We will aim to finish the main events of the battle of Tabuk, and next time we w

ill revise Surah Tawbah with regards to Tabuk. We discussed many episodes and to
day we'll continue with what happened during the 20 days the prophet PBUH was at
Tabuk, and what happened on the way back.
We know from Bhukari he prayed the kasar salah for all of those 20 days. And in
the area of Tabuk there was a small pool of water, and the prophet PBUH told the
sahaba "do not touch the water". And how many people were in Tabuk? We don't kn
ow the exact amount but its reported to be 10,000 or 20,000 up to 30,000. Of the
se, one or two of them used the water of Tabuk before the prophet PBUH arrived.
When he arrived he was angry at them and rebuked them for disobeying him. Noneth
eless the prophet PBUH took some water in his hand, gargled it and spit it back
in the pool. And that caused the water to come all the way to the brim, and the
army was able to feed itself throughout the time they were there. It is said the
re is still a pool to this day in that area of Tabuk; they know the exact locati
on where the prophet PBUH camped, they built a masjid over there called 'masjid
Tawbah'. And there is a well that is the exact same well the prophet PBUH used.
As we said there was no battle - so what can we discuss? Many small instances an
d hadith the prophet PBUH said. For 20 days when he was there, he gave lots of s
mall khutbahs and the books of seerah have recorded of them. One day the prophet
PBUH stood up after salah and said "today Allah has given me five things that H
e hasn't given anyone before me:
1. I've been sent to all of mankind and those before me were only sent to their
people
2. I have been helped by Allah to the distance of one months journey that the en
emy will be frightened of me (i.e. the people were so terrified the tribes of Ga
saanids and the Romans didn't show up even though it took a month for the muslim
s to arrive).
3. Ganeema is halal for me, but not those before me. We know from the hadith tha
t before the prophet PBUH, Allah would in front of the peoples eyes send a light
ening bolt from the heaven and nothing would be left. This was a sign their deed
was accepted. But the prophet PBUH said "no other prophet was allowed ganeema e
xcept me".
4. The whole earth has been made a masjid, so whatever person of my ummah happen
s to have to pray, he may do the ablution and pray whereever he is. Whereas the
previous ummah could only pray in the houses of worship (indeed the jews to this
day cannot pray except in the Synagogue, and they have much more stricter purif
ication rules that the water has to be running etc. For us any water is fine and
if we don't have water, we can do masa i.e. tayamum. This is why the prophet PB
UH said "anywhere in the world you have your tahur and masjid".)
5. What is the fifth one? Allah told me to ask what I want, and I decided to sav
e my request for YOU until the day of Judgement; so any of you who says 'la ilah
a illalah' will get this fifth one (the special intercession of the prophet PBUH
that his ummah will eventually enter Jannah).
He also announced predictons, that the muslims
and Persia and this is exactly what happened.
the prophet PBUH is closest to Rome and Persia
nces "Allah has promised the treasures of Rome

shall inherit the empires of Rome

And note at this moment in Tabuk
than he ever was. And so he annou
and Persia".

Of the miracles that happened, in the journey to Tabuk, during their stay and on
the way back the army ran out of food due to the huge numbers. So the prophet P
BUH made special dua for water, and whatever food they had lasted all of their t
ime during Tabuk. And this miracle of increasing food and water is a standard co

nstant miracle the prophet PBUH brought. It happened explicitly at least two doz
en times; in the battle of Tabuk alone it happened four or five times as reporte
d in many narrations, that the sahaba complain there is nothing left, the prophe
t PBUH makes dua to Allah and Allah provides. In one occasion it's narrated the
water came right out of his fingers (narrated in Hudaybiyya aswell). We also hav
e a narration in the book of Ibn Sa'ad that some of the sahaba got lost and they
couldn't find their way back to camp. So Allah gave them a kirama (a mini mirac
le). The prophets recieve mu'jizat (miracles) whereas non prophets can be given
kiramats. What happened is the sahabi said his fingers began to glow in the dark
, and so he used them as a torch to find his way back. The prophet PBUH also did
other miracles in terms of predictions. Its narrated in Bhukari the prophet PBU
H said "Count six things before the day of Judgement:
1. "My death"
2. "The conquest of Baytul Maqdas (and this happened 2 years after the death of
the prophet PBUH)"
3. "Two plagues that will eliminate you (in the time of Umar RA there was a seri
ous plague, and other commentators guess what plagues they are. Allah knows if t
hey've happened or will happen in the future)"
4. "You will be given lots of money, so much so a person will be given 100 dinar
s (more than the annual income for sahaba) and he will be irritated and angry"
5. "A fitnah (trail) that no house of the Arabs (muslims) will be unaffected by
it."
