We finished the battle of Khandaq/Ahzab, and we are now at the end of the 5th ye

ar of the Hijrah/beginning of the 6th year. The next major incident will be the
incident of Hudaybiyyah which occurs at the end of the 6th year. Therefore we ha
ve around 7/8 months to cover in between. In these months a number of events hap
pened, none of which were as important as Khandaq. These skirmishes and expidito
ns were not that important politically, but in each one of them certain things h
appened that are interesting for us to know. We will not discuss all minor event
s, but around 4/5.
We begin with the expiditon of Muhammad ibn Maslama to Al-Kurtaa. This was a min
or expiditon, a sareeah, involving 30 sahabah dealing with the tribe of Banu Bak
r in the month of Shawwal. The expiditon was a success, but on the way back some
thing interesting and beautiful happened. The sahabah came across a small convey
and something seemed strange about them. Most likely there were signs of them b
eing a rich and noble group of people. And so the sahabah brought these people t
o the prophet PBUH, and he asked them "do you not know who your pisoner is?" The
y said "who?" He said "you have captured Thumama ibn Athaal". Thumama was the ch
eifton of the tribe of the Banu Hanifah. And they were one of the largest tribes
in Arabia. He is a very senior figure and is the cheifton of a tribe that is eq
ual in the size of the Quraysh. And he happened to be a convoy that was not guar
ded so he was captured by the sahabah. And Thumama of course supported the pagan
s against Islam, and he publically threatened to kill the prophet PBUH whenever
he could. So the prophet PBUH made a dua to Allah that "Oh Allah allow me to hav
e control over Thumama" and of course this incident is the the dua of the prophe
t PBUH being answered. That literally Thumama came to him as a prisoner of war.
The companions did not recognise him, but the prophet PBUH immediately recognise
d him through Jibreel AS. The prophet PBUH commanded the sahabah to treat him we
ll, and he was a prisoner in the masjid of the prophet PBUH. On that evening, th
e prophet PBUH told his wives to send his own food to Thumama. Now the prophet P
BUHs food would not have been better than what the sahabah ate, but it was a sym
bolic suggestion - that the messenger would have told Thumama "this is from Muha
mmad the messenger of Allah".
The next day, the prophet PBUH went to Thumama and asked him "what do you have t
o say to me?" And Thumama said "Ya Muhammad, if you are going to kill me, you wi
ll kill someone whose blood is very heavy (meaning you will have a civil war), a
nd if you are generous, you will be generous to someone who recognises your gene
rosity and will repay you. And if you want money, ask for whatever you want and
you have your price". This shows this guy is not begging for life. He has dignit
y, he has nobility - he is in all sense a royal. He was the cheifton after all o
f a huge tribe in Arabia. The prophet PBUH advised Thumama to accept Islam and T
humama did not say anything. The next day, the second morning the same thing hap
pened. The prophet PBUH said "what do you have to say for yourself?" Thumama rep
lied in the same way. And the prophet PBUH left him to be. The third day the sam
e thing happened and Thumama gave the same response.
The reports do not mention this but what do you think is happening while he is i
n the masjid? He is hearing the Quran of the prophet PBUH, watching the salah of
the sahabah, the Prophet's halaqaat and conversations with the sahaba etc - he
is absorbing it all in for over 72 hours, and Thumama is just sitting at the bac
k being ignored - but what is the wisdom of having him in the masjid? To show Th
umama Islam and hopes he accept Islam. But he didn't and at the end of the third
day the prophet PBUH told the sahabah to release Thumama. So they cut him off a
nd let him go - after this, Thumama walked out of the masjid, took a bath somewh
ere and within 10 minutes walked back into the masjid and became a muslim. And t
hen he said "Ya Muhammad" - even though he's a muslim, he is still addressing th
e prophet PBUH by his first name because he hasn't yet learnt the right ettiquit
es. So he said "Ya Muhammad I swear by Allah there was no face in the whole worl
d that was more despised and hated to me than your face. But now walahi it is no
w the most beautiful and more beloved face to me. And I swear by Allah there was

