IMAM ABO AL-FID@ ISMA?L IBN KATH~R^243having cut his hair.52 When they saw him, they felt secure. 'Ammar told them,
'You don't need to worry about them.'
"The Companions consulted about how to treat them. They realized that if
they were to leave them unharmed, that night they would enter sacred territory
and he safe, but if they were to kill them they would be doing so on the last day
of the sacred month of Rajab. They were undecided and ill at ease about attack-
ing them.
"But then they encouraged one another to do so, deciding eventually to kill
those they could and to seize their goods. And so Waqid h. 'Abd All&
al-Tamimi shot an arrow at 'Amr h. al-Hadrami and killed him, 'Uthmn b.
'Ahd Allah and al-Hakam b. KaysZn were taken prisoner, and Nawfal b. 'Abd
AUSh evaded them and escaped. 'Abd Allah b. Jahsh and his men then returned
to the Messenger of God (SAAS) with the caravan and the two prisoners.
"Some of 'Abd Allah h. J&sh's family maintain that 'Ahd AUah told his men,
'The Messenger of God (SAAS) is due one-fifth of what we have taken' and that
he set this portion aside and divided up the rest between them. This was before
the revelation came down concerning that fifth." When this revelation came
down it was as 'Abd Allah b. J&sh had divided it, as Ibn IshSq observed.
"When they reached the Messenger of God (SAAS) he told them, 'I did not
order you to kill anyone in the sacred month!' He suspended disposition of the
caravan and the prisoners and refused to take any of it.
"When the Messenger of God (SAAS) said this, the raiders were very
worried and thought they were ruined, and their fellow Muslims criticized them
harshly for what they had done. Quraysh said, 'Muhammad and his men have
made it lawful to use violence in the sacred month; they have shed blood and
taken booty and seized prisoners during it.' Those Muslims in Mecca opposing
Quraysh, however, maintained that the action had occurred in Sha'ban. Some
Jews said, 'You must consider this an omen against the Messenger of God
(SAAS). The killing of 'Amr b. al-Hadrami by Waqid b. 'Abd All& means as
follows, "Amr' stands for "amarat al-harb', (i.e. 'war has spread'). 'Al-Hadrami'
stands for 'hdarat al-harb', (i.e. 'war has come') ' Waqcd b. 'Abd Allah' stands for
'wuqrdat al-barb', (i.e. 'war has been kindled'). God, however, turned this around
against them.
"When people gossiped excessively about this, God Almighty sent down the
following words to His Messenger (SAAS), "They will ask you about the sacred
month, and about fighting in it. Say: 'fighting therein is a grave matter; hut
blocking off God's path and disbelief in Him and (hindering men from) the
sacred mosque, and expelling its people from it, (all this) is extremely grave in
God's view; and causing unrest is worse than killing. And they will not stop
fighting you until they turn you from your religion, if they can!"' (sayat
aCBaqara; 11, v.217).
- That is, as if he had just fulfilled the rites of the pilgrimage.