So there will be a major calamity that will affect the entire ummah. What is it?
People in our times say it's happening now, but Allah knows best. We may guess
but it's not our right to apply a specific prediction of the prophet PBUH to a s
pecific event in time. The current scholars however say the current crisis of th
e ummah really is something that is a trial for the ummah.
6. "You will have a truce between yourselves and the Romans."
Other hadith tell us details that there will be a common enemy between the Roman
s and muslims. Then the hadith goes on: "then the Romans will be treachourous an
d break the treaty, and they'll come and fight you under 80 flags - this will be
at the very end of time". This war at the end of time are predictions you can f
ind in various hadith and even the Bible.
Another incident that occured in these 20 nights was a great honour for Abdur Re
hman ibn Awf and that is that the prophet PBUH prayed behind him. And he is only
one of two sahaba whom the prophet PBUH prayed behind in his lifetime. The prop
het PBUH woke up to use the restroom before Fajr, so he went away from the peopl
e. The sahaba narrating the hadith said he took water and a spear (to provide sh
elter). "And so when he came back I poured the water for him and he washed his f
ace and hands. And he tried to wash his sleeves but they didn't come to his elbo
w". So the prophet PBUH was wearing a juba' which had big heavy arms. So the sah
aba said the prophet PBUH put his hands inside and lifted the sleeves up. This s
hows we cannot be lazy in doing wudu. Each and every limb has to be touched by w
ater. And as for the masa, Mughira said "he put his fingers inside his turban, a
nd then wiped over the turban". So masa (tayammum) is allowed for the turban; si
milarly women are allowed to do masa over their hijab. If a man is wearing a tur
ban (not a topi) they made do masa. Then Mughira said "I bent down to take his s
hoes off but the prophet PBUH said 'leave them on for I wore them while I was on
tahara'", so the prophet PBUH did masa over his shoes. Then they walk back to t
he campsite but lo and behold the sahaba have begun salatul Fajr because the pro
phet PBUH took some time. And so the prophet PBUH stood at the end of the line,

and it was dark but people began to recognise him and the commotion spread. That
the prophet PBUH is THERE. Abdur Rehman ibn Awf understood the prophet PBUH is
there, so he took a step back but the prophet PBUH motioned to him to remain. So
the prophet PBUH completed the salat, behind Abdur Rehman ibn Awf and he missed
a rakat so he and Mughira stood up to read the missed rakat. This is the only t
ime the prophet PBUH prayed behind a sahabi.
