Period 15 of 18
Tabuk and the Year of Delegations
After the conquest, delegations from across Arabia came to Madinah, and the Prophet ﷺ led his last great expedition to Tabuk.
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The expedition to Tabuk
In Rajab 9 AH (about October 630 CE) the Prophet ﷺ called the Muslims to march north toward the Byzantine frontier at Tabuk. Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه said the journey was in intense heat, across a vast desert, against a numerous enemy, so he told the people clearly where he was going so they could prepare. It was called the army of hardship, and Abu Musa رضي الله عنه reported that his companions sent him to ask the Prophet ﷺ for mounts. Allah urged: “March forth, light and heavy” (9:41). The sirah books record that the Byzantines did not engage, and the Muslims returned after about twenty days.
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The three who stayed behind
Ka'b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه told how he stayed behind from Tabuk without a valid excuse, as did Murarah ibn ar-Rabi' and Hilal ibn Umayyah رضي الله عنهما. When the Prophet ﷺ returned, he told the truth, while the hypocrites offered excuses. The Muslims were told not to speak to the three, and Ka'b said that the earth felt strange to him; this lasted fifty nights. Then, after the dawn prayer, glad tidings came that Allah had accepted their repentance (9:117-118). Ka'b prostrated, and gave the man who told him the good news the only two garments he owned.
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Delegations and the pilgrimage of Abu Bakr
The ninth year is called the Year of Delegations in the sirah books, as tribes sent envoys to Madinah to accept Islam, including the delegation of Abd al-Qays; Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما reported that he taught them the essentials of faith, prayer and charity. The Prophet ﷺ also sent teachers and officials, and told Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه, when he sent him to Yemen, to invite them first to testify that there is no god but Allah, and then to teach them the prayers and zakat. That year Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه led the pilgrimage and announced that no polytheist would perform Hajj after the year, and none would circle the Kaaba naked (9:3).
How the sources are used
Sources are chosen in this order: the Quran first, then the hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and then other collections such as al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, an-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah and Malik. The sirah books, mainly Ibn Ishaq as transmitted by Ibn Hisham, are used only for details not found in the hadith, and these are marked as “recorded in the sirah books.” Dates in the Christian era are approximate, and hadith numbers follow the hadith library of this website.
Hadith numbers follow the hadith library on this site, and each source opens its hadith there. Details that are not in the hadith collections are marked as coming from the sirah books.
General information for learning, not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a qualified scholar.