We will now move on to the battle of Tabuk.

Before we do that, there was around

6 months before the seige of Ta'if and the battle of Tabuk. What happened in the
se months? Around 7/8 mini expiditions. The prophet PBUH did not participate but
he sent the sahaba to neighbouring tribes and lands; and the main purposes of t
hese expiditions was to destory large idols, public idols and to bring in the tr
ibes to Islam. For example, the more famous ones involved Tufail ibn Amr who was
sent to destory the idol of Dhil Kafain. And Ali ibn Abi Talib was sent to dest
ory a large idol by the name of Al-Fuls. Now, in these modern days we have group
s destroying sacred sites and idols - and they use these incidences from the see
rah as evidence. We must explain that the prophet PBUH only did this after he es
tablished his political authority in the land. In other words, he isn't destoryi
ng Dhil Kafain, Al Fuls, Al Uzza etc until he has political authority. This is a
fter the conquest of Mecca and after the battle of Hunayn - when central Arabia
is his completely. And he's now expanding to all of Arabia - so when the politic
al power is with the Islamic state, then they can contemplate destroying any ido
ls nearby.
But there is another issue. What do the scholars say about the freedom of the ot
her religions to worship in an Islamic state? There is a contraversy amongst the
early scholars of Islam, the tabioon and the tabi-tabioon. By unanimous concens
us, jews and christians can practice their faith in an Islamic state. This is we
ll known. The Qur'an and hadith are explicit about this. There's no ikhtilaf at
all. How about pagan religions? Not ahlul kitaab? There has been ikhtilaf on thi
s issue forever. By almost unanimous concensus idoletry is not allowed in the Ar
abian Penensulla. This was perhaps the greatest success of the prophet PBUH: he
permenantly got rid of idol worshipping amongst the Arabs. This is the success o
f Islam. How about worshipping idols outside an Arabian Penesulla? The four madh
abs has differed on this issue. Some say you can only take citizens as jews, chr
istians and zoroastrians (fire worshippers). The reason they are included is bec
ause when Umar RA conquered Persia, he said "treat them like you treat jews and
christians". So they were treated like them in terms of jizia and letting them p
ractice their faith in their temples. From this, scholars have said only zoroast
rians can be treated like the ahlul kitaab. However, two points:
1. There is always an opposing view and the most famous madhab championing this
view is the Hanafi madhab which says you make qiyaas on all the religions. Why s
top only at zoroastrians? They don't even believe in Allah. Jews and christians
believe in Allah. The Qur'an is explicit about this. Allah says talking about th
e ahlul kitaab. We have the same God as them - zoroastrians do not have Allah as
their God. They have some God of light and evil. They have two ultimate divinit
ies: they don't believe in anything we believe in. Not in prophets or revelation
etc. Yet by unanimous concensus they are treated like ahlul kitaab. Therefore f
rom this the Hanafi madhab and some Maliki scholars say all NON arab paganistic
religions have the same exception. Not arab religions (meaning jazeeratul Arab i
.e. the hijaaz) - why? Because it has a status that the other lands do not have.
And the prophet PBUH said on his death bed "in the Arabian peninsula, do not le
t two religions flourish". So you can have other religions in small communities
but not in public and not flourishing.
So based on this the opinion that pretty much everyone has acted upon in the his
tory of Islam, all the khilafa by and large tolerated every minority as long as
it was civil. That is why we have the most bizzare religions to this day in the
places of the muslim world. The Alawis we don't view them as muslims: they don't
pray or fast. They were only attacked by the khulafa when they themsleves becam
e voilent. Otherwise they were left alone. Right now we are looking at the yazid
is of Iraq. They are a bizzare cult that eminated from within Islam but then bro
ke away completely. They have nothing to do with Islam anymore; even though thei
r sheikh was a righteous sufi, when he died they continued to change. They actua
lly believe shaytan repented from his sin, and he is now worthy being an interce
ssor between them and God. So they worship shaytan at taq, they call him the gol

den worshippers. So people call them 'satan worshippers'. There is obviously an

element of truth here, but exaggaration since they don't view shaytan as being t
he shaytan we know. But they worship him anyway. The point is, the yazidis have
existed for over 1000 years. Their leader (Adi ibn Musfir) died in 250H - this w
as in the heart land of the abbassids khalifa and they were allowed to just be a
lone. Look at the mogul dynasty; the majority of the inhabitants were hindu. And
the khalifa allowed them to be as they are.