Note this didn't happen intentionally - they were waiting for the prophet PBUH b
ut he didn't come. But the sahaba knew the salah is SO important that they didn'
t even delay it for the prophet PBUH. That really underscores the status of sala
h. We are lazy in our salah; imagine even the prophet PBUH, the sahaba knew he w
as going to come but the time for Fajr was going so they decide to pray. Even th
ough the prophet PBUH was going to come shortly. This also shows us the blessing
of Abdur Rehman ibn Awf. At the end of the day he is one of the promised 10 int
o Jannah, and he is an early convert, and his status is similar to that of Umar,
Uthman and Ali RA. So he was considered to be of that elite circle, and so he w
as nominated to lead the jama'at. As for Abu Bukr RA, when the prophet PBUH felt
sick he ordered Abu Bukr to lead. For around one week Abu Bukr led the salah; o
ne day, when Abu Bukr was leading the prophet PBUH walked out. And he sat next t
o Abu Bukr, and when Abu Bukr saw the prophet PBUH was there, he took a step bac
k. But the prophet PBUH motioned to him that "stay where you are". But Abu Bukr
STILL disobeyed the prophet PBUH and took a step back, and the prophet PBUH then
was forced to come up. The prophet PBUH said to him "why did you disobey me?" A
bu Bukr said "It is not allowed for the son of Abu Qahafa to lead the prophet PB
UH in salah" so the disobediance was out of love and respect, so technically he
never led the prophet PBUH is salat. So Abdur Rehman ibn Awf was the ONLY human
ever who led a prophet in salat. This happened in one of the Fajr salahs during
the 20 days at Tabuk.
Ibn Masud reports that "one night I woke up, and I saw a fire in the distance ar
ound the prophet PBUH, Abu Bukr and Umar. I went to see what was there and behol
d Abdullah dhulbe Jardain had died". That is 'the one with the two cheap garment
s'. His story is that, when he converted his tribe refused to give him anything.
They just kicked him out. So he left only wearing one garment, when he got to M
adinah he was so embarrased he tore the one garment he had into two to try and c
over his body, and thus he known as the one 'with the two garments'. And it just
so happened he died that night. As so the prophet PBUH, Abu Bukr and Umar were
doing janazah salah over him. This shows us it is halal to bury someone at night
; we see it here and we see it in the lady who used to clean the masjid so it's
permissable to bury at night if that is what the situation dictates. And ibn Mas
ud narrates the prophet PBUH himself went into the grave, and he said to Abu Buk
r and Umar "hand him to me" and so they handed Abdullah dhulbe Jardain, and as t
he prophet PBUH was filling the grave he said "Oh Allah I am pleased with this s
ervant of yours, so you aswell be pleased with him". Ibn Masud said "how I wish
I would be the dead person in that grave right now". And this shows us the care
and concern the prophet PBUH had for all the sahaba. This isn't an elite sahaba,
we don't anything about him. But the fact that the leader of the army is waking
up at night and personally burying him, what will that do to the moral of the t
roops? When they see the prophet PBUH himself in the grave and with his bare han
ds filling it up, this builds an unparalleled enthusiasm in the sahaba.
We also have many fiqh issues from Tabuk. In the books of hadith regarding many
things you find 'in the battle of Tabuk...' or 'during the battle of Tabuk...' b
ecause many things happened at Tabuk. So one sahaba said "I saw during Tabuk the
prophet PBUH do wudu only once once". So we learn it's permissable to do wudu o
nce. We also learn the prophet PBUH would always pray with a sutra, and he alway
s took a sutra. Sometimes he would shove a spear on the ground; other times he w
ould put the saddle of the camel on the ground. One of the sahaba asked him "ya
RasulAllah how much should the sutra be?" The prophet PBUH said "it should be as
large as the saddle of a camel" i.e. something visible that will stop people. W

e also learn from Tabuk the prophet PBUH combined ALL of the salah on the way go
ing and on the way back. And that in Tabuk for 20 days he did kasar (every four
raka'at is made into two) but he didn't combine. This shows us the sunnah is tha
t you only combine salahs during the actual travel. And when you get to your des
tination you stop combining and you pray each salah individually but do kasar. T
he prophet PBUH did that at the conquest of Mecca aswell. On the way going and c
oming back, the prophet PBUH combined Zuhr and Asr, Magrib and Isha - but in Mec
ca and in Tabuk he never combined salahs. This is a common negligance/misunderst
anding that is against the sunnah of the prophet PBUH. He never ever combined wh
en he was at a temporary location. He only combined during the actual journey. O
nce you get to your destination you do kasar. How long? We discussed before; one
opinion is 20 days based on Tabuk. The strongest is that there is no set number
of days. It goes back to your own state of affairs. Are you travelling or are y
ou semi settled etc? The majority opinion is four days and there's no problem wi
th sticking with this.
