31. THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH’S ARRIVAL AT TABOOK
On the authority of Sa’eed Ibn Abi Rashid who narrated: “I met At-Tanookhi, the messenger of Heraclius to Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who was my neighbor at Hims. He had become an extremely old man who had reached senility or was close to it. I asked him: ‘Can you relate to me concerning Heraclius’ letter to the Prophet and vice versa?’ He said: ‘Certainly, Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, arrived at Tabook and sent Dihyah Al-Kalbi to Heraclius. When the letter of Allah’s Messenger reached him, he invited the vicars and the Roman patriarchs and then locked the door behind them. He addressed them saying: A letter has reached me from this man, as you have seen, inviting me to one of three choices: follow his religion, give him our wealth from our land even though the land belongs to us, or to confront him in battle. By Allah you are well aware from what you have read in the Divine Book that he will conquer whatever is under my feet, therefore come, so that we may follow his religion or give him the wealth of our land.’
They snorted unanimously and said: ‘You are inviting us to apostatize from Christianity and become slaves to an Arab who has come from Hijaz?’ When he suspected that if they left his presence they would sow mischief and turn the Romans against him, he said: ‘I only said that to test your steadfastness on your religion.’ He invited a man from an Arab tribe who was a Christian Arab and said to him: ‘Ferret for me someone with a strong retentive memory (and can keep secrets) and speaks Arabic, so that I may send him to this man to relay the response to his letter.’ I was brought to him and Heraclius handed over to me a letter and said: ‘Take my letter to this man in response to his previous letter and whatever you miss of his words at least preserve for me one of three things: check if he says anything concerning my letter to him; when he reads my letter, does he make any reference to night, and look at his back, does he have a strange mark?’
So I proceeded until I arrived at Tabook, where I found him sitting in the midst of his Companions in an amicable manner. I asked: ‘Where is your man?’ I was told: ‘There he is.’ I approached until I sat in front of him and handed over the letter to him. He dropped it on his lap and asked: ‘From whom are you?’ I said: ‘I am one of the Tanookh.’ He said: ‘Do you wish to belong to the path of Islam, Al-Hanifiyyah; the path of your forefather Ibrahim?’ I replied: ‘I am a messenger of a people and I am upon their religion; I shall not forsake it until I return to them.’ The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, smiled and recited: Verily! You (O Muhammad) guide not whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guides. (Soorah Al-Qasas 28:56)
Then he added: ‘O Brother of Tanookh, I wrote a letter to Qaisar which he tore and Allah will tear his kingdom into shreds. I wrote another letter to Negus which he shredded and Allah will shred him and his kingdom. I wrote and sent my letter to your companion which he accepted and the people will not cease to find in him bravery as long as he lives in good condition.’ I said (to myself): ‘This is one of the three things my companion instructed me to observe.’ So I took an arrow from my quiver and I wrote with it on the leather of my sword. Then he handed over the letter to a man on his left. I asked: ‘Who is your secretary that reads your letters?’ They said: ‘Mu‘awiyah.’ He read the content of my companion’s letter which said: ‘You are inviting me to a Paradise, the expanse of which is heaven and Earth that is prepared for the pious, then where is Hellfire?’ Then Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: ‘Glory be to Allah! Where is the night when daylight comes?’ I took out an arrow from my quiver and wrote it on my scabbard. When he finished reading my letter he said: ‘You have a right for you are a messenger, if something is found with us, we would furnish you with it. Travelers at times suffer from paucity of provision.’ A man, from those present, said: ‘I will furnish him.’ Then he opened his bag and brought out a Safiyyah garment and placed it on my lap.’ I asked about the identity of the owner of the garment and I was told it was ‘Uthman.
“Then Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, asked: ‘Who among you would host the man?’ A young man from Ansar said: ‘I will.’ And the Ansari stood and I also got up and followed him until we passed by a section of the assembly when Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, called me and said: ‘Come here, O brother of Tanookh.’ I went toward him and stood at the same spot I had sat in front of him and he raised his Burdah (garment) from his back and said: ‘Here! Have a look at what you have been commanded.’ I went round to look at his back and there was a ring in the middle of the shoulder blade like a fatty mass.”
By: Ibn Katheer
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