no religion I hated more than Islam, but now its the most beloved to me. And I
swear by Allah there was no city I hated more than Madinah but now it is the mos
t beloved to me". And he then explained how the sahabah captured him. It just so
happened the muslims were coming back from an expiditon, and he was going to Me
cca to complete umrah. And because of this he had very few guards and protection
. Now that he is a muslim, Thumama asked the prophet PBUH "should I now go back
and continue my umrah?" and the prophet PBUH said "yes go back". That evening th
e sahabah brought him his supper and meal again, and because the prophet PBUH to
ld the sahabah to be generous to him, they brought him large trays of the most f
ancy foods they have. But this time he just ate a little bit and that was it. Th
is was a man for the last three days had been consuming all of these varities of
food, but now he is just eating a little bit! The prophet PBUH said "why are yo
u amazed? A man ate in the morning with the stomach of a disbeliever; now he is
eating at night with the stomach of a muslim. Verily a disbeliever eats with sev
en stomachs and a musim eats with one".
And according to Ibn Ishaaq the first person to enter Mecca with the proper talb
iya was indeed Thumama. Of course the Quraysh knew the talbiya, but they added s
hirk to it, that "You have SOME partners oh Allah". So the first muslim to enter
Mecca loudly with talbiya was Thumama and when the Quraysh heard him with this
talbiya, they asked him "have you become a sabi'?" Note whenever the Quraysh tho
ught someone left their Jaheleya religion, they thought he had become a sabi'. S
o they would make fun of the early muslims by calling them sabioon. So they aske
d Thumama "have you become a sabi'?" And Thumama said "No I am a muslim". At thi
s some of the Quraysh surrounded him and unsheathed their swords, but the more s
enior members said "If you kill him, you will have to face the wrath of the whol
e tribe of the Banu Hanfiah". So they didn't harm him, but Thumama became so enr
aged at all of this "walahi not a single seed of grain will come to you from my
tribe until the prophet PBUH commands me to do so". Note Thumama was in central
Arabia and grain would come to them from up north. And he had command of the hig
hways, so he got so angry he said "I swear by Allah not a single grain of wheat
will reach you until the prophet PBUH commands me". So he did his tawaaf, went b
ack and he fulfilled his promise. He cut off all the supplies of grain to the Qu
raysh, and for weeks and months their supplies dwindled. Eventually they were fo
rced to eat a substance called 'ilhiz'. And this is something that they resorted
to at times of extreme drought because its something disgusting: it was a mixtu
re of camels blood and camels hair. So the situation got so back they ate 'ilhiz
' and Abu Suffyan had to swallow his pride and write a letter to the prophet PBU
H and said "Ya Muhammad, you claim you are preaching to be good to your relative
s, yet here you are letting us whither away". And so the prophet PBUH wrote a le
tter to Thumama and allowed the wheat supplies to resume.
Now before we move on some benefits from this story:
1. Look at how amazingly the dua of the prophet PBUH was answered. And indeed by
and large the duas of the prophet PBUH was answered and this shows us the mikaa
m and status of his nabis.
2. Allah helps the believers in many different ways: Thumama was a gift from All
ah out of nowhere. And since he was a chiefton, when he converted most of his tr
ibe also converted so that was a huge increase in the number of believers.
3. We also see gentleness gets you what harshness does not: for three days Thuma
ma was treated with the upmost respect. He was treated with dignity, he was give
n better food that the rest of the people, and so when he sees this his heart op
ened up to Islam. And the prophet PBUH gifted him his independance within 3 days
after Thumama threatened to kill the prophet PBUH publically. From this we lear
n it is allowed for non muslims to enter the masjid. And in the seerah there are
so many incidences of non muslims entering the masjid and staying there. The pr
ophet PBUH allowed the christians of Najran to not only stay in the masjid, but

worship there! These are people claiming Allah has a son but he still allowed it
. This shows us as ibn Hajar says the permissability of non muslims entering mas
jids.
4. This hadith is the one of the fundamental evidences for showing if a non musl
im converts to Islam, he should take a bath. And the scholars point out this was
so well known that even Thumama knows he should take a bath before accepting Is
lam. It's a symbolic gesture to purify oneself, and also it's an act of ghusl to
remove the state of janaaba.
5. If a non muslim embraces Islam, he should not stop his good deeds. Thumama wa
nted to do umrah and so the prophet PBUH allowed him to do straight after he con
verted.
6. We
their
ching
PBUH

see the hypocrisy of the Quraysh in this incident, that after kicking out
families and tribesmen, now they are telling the prophet PBUH "you are tea
people to be good to relatives why aren't you good to us?" And the prophet
was kind and tender in that he responded to there request.

