Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:118
And [He also forgave] the three who were left behind [and regretted their error] to the point that the earth closed in on them in spite of its vastness and their souls confined them and they were certain that there is no refuge from Allah except in Him. Then He turned to them so they could repent. Indeed, Allah is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: And to the three who were left behind, until the earth, despite its vastness, became too narrow for them, and their own souls became constricted upon them, and they realized that there is no refuge from Allah except with Him. Then He turned to them in mercy, that they might repent. Indeed, Allah is the Acceptor of repentance, the Merciful (118).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Allah has indeed turned in mercy to the Prophet ﷺ and the emigrants (al-muhājirūn) and the helpers (al-anṣār) = and to the three who were left behind. And these three, whom Allah has described in this verse with that wherewith He described them — according to what is related —, are the others concerning whom He, whose praise is exalted, said: And there are others, deferred for the command of Allah: either He punishes them, or He turns to them in mercy. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise [sūra al-Tawbah: 106]. So He turned to them in mercy, mighty is His remembrance, and bestowed His favor upon them.
And it has already been mentioned who among the people of exegesis said that, in a manner that makes it superfluous to repeat it here. (1)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of the words, then, is: And Allah has indeed turned in mercy to the three whom Allah set back with regard to repentance, and whom He deferred relative to those to whom He had turned in mercy from among those who had stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as:-
17431- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of someone who heard ʿIkrimah, concerning His saying: and to the three who were left behind (khullifū), he said: they were set back with regard to repentance.
17432- Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatādah: As for His saying: were left behind, they were set back with regard to repentance.
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until the earth, despite its vastness, became too narrow for them, He says: despite its spaciousness, (2) out of grief and regret over their staying behind from the jihād with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ = and their own souls became constricted upon them, through what befell them of distress and anguish on account of that = and they realized that there is no refuge, He says: and they were convinced in their hearts that there was nothing to which they could take refuge against what had befallen them of the command of Allah unto trial, (3) on account of their staying behind in opposition to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that would save them from His anguish, nor against what they feared of the punishment of Allah, except Allah. Then He granted them the turning back to His obedience and the return to what pleases Him concerning them, that they might turn to Him and return to His obedience and to the adherence to His command and His prohibition = indeed, Allah is the Acceptor of repentance (al-tawwāb), the Merciful (al-raḥīm), He says: Indeed, Allah is the One who grants to His servants the turning back to His obedience, who guides him whom He wills to guide of those whom He loves to what pleases Him concerning him = the Merciful, toward them, that He would punish them after the repentance, or that He would forsake whichever of them desired repentance and turning back and not turn to him in mercy. (4)
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And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the people of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
17433- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiyah related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, concerning His saying: and to the three who were left behind, he said: Kaʿb ibn Mālik, and Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Murārah ibn al-Rabīʿ, and they all belonged to the helpers (al-anṣār). (5)
17434- ʿUbayd ibn Muḥammad al-Warrāq related to me, saying: Abū Usāmah related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, in a similar manner = except that he said: and Murārah ibn al-Rabīʿ, or: ibn Rabīʿah — Abū Usāmah was uncertain. (6)
17435- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿIkrimah and ʿĀmir: and to the three who were left behind, he said: they were deferred, in the middle of "Barāʾah" (sūra al-Tawbah).
17436- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: the three who were left behind, he said: those who were deferred in the middle of "Barāʾah", His saying: And there are others, deferred for the command of Allah, [sūra al-Tawbah: 106]: Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Murārah ibn Ribʿī, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik. (7)
17437- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfah related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: and to the three who were left behind, those who were deferred in the middle of "Barāʾah".
17438- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: and to the three who were left behind, he said: they all belonged to the helpers: Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Murārah ibn Rabīʿah, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik.
17439-...... he said: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: and to the three who were left behind, he said: those who were deferred.
17440-...... he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, he said: the three who were left behind, Kaʿb ibn Mālik — and he was a poet —, and Murārah ibn al-Rabīʿ, and Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and they all were of the helpers. (8)
17441-...... he said: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar and al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: they all belonged to the helpers: Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Murārah ibn al-Rabīʿ, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik.
17442- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Hāshim informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, his saying: and to the three who were left behind, he said: Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik, and Murārah ibn al-Rabīʿ, they all belonged to the helpers.
17443- Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatādah, his saying: and to the three who were left behind, up to His saying: then He turned to them in mercy, that they might repent. Indeed, Allah is the Acceptor of repentance, the Merciful: Kaʿb ibn Mālik, and Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Murārah ibn Rabīʿah, they stayed behind during the expedition of Tabūk. It has been mentioned to us that Kaʿb ibn Mālik bound himself to a pillar and said: I will not unbind it = or: I will not unbind myself (9) = until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ unbinds me! Then the Messenger of Allah said: By Allah, I will not unbind him until his Lord unbinds him, if He wills! As for the other, he had stayed behind at a garden of his that had ripened, (10) and he made it an alms in the way of Allah and said: By Allah, I will not eat of it! And as for the other, he traversed the deserts, following the Messenger of Allah, while one tract would lift him up and another would set him down, and both his feet dripped blood. (11)
17444- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, he said: the three who were left behind: Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik, and Murārah ibn Rabīʿah.