Also in Tabuk the prophet PBUH passed by a dead animal so he said to the sahaba
"why don't you benefit from this animal?" THe sahaba said "it's najas (impure) h
ow can we benefit from it?" He said "when you tan the skin, the skin become pure
". So the majority position is the carcuss of an animal is impure and the meat i
s always haraam, but you can benefit from the skin of a dead animal IF you tan i
t. This is also fiqh from Tabuk.
As for the political side: treaties, he sent letters to Heraclius etc all done b
efore.
On the way back what happened? A number of incidences. Firstly, the prophet PBUH
passed by Al Hijir, the place of Thamud and the people of Saleh. To this day th
at area is well known. And those houses are still there. Now, Thamud dates back
thousands of years. Their houses, and even the well the camel used is still ther
e to this day. Why? Their houses weren't built of wood, their houses were carved
into their mountains. We don't know HOW that was done. But we can still see the
ir houses, and this is something that predates Ibrahim AS. It's of the ancient c
ivilisations. You can walk into the mountains and literally see the rooms and ch
ambers, and even beds which have been carved into the wall. So the prophet PBUH
passed by al Hijir, and the people began rushing in to go and see what's inside.
The prophet PBUH commanded them to come back by saying "asalaatu jaamiya" as he
normally did. And he said to them "why would you want to enter in upon a people
whom Allahs wrath came down upon?" So they said "we are amazed at that oh messe
nger of Allah" to which he replied "should I not tell you something more amazing
than that? A man amongst you who is informing you of what happened, and what wi
ll happen" i.e. 'your prophet is more amazing than the remenants of the adhab of
the people of Saleh'. "So be firm, for Allah will not lose anything by punishin
g you". And he also said "do not enter in a people who wronged themselves and we
re punished for fear you will be punished how they will be punished, unless you
are crying as you go in". And the prophet PBUH himself covered himself with his
turban, lowered his head and rushed through the valley without pausing.
And as the sahaba went through, some of them went to the wells which still had w
ater in them. So they used water and they took it out. When the prophet PBUH hea
rd of this, he forbade them and said "any water you've collected give it to the
animals". Some of them mixed the water with dough to make bread, but the prophet
PBUH said "do not eat that bread, give it to the animals". From this the books
of fiqh mention you cannot do wudu from impure water, and especially the water f
rom the valleys of Thamud. It's a valley of punishment so we should not go over
there. And he also said to them "do not ask Allah for miracles, because the peop
le of Saleh asked (but they cut off the ligament of the camel)". And he told the
m "the camel would come from there and go from there", and he said "the camel wo
uld drink their water one day (and this is in the Quran)" - the entire citys wat
er would be drunk by the camel in one day. OF course the miracle was that this h

uge camel was carved in front of their eyes. Allah is showing them "you think yo
u are powerful caraving rooms into mountains, I can create life from a mountain"
and in front of their eyes the camel literally walked out of the wall. And it
was a massive giant camel; even though they saw that sign, they disobeyed. It wa
s so big the hadith says the camel would drink the water one day, and the next d
ay it would feed the whole city with milk. But they still cut off its ligament,
and "so Allah sent upon them the sayha (loud sound) that silenced all of them un
der the heavans".
When the sahaba passed through the valley it was night time so they camped there
, and the prophet PBUH told them "do not leave your tents at night, unless you h
ave a companion with you". Some reports mention the prophet PBUH predicted a sto
rm would come. Two sahaba disobeyed the command and went out; the both of them w
ere inflicted with illnesses. The first of them went a bit mad and the prophet P
BUH made dua for him and he was cured. The second its said the winds took him to
a far away mountain, and he had to make his own way back to Madinah later on.