7. We also see an interesting point: no doubt he was strict with the Quraysh, af
ter all he had to gone to war with them. And on the battlefield they attempted t
o kill each other. And yet he dosen't want to starve their women and children. A
nd walahi had he stopped the supply, this would have been understandable. Just a
few months ago in Khandak the Quraysh completely cut off food supplies to the m
uslims for a whole month. But the prophet PBUH didn't do the same - he allowed t
he supplies to resume.
As for Thumama, there was an infamous person from
d that was Musaylama bin Khazab who claimed to be
hting his own tribe during the battles of Riddah,
y embraced Islam. A number of things happened and

his tribe, the Banu Hanifah an

a prophet. And Thumama was fig
therefore showing he completel
eventually he died a shaheed.

The next incident is a small one but we should keep it in mind - and that was an
other assassination attempt on the life of the prophet PBUH. After the battle of
Badr and battle of Uhud, Abu Suffyan is the defactor leader. Before it was Abu
Talib, but he died. Then Abu Lahab, Waleed ibn Moughira etc but they all died. S
o by default Abu Suffyan was the most senior leader of the Quraysh. And this is
why when the prophet PBUH conquered Mecca, he honoured Abu Suffyan to a high lev
el by saying "whoever stays in the house of Abu Suffyan will be saved". And he g
ave Abu Suffyan 100 camels which is literally a fortune - all of this because Ab
u Suffyan converted but it was not easy. He fought Islam for such a long while t
hat fully accepting it was hard in the beginning.
So in this story Abu Suffyan put a randsom on the prophet PBUH. And a bedouin co
mes and wants the bounty and so he plots to kill the prophet PBUH. Abu Suffyan s
upplies him with a camel, food and weapons and send him away to kill the prophet
PBUH. And the bedouin invented a story that he wants to accept Islam and he ent
ers Madinah within 6 days. He enters the masjid with this false story, and when
he entered the prophet PBUH said "this is a man who has treachery written on him
". SubhanAllah, as soon as he said this the sahaba tackled the man. And when the
y did this, a dagger drops from his belt. And so the prophet PBUH said "if you a
re truthful to me I shall let you go, otherwise...". So he told the prophet PBUH
everything that happened (that Abu Suffyan sent him), and upon this the prophet
PBUH let him go. In the end the beduoin accepted Islam.
And what is interesting is that, despite all of this, still Abu Suffyan was hono
ured to the level he was honoured. This story is a perfect stepping stone to the
next story which is seen as an extremely controversial story, and that is the a
ssassination of Sallam ibn Abu al-Huqayq. We already discussed the assassination
of Ka'ab ibn Al Ashraf. And the story of Sallam is similar to Ka'abs - therefor