17445-...... he said: Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī related to us, on the authority of Sallām Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Masrūq, on the authority of ʿIkrimah: and to the three who were left behind, he said: Hilāl ibn Umayyah, and Murārah, and Kaʿb ibn Mālik.
17446- Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayyah related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAwn informed us, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Kathīr ibn Aflaḥ, he said: Kaʿb ibn Mālik said: I was never in an expedition for which I was better provided in terms of mount and provisions than in that expedition! Kaʿb ibn Mālik said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out, I said: "I will equip myself tomorrow and then catch up with him", and I began to prepare my equipment, but the evening fell without my being ready. When it was the third day, I began my equipment, but the evening fell without my being ready, and I said: Alas! The people have been on the march for three days! So I stayed behind. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned, the people began to excuse themselves before him, and I came until I stood before him and said: I was never in an expedition for which I was better provided in terms of mount and provisions than in this expedition! But the Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned away from me, and he commanded the people not to speak to us, and our wives were commanded to turn away from us. He said: One day I climbed a garden wall, and there I came upon Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, and I said: O Jābir! I adjure you by Allah, do you know that I ever betrayed Allah and His Messenger? But he remained silent toward me and would not speak to me. (12) And while I was one day, I heard a man on the mountain pass saying: Kaʿb! Kaʿb! until he drew near to me and said: Give Kaʿb the glad tidings. (13)
17447- Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ undertook the expedition of Tabūk, while he had in view the Byzantines (al-Rūm) and the Christian Arabs in Sham (Syria), until he reached Tabūk and stayed there some ten nights. There the delegation of Adhruḥ and the delegation of Aylah met him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made peace with them in exchange for the payment of the poll-tax for non-Muslims (jizyah). Thereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from Tabūk and did not go past it, and Allah revealed: Allah has indeed turned in mercy to the Prophet and the emigrants and the helpers, who followed him in the hour of hardship, the verse. And the three who were left behind, a small group of them: Kaʿb ibn Mālik — and he was one of the Banū Salimah —, and Murārah ibn Rabīʿah — and he was one of the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf —, and Hilāl ibn Umayyah — and he was of the Banū Wāqif —, and they had stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in that expedition, together with more than eighty men. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned to Medina, those men told him their account truthfully and confessed their sins, while the rest lied and swore to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that only an excuse had held them back. The Messenger of Allah accepted that from them, took the oath of allegiance from them, and left their inner states to Allah. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the speaking to those who were left behind, and said to them when they told him their account and confessed their sins: You have spoken the truth, so arise until Allah decides concerning you. When Allah revealed the Qurʾān, He turned in mercy to the three, and said concerning the others: They will swear to you by Allah when you return to them, that you may turn away from them, up to: is not pleased with the corrupt people [sūra al-Tawbah: 95-96].
= Ibn Shihāb said: And ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik informed me: that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik = and he was the guide of Kaʿb among his sons when he became blind = said: I heard Kaʿb ibn Mālik tell his account concerning when he stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the expedition of Tabūk. Kaʿb said: I never stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in any expedition that he undertook, except in the expedition of Tabūk, only I did stay behind from the expedition of Badr, but no one was rebuked who stayed behind from it. For the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out with the Muslims while they had in view the caravan of Quraysh, until Allah brought them and their enemy together without appointment. And I was indeed present with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the night of al-ʿAqabah, when we pledged ourselves to Islam, and I would not wish to exchange it for attendance at Badr, even though Badr was more renowned among the people than it. (14)
= And my account concerning when I stayed behind from the Prophet ﷺ during the expedition of Tabūk was: that I was never stronger or better provided than when I stayed behind from him in that expedition. By Allah, I had never before that time brought together two mounts, until I brought them both together in that expedition. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ undertook it in severe heat, and he faced a distant journey and deserts, and he faced a numerous enemy, so he made the matter clear to the Muslims that they might equip themselves for the equipping of their expedition, and he informed them of the direction he had in view. The Muslims with the Prophet ﷺ were numerous, and no register-book encompassed them = he meant by that: the register (al-dīwān) =. Kaʿb said: There was no man who wished to absent himself but that he supposed that would remain concealed, as long as no revelation from Allah descended concerning him. And the Messenger of Allah undertook that expedition when the fruits and the shade were pleasant, and I was inclined toward that. (15) The Messenger of