The Expedition of Qatan, was the first Raid on the Banu Asad bin Khuzaymah tribe, which occurred directly after the

Battle of Hamra al-Asad The Battle of Hamra al-Assad ( ar, غزوة حمراء الأسد), was a Ghazawat, a battle in which the prophet Muhammad took part. It occurred in AD 625 (AH 3) after the Battle of Uhud, when the Quraysh were returning to Mecca. In this ba ...

in the year 4 A.H of the Islamic calendar.Note: Book contains a list of battles of Muhammad in Arabic, English translation availabl
here
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Background

Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah ( ar, ابن أسد بن خزيمة ) is an Arab tribe. They are Adnanite Arabs, powerful and one of the most famous tribes. They are widely respected by many Arab tribes, respected by Shia Muslims because they have burie ...

tribe (not to be confused with the

Banu Asad Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah ( ar, ابن أسد بن خزيمة ) is an Arab tribe. They are Adnanite Arabs, powerful and one of the most famous tribes. They are widely respected by many Arab tribes, respected by Shia Muslims because they have buri ...

tribe), were the residents of

Qatan Qatan is a location in Saudi Arabia. The Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe (not to be confused with the Banu Asad tribe), were the residents of Qatan, in the vicinity of Fayd, they were a powerful tribe connected with the Quraysh. They resided near the ...

, in the vicinity of

Fayd Fayd or Fa'idah is a village in Makkah Province, in western Saudi Arabia.National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. GeoNames database entry.search) Accessed 13 May 2011. The Expedition of Qatan was ordered by Muhammad and took place here.Mubarakpur ...

, was a powerful tribe connected with the Quraysh. They resided near the hill of Qatan in

Nejd Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...

. It was one of the many Muhammad's ghazwa in order to spread Islam. So he dispatched a force of 150 men under the leadership of

Abu Salama `Abd Allah ibn `Abd al-Asad Abū Salamah ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Asad ( ar, أَبُو سَلَمَة عَبْد ٱلله ٱبْن عَبْد ٱلْأَسَد ) was one of the Companians of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was also a cousin and a foster-brother of Muham ...

to make a sudden attack on this tribe on the first day of

Muharram Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after R ...

.Ibn Sa’d, vol.ii, p. 150

Raid

When the Muslims arrived at the site the tribe members fled and the Muslims found three herdsmen with a large herd of camels and goats. Then the booty, along with the three captives, was brought to

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

. On the rule on Ghanimah, (plunder), the

Dictionary of Islam A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, p ...

writes, "If the Imam, or the leader of the Muslim army, conquers a country by force of arms, he is at liberty to leave the land in possession of the original proprietors, provided they pay tribute, or he may divide it amongst the Muslims; but with regard to movable property, it is unlawful for him to leave it in possession of the infidels, but he must bring it away with the army and divide it amongst the soldiers". For this reason, the goats were taken back to Medina (as they are movable objects). Abu Salamah had an inflammation from a previous wound, and he died. The 2nd raid of the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe took place almost 3 years later.

Islamic sources

Biographical literature

This event is mentioned in Ibn Sa’d's biography of Muhammad. The Muslim jurist

Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zurʿī l-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he school ...

also mentions the event in his biography of Muhammad,

Zad al-Ma'ad ''Zad al-Ma'ad Fi Hadyi Khair Al 'Ibaad'' ( ar, زاد المعاد في هدي خير العباد) is a 5-volume book, translated as Provisions of the Hereafter in the Guidance of the Best of Servants, written by the Islamic scholar Ibn al-Qayyim ...

. Modern secondary sources which mention this, include the award-winning book,
Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum - The Sealed Nectar
''. Dar-us-Salam Publications

Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum ''Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum'' ( ar, الرحيق المختوم; ), is a seerah book, or biography of the Prophet, which was written by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri. This book was awarded first prize by the Muslim World League in a worldwide competitio ...

(The Sealed Nectar)

Hadith literature

, , and all mention that Muhammad sent some Muslims on a Military expedition to Nejd. This is where the raid took place. states:

References

Notes

*{{citation, title=The sealed nectar: biography of the Noble Prophet, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_80rJHIaOMC&pg=PA349, first=Saifur Rahman Al, last=Mubarakpuri, year=2005, publisher=Darussalam Publications, isbn=978-9960-899-55-8 625 Campaigns ordered by Muhammad