e all the points that were made for Ka'abs assassination are valid here. It was
not collateral damage - it was targeted killing. And in modern times no one has
a right to even say anything regarding this. We don't know the exact date, but i
t clearly happened after Ahzab and before Khaybar, most likely in the middle of
6H. Khaybar is going to come - and Sallam is one of the big shots of Khaybar. An
d he was one of the main funders of Khandak. He was a wealthy 'billionaire', and
he was the one who financed the tribe of Gatafaan. Recall the bulk of the peopl
e of Ahzab were hired mercanaries - that is why when Allah sent His punishment t
hey were the first to run away. They weren't there out of genuine desire - they
just wanted the money. And who gave them the money? Number one on the list was S
allam. So the prophet PBUH decided to kill him for this, and indeed a message ha
d to be sent.
So a number of people of the Khazraj themselves came up with the idea of assassi
nating Sallam. This was a very dangerous expidition - they will have to go to Kh
aybar themselves which was three days away, and Khaybar was heavily fortified. A
nd we already mentioned the jews had thick fortified walls that muslims really d
id not know how to conquer. And we will see when the battle of Khaybar took plac
e the prophet PBUH camped outside for a month not knowing what to do. It's just
very difficult - even during the Banu Nadheer and Banu Qaynuqa seiges he camped
outside. The architecture and thickness of walls were superior structures. So th
is expiditon would be a small group that manages to pinpoint Sallam and take him
out. Why did the Khazraj volunteer? They felt that the Aws had beaten them by t
aking care of Ka'ab ibn Ashraf. So they felt the score was '0-1'. So they wanted
to do something that shows the Khazraj was on a same/higher level of the Aws. S
o the prophet PBUH gave them permission to do this, but he said "do not kill any
women or children". In those days there was no such things as 'civilians' - eve
ry adult male was apart of the army. Therefore there was no 'non fighting man' every man of age was a military man back then. When he is telling them "don't k
ill women and children" he is basically saying "don't kill civilians" i.e. those
who have nothing to do with the war.
So five people volunteered and their leader was Abdullah ibn Ateeq. And he was c
hosen because he could speak the language of the people of Khaybar very fluently
. And this is obviously a neccesity for this type of expidition. And they immedi
ately made there way to Khaybar. And they camped outside thinking of a way to ge
t in, and Abdullah ibn Ateeq said "I have an idea". And so as it was in the past
, they would always shut the doors of the cities at Magrib time. So he waited an
d waited until it was just before Magrib time. And he made his way close enough
to the guard so the guard could see him, and he pretended he is urinating. The g
uard is about to shut the door and sees someone is urinating in the distance, he
dosen't assume anything of it and so the guard shouted out "I am going to close
the door hurry up!" And so Abdullah managed to get inside the city. When nightf
all came, he reopened the gate and let the other sahaba in. So all five are in t
he fortress, and they find their way to the house of Sallam. Allah knows how the
y did this - but we assume the richest person has the central and largest house.
So they made their way into the house, and they got rid of him. His wife saw th
em so she shouted out and tried to set off the alarm, one of the sahaba was abou
t to kill her, but he remembered what the prophet PBUH said: "no women or no chi
ldren". The room of Sallam was protected such that his room was connected to the
lower floor via a ladder. So you have to climb the ladder to get in. And ibn At
eeq its said had feeble eyes, so when they were racing outsides, he sprained/bro
ke his foot. So the other sahaba carried him outside and had to rush back to Mad
inah. SubhanAllah you can imagine the situation. Allah knows how they did it, an
d they escaped without a single casuality. When they came back to the prophet PB
UH, he rubbed his hand on the foot, and by the permission of Allah it becomes pe
rfectly healed.
In a nutshell, frankly those were different times and different norms. There was
a war going on and this was something expected and understood. It was a part of