Another incident mentioned on the way back was that their supplies were diminish
ing, the water they took from Tabuk was very low and the animals were withering.
So they began to complain "ya RasulAllah do something our animals cannot carry
us". So the prophet PBUH said "bring your animals to me". So the sahaba brought
them; the prophet PBUH lined them up and patted on them and said "OH Allah cause
these animals to carry those who are in your path, for you are the One who carr
ies on animals that are weak and strong, and that which is wet and dry, and over
the land and ocean". The narrator of the hadith is Fudhala who said "by the tim
e we got back to Madinah, our animals were so strong and energetic that we had t
o struggle with them to pull them back. And I would say to myself, this is the d
ua of the prophet PBUH, he made it for the wet and dry - I understand. But how a
bout the land and ocean?" Then he said "it came to pass we conquered Syria. And
after we went to conquer Cyprus (in the time of Muawiya)" so Fudhala said "I was
there, and when I saw all of the ships, I realised this is the dua of the proph
et PBUH". Because what was the dua? The prophet PBUH said "carry the people on t
he land and in the sea". SubhanAllah. Fudhala saw with his own eyes the reality
of the dua.
Also on the way back they ran out of water again. So the prophet PBUH made dua f
or rain. So that night it rained and poured so much. And in the morning after Fa
jr the prophet PBUH gave a famous khutbah reported in Bhukari that "Allah said '
Some of my servants woke up this morning believing in me and rejected me'". How
so? Some of the hypocrites said regarding the rain "this is not a miracle". What
did they say? "This is because of the blessings of a star". They believed in zo
diac type signs, and it happened to be on the day of a paticular star so they be
lieved the rain came from the star. So one of the hypocrites said "it rained bec
ause we are in the time of that good luck star". So he said this to trivialise t
he dua of the prophet PBUH. So at Fajr the prophet PBUH said "Allah has said 'to
day, some of you woke up believing in me, others have rejected me. As for those
who have said rain has fallen because of Allah they believe in me. As for those
who have said rain has fallen because it's the time of star, they are believers
in the star and rejectors of me'". This hadith is very important in Theology - i
t shows us we do NOT ascribe blessings to other than Allah. If we ascribe indepe
ndant blessings to other than Allah is major shirk. To believe a star gives you
your food, or a stone is a 'good luck charm'; this is major shirk. To wear a tal
isman and say 'this will protect me' - all of this goes under the issue of good
luck and bad luck which we don't believe in. Believing in charms and amulets is
disbelieving in Allah. Note if what you are wearing is Quran, the scholars have
differed as to its permissability. It cannot be shirk because the Quran is the s
peach of Allah and isn't seperate from Allah. But some scholars have said it is
not appropiate to wear the Quran out of respect. Theologically it's fine but out
of respect it shouldn't be done. As for seeking refuge in the Quran, yes this i
s allowed because the Quran is the speech of Allah and the speech of Allah is an

attribute of Allah. Essentially it's allowed to seek baraqah from the Quran, bu
t practically scholars have said it is disrespectful to the Quran to i.e. put it
in a glove compartment.
On the way back another incident occured wherein the munafiqun were getting irri
tated. The prophet PBUHs camel were not to be found and so he sent the sahaba we
nt out to find it. One of the hypocrites said "this is a man who thinks he is a
prophet, and he tells you that wahi comes from the heavans, but he dosen't even
know where his camel is". He said this far away from the prophet PBUH, but it so
happened that one of the people that shared the tent with him was with the prop
het PBUH at the time. So the prophet PBUH stands up and says "some of you have s
aid such and such". The man is on the other side of the army, Allah has told the
prophet PBUH what's been said. So the prophet PBUH said "walahi I am a human an
d I only know what Allah tells me. And Allah has just told me my camel is stuck
in such a valley and it's harness has caught a tree. So go get the camel". So th
e sahaba went and brought the camel back. This man standing next to the prophet
PBUH goes back to his entourage and tells them the entire story, and one of the
other people tells him "this is the guy who said it". So the sahabi gets enraged
and he kicks the person out from the army. This is another mini miracle that to
ok place - and this again shows us, does the prophet PBUH know the unseen? No. H
e himself said "I am only a human and Allah has told me...".
