Raid of Dhat al-Salasil

Background

After a prior defeat of the Muslims at the Battle of Mu’tah, many Ghassanid-affiliated tribes sensed an opportunity to make their own move. The Banu Quda'a began planning a massive invasion against the Muslims in the capital of Medina. Muslim spies immediately alerted Muhammad, causing an emergency council to be summoned.

Muhammad appointed Amr ibn al-As to lead a preemptive expedition against the tribe of Banu Quda'a. He was chosen presumably of his relations with the Bali tribe, who were located near the theatre of operations.

The contingent consisted of three hundred men and thirty horses with Amr ibn al-As as commander. Muslim chroniclers also recorded the participation of Usama ibn Zayd whose father, Zayd ibn Haritha died earlier in the Battle of Mu'tah. Aside from many war veterans, a number of new Muslim converts joined the contingent.

Expedition

Amr ibn al-As encamped at a spring called Salasil after marching for ten days, where he found the Banu Quda'a had assembled in large numbers. He sent a letter to Muhammad asking for reinforcements to bolster the army. Muhammad sent an additional two hundred soldiers which included Abu Bakr and Umar, headed by Abu Ubaidah ibn al Jarrah.

Abu Ubaidah and Amr ibn al-As disagreed to who should lead this contingent. Amr ibn al-As despite being a new convert, refused to step down and Abu Ubaidah relented for the sake of unity .

The Muslims began sending scouts. Amr ibn al-As upon realizing his opponent heavily outnumbered his own army, decided not to launch an attack during daylight and instructed his soldiers to encamp until night.

Battle

The Muslims launched a night raid under the cover of darkness. Amr ibn al-As instructed his soldiers that for every two men fighting to stay close together, even as far as tying their horses together so as to not separate. During the battle, Usama bin Zayd recalled a well-known account of one of his engagements.

The night raid was successful as it caused mass desertions from the enemy with very minimal losses.

Aftermath

Amr ibn al-As would later explain the reasoning behind his course of action. The soldiers were told to stay together to give an illusion of superior numbers and for them to maintain cohesion fighting in the dark. Umar concurred. The incident regarding Usama was also told to Muhammad in which Usama became deeply lamented after he is admonished regarding his conduct towards a surrendered combatant who has professed conversion to Islam.

The battle discouraged any further intentions by Ghassanid and Byzantine-affiliated tribes to attack the Muslims.

Islamic Primary sources

The Expedition is referenced in the Sunni hadith collection Sahih al-Bukhari as follows:

Notes

References

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