Expedition of al-Sawiq

Abu Sufyan had vowed that no water from ritual impurity would touch his head until he raided Muhammad; so he went out with two hundred riders in Dhu al-Hijja 2 AH to fulfil his oath, halting by night in the palm tract of Medina. ¹

Abu Sufyan went to Huyayy ibn Akhtab and knocked at his door; Huyayy feared him and refused to open, so he went on to Sallam ibn Mishkam, chief of Banu al-Nadir and keeper of their treasure, who admitted him, gave him wine to drink and told him confidential news of the Muslims. ^{1 2}

Then Abu Sufyan went out in the depths of the night with his companions to the place of al-Urayd; they burned some palm trunks and killed an Ansari man and his ally in their field, then fled swiftly toward Mecca, fancying he had fulfilled his oath. ¹

The news reached the Messenger of God, who left Abu Lubaba ibn Abd al-Mundhir in charge of Medina and went out with two hundred men in pursuit as far as Qarqarat al-Kudr; but Abu Sufyan and his companions were exhausted by flight and kept casting off their sacks of sawiq (toasted barley meal) to lighten themselves and escape, so the Muslims took the sacks of sawiq and returned with them as spoils — and it was called "the expedition of al-Sawiq". ^{3 4}