At the time when practically the whole of Arabia submitted to Islam, with most major tribes sending delegations to Madinah to pledge their loyalty to the Prophet (peace be upon him), it seemed that the days that witnessed many attempts to suppress Islam and annihilate its followers were over. Peace was at last spreading all over Arabia. It was ten years since the Prophet had to immigrate from Makkah, managing to steal his way out in the depth of the night, and traveled to Madinah with a prize of 100 camels over his head. Yet there was a tribe in Yemen boasting that it could do what no other tribe in Arabia, big or small, could. That tribe, Al-Hairth ibn Kaab, lived in a certain part of Najran. The Prophet sent a force of his companions under the leadership of his commander Khalid ibn Al-Waleed, to subdue them. He made his instructions to Khalid very clear, ordering him to call on those people for three days to accept Islam before fighting them. If they responded favorably, Khalid was to accept their pledges. If their response was negative, he was to fight them.
When Khalid arrived in their area, he sent his men in all directions calling on the people of that tribe to accept Islam. They made it clear to the people of Al-Harith ibn Kaab that if they were keen to avoid war and to avoid being killed, and then their only chance was to accept Islam. Their response was favorable. Khalid and his men stayed there teaching them the principles of Islam, the Qur’an and the Sunnah. This he did in fulfillment of his instructions.
Khalid later sent a message to the Prophet in which he said:
You, Messenger of God (peace be to you), have sent me to the tribe of Al-Harith ibn Kaab and commanded me not to fight them for three days during which I should call on them to accept Islam. If they do, I am to stay here, accept their pledges, and educate them in the faith of Islam and teach them God’s Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger. If they refuse, I am to fight them. When I have arrived here, I did as God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) has commanded me. I sent my men to say to them: ‘Bani Al-Harith, accept Islam and you will be safe.’ They have accepted Islam without fighting. I am staying with them, telling them to do what God has commanded them to do, and to refrain from what God has forbidden them. I am teaching them the principles of Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) until I receive instructions from God’s Messenger. Peace and God’s mercy and blessings be to you, Messenger of God.
The Prophet sent Khalid the following reply:
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent. From Muhammad, the Prophet, the Messenger of God, to Khalid ibn Al-Waleed. Peace be to you. I praise God; there is no deity other than Him. I have received your letter sent with your messenger in which you give me the news that the tribe of Al-Harith ibn Kaab has accepted Islam without a need for you to fight them. You have also told me that they have responded to your call and declared their belief that there is no deity other than God and that Muhammad is God’s servant and Messenger. Thus God has given them His guidance. Give them then glad tidings and warn them against sin. You may come back and let a delegation from them come with you. Peace be to you and God’s mercy and blessings.
Khalid returned with a delegation from the tribe of Al-Harith that included a number of their leading figures. When they met the Prophet they said to him: “We bear witness that you are God’s Messenger and that there is no deity other than God.” The Prophet said: “I, too, bear witness that there is no deity other than God and that I am God’s Messenger.” He, then, put to them the question: “Are you the ones who fight hard when they are checked?” Nobody replied. He repeated his question three more times before one of them, Yazid ibn Abd Al-Mudan said to him: “Yes, Messenger of God, we are the ones you have described.” He repeated his answer four times. The Prophet said: “Had it not been for the fact that Khalid has written to me that you have accepted Islam, I would have laid your heads under your feet.” Yazid said: “For this, we are not thankful to either you or to Khalid.” The Prophet asked him: “To whom are you thankful, then?” He said: “We are thankful to God who has guided us through you, Messenger of God.” The Prophet confirmed that the man’s answer expresses the truth.
The Prophet then asked them what helped them win their battles in pre-Islamic days. They said first that they did not overcome anyone. The Prophet said to them: “Yes, indeed! You used to win against people who fought you.” They said: “Yes, Messenger of God! We used to overcome those who fought us, because we were not too few in order to be humiliated, and not too many so as to allow envy to creep into our ranks. We were always united, allowing nothing to come between us. We would never start with unjust aggression, and we remained steadfast when the going was hard.” The Prophet appointed Qays ibn Al-Husayn as their leader.
Another advocacy mission assigned to Khalid took him to Yemen, where he was instructed to call on the people to accept Islam. He stayed there for six months, together with a number of the Prophet’s companions. But the people there did not give him a positive response. Then the Prophet sent Ali ibn Abi Talib to Yemen, with the instructions that he should send Khalid and the people with him back to Madinah. However, he was instructed to accept anyone who wished to continue on the mission with him. Al-Baraa’ was one of these and he reports: “When we approached the people, they came out to meet us. Ali was in front and he led us in prayer, then he ordered us to stand in one row. He then stepped forward and read out the Prophet’s message. The Yemeni tribe of Hamdan embraced Islam in their totality. Ali wrote to the Prophet informing him of this. The Prophet was delighted. He prostrated himself in a gesture of thanksgiving to God, and then he said: ‘Peace be to Hamdan! Peace be to Hamdan’. (Related by Al-Bukhari in a shorter version).
