ibn Abi Jahal, Abd Allah ibn Khat’l, Al-Haarith ibn Nufail or Al-Huwayrith ibn Nufaidh, Maquees ibn Sabbabah, Habbar ibn al-Aswad, Hind bint Utbah, Ibn Khat’l’s two slave girls and another slave girl named Sarah. Of these Abd Allah ibn Khat’l, Maquees ibn Sabbabah, Al-Haarith ibn Nufail, and one of the two slave girls was killed, while the others were pardoned.

All these people were not only guilty of rejecting the call of the messenger, even after the Truth had become completely apparent to them, but also of hindering people from accepting the truth by their poisonous and false propaganda against the Prophet (pbuh) and of prompting and inciting them to fight against the Prophet (pbuh) and the Muslims. Their provocations resulted in the wars and the loss of life that these wars entailed. These people were sentenced to death as per the directives of the Qur’an, which rendered them a subject to God’s special law relating to the leaders of the rejecters of His messengers[1].

In addition to the above, some historical accounts also show that some of these people were also guilty of some other crimes against the Muslims as well. For instance:

Maquees ibn Sabbabah was killed on the charge of killing a Muslim by deception. He had gone to Madinah, as if he had accepted Islam, and requested the Prophet (pbuh) for the blood money for the murder of his brother. The Prophet (pbuh) awarded him the blood money. After pocketing his claim, Abd Allah ibn Khat’l jumped at the first opportunity to kill the person who had already paid him the blood money and subsequently returned to Makkah. (Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, Vol. 4, Pg. 299)

Al-Haarith ibn Nufail or Al-Huwayrith ibn Nufaidh was guilty of breaking an international treaty when he attacked the caravan taking Faatimah and Umm Kulthoom to Medinah (Al-Seerah Al-Nabawiyyah, Vol. 5, Pg. 69 – 72).

Abd Allah ibn Khat’l was guilty of killing a Muslim servant only because he had not prepared his meal on time, while they were on a journey (Al-Bayhaqiy, narrative no. 16657)

Habbar ibn al-Aswad like Al-Haarith was guilty of breaking an international treaty when he attacked the caravan that was taking Zaynab (ra) – the daughter of the Prophet (pbuh) – to Madinah. As a result of the attack Zaynab (ra) fell from her carriage and hit a rock and, as a result, lost her unborn child.

Notes on the Text of the Narrative

This narrative has been reported with some variations in Bukhariy (narrative no. 1749, 2879, 4035), Muslim (narrative no. 1357), Malik (narrative no. 946), Abu Dawood (narrative no. 2684, 2685, 4358), Tirmidhi (narrative no. 1693), Nassaiy (narrative no. 2867, 4067, 4069), Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (narrative no. 12087, 12704, 12955, 13437, 13461 and 13542), Daarimiy (narrative no. 1938, 2456), Ibn Khuzaymah (narrative no. 3063), Ibn Hibban (narrative no. 3719, 3721), Nassaiy’s Sunan al-Kubraa (narrative no. 3530, 3532, 3850, 8584), Bayhaqiy (narrative no. 9621, 12633, 13056, 13151, 16606, 16639, 16655, 16656, 16657, 18059, 18060, 18560, 18561, 18562), Abu Ya`laa (narrative no. 757, 3539, 3540, 3541, 3542) and Ibn Abi Shaybah (narrative no. 36913, 36914).

Unless otherwise specified, the preferred words have been reported in Nassaiy’s narrative no. 4076.

In some narratives, as in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562, the words “اقتلوهم وإن وجدتموهم بأستار الكعبة” (i.e., ‘Kill them, even if you find them hanging on to the curtains of the Ka`bah‘) have been differently reported as “أربعة لا أومنهم في حل ولا في حرم” (i.e., ‘Four people shall not be spared under any circumstances’).