The point is, these incidences of certain groups destroying idols use the exampl
e of the prophet PBUH wrongly. Technically speaking, in an ideal Islamic state y
ou could not practice shirk publically - so you worship in your place of worship
. The idols the prophet PBUH destroyed were public idols. There's a difference b
etween public shirk vs shirk done in closed door temples. Historically speaking
this is how muslim lands existed: the khalifa allowed other religions to exist,
and the Islamic state allowed people to worship other than Allah but within thei
r temples. They weren't allowed to be public in this regard. So here we have an
extremism that certain groups want to do destory anything and everything. Firstl
y to do this you need to have status and authority in the land. The prophet PBUH
didn't begin his da'wah by destroying idols. He destroyed them when he conquere
d Mecca after 20 years of preaching. Second, they don't know properly what to de
stroy. The shariah allows the worship of other than Allah if it's done in their
own places of worship. This is the standard, majority position. And historically
this is how the ummah did it. The general rule is the ummah tolerated other bel
iefs as long as the shirk wasn't practiced in public. Again we mention these typ
e of incidences are misused and abused.
We move on to the battle of Tabuk. What are the names of this battle, why did it
take place and when did it take place? There are two primary names, both mentio
ned in hadith, and one referenced to in the Qur'an. As for the most prominent na
me, it is gazwa tul tabuk. Mu'ad ibn Jabal said "we went on the expidition with
the prophet PBUH in the year of gazwa ti tabuk and we combined our prayers until
we came close, then the prophet PBUH said 'tomorrow you shall arrive at the spr
ing of tabuk and you shall arrive there at the hot time of the day - make sure y
ou do not touch its water until I get there'". So the prophet PBUH called a smal
l spring tabuk. We'll discuss why the sahaba ran out of water, they were extreme
ly thirsty and they thought they were about to die. So Mu'ad said "when we arriv
ed we saw a small slither of water". All the water had dried up in the spring. A
nd Mu'ad said "we saw two men already there having preceeded us". The prophet PB
UH asked them "have you touched its water? They said "yes". So the prophet PBUH
became angry at them and he said what Allah wanted him to say". So Mu'ad did not
quote what the prophet PBUH say. Why? Because of adhab. You just cover it up be
cause the prophet PBUH said some harsh phrases. We should know the prophet PBUH
rebuked them, but we don't need to know the words used. Then the prophet PBUH co
mmanded the sahaba to gather any and all water in one place. Mu'ad continues: "h
e washed his hands and face in that water, and then the water started to gush ou
t until all the army (of 20,000) drank from it". Because of this incident and th
e fact that they were about to die, the expidition became called the expidition
of Tabuk.
There is a hadith is in sahih Muslim where in the prophet PBUH said "Oh Mu'ad it
's only a matter of time, if you live long enough, this very land will become a
land of greenery". When the prophet PBUH said this, Tabuk was in the middle of a
desert. No one lived there. Today Tabuk, simply because our prophet PBUH camped
there and predicted it, it is one of the most largest cities in Arabia. It's in
fact the largest city in Northern Arabia and yes, Tabuk used to be on the tradi
ng route between Sham and Yemen, but no one lived in Tabuk. But after the prophe
t PBUH died, in early Islam, people began to congregate there. It became more an
d more prestigious over time, and around 400 years ago the ottomans built a famo
us fortress there. Eventually they built the famous railroad from Istanbul to Ma
dinah. So you could literally travel by rail from anywhere in Europe to Istanbul

and then to Madinah. So when the Ottomans connected Istanbul to Damascus to Mad
inah, they made Tabuk one of the major stopping points which increased its dwell
ings and residene. Until now Tabuk is one of the largest cities in Arabia. It ha
s a population of more than 500,000 - and it's indeed a land of greenery exactly
as the prophet PBUH predicted. The hadith is in sahih Muslim. Subhana'Allah. An
d it's been said the very owaisis the prophet PBUH drank from, it is still green
and water is still coming. And also there's a masjid there called masjid tul Ra
sulAllah (he didn't built it).
The second main of the expidition is 'Jayshal Usra' - the army of great difficul
ty. This is the more common name amongst the sahaba. Imam al Bhukari when he dis
cusses the book of seerah, when he get's to Tabuk: he has both names in the chap
ter heading including 'Jayshal Usra'. So why was Tabuk called 'the' difficult ex
pidition? Of course every single expidition was difficult but what made this spe
cial? Firstly, there was no actual battle in Tabuk. There was no clash of swords
, yet the difficulties of Tabuk was much more than any other 'battle'. So it was
called the difficult gazwa even though there was no bloodshed. But what happene
d was so hard the sahaba almost died maybe multiple times. Why?
1. This was the largest army Arabia had seen in it's entire history. In Hunayn t
here were 10-12,000. In Tabuk it is estimated some books say even up to 30,000 g
athered. The point is this was the largest gathering ever - of course we need to
be a bit careful with the numbers here. It is human nature to exaggarate number
s - we have a tendancy to inflate the numbers if it's on your side. So no one sh
ould say "are you accusing the historians of lying?" No. Rather it's human natur
e, not lying. When someone says "20,000" we take it with the understand that 'ok
it means a large number, it dosen't have to be exactly 20,000'. Realistically 2
0,000 seems too big, but nonetheless it's the largest expidition ever mounted by
the prophet PBUH
So it's the largest ever - why would this make it difficult? Resources, logistic
s, food and water. Also gazwa Tabuk took place late July - so it is the hottest
time of the year where temperatures rise to 110 degree F. You simply cannot func
tion and that is why people in those regions do not (and cannot) work between Zu
hr and Asr. They just stay inside, and they work again after Asr.
2. Also Gazwa Tabuk is the furthest distance ever travelled as a prophet with an
army. In his youth he travelled with his uncle to Syria, but as the leader of a
n army, it's the furthest he's ever travelled. So he's leading an expidition far
away from Madinah, most likely 1000 miles. And they are walking in the desert i
n the sun in July to go Tabuk.
3. Going to Tabuk would have taken at least a month, and August is harvest seaso
n. If they went to Tabuk, they would not be able to harvest the crops. Most peop
le for most of their lives, before the era of modern jobs, did not know how much
they will make every month. We are accustomed to a salary - walahi this is a bl
essing from Allah. The majority of humanity for most of its existance lived day
to day, week to week not knowing what was going to happen. And there were certai
n seasons in which you store up food and rations for multiple years. The number
one season was harvest season in July. Even if you didn't own a farm it was stil
l the best season for money. Why? Labours - people were hired to do things. So f
or the entire society for Madinah, harvest season was the paycheck for the year.
So it's their best source of income, but now they're being told "leave everythi
ng, we have to go Tabuk and then we'll come back at the end of August".
And indeed, it turned out to be too large an army to handle. The army eventually
ran out of rations, and they even ran out of water. And it's narrated that Umar
RA was asked by Ibn Abbass and others that "tell us about the expidition of dif
ficulty - what happened?" So Umar RA said "we left with the prophet PBUH to Tabu
k, in extremely hot weather, and we reached a place where we fell so thirsty, we

felt our 'throats would collapse' (an arabic expression for death). And people
went out in search for water, but they came back even more thirsty. Some people
sacrificed their camels in order to squeeze the water out of the sack of the cam
el". Subhan'Allah they were so desperate they killed their camels to get any wat
er they could. Now when you kill you camel that means you have to walk the entir
e way back but they still decided to kill the camel. And Umar RA continued: "...
until finally Abu Bukr pleaded with the prophet PBUH, that 'Ya RasulAllah make d
ua for us'." So the prophet PBUH said "if you wish" and Umar RA narrates the pro
phet PBUHs hands did not come down until the sky began to pour with rain.
So this is another miracle of the prophet PBUH where immediately as soon as the
prophet PBUH raised his hands the water came down. Now, this also shows us a ver
y important thing. The prophet PBUH did not rely on miracles. He sees the sahaba
at the very verge of death, but Abu Bukr had to prod him that 'ya RasulAllah pl
ease make dua'. Why? The prophet PBUH wants to show you can't just rely on mirac
les, rather you have to struggle to acheieve your goals. The prophet PBUH had to
struggle throughout the entire seerah: Badr, Uhud, Ahzab. And look at the situa
tion now - yes the miracle does come but at the very end. Not at the beginning;
only after struggle and sacrifice. In this there is a lesson for us. Maybe our m
iracles are not as blatant but walahi the true believers who follow the path of
the prophet PBUH will see mini miracles, if they put it in the struggle and effo
rt. If they put in the effort Allah will bless them in the end.
So for all of these reasons it was called the difficult expidition. Allah refere
nces this in the Qur'an: "Allah has accepted the repentance of the prophet PBUH,
muhajiroon and Ansar, those who followed him at the time of difficulty". Surah
Tawbah verse 117. So Allah called it the 'time of difficulty' and that is what T
abuk is called. Kitada, the main student of Abbass commentates on this verse, an
d says "this verse refers to the battle of Tabuk - they left towards Syria in th
e blazing summer, and they were tested severely, so much so it's mentioned two o
r more people were rationed one date per day". SubhanAllah. "And they would spli
t that date amongst themselves, and then they would take the date pit and suck o
n it one after the other to get some taste". So Kitada said "Allah then accepted
their repentance and allowed them to come home" meaning Allah saved them from s
ure death and allowed them to live to come home. Therefore the two primary names
of this expidition are: Gazwa tul Tabuk and Jayshal Usra, the 'army of difficul
ty'.
When did this take place? The month of Rajab in the 9th year of the Hijrah. 6 mo
nths exactly after the seige of Ta'if. And if you calculate it in modern times,
it's basically late July. So we understand why it would be so hot.
Why did this gazwa take place? What were the causes? The sheikh mentions he hims
elf has not found a clear cut, satisfactory answer and he's come to a conclusion
himself. What are some of the reasons mentioned by the classical seerah scholar
s?
1. Ibn Asaaqir reports, and this report is mentioned by Baghwee and ibn Kathir,
that "the jews enticed the prophet PBUH to go up to Syria; they said to him 'if
you are a true prophet you must go to as-Sham, because it's the land of the prop
hets, and it's the land of judgement day'". So according to this report, the jew
s wanted to get rid of the prophet PBUH so they sent him on a goose chase in Syr
ia so he abandons Madinah, so they could get rid of the muslims. According to th
is report, this is why Allah revealed in the Qur'an, surah Isra verse 76: "they
tried their best and they almost succeeded in getting rid of you from the land b
ut if they were to succeed, then they themselves will only last for a short whil
e". So this verse, it is said by ibn Asaaqir and others, was revealed because th
e jews tried to trick the prophet PBUH and send him up north to Syria. But this
simply cannot be true for multiple reasons. First, there are no jews left in Mad
inah! They have all been expelled or converted to Islam. Second, can you imagine

the prophet PBUH just listening to something as silly as this? It dosen't make
any sense. Lastly, Surah Isra is a Meccan surah, so how can it refer to gazwa Ta
buk?
2. Another reason given is that the Roman were sending an expidition to battle t
he muslims, and according to this narration, the cheifton of the gasaanid arabs,
the northhen arabian tribe that bodered the Roman empire. Over the course of th
e last century, they converted to Christianity so they were a christian arab tri
be. And they had a very cosy relationship with the emporer of Rome. It's reporte
d in this narration that the chief of Gasaanids sent a message to the chief of R
ome saying they want to attack Madinah, OR they falsely sent a message saying "t
he prophet PBUH is dead so send an army so we can attack Madinah". So according
to this report, 40,000 roman troops were sent to Tabuk and the prophet PBUH went
up north to battle them. Firstly this paticular narration does not seem to be a
uthentic in terms of isnaad. Secondly, it's really inconcievable to imagine the
Romans sending 40,000 troops because they frankly didn't care about the Arabs. T
he Arabs posed no threat to the Roman empire. If they wanted to conquer the Arab
s they could have done it at any time over the last few years.
3. The Gasaanids themselves were the targets and not the Romans. And that there
was a threat the Gasaanids would attack Madinah. There seems to be some basis to
the validity of this. For example, when the prophet PBUH took a month off from
his wives - there was a marital dispute happening so the prophet PBUH cut off fr
om his wives for a month and live in the masjid. He did this because the mothers
of the believers demanded bigger houses and more money etc. And then Allah reve
aled "if you want this world, come and I will give you as much as you want and y
ou go and live your life. But if you want Allah and His messenger and the final
darul akhira, this is what I have to offer". In this narration, Umar RA narrates
the story that his co-worker came rushing to him saying "something's happened".
