Surad ibn Abdullah's campaign against Jurash and the conversion of its people

By the Prophet's order Surad ibn Abd Allah al-Azdi marched to Jurash, besieged it for about a month, then struck its people at the mountain of Shakar, and then their delegation came and accepted Islam. ¹

Surad camped at Jurash, which was then a walled city with tribes of the Yemeni tribes in it. The Khath'am had taken refuge with them and entered with them when they heard of the Muslims' march. He besieged them there for nearly a month, and they held out against him; then he turned back from them. ¹ When he came to a mountain of theirs called Shakar, the people of Jurash thought he had turned away defeated, and they came out in pursuit. When they caught up with him he turned on them and killed them with great slaughter. ¹

The people of Jurash had sent two men of their own to the Prophet in Medina to explore and see. While they were with him one evening after the afternoon prayer, he said: in what land of God is Shakar? They stood and said: in our land there is a mountain called Kashar, and that is how the people of Jurash name it. He said: it is not Kashar but Shakar. They said: what is its matter? He said: the sacrificial camels of God are being slaughtered there now. ¹ The two men sat down with Abu Bakr or Uthman, who said to them: the Messenger of God is announcing to you the destruction of your people; stand up and ask him to pray to God to lift it from your people. They stood and asked him, and he said: O God, lift it from them. ¹ They went back and found their people had been struck on the day Surad struck them, at the hour that the Prophet had named. ¹

The delegation of Jurash went out and came to the Prophet, and they accepted Islam. He declared a protected zone around their village with known markers for the horses, the riding camels and the ploughing cow; whoever grazed in it, his property is forbidden. ¹ See the protected zone.

A man of the Azd said three verses during that raid, mentioning a raid like which they had never raided without success, with mules, horses and asses, until they reached "Humayr" in its fortresses, when the warnings had spread among Khath'am; Khath'am used to raid the Azd in the Jahiliyya and transgress in the sacred month. ^{1 2} The editors note that "Humayr" is a diminutive form of "Himar", and that al-Zurqani reads "we came to Jurayh", and that "al-masani'" are villages and fortresses. ²

"Jurash" is one of the districts of Yemen; "dawat ilayhim" means they took refuge with them; "li-yan'a lakuma qawmakuma" means informs you of their killing. ¹

• The report that the Prophet announced the calamity in its hour is among the signs of prophethood in Ibn Ishaq, and is transmitted as part of the biography.
• "Abu Bakr or Uthman" is a doubt on the part of the narrator. ¹