Ashab al-'Aqaba

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Aṣḥāb al-ʿAqaba (Arabic: اصحاب العقبة) were a group of the companions of the Prophet (s) who decided to kill the Prophet (s) in their return to Medina from the battle of Tabuk. Historians have different opinions about their number, names and also the information of companions about their names. Some exegetes consider the revelation of verse 74 of Sura al-Tawba about them.

Naming

Literally, 'Aqaba means a mountain pass which is difficult to pass.[1] On the way the Prophet (s) was returning from the battle of Tabuk, there was a mountain pass where some of his companions decided to kill him. In some sources, these people are referred to as Ashab 'Aqaba.[2]

Also, a group of companions who gave allegiance to the Prophet (s) on the way of Mina in the years 12 and 13 after Bi'tha/ 620 and 621 CE and their pact was known as 'Aqaba are called Ashab 'Aqaba.[3]

See also: Pledge of al-'Aqaba

Unsuccessful Assassination of the Prophet (s)

In Ramadan 9/December 630-January 631, when the Prophet (s) was returning from the battle of Tabuk, a group of companions ambushed on his way in a mountain pass and decided to assassinate the Prophet (s). They wanted to fright the Prophet's (s) camel, so that he (s) falls from the mountain and be killed. God informed the Prophet (s) about their will and he (s) prepared himself for it. He (s) ordered one of Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman and 'Ammar to go ahead of the Prophet (s) and the other goes after him and protects him.[4] He (s) also ordered the rest of the army to go from below the pass.[5] The army went from below the pass, but the hypocrites went to the slope of the mountain. The Prophet (s) heard them and became angry. He (s) ordered Hudhayfa to scatter them and thus. They were scattered and then secretly joined the army.[6]

Usayd b. Hudayr asked the Prophet (s) for permission to kill them,[7] but the Prophet (s) denied it and mentioned his reason by saying that, "I do not want Arabs to talk about me saying, 'after he (s) gained victories by the helps of his companions, he (s) began killing them'."[8]

Names and Number

Historians and biographers mentioned the number of Ashab 'Aqaba between 12 to 15.[9] There are different views regarding their identity. Some sources mentioned that a group of them were from Quraysh and Banu Umayya. According to a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a), they were 12, 8 of whom were from Quraysh.[10] al-Shaykh al-Saduq referred to a hadith which mentioned 12 of them from Banu Umayya and 5 of them from other tribes.[11]

Names

Also, historical sources have different views on whether the Prophet's (s) companions knew about their names. Some believe that the Prophet (s) told the names of them only to Hudhayfa,[12] but prohibited him about disclosing them.[13] According to al-Waqidi's report, the Prophet (s) told their names to 'Ammar b. Yasir as well.[14]

Some considered it possible that political events after the noble Prophet (s) made some of these names be omitted and some others replace them;[15] for example, in some sources, 'Abd Allah b. Ubay and Abu 'Amir Rahib were mentioned among Ashab 'Aqaba, while it is said that 'Abd Allah Ubay was not present in the battle of Tabuk and Abu 'Amir Rahib had gone to Rome before that.[16]

In some sources, Sa'd b. Abi Sarh, Abu Hadir A'rabi, Julas b. Suwayd, Majma' b. Jariya, Mulayh Taymi, Husayn b. Numayr, Ta'ayma b. Ubayriq and Murra b. Rabi' are mentioned among Ashab 'Aqaba.[17]

Related Verses

Some exegetes related the revelation of verse 74 of Qur'an 9 saying, "They contemplated what they could not achieve," with Ashab 'Aqaba.[18] However, some hadiths consider this verse related to the story of the assassination of the Prophet (s) in 10 AH, after Hajjat al-wida' in Harsha mountain pass, where 14 of the companions decided to assassinate the Prophet (s).[19]

Al-Tabrisi mentioned the story of Ashab 'Aqaba under the commentary of the verses 64-65 of Qur'an 9.[20] In a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), the phrase "only Satan had made them stumble because of some of their deeds." (Qur'an 3:155) is related with Ashab 'Aqaba.[21]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 341.
  2. ↑ Masʿūdī, al-Tanbīh wa l-ishrāf, p. 236; Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 68.
  3. ↑ Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 38; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 1, p. 468.
  4. ↑ Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 5, p. 19.
  5. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 5, p. 79.
  6. ↑ Bayhaqī, Dalāʾil al-nubuwwa, vol. 5, p. 256.
  7. ↑ Waqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 1043.
  8. ↑ Thaʿlabī, al-Kashf wa l-bayān, vol. 5, p. 64; Ṭabrisī, Jawāmiʿ al-jāmiʿ, vol. 2, p. 71.
  9. ↑ Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 5, p. 19; Waqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 1043.
  10. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 5, p. 79.
  11. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Khiṣāl, vol. 2, p. 398.
  12. ↑ Yaʿqūbī, Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī, vol. 2, p. 68.
  13. ↑ Waqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 1045.
  14. ↑ Waqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 3, p. 1044.
  15. ↑ Āyatī, Tārīkh-i payāmbar-i Islām, p. 523.
  16. ↑ Bayhaqī, Dalāʾil al-nubuwwa, vol. 5, p. 258.
  17. ↑ Bayhaqī, Dalāʾil al-nubuwwa, vol. 5, p. 258.
  18. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 5, p. 79.
  19. ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 1, p. 174.
  20. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 5, p. 70.
  21. ↑ ʿAyyāshī, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, vol. 1, p. 201.

References

  • Āyatī, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. Tārīkh-i payāmbar-i Islām. Edited by Abū l-Qāsim Gurjī. Tehran: Dānishgāh-i Tehran, 1378 Sh.
  • ʿAyyāshī, Muḥammad b. Masʿūd al-. Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī. Edited by Sayyid Hāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī. Tehran: al-Maṭbaʿa al-ʿIlmīyya, 1380 AH.
  • Bayhaqī, Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Dalāʾil al-nubuwwa wa maʿrifat aḥwāl ṣāḥib al-sharīʿa. Edited by ʿAbd al-Muʿṭī Qaʿlajī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1405 AH.
  • Ibn Hishām, ʿAbd al-malik. al-Sīra al-nabawīyya. Edited by Muṣṭafā al-saqā. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, [n.d].
  • Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl b. ʿUmar. Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1398 AH.
  • Masʿūdī, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Al-Tanbīh wa l-ishrāf. Edited by ʿAbd Allāh Ismāʿīl al-Ṣāwī. Cairo: Dār al-Ṣāwī, [n.d].
  • Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-. Tafsīr al-Qummī. Edited by Mūsawī Jazāʾirī. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1404 AH.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Khiṣāl. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1362 Sh.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Jawāmiʿ al-jāmiʿ. Tehran: Dānishgāh-i Tehran-Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmīyya-yi Qom, 1377 Sh.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān. Edited by Muḥammad Jawād Balāghī. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusru, 1372 Sh.
  • Thaʿlabī, Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm al-. Al-Kashf wa l-bayān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1422 AH.
  • Waqidī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. Al-Maghāzī. Edited by Marsden Jones. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī, 1409 AH.
  • Yaʿqūbī, Aḥmad b. Abī Yaʿqūb al-. Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir, [n.d].
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