Umar RA said "has the king of the gasaanids attacked yet?!" The man said "No so
mething worse, the prophet PBUH has divorced all his wives". Of course the man w
as wrong, the prophet PBUH didn't divorce them, he basically just seperated for
a month. The point being: Umar RA was worried about the gasaanids attacking. We'
ve also seen in the past the gasaanids have caused issues, so perhaps this is a
legitimiate reason. But the question needs to be asked: why the month of July? T
he gasaanids would not attack in July, it's too hot for them. Note it's claimed
the prophet PBUH wanted to get revenge for Mu'tah and the massacares that happen
ed; also the death of Ja'far. But once again the question is why now? This can w
ait until Janurary. Why in July?
4. This leaves us with one logical answer, and that is, it was a command from Al
lah to test the believers. There dosen't seem to be an immediate threat. Neither
from the Romans or the gasaanids. So what it appears to be the case, this was a
test from Allah. It was a direct commandment from Allah that could not be disob
eyed. And the prophet PBUH told the sahaba "you have to go and fight". And there
is no questioning. And perhaps the opinion of ibn Kathir and al Baghwee - Surah
Tawbah verse 123:
"O you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers and le
t them find in you harshness. And know that Allah is with the righteous."
At-Tabari, the earliest mufassir, says this verse was the verse that commanded t
he prophet PBUH to find the neighbouring arabs, and once he's done to turn his a
ttention up north to the Romans. So this is surah Tawbah - all of it was reveale
d pretty much in gazwa Tabuk. Thus perhaps this verse came down and the prophet
PBUH understood "Allah is commanding me to go up north now that I've secured all
of central Arabia". There's no other threat left in Arabia other than the gasaa
nids because of their connection with the Romans. So the prophet PBUH understood
this and went north. What adds to this interpretation is that al Waaqidi mentio
ns the prophet PBUH sent out messengers to the neighbouring tribes, even Mecca,

requesting them to send all able-bodied men to fight. And he did not hide where
he was going unlike every other battle. Everyone knew what was going on. This is
all out military expidition. And, if you read Surah Tawbah, never is the comman
d for Jihad and kital (fighting with a sword in your hand i.e. physically) given
so bluntly. It's all about gazwa Tabuk, and so Allah is commanding in a manner
not found anywhere in the Qur'an and that's why this surah is also called Surah
Kital. For example:
"O you who have believed, what is [the matter] with you that, when you are told
to go forth in the cause of Allah , you adhere heavily to the earth? Are you sat
isfied with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But what is the en
joyment of worldly life compared to the Hereafter except a [very] little."
"If you do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment and will r
eplace you with another people, and you will not harm Him at all. And Allah is o
ver all things competent."
That's very strict - Allah is saying you HAVE to go. And also in the same surah
"Go forth, whether you have something, lots or nothing". Meaning whether you are
heavily armed or not armed at all, go forth. And Allah says about the munafiqun
Had it been an easy gain and a moderate trip, the hypocrites would have followed
you, but distant to them was the journey. And they will swear by Allah , "If we
were able, we would have gone forth with you," destroying themselves [through f
alse oaths], and Allah knows that indeed they are liars.
Now if you look at all of these verses, which by the way are always used by jiha
dist groups. The problem comes these groups cut and paste these verses as if the
y apply to their cause. The only time a verse can apply with a specific cause is
with the cause it was revealed for. Allah revealed the surah for Tabuk. No one
can take a verse and apply it to a paticular expidition in our times. That type
of specificity of cutting Qur'an and hadith and applying it directly for your si
tuation - this is wrong and not possible. The bluntness for encouraging people t
o do Kital and Jihad is not found in any other surah. Thus, the primary reason f
or Gazwa Tabuk was not because of armies or any physical threat. It was because
Allah told them and the sahaba were put through a very difficult test. Why did A
llah test them? Many reasons: raise their ranks, increase their imaan and also t
o prepare them for the future expiditions after the death of the prophet PBUH. W
hy? Because this is the final gazwa. This is it. Khalas. Right after this the pr
ophet PBUH goes to do his final hajj, he falls ill and he dies. Then what happen
ed? Abu Bukr, Umar, Uthman, the Ummayads etc. It's as if gazwa Tabuk was a test
so the sahaba pass, and so they can move to bigger things for the ummah. Therefo
re looking at the context, there's no threat, it's most likely just a command fr
om Allah merely to test them.
