Raid of Sa'd ibn Zaid al-Ashhali on:
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Raid of Sa'd ibn Zaid al-Ashhali, took place in January 630 AD, 8AH, 9th month, of the
In the same month as the mission of Khalid ibn al-Walid to destroy al-Uzza and the Suwa, Sa‘d bin Zaid Al-Ashhali was sent with 20 horsemen to Al-Mashallal to destroy an idol called
Islamic Calendar
The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or ...
, in the vicinity of al-Mushallal. Sa'd ibn Zaid al-Ashhali was sent to demolish the images of the gods worshipped by the polytheist tribes around the area.
Raid to demolish al-Manat
In the same month as the mission of Khalid ibn al-Walid to destroy al-Uzza and the Suwa, Sa‘d bin Zaid Al-Ashhali was sent with 20 horsemen to Al-Mashallal to destroy an idol called Manāt
( ar, مناة pausa, or Old Arabic manawat; also transliterated as ') was a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess worshiped in the Arabian Peninsula before the rise of Islam and the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. She was among Mec ...
, worshipped by the polytheist Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj tribes of Arabia. Here also a black woman appeared, naked with disheveled hair, wailing and beating on her chest. Sa‘d immediately killed her, destroyed the idol and broke the casket, returning at the conclusion of his errand.
The group who carried out this raid were formerly devoted worshippers of al-Manat . According to some sources, among them ''ibn Kalbi'', Ali was sent to demolish al-Manat; however, Sir William Muir
Sir William Muir (27 April 1819 – 11 July 1905) was a Scottish Orientalist, and colonial administrator, Principal of the University of Edinburgh and Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Provinces of British India.
Life
He was born at Gl ...
claims there is more evidence to suggest that the raid was carried out by Sa'd, and that it would have been out of character for Muhammad to send Ali, since Muhammad had been sending former worshippers to demolish idols.
Muir also mentions that, similarly to the aforementioned incident, during the Expedition of Khalid ibn al-Walid to Nakhla, an Ethiopian woman was killed, whom Muhammad claimed was the real al-Uzza. According to Muir, Muhammad said that the woman slain in this incident was the Goddess of the Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj tribes, i.e. Manat.
Islamic Primary sources
The Muslim historian Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi, mentions this event as follows: The event is also mentioned by Ibn Sa'd, in his book "Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, Volume 2". he mentions that the raid was carried out by Sa'd ibn Zaid al-Ashhali.{{cite web, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_vnXAAAAMAAJ&q=Then+he+%28%27Amr%29+said%3A+I+approached+it, title=Kitab Al-tabaqat Al-Kabir, publisher=, accessdate=17 December 2014, last1=Saʻd, first1=Muḥammad Ibn, year=1972See also
*Military career of Muhammad
The military career of Muhammad (''c.'' 570 – 8 June 632), the Islamic prophet, encompasses several expeditions and battles throughout the Hejaz region in the western Arabian Peninsula which took place in the final ten years of his life, from ...
*List of expeditions of Muhammad
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The list of expeditions of Muhammad includes the expeditions undertaken by the Muslim community during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Some sources use the word ''ghazwa'' and a related plural ''maghazi'' in a narrow techn ...
Notes