Ibn Abi Hadrad's raid on al-Ghaba and the killing of Rifa'a ibn Qays al-Jushami

The raid of Ibn Abi Hadrad al-Aslami on al-Ghaba. Ibn Ishaq relates it "as I was told by someone I do not doubt", from Ibn Abi Hadrad himself. ¹

Ibn Abi Hadrad says that he married a woman of his people and gave her a dowry of two hundred dirhams. He came to the Prophet asking his help with the marriage, and he said: Glory be to God! If you took dirhams from the belly of a valley you would not add more; by God, I have nothing with which to help you. ¹

He waited some days, and a man of the Banu Jusham ibn Mu'awiya called Rifa'a ibn Qays or Qays ibn Rifa'a, a man of name and honour among the Jusham, came to a large part of them, until he camped at al-Ghaba intending to gather Qays for war against the Prophet. ¹ The Prophet called him and two men with him from the Muslims and said: go out to this man, and bring back news and knowledge of him. He provided them with a thin old she-camel that could not carry one of them without men holding it up with their hands, and said: ride in turns and take turns on her. ¹ They went out with their bows and swords until they came near the camp at evening, close to sunset. Ibn Abi Hadrad lay in wait on one side and his two companions on the other, and they agreed to shout the takbir and charge together. ^{1 2}

The people had a shepherd who was slow to come back, and they grew worried for him. Rifa'a stood up, put his sword around his neck, and refused except to follow his shepherd's tracks alone. When he passed by Ibn Abi Hadrad, he shot him with an arrow that struck his heart, and he did not speak; Ibn Abi Hadrad leapt at him and cut off his head. Then he rushed to the side of the camp and shouted the takbir, and his two companions shouted too, and there was nothing for the people but to flee with everything they could carry of their women, children and light goods. ² They drove off great herds of camels and many sheep and brought them to the Prophet, and Ibn Abi Hadrad came bringing the head. The Prophet gave him thirteen of the camels toward his dowry, and so he brought his family together. ²

The report is small in size but large in what it shows of Medina's poverty before the conquest: a dowry of two hundred dirhams is a great sum, the mount is a she-camel that barely stands, and the booty covers the cost of a marriage. Read with it is the other Ghaba expedition, the expedition of Dhu Qarad, at the same place. ¹

• The chain: "as I was told by someone I do not doubt, from Ibn Abi Hadrad". ¹
• The name of the killed man: "Rifa'a ibn Qays or Qays ibn Rifa'a", a doubt in the text itself. ¹
• Ibn Ishaq gives no date for the raid.