Another sad incident of the munafiqun occured aswell, for which Allah revealed v
erses, is that a group of munafiqun began laughing and joking too much beyond wh
at was appropiate. They said completely inappropiate statements "the prophet PBU
H is telling us we are getting to Rome and Persia who is he?" Walahi it is truly
bizzare and a miracle that to this day, historians do not understand how the Sa
ssanid empire just dissapeared within 5-10 years. After 700 years of being a sup
erpower, within 5 years the entire empire dissapears and becomes an Islamic stat
e. As for Rome, the empire was carved into half and given to Islam. And the musl
ims got the better half including Alexandria which was the educational superpowe
r of the world. It was full of prestigue Ammar ibn Aas with 4000 people conquer
ed the entire strip of Northen Africa. So the munafiqun are mocking this. Anothe
r said "look at these people around us, they recite the Quran but they are fat a
nd cowards". And so one of the sahaba overheard this and said "you are lying and
I will tell the prophet PBUH what you said". So the sahabi began galloping to g
et to the front of the army to tell the prophet PBUH, but by the time he got the
re, the prophet PBUH was already in wahi. You could see his eyes were down and t
he sahaba knew wahi was happening. When the sahabi rushed to the prophet PBUH th
e munafiq behind him rushed aswell to try and make up an excuse out of fear; mea
nwhile wahi is coming down, and before the sahabi could get to the prophet PBUH
and explain to him, the wahi finished and the prophet PBUH began reciting what A
llah revealed.
That "the munafiqun are terrified that Allah will reveal something that will exp
ose what is in their hearts." The munafiq jumps off the camel to show remorse an
d humbleness, and comes running to the prophet PBUH and he thinks the sahabi has
told already what he said, so he blurts out what he is going to say; as he blur
ts out what he will say, the prophet PBUH is reciting the Quran, and the Quran q
uotes him before he even speaks. Walahi the most amazing scene. That "if you wer
e to ask them why they are saying this, they will say 'we are only laughing and
having a good time'. Say: "are you laughing and joking about Allah and His messe
nger?'" Its an amazing story, the man is saying "we were only joking" and as he
is saying it, the prophet PBUH is reciting Quran which quotes him exactly. And w
ithout even looking at the man, and the prophet PBUH goes on and Allah is saying
(Surah Tawbah verse 66) "don't give me your excuses - you have commited kuffar
after your imaan". And the sahabi said "I saw this munafiq running behind the ca
mel of the prophet PBUH, holding on and being dragged; and the prophet PBUH woul
d not even look at him. He just kept on repeating 'don't give me your excuses - you have commited kuffar after your imaan'". This is a very important lesson f

or us, that yes we believe in something called holy and sanctity. Yes, certain t
hings are off limits for jokes. In fact the Quran says very clearly "do not make
false of their false Gods" - not only making fun of Allah and His messengers, b
ut even making fun of a false God we don't believe in. To mock or ridicule is co
mpletely haraam; if that is for a false God, how about Allah? Therefore one of t
he actions of kuffar is to make fun of Allah and His messenger. It's impossible
for a heart of imaan to make fun of Allah. Therefore if anyone does this and wan
ts to be forgiven they have to re-accept Islam. In other words, they are NOT mus
lims. Allah is very explicit, that when you make fun of Allah and His messenger,
you commit kuffar.
