The expedition of Usama ibn Zayd

In Safar 11 AH the Prophet fitted out a great army under Usama ibn Zayd to tread with cavalry the borders of al-Balqa' and al-Darum in Palestine; people spoke against his youth, the Prophet confirmed his command, and the expedition was carried out in Abu Bakr's caliphate ¹.

The pride of the Roman state had driven it to kill those of its subjects who entered Islam, as it did to Farwa ibn Amr al-Judhami, its governor over Ma'an ¹. So the Prophet set about mustering a great army in Safar 11 AH, placing Usama ibn Zayd ibn Haritha in command and ordering him to tread with cavalry the borders of al-Balqa' and al-Darum in the land of Palestine — to overawe the Romans and restore confidence to the Arabs on the frontier ². People spoke against the army's commander for his youth, and the Prophet said: if you fault his command, you were faulting his father's command before — and by God he was worthy of command and among the dearest of people to me, and this one is among the dearest of people to me after him ². The men rallied round Usama until they went out and halted at al-Jurf a parasang from Medina, but the alarming news of the Prophet's illness forced them to wait — so this became the first expedition carried out in Abu Bakr's caliphate ³.