It is narrated from Sayyiduna ‘Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: The horsemen sent by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came while I was in those days at the place of ‘Aqrab in the region of Yamamah. They captured my paternal aunt and some people and took them away. When they brought them before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they were made to stand before him. My paternal aunt said: O Messenger of Allah! Of our men, whoever could come to your service is very far away, the children have been separated, I am very old, I cannot do anything, please show kindness to me, Allah will show kindness to you. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Which man could have come from your side? She said: ‘Adi bin Hatim. He said: The same one who fled, fearing Allah and His Messenger? She said: In any case, please show kindness to me. She says: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) returned, there was another man with him, we think he was Sayyiduna ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). That man said to my paternal aunt: Ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for a mount. She requested a mount, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that a mount be provided for her. ‘Adi says: When my paternal aunt came to me, she said: You have done such a cowardly act by fleeing from battle that your father would never have done. Whether out of desire for the religion or out of fear, go to this Prophet; so-and-so and so-and-so went to him and received much. ‘Adi says: I came to his service, and at that time there was a woman and some children, or a child, present with him. ‘Adi mentioned drawing near to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and says: I realized that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was not like the kings of Kisra and Caesar. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to ‘Adi: Why did you flee from saying Lā ilāha illā Allah? Is there any deity besides Allah? Why did you run from saying Allahu Akbar? Is there anyone greater than Allah? ‘Adi says: Thus, after hearing the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I became Muslim. I saw that his face lit up. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:“Maghdūb ‘alayhim”means those upon whom is Allah’s wrath, that is, the Jews, and“ḍāllīn”means the misguided, that is, the Christians. Some Bedouins asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for something, so he praised and glorified Allah and said: O people! Give something from what is surplus to your needs. Hearing this, some brought a sā‘, some less than that, and some a handful, and some brought even less. Shu‘bah narrated that, to my knowledge, some brought dates and some brought a piece of a date. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Some of you will meet Allah, and Allah will say to him: Did I not make you hearing and seeing? Did I not grant you wealth and children? So what did you bring? This person will look before him, behind him, to his right and to his left, and will find nothing for himself. He will try to shield himself from the Fire with his face, but he will not be able to save himself. Therefore, O people! Prepare to save yourselves from Hell, even if it be with a piece of a date. If you do not find even that, then save yourselves from Hell by speaking a good word. I do not fear poverty for you; Allah will surely help you and grant you much, or he said: Allah will surely grant you conquests, until a woman riding a camel will travel from Hira to Yathrib or even farther, and she will have no fear of theft. Imam Ahmad’s teacher Muhammad bin Ja‘far says: Our teacher Shu‘bah narrated this hadith to us countless times, and I also recited it before him many times, meaning this hadith is established and well-known among the people of knowledge.

A man says: I said to Sayyiduna ‘Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him),“A hadith has reached me about you, and I want to hear that hadith directly from you.”He said:“Alright. When the news reached me about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he had appeared, I felt intense aversion to it, so I left and went towards the lands of Rome. Yazid, the narrator, said that he went to Baghdad. I went to the Caesar. The aversion I felt upon the appearance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was less than the aversion I felt upon my arrival there. Then I thought, ‘By Allah! Why should I not go myself to this man? If he is a liar, he will not harm me, and if he is truthful, I will know his truth.’ So I came to the service of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). When I arrived, people began to say: ‘Adi bin Hatim has come, Adi bin Hatim has come.’ I presented myself before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He said to me three times: ‘Adi bin Hatim! Accept Islam, you will find peace.’ I said: ‘I am already following a religion.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘I know your religion better than you.’ I said: ‘Do you know my religion better than I do?’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Yes. Are you not from the Rukusiyyah, and do you not take a quarter of the spoils from your people?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘According to your own religion, this is not lawful for you.’ As soon as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said this, I submitted to this statement. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘I know what is preventing you from accepting Islam. You think that among the people, only the weak have followed me, those who have no worldly power, and the Arabs have rejected these people. Do you know Hira?’ I said: ‘Yes, I have not seen it, but I have certainly heard about it.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘By Him in Whose hand is my soul, Allah will surely make this religion prevail to such an extent that a woman riding a camel will travel from Hira and perform tawaf of the Ka‘bah without fear or danger, and the treasures of Kisra bin Hurmuz will be conquered.’ I said: ‘Kisra bin Hurmuz?’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Yes, yes, Kisra bin Hurmuz, and wealth will become so abundant that no one will be willing to take it.’ Sayyiduna ‘Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) says: Indeed, a woman riding a camel travels alone from Hira and performs tawaf of the Ka‘bah without fear or danger, and the treasures of Kisra bin Hurmuz have been conquered, and I myself am among those who conquered the treasures of Kisra bin Hurmuz. And by Him in Whose hand is my soul, the third statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) will surely come true, because it was spoken by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

Under this chapter, the following sub-chapters and hadiths have been mentioned.

Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to undertake a military expedition, he would use dissimulation. However, when the occasion of the Battle of Tabuk came, since it was the season of intense heat and the journey was long and through the desert, and also because they were to face a very large enemy army in terms of numbers, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) openly explained the entire situation to the Muslims so that they could prepare themselves to face their enemy.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) set out for the expedition of Tabuk on a Thursday.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Khabbab Salmi (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to travel, he encouraged the people to help the army of hardship (Jaysh al-‘Usrah, referring to the expedition of Tabuk). Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I will give one hundred camels along with their saddles and the felt placed under the saddles. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) further encouraged the people to help, and Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) again said: Another one hundred camels with their saddles and felts are upon me. After that, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) descended one step from the pulpit and encouraged further, so Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Another one hundred camels with their saddles and felts are upon me. I saw the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) moving his hand in this manner. ‘Abd al-Samad (one of the narrators of the chain of transmission) extended his hand in the manner of a person extremely delighted. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), while moving and shaking his hand in this way, said: After today, whatever Uthman does, there is no blame upon him.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) appealed to the noble Companions for help for the army of hardship, i.e., the Battle of Tabuk, Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) brought one thousand dinars wrapped in a cloth and poured them into the lap of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned those dinars over and over in his hands and said: "After today, whatever deed Uthman does, it will not harm him." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) repeated this statement several times.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Fadala bin Ubaid Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: We participated in the Battle of Tabuk in the company of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), there was a great shortage of mounts. When the Companions complained about this to the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he led them to a narrow path. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) walked on that path and said: Pass through here taking the name of Allah. People passed by the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with their mounts, and he would blow on their mounts and supplicate: O Allah, use this in Your path, You alone are the One who gives strength to the strong and the weak. And You alone have power over land and sea, that is, over dry and wet, and over everything fresh and dry. Sayyiduna Fadala (may Allah be pleased with him) says that until our return to Madinah Munawwarah, our camels would pull their reins from us. This was the blessing and result of the supplication of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the strong and the weak. But I could not understand the meaning of "fresh and dry" here, what could be meant by it? When we went to the land of Sham and fought the battle of Cyprus in the sea, and I saw boats moving and entering the seas, then I understood the reality of the supplication of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Kabsha Anmari (may Allah be pleased with him) that during the journey of the Battle of Tabuk, people hurried towards the (dwellings of Thamud) Hijr and began to enter them. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to know of this, he made an announcement among the people: "As-Salatu Jami‘ah (the prayer is congregational)." He says: When I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), while he had stopped his camel and was saying: "Why do you enter upon a people upon whom Allah’s wrath has descended?" A man said: "O Messenger of Allah! We are amazed by them, so we go to them." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Shall I not warn you of something more astonishing than this? Among you is a man who informs you of the affairs of those who have passed before you and of those matters which will happen after you. So remain upright and continue upon the right path, for indeed Allah will not care about your punishment, and soon there will come people who will not be able to ward off anything from themselves."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Tufail Amir bin Wathila (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Mu’adh (may Allah be pleased with him) informed him that he set out on a journey with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the occasion of the Battle of Tabuk. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would combine the Zuhr and Asr prayers, and the Maghrib and Isha prayers. He (peace and blessings be upon him) delayed the prayer and came out from the tent and performed the combined Zuhr and Asr prayers, then went inside, then came out again and performed the combined Maghrib and Isha prayers. Then he said: If Allah wills, tomorrow you will reach the spring of Tabuk in broad daylight. Whoever among you reaches there should not touch the water until I arrive. When we reached there, two men had already arrived before us, and a thin stream of water, like a shoelace, was flowing from the spring, and the water was coming in a very small amount. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked both of them: Did you touch the water? They replied: Yes. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) scolded them severely and said to them whatever he could say. After that, the companions gathered a little water from the spring with their hands and collected some water in a vessel. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) washed his blessed face and hands in it and poured that water back into the spring. Then a large amount of water began to flow from the spring, and the people drank to their fill. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Mu’adh! If you live long, you will see that this desert will be filled with gardens.