Expedition of Abu Qatadah ibn Rab'i al-Ansari, to
Batn Edam (also spelt Idam) took place in November 629 AD, 8AH, 8th month, of the Islamic Calendar
Expedition
Muhammad was planning on attacking Mecca, with the view of securing a complete news black-out concerning his military intentions, then Muhammad despatched an 8 man platoon under the leadership of Abu Qatadah bin Rab‘i in the direction of Edam, a short distance from Madinah, in Ramadan 8 A.H, in order to divert the attention of people from his main target of attacking Mecca, with which he was pre-occupied.
According to Ibn Sa'd, Ibn Hisham, and many Sunni hadith collections, a Bedouin caravan passed by and they greeted the Muslims with “Assalamu Alaikum.” But
Muhallam bin Juthamah (who was with Abu Qatadah) attacked the caravan anyway and killed the leader. They returned to Muhammad with the flock they captured and told him the story.
Muhammad then revealed the verse 4:94.
Ibn Kathir
Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...
interprets this as, God asking Muslims to be more careful when fighting "in the way of Allah", as to reduce the chance of killing Muslims accidentally, as happened in this incident.
Islamic primary sources
The event is mentioned in the Quran verse 4:94:
The famous Muslim scholar
Ibn Kathir
Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...
's commentary of the verse in his
Tafsir
Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...
is as follows:
The event is also referenced in the Sunni Hadith collection,
Sahih Muslim
() is the second hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj () in the format, the work is valued by Sunnis, alongside , as the most important source for Islamic religion after the Q ...
as follows:
See also
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Military career of Muhammad
The military career of Muhammad ( – 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 622 to 63 ...
*
List of expeditions of Muhammad
__NOTOC__
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
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
629
Campaigns ordered by Muhammad