Expedition of Saweeq

Expedition of Saweeq (67)

Meanwhile, Abu Sufyan was still smarting over the defeat at
Badr. He thirsted for another military encounter, one which he felt sure would go their way, and swore he would not bathe until he had fought with Muhammad again. 

With an army of two hundred men, he came to Madinah, seeking to acquit himself of his oath. Intent on spreading destruction, they raided a settlement named Arid, hacked and burned a number of precious date trees, and got away after killing two of the Ansar.When the Prophet ﷺ received news of the raiders, he and his followers went out in pursuit.

Abu Sufyan and his men succeeded in eluding the Prophet ﷺ , who pursued them until Karkarat AlKadr. In trying to get away swiftly, the Quraysh were forced to get rid of most of their valuable provisions, especially the corn meal, or saweeq, from which the expedition got its name.

Ka’b bin Ashraf is killed

The next thorn in the Muslims’ side was Ka’bin bin Ashraf,
and extremely wealthy Jewish poet whose enmity for the Muslims and their Prophet was unrelenting. Ka’b would use his considerable poetic talent to compose and recite derogatory verses against the Prophet ﷺ , his Companions, and the honour of the Muslim women, while he eulogised their sworn enemies and incited them to fight the Muslims.

Immediately after the Battle of Badr, he travelled to Makkah to stir up passions. To an already bloodthirsty and enraged Quraysh, he orated at length, bidding them to extract vengeance for their defeat.
Ka’b was a skilled demagogue, and given the high esteem
poetry and poets had in Arab society, his words worked as a spell on the Quraysh. His call for revenge was welcome as was his assurance that the Quraysh were on a higher spiritual plane than the Muslims. He exhorted them to learn a lesson from what had happened with Banu Qaynuqa.

The Quraysh were a willing audience, and they swore to act
on Ka’b’s advice. Having wound up his propaganda campaign against the Muslims, Ka’b returned to Madinah to continue his subversive acts against the Muslim state.

When the Prophet ﷺ heard about Ka’b’s return to Madinah, he said to his Companions, “Ka’b bin Ashraf has offended Allah and His Messenger. Who will rid me of him?”

In response to the Prophet’s call, Muhammad bin Muslimah,
Ubbad bin Bishr, Abu Naailah, Harith bin Aws and Abu Abs bin Jabr volunteered their services.

Muhammad bin Muslimah was appointed the head of the mission, and accordingly thought up a plan, but since it involved subterfuge, he sought the Prophet’s consent before putting his plan into action.

So what will happen And what’s the plan

Wait for our next post to know

Do not forget to share the life of our prophet SAW to get the reward
and read the first parts from here.

Read from first part https://islamicreminder.org/the-history-life-of-prophet-muhammad-pbuh/

TO BE CONTINUED IN SHA ALLAH…