the territory back then - we just talked about Abu Suffyan trying to kill the p
rophet PBUH. Its a two way street. No one is saying any muslim can start doing t
his to anyone. But can a khalifah use such a tactic in our times? Well we don't
even have a khalifah right now. The main scholars say the shariah is a spectrum
that allow for some changes. If there are customs in place, the shariah allows u
s to adapt to those customs and protocols. As we speak there are drone talking p
lace everywhere - for anyone to criticise something that happened 1400 years ago
the best response it look at what your own people are doing now. This issue is
not problematic at all. It is what it is, no civilian died and it was a specific
kill.
The next incident is the gazwa of the Banu Lihyan. And recall the gazwa means th
e prophet PBUH is with the party. And this was among those tribes who tricked th
e sahaba to come to them and massacared them. It was one of the tribes that betr
ayed the trust of the prophet PBUH, and killed many muslims. And they were the o
ne who killed Khubayb (the one who prayed two raka'at before he died). The probl
em with them was that they were in the hijaaz. So going to them is problematic b
ecause you are close to Mecca. The prophet PBUH took 300 sahabah and initially d
id not tell anyone where they were going. So he left Madinah heading north, but
as was his tactic and he didn't a single person - he doubled back, and then the
people realised they are going towards Mecca. And when they came close the proph
et PBUH told them they will attack the Banu Lihyan. However the Banu Lihyan had
their spies and saw the army coming, and thus they all fled. When they entered t
he cities it was empty, and the prophet PBUH remained there for two/three days t
o show who is the victor and frighten them. There was no actual battle/war - so
why are we talking about it? Most likely in this gazwa Allah legislated Salaatul
Qouhf.
The story is as follows: the Banu Lihyan sent an emmicary to the Quraysh to help
them. So they sent a small force under the charge of Khalid bin Waleed. And the
re is no actual battle that takes place, but Khalid camps in front of the muslim
s, and the muslims in front of him. So they can see each other. And the time for
Zuhr comes, and all the muslims get up and pray in Jama'a. And one of the Quray
sh said "if only they were to do this again - this is the perfect time to attack
". And so they tell Khalid its the perfect time for all of them to charge - and
Khalid said "wait, they have another time coming out so we will do it Asr". And
its understood when they are praying they take their sheilds, armour and swords
off etc. So the muslims will be relatively defenceless. What happens? During Zuh
r and Asr, Allah sends down surah nisa verse 102:
"And when you are among them and lead them in prayer, let a group of them stand
[in prayer] with you and let them carry their arms. And when they have prostrate
d, let them be [in position] behind you and have the other group come forward wh
ich has not [yet] prayed and let them pray with you, taking precaution and carry
ing their arms. Those who disbelieve wish that you would neglect your weapons an
d your baggage so they could come down upon you in one [single] attack. But ther
e is no blame upon you, if you are troubled by rain or are ill, for putting down
your arms, but take precaution. Indeed, Allah has prepared for the disbelievers
a humiliating punishment."
So the prophet PBUH prays one entire salah, but the people behind him split half
way. One group guards while another prays, and then they swap halfway during the
salah. How this happens and what is the fiqh? This is something heavily written
about. Also according to one hadith, this was the time the prophet PBUH teaches
the sahaba the dua of travel (safar).
The final story is an interesting story which is the sareeah of Zaid ibn Haritha
h to a place known as Al-Ees. The prophet PBUH sent Zaid (and this one of the la
st things he does as he will die in a few weeks), the one whom the prophet PBUH
adopted, to Al-Ees with 170 people in Jumaadha of 6AH to intercept the caravan o

f the Quraysh as it is returning for Syria. And he sent Zaid to get this huge ca
ravan, and lo and behold the caravan is captured in its entirety. So all of the
camels, the wealth, the items come back, and the prisoners of war come back to M
adinah. And the story is interesting because of one of the prisoners of war. The
actual sareeah was very simply. So who was that prisoner? Abl Aas ibn Rabiya, t
he son in law of the prophet PBUH. The husband of Zainab bint Muhammad. Who is A
bl Aas? He is a pure qurayshi from the Banu Abd-Shams; his mother is Haala and s
he is the older sister of Khadija. So Abl Aas is the son of Haala, so he is the
cousin of Zainab. And Khadija had asked the prophet PBUH to marry Zainab to Abl
Aas, her sisters son. And the report said "the prophet PBUH never refused anythi
ng for Khadija" subhanAllah. And this again shows the love of Khadija. So when s
he asked this, he acceped and Zainab married Abl Aas. How many daughters did the
prophet PBUH have? Four. The order was: Zainab, Ruqqiyah, Umme Kulthoom and Fat
imah. These are true ahlul bayt of the prophet PBUH. And most likely Fatimah was
born in Islam, the other three before Islam.
So Zainabs married was decided. And Ruqqiyah and Umme Kalthoom had already been
engaged to the sons of Abu Lahab. When the dawah began, Abu Lahab cancelled imme
diately. And the Quraysh put pressure on Abl Aas - that ask whatever you want, a
nd name any women you want, but get rid of Zainab. So divorce her and we'll give
you any women you want in marriage. But he refused and said "no one can substit
ute Zainab". So he loved her immensely and was not bribed. They remained married
and when the prophet PBUH immigrated to Madinah, Zainab stayed in Mecca. And no
te Zainab had a daughter whose name was Umama, the one whom the prophet PBUH pra
yed while carrying in salah as reported in Bhukari. Zainab also had a son but di
ed as an infant; but Umama lived a long life and she married Ali ibn Abi Talib a
fter her aunty, Fatimah RA dies. And Umama marries Ali and they have some childr
en aswell.
In any case, Zainab and Abl Aas were married. Abl Aas joined the Meccan side aga
inst the muslims in Badr and was taken as a prisoner of war. And his wife sent i
n randsom the neclace Khadijah gifted her, and this brought back so many memorie
s to the prophet PBUH that he requested "if you think it is appropiate, let him
go for the sake of Allah". But obviously the sahaba gave him away. After this, t
he prophet PBUH told Abl Aas to send him Zainab, and this was the start of that
long story where Zainab tried to leave Mecca and the Quraysh didn't let her. So
the prophet PBUH had a lot of respect for Abl Aas: he said "as for Abl Aas, he s
poke to me and told the truth. And he promised me, and he fulfilled his promise"
. So Abl Aas was a firm man. So Abl Aas returns after Badr and sends Zainab to M
adinah. At least two/three years go by, and lo and behold he is captured and he
is now a PoW in Madinah.
The next morning at Fajr, the prophet PBUH stands up and says "Allahuakbar" to s
tart salah. But from the womens side a loud voice comes: "Oh muslims I am Zainab
bint Muhammad, and I have given Abl Aas my protection. So you give him your pro
tection". So the entire congregation hears this cry from Zainab. And the prophet
PBUH, after salah finishes he asked the sahaba "did you hear what I heard?" And
they "Yes RasulAllah" and the prophet PBUH said "walahi I had no knowledge of w
hat she was going to do". Then the prophet PBUH said the famous statement: "all
of the muslims are the same when it comes to protection, the least of them can o
ffer protection to anyone, so Zainab we have given protection to whom you have g
iven protection". So this shows any muslim has a right to say 'this person is un
der my protection'. This is a standard principle of fiqh. The people who had cap
tured him and his property, once again the same thing happened: twice the prophe
t PBUH had to tell them the same thing that "you know the status of Abl Aas, so
if you wish return his money and his section of the caravan to him and that is m
ore beloved to us. But if you want to keep it that is your right and the right A
llah has given you". So the Ansar who had taken Abl Aas' portion of the caravan
give it back to him. They say to him "Oh Abl Aas, you are the son of the prophet
PBUH, isn't it time you accept Islam? We will give your money back and you can

stay in Madinah." So they added this condition of money. Abl Aas responded: "wha
t an evil suggestion - that I should change my faith, and be trecharous because
of that?" And this was not a suggestion from the prophet PBUH. In any case the A
nsar gave him all of the money back. And he went back to Mecca and returned ever
y single penny to the people who gave him something. As soon as this happened, i
n front of the Quraysh he converted to Islam. So he didn't want to accept Islam
in Madinah - someone might say "you did it for the money, for the life etc". He
wanted to get rid off all his obligations and then embrace Islam publically to s
how his sincerity. And Abl Aas's great grandfather is Abd Shams, a giant of Qura
ysh. So you cannot harm a hair on Abl Aas' head. So he has the audacity and cour
age to announce his shahada in front of the kab'ah, and he then returns back to
Madinah as a muslim.
This story could be problematic for two reasons:
1. When he is captured as a prisoner, clearly he isn't a muslim. And the prophet
PBUH frees him basically on the presumption the two of them are still married.
But he said to Zainab "this man is a mushrik (pagan) so he's not allowed for you
". So is there a marraige at this time or not?
2. The real fiqh problem is, when he did return back to Madiah, the authentic ha
dith says "the prophet PBUH returned him to her without a maher (so new nikah)".
We all know in fiqh that when the wife converts to Islam and the husband does no
t, the marriage contract is invalid. If the husband accepts Islam within the idd
at of the wife (the correct position is one month). If however a husband embrace
s Islam and the wife is either jew or christian, then this marriage contract is
valid. If the wife is a pagan then it becomes invalid. So technically we will ad
vise a women if she converts and a husband does not, that shari wise "he is not
your husband anymore". According to the madhab - if he converts within the iddat
period (1 month), then there is no issue. If however he dosen't, then the marri
age is null and void. And if he later on converts to Islam and wants her back bu
t the one month period is over, the majority of scholars say a new nikah must be
done.
How do the scholars reconcile this? Most scholars say a new nikah must be done r
egardless of this hadith. But some scholars, and Ibn Tammiyah is one of them who
champions this view: he said, and the evidence of this hadith suggest this, tha
t such a women is in a "unique situation". He says after the iddat is over, she
can remarry any new muslim. If however her husband embraces Islam, and she has n
ot married she can take back her ex-husband if he becomes muslim. So the ex-husb
and becomes allowed for her without a nikah, with a contract if they both agree.
So a trick question is "what women is there who can marry without a nikah?" The
answer is this women. And of course the conditions are that the ex-husband must
convert to Islam and the women must not remarry. Indeed when Abl Aas converts a
nd comes back to Madinah, the prophet PBUH allowed him and Zainab to resume marr
iage life without a new nikah. Another fiqh point is that, if a non muslim coupl
e converts simultaneously, by unanimous concensus of all scholars they do not ne
ed to redo their nikah in an Islamic way. If they both convert and they were mar
ried in however their society deems them to me married, then their marriage cont
ract automatically becomes and islamic contact. As ibn Hajar say, in the lifetim
e of the prophet PBUH, thousands of couples converted, and never once did they '
remarry islamically' - it was just automatically accepted. So marriages of the n
on muslims when they convert are still valid. This is very clear from the seerah
.
The final mini story involves fiqh of food. Its called sareeah-tul Kabat. The pr
ophet PBUH sent another large caravan to intercept the Quraysh - we don't have a
ny other details but most likely it was when the caravan was going up to Syria.

So he sent a large expiditon of 300 men to intervene and block the caravan, howe
ver they were not successful and the Quraysh evaded them. Because of this when t
he muslims tried to chase them, their supplies dwindled and they ran very low. T
heir leader was Abu Ubayda Amr - when their supplies became critical, Abu Ubayda
commanded the army to give any food they have. So all the food was collected an
d he rationed a portion for each person. Until finally they had one date per per
son per day. Even that ran out, and Jaabir ibn Abdullah narrates that they would
put the date seeds in their mouth and suck on it during the day. And they would
drink water with the date seed so they get some type of taste. And they were fo
rced to eat 'Kabat' which is the dried withered leaves of thorn bushes, just to
survive. And eventually they made their way to the shore called Yumbo which was
relatively close to Madinah. And lo and behold they found a massive whale, and t
he hadith describe it as being simply unbelievably large. In Bhukari its mention
ed 13/14 sahabah sat in the eye socket of the whale. And they took one of the bo
nes of the whale, and they planted it on the beach, and Abu Ubayda chose the lar
gest camel and he sat on the camel, and he managed to right underneath the bone
without lowering his head. You can see how huge the whale is. And it's clear All
ah gifted them this. They rejoiced so much they camped one whole month because o
f the whale - they were about to die of starvation but then Allah gave them this
whale, and during the month they actually gained fat. For a whole month 300 peo
ple ate from this whale.
Finally they decide to go back, packed their bags with left over meat and then g
o back to Madinah. And they asked the prophet PBUH if what they did was allowed
i.e. eating a dead animal. And the prophet PBUH said "do you have any meat left?
" They said "bring it to me". So the one and only time the prophet PBUH ate seafood was this time. Why did he eat it? To show it is completely halal to eat sea
-food. This also shows it does not require slaughter or even being caught. The s
ahaba did not catch the whale, it was dead already. In terms of fiqh, all madhab
s except Hanafi say everything from the sea is permissable to eat. A whale is te
chnically not a fish, its a mammal, but the prophet PBUH still ate from it. And
he said "two dead animals are allowed for us: locusts and the whale". He intenti
onally gave us the biggest creature for the sea, so clearly all the smaller ones
are allowed. And Allah said in the Quran "the catch and the food of the ocean i
s allowed for you". So both alive and dead are both halal. Hanafi madhab says ju
st is not allowed.
We also point out that during this time Allah revealed the legislation of hijaab
(end of 5th year/beginning of 6th year). And the prophet PBUH married Zainab bi
nt Jahsh around this time too. This is one of the most contraversial stories in
the whole seerah. Number one has to be Zainab. According to some authorities, ou
r prophet PBUH sent 14 sareeahs and participated in two gazwas in between Khanda
k and Hudaybiyyah.