In some narratives, as for instance in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562, the name of Ikramah ibn Abi Jahal has been omitted and in his place Al-Huwairith ibn Ma`bad (الحويرث بن معبد) has been mentioned; while in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18059, the name of Ikramah has been replaced with Ibn Nafeez or Ibn Nufaiz (ابن نفيذ), who has also been named as Al-Harith ibn Nafeez or Al-Harith ibn Nufaiz in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18060 (الحارث بن نفيذ), while in Zaad al-Ma`aad (Vol. 3, Pg. 411), the name has been given as Al-Harith ibn Nufail (الحارث بن نفيل). While the name Abd Allah ibn Khatal (عبد الله بن خطل) has also been reported as Halal ibn Khatal (هلال بن خطل) in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562; as ِAbd Allah ibn Halal ibn Khatal (عبد الله بن هلال بن خطل), in Al-Tabaqaat al-Kubraa (Vol. 2, Pg. 136) and as Abd al-Aziz ibn Khatal (عبد العزيز بن خطل) in Akhbar Makkah (Vol. 5, Pg. 220); and as Abd al-`Uzaa ibn Khatal (عبد العزى بن خطل) in Zaad al-Ma`aad, Vol 3, Pg. 411. In some places, as for instance at Seerah al-Nabawiyyah Vol. 5, Pg. 69 – 72, the name Maquees ibn Sabbabah (مقيس بن صبابة) has been reported as Maquees ibn Habbabah (مقيس بن حبابة).

The words “وقينتان كانتا لمقيس تغنيان بهجاء رسول الله“ (i.e., ‘two slave girls of Maquees, who used to [write and] sing defamatory songs against the Prophet (pbuh)’) have been reported in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562. Ibn Taymiyyah in his book Al-Saarim al-Maslool Vol. 2, Pg. 251, has given the names of these slave girls as Faratniy and Qareebah or Arnab. In some historical narratives, as in Zaad al-Ma`aad Vol. 3, Pg. 411, it is reported that these slave girls belong to Abd Allah ibn Khat’l.

In some narratives, as for instance, Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18060, it is mentioned that the two slave girls were not owned by Maquees, but by Ibn Khatal.

In some narratives, as for instance, in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562, It is mentioned that Al-Huwairith ibn Ma`bad (who is not even mentioned in the preferred text) was killed by Ali (ra); while in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18059, Ibn Nafeez or Ibn Nufaiz was killed by Ali (ra).

According to Abu Dawood’s narrative no. 2685, it was Abu Barzah al-Aslamiy (أبو برزة الأسلمي) who killed Ibn Khatal; while according to Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562, Ibn Khatal – named as Halal ibn Khatal – was killed by Al-Zubair ibn Al-`awam (ra).

In some narratives, as in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562, it is mentioned that Maquees (مقيس) was killed by his cousin Laha (لحا).

According to some narratives, as for instance Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562, Abd Allah ibn Abi Sar’h was a foster brother of Uthman.

The information relating to the fate of the two slave-girls is given in Bayhaqiy’s narrative no. 18562.

In some narratives, as for instance in Bukhariy’s narrative no. 4035, a similar subject has been narrated as follows:

 أن النبي دخل مكة يوم الفتح وعلى رأسه المغفر فلما نزعه جاءه رجل فقال بن خطل متعلق بأستار الكعبة فقال اقتله.

It is narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) entered Makkah on the day it was overtaken, while he wore a helmet. When he took it off, a man came to him and said: Ibn Khat’l is seen holding the curtains of the Ka`bah. The Prophet said: Kill him.

In some narratives, as in Abu Dawood’s narrative no. 4358, the case of Abd Allah ibn Sa`d ibn Abi Sar’h has been reported as under:

 كان عبد الله بن سعد بن أبي سرح يكتب لرسول الله فأزله الشيطان فلحق بالكفار فأمر به رسول الله أن يقتل يوم الفتح فاستجار له عثمان بن عفان فأجاره رسول الله.

Abd Allah ibn Sa`d ibn Abi Sar’h used to be one of the scribes of the Prophet. Then Satan deceived him and he reverted back to polytheism and joined the rejecters. On the day Makkah was conquered, the Prophet ordered that he be killed. However, Uthman ibn Affan gave him refuge and later the Prophet of God granted him forgiveness too.

(This write-up is prepared by the Hadith Cell of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi)