In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
A Summary of the Prophetic Biography (Seerah),
Authored by Shaykh Musa ibn Rashid al-'Azimi,
May Allah preserve him.
The Expedition of Khabat (Tree Leaves).
*Al-Khabat* refers to the leaves that fall from trees
By striking and shaking the branches.
The two Shaykhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim) narrated in their *Sahih*s,
And the wording is from Muslim,
On the authority of Jabir ibn 'Abdillah (may Allah be pleased with them both) who said:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) dispatched us,
And appointed Abu 'Ubaydah over us as leader,
To intercept a caravan belonging to Quraysh.
He provided us with a leather bag of dates,
Finding nothing else for us.
Thus, Abu 'Ubaydah used to give us one date each, one by one.
I asked, "How did you manage with just one date?"
He said, "We would suck on it just as a child sucks,
Then we would drink water over it,
And it would suffice us for the day until nightfall.
We would also strike tree leaves (*khabat*) with our sticks,
Then wet them with water and eat them."
He continued, "We set out along the seashore,
And there appeared to us on the coast something like a huge sandhill.
We approached it and found it to be a creature called *al-'Anbar* (a sperm whale),
Which is a large marine creature.
Abu 'Ubaydah said,
'It is carrion.'
Then he reconsidered and said, 'No!
Rather, we are the envoys of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
And we are in the cause of Allah.
Since you have been forced by necessity, eat of it.'
He said, 'So we stayed near it for a month,
While we were three hundred men,
Until we gained weight.
I remember us scooping out oil from its eye socket with large jugs,
And cutting chunks of meat from it as large as a bull,
Or equal to the size of a bull.
Abu 'Ubaydah took thirteen men from among us
And seated them inside its eye socket.
Then he took one of its ribs and set it upright,
Then saddled the largest camel among us,
And it passed right underneath it.
We also provisioned ourselves with dried strips of its meat (*washa'iq*).'
*Al-Washa'iq* is the plural of *washiqah*,
Which refers to meat that is taken,
Parboiled slightly without being fully cooked,
And carried along on journeys.
'When we arrived back in Medina,
We came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
And mentioned that to him.
He said,
"It is a provision that Allah brought forth for you.
Do you have any of its meat with you to give us some to eat?"'
He said,
'So we sent some of it to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and he ate from it.'"
According to another wording in the two *Sahih*s,
Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
"There was a man among us
Who, when the hunger became severe, slaughtered three camels,
Then another three camels,
Until Abu 'Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) forbade him."
Al-Hafiz said in *Al-Fath*:
"This man
Was Qays ibn Sa'd ibn 'Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him)."
Benefits from the Expedition of Khabat:
Al-Hafiz said in *Al-Fath*:
"From it is derived:
The permissibility of eating sea carrion,
Whether it died naturally or through hunting,
Which is the opinion of the majority of scholars."
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim said:
"In it is evidence for the permissibility of scholarly reasoning (*ijtihad*) regarding events during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
And his approval of that.
However, this occurred in a situation of dire need for *ijtihad*,
Where they were unable to consult the text directly.
Indeed, Abu Bakr and 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) exercised *ijtihad* in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
Regarding several occurrences,
And he approved of both of them doing so.
But this was only in specific individual cases,
Not regarding general rulings or universal sacred laws,
For such a thing never occurred from any of the Companions in his presence at all."
Regarding the timeline of this expedition according to scholars of military history (*al-maghazi*):
The majority of scholars of *al-maghazi* held
That the Expedition of Khabat took place in Rajab of the eighth year after the Hijrah.
However, there is doubt regarding this view.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir said:
"The implication of most of these narrations
Is that this expedition took place before the Treaty of al-Hudaybiyyah."
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim said:
"This context indicates that this military dispatch took place before the truce
And before the 'Umrah of al-Hudaybiyyah.
For ever since he made peace with the people of Mecca at al-Hudaybiyyah,
He did not lie in wait for any of their caravans;
Rather, it was a time of security and peace until the Conquest of Mecca.
It is highly improbable that the Expedition of Khabat occurred in this exact manner twice:
Once before the treaty and once after it.
And Allah knows best."
He also said:
"Section regarding the legal understanding (*fiqh*) of this story:
In it is
The permissibility of fighting during the sacred month,
If the historical mention of Rajab in it is accurately preserved.
However, what is apparent—and Allah knows best—
Is that it is an error and not preserved,
Since it is not reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
That he fought during a sacred month,
Nor that he launched a raid during it,
Nor dispatched an expedition during it."
Al-Hafiz said in *Al-Fath*:
"Intercepting the caravan of Quraysh
Cannot be conceived to have occurred at the time mentioned by Ibn Sa'd, namely Rajab of the year 8 AH,
Because they were under a peace treaty at that time.
Rather, what is dictated by what appears in the *Sahih*
Is that this expedition was in the year 6 AH
Or prior to it, before the Treaty of al-Hudaybiyyah."
An Important Note:
I say:
There occurs in *Sahih Muslim* a military expedition led by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
Whose events closely resemble those of the Expedition of Khabat,
And it is also narrated on the authority of Jabir ibn 'Abdillah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with them both),
Who narrated the story of the Expedition of Khabat alongside Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with them both).
Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
"We marched with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) on the Expedition of Batan Buwat,
While he was searching for al-Majdi ibn 'Amr al-Juhani.
A single water-carrying camel was shared alternately by five, six, or seven of us."
Until he said:
"The daily sustenance for each man among us was a single date.
He would suck it and then tie it up in his garment.
We used to strike tree leaves with our bows and eat them
Until the sides of our mouths became sore."
Until he said:
"The people complained of hunger to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
'May Allah feed you.'
So we reached the seashore,
And the sea surged with a great surge—
Meaning its waves rose high—
And threw up a huge sea creature.
So we lit a fire beside one side of it,
And we cooked, roasted, and ate until we were full.
Then I, along with so-and-so and so-and-so—
Until he counted five people—
Entered into its eye socket,
And no one could see us
Until we came back out.
Then we took one of its ribs and bent it,
Then we called for the largest man in the caravan,
And the largest camel in the caravan,
And the largest camel-saddle in the caravan,
And he passed underneath it without even lowering his head."
Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir mentioned the events of the Expedition of Khabat led by Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him),
Then he said:
"In some narrations of Muslim,
It is mentioned that they were with the Prophet (peace be upon him) when they found this whale.
Some scholars said:
'This was a separate incident.'
While others said:
'Rather, it was a single event;
However, they were initially with the Prophet (peace be upon him),
Then he dispatched them on an expedition led by Abu 'Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him),
So they found this creature during that expedition of theirs with Abu 'Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him).'
And Allah knows best."
Al-Hafiz said in *Al-Fath*:
"The apparent context of this story
Requires it to be distinct from the story mentioned in the chapter,
Which is also from the narration of Jabir.
To the extent that 'Abd al-Haqq said in *Al-Jam' Bayn al-Sahihayn*:
'This is a separate incident from that one,
For this one took place in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).'
However, what he mentioned is not explicit evidence for that,
Due to the possibility that the particle *fa* in the statement of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him)—
'So we reached the seashore'—
Is the explanatory *fa* (*al-fahiyyah*),
Succeeding an omitted phrase, estimated as:
'So the Prophet (peace be upon him) sent us with Abu 'Ubaydah,
And so we reached the seashore.'
Thus, the two stories would be one and the same.
And this is the preferred view in my assessment,
As the default principle is non-duplication of events.
Among the matters to be pointed out here as well
Is that al-Waqidi claimed that the story of Abu 'Ubaydah's dispatch occurred in Rajab of the year 8 AH,
Which in my view is an error,
Because in the authentic report itself,
It states that they went out to lie in wait for a caravan of Quraysh,
Whereas Quraysh, in the eighth year,
Were bound by a peace treaty with the Prophet (peace be upon him).
I have already drawn attention to that in *Al-Maghazi*,
And suggested the possibility that this took place before the truce,
In the sixth year or earlier.
Then it became clear to me now that this is strengthened
By the statement of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) in this narration of Muslim:
That they set out on the Expedition of Buwat.
And the Expedition of Buwat took place in the second year after the Hijrah, prior to the Battle of Badr,
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
Set out with two hundred of his Companions
To intercept a caravan belonging to Quraysh in which Umayyah ibn Khalaf was present.
He reached Bawat, but encountered no one, so he returned.
It is as if he dispatched Abu Ubaydah alone alongside his detachment
to keep watch for the aforementioned caravan.
That this occurred early on is supported by the extreme poverty and hardship described in the account.
The reality is that by the eighth year after the Hijrah,
their circumstances had broadened significantly through the conquest of Khaybar and other victories.
The hardship mentioned in this narration clearly fits the very beginning of the Islam period.
This gives weight to the view I have mentioned, and Allah knows best.
*Al-Mukhtasar fi al-Seerah al-Nabawiyyah* (The Abridged Prophetic Biography)
Though longing between lovers may grow deep and long,
The boundlessness of our longing for you can never be encompassed.
May peace and blessings of Allah be upon you whenever the call to prayer is raised,
And whenever lips move to utter the enduring words of remembrance.