The sahaba passed this test with flying colours, and this is also why the prophe
t PBUH made it completely public. He called all the sahaba to come, and it was f
ard ayn for every single healthy male to participate in Gazwa Tabuk. This is not
like Badr, Uhud etc. This was fard ayn - you HAD to do it if you were an adult
male. The only person excused was someone ill or had genuine circumstances. What
other battle was it that every single able bodied muslim from everywhere had to
participate? It was clear this was a test for all the sahaba so when they pass
it, they have the faith, courage, confidence and imaan to go on and expand the u
mmah. Therefore when the prophet PBUH understood the size of the expidition the
first thing he did was collect funds for it. And he would stand on the mimbar an
d encourage people to give whatever they could. So the sahaba would donate - the
prophet PBUH gave beautiful announcements: "whoever finances the Jayshal Usra,
he shall be given Jannah". SubhanAllah. And so the sahaba donated whatever they
could.

And of course the lions share went to Uthman ibn Affan. 100 camels of his return
ed from an expidition; thus when he heard this hadith, Uthman ibn Affan donated
all that money in the thousands of gold. And the prophet PBUH had all this pile
of gold just from Uthman, and he began flipping them all around saying "walahi w
hatever Uthman does after today, it will not harm him". SubhanAllah this hadith
in Bhukari and Muslim, Uthman himself used it when the kharijites were around hi
s house. He did not know he was going to die but he used this hadith against the
m and said "do you not know what the prophet PBUH said about me?" And ibn Abbass
used this to defend Uthman. He said "whatever your fabricated complaints are, d
on't you know your own RasulAllah said that "whatever Uthman does will not harm
him". If he said this, who are you to complain?" Also over here the famous story
of Abu Bukr and Umars competition took place. Umar finally went home thinking "
today I can beat Abu Bukr because I heard this hadith directly from the prophet
PBUH" and so Umar RA took half his wealth and gave it to the prophet PBUH. Reali
se the rest of the half is for his wife and children so there's nothing wrong wi
th this. And imagine giving half your entire wealth anyway - that's a massive am
ount. And when Abu Bukr came and it was even more wealth, the prophet PBUH said
"Ya Abu Bukr what did you leave for your family?" Abu Bukr said "I left them All
ah and His messenger". So Umar RA said "I give up I cannot compete with Abu Bukr
after today".
And the prophet PBUH gathered more money for the expidition than any other. And
subhanAllah it's amazing. Just 6 months ago he had the ganeema of Hunayn and Ta'
if, but he used it all for the sake of Allah. And nothing was left in his own po
cket or in the treasury. This was his methadology. He did not leave anything for
himself - he gave it all away. So more financing was needed for gazwa Tabuk. Ev
entually however the funds ran out. Abu Musa al Ashari narrates his tribe sent h
im to collect camels to go to Tabuk (you couldn't walk there - it's too far). So
Abu Musa says "I arrived and I didn't realise the prophet PBUH was in an angry
state". Why was he angry? Most likely because what is happening with the hypocri
tes. So Abu Musa said "I asked him and he didn't have anything". THe prophet PBU
H said "walahi I will not give you anything to travel upon". So Abu Musa returns
distressed and he says "I did not know the prophet PBUH was angry; I thought he
was angry at me and irritated at me". So he went back and told his tribe the pr
ophet PBUH will not give anything. Then Abu Musa says "barely had any time passe
d when Bilal came and said 'the prophet PBUH is calling you'". So Abu Musa came
and the prophet PBUH said "take these two camel, and these two and these two - I
've just purchased them from Sa'ad". So some money had come through, he purchase
d six camels and the prophet PBUH gives them to Abu Musa.
This also shows when you give an oath and you don't mean it, the oath is not val
id. The prophet PBUH said "walahi I won't give you anything". Why? Because he di
dn't have anything! We use 'walahi' as a phrase but sometimes as a genuine cussu
m. It's obvious from the context. In a serious state it's different. And Allah s
ays in the Qur'an Allah does not call you to task for the 'laghe', the vain time
s you say 'walahi'. But He will for that which you are strict and firm about. Th
e prophet PBUH is a human, and sometimes he is angry, so in this instance he was
slightly irritated. But when the money came the prophet PBUH gave the camels. B
ut Abu Musa wanted to confirm because after all the prophet PBUH said "walahi I
won't give you anything" and now he is giving the camels. So Abu Musa wanted to
clarify the situation. And thus it was explained to Abu Musa that "no it's ok yo
u can take the camels". The prophet PBUH had no money so he had nothing to give,
but it came out in a slightly harsh way. But when the money came, the camels we
re purchased and given to Abu Musa.