189with the army. This was not the case for the other three believers, who
included the faith ful Kab ibn Malik: they chose to Slay in ~Iedjna and
manage their affairs there.^16
The Muslim arm y stayed at Tabuk fo r twenty days, but it g radually
became clear that the rumors of attacks fro m the north were g roundless.
No tribe was read y for war, and there was no sign o f Byzantine presence
in th e area. Altho ugh it had been very trying, the expedition did not turn
our to be useless. T he considerable number o f soldiers produced an
impression all over the Peninsula, fo rcing the northe rn tribes to realize th e
extent of the Pro phet'S capacity to faise troops and his forces' incredible
m obility. From Tabuk, me Prophet managed to set up alliances with a
Christian tribe and a Jewish one: they kept their respective religions and
accepted to pay a tax (;i:o'ab) in exchange fo r !.heir protectio n by th e
Muslim community against attack. Thus, thci Zf'ab was understood as a col-
lective military tax paid by tribes who did not have to share in the Muslims'
military engagements, but in c..xchange for which the Muslim authority was
to ensure their de fense, their protectio n, and their survival if nccessary.17
From Tabuk, the Pro phet sent Khalid ibn aJ-\X/alid further north to besiege
a Christian fortress and d raw up a similar alliance in o rder to secure th e
route leading to Iraq and Syria. All those operatio ns were successful, and
th e Prophet went back to :Medina \vith th e ]\'Iuslim army.
\X'hen he arrived, he was told his daughter Urn Kulthum had died: he
felt deep sorrow, and so did Uthman ibn Affan, who was th us losing a
wife for the second time (he had married two of th e Prophet's daughters).
As fo r the three Companions who ha d stayed behind, th e Prophet
required them to keep away from him, and decreed that no Companio n
sho uld speak to them until God decided th eir fate. Fifty days elapsed
befo re a Revelatio n anno unced that th cy were fo rgiven: "\'{1hen the earth,
'''aSt as it is., was suaitene<l for them, and their own souls we re straitened
fo r them, and they perceived that there is no fleeing from G od but to wa rd
Him; then H e turned to them, thal they might turn repentant to Him.,, 18
When he heard the news, Kab asked the Prophet, whose face was beam-
ing with joy, if the fo rgiveness came from himself or from G od, and th e
Prophet told him it was a Revelation. The news had been received happi-
ly by all th e Companions, who had had to boyco tt their th ree brothers; it
also delivered a profound teaching, since it showed how serious it was to
Selfishly prefer to manage onc's own affairs rather than co mmit oneself,