Therefore one of the most bizzare plots of the entire seerah of the munafiqun oc
cured after this incident. Some of them, it is said around 14, actually attempte
d to assassinate the prophet PBUH. It seems to be a spur of the moment thing the
y tried and obviously failed in. When the prophet PBUH was travelling at night,
he seemed to have seperated and went on top of a cliff. So his camel along with
some sahaba were at a dangerous location. Ammar ibn Yasir was there along with H
udhayfa. So they narrate that "in the middle of the night we see around 14/15 ba
ndits with their faces covered; they came and charged the camel of the prophet P
BUH". Ammar and Hudhayfa didn't know what was going on, the prophet PBUH took so
me evasive action and went down quickly into the valley, so the bandits fled awa
y. THe prophet PBUH said "do you know who they were?" The sahaba said "no". The
prophet PBUH said "they were of the munafiqun, they wanted to throw me off the e
dge of the cliff". And so the prophet PBUH was protected by Allah; most of the s
ahaba didn't hear of this event and the prophet PBUH just moved on.
The prophet PBUH finally returns back to Madinah after almost 50/60 days, maybe
even three months. Here is where in sahih Bhukari we learn that one of the sahab
a said "I was one of the children who ran outside to Thaniyatul Wada'a to welcom
e the prophet PBUH." And as we have explained before, Thaniya is a mound/hill, a
nd Wada'a is 'goodbye'. Thaniyatul Wada'a was the hill located towards the north
of Madinah, and it's the place where the families would walk with the traveller
s up until. When they got to Thaniyatul Wada'a that is where they would embrace,
say goodbye and watch the travellers go. In Bhukari we learn they went to Thani
yatul Wada'a. In Bayhaqees dalaail nabuwa (book of miracles) we learn the women
and children all went outside singing the famous poem we know. The biggest misco
nception is that this poem was said when the prophet PBUH came to Madinah for th
e first time at the Hijrah. This is completely wrong for several reasons - the s
implest one is Thaniytaul Wada'a is up north, but the prophet PBUH came into Mad
inah from Kuba which is directly oppisite i.e. south. So it's not possible they
are saying this poem and he is coming from Mecca. The poem is "the sun has come
up to us from Thaniyatul Wada'a" i.e. he is coming from up north. So this poem w
as said at the incident of Tabuk, not at the Hijrah. Also, when the prophet PBUH
immigrated, most of the city was not muslim yet, whereas in Tabuk 100% are musl
im. And the prophet PBUH returned to his masjid, prayed two raka'at, and almost
immediately he began accepting delegations of the people who stayed behind, incl
uding Ka'ab.
We conclude with discussing the primary benefit of the entire incident of Tabuk.
Allah knows best and as we've said, this is a big mystery: why did the prophet
PBUH go to Tabuk? The only real answer is that Allah told him, and this makes se
nse from the Quran where Allah says "go ahead and fight"; "oh people what is the
matter with you when Allah says go and you do not?" Perhaps it was to prepare t
hem for the death of the prophet PBUH and the immediate conquest to come right a
fter. And the first conquest was in the same direction; so it's as if they are b
eing led to the prophet PBUH to the very place and land which within a year they
will go again and fight. That is why at Tabuk the prophet PBUH tells the sahaba
"after my death you will conquest Baytal Maqdas". So what appears to be the mos
t obvious wisdom; the prophet PBUH is about to pass away in a year. This is the
final expidition and there is no war or threat. Why? Because it was the most dif

ficult expidition merely to participate in. Just to leave everything, leave the
crops, the family etc and go for one months journey - if you can do that, then t
he fighting is easier. So it was a test from Allah and the sahaba passed the tes
t. One can say the presence of the prophet PBUH solidified some of the northen t
ribes, which is true, but it dosen't make sense to bring 20,000 people just to m
ake peace treaties with small tribes of 500. The wisdom therefore is what will h
appen in a year - when larger armies will go up north, follow the same path and
actually fight for Islam. The prophet PBUH led them first - next time they will
do it on their own. On his deathbed when the prophet PBUH is about to die, what
does he do? He prepares the army of Usama ibn Zaid to go up north - and indeed t
he very first land that was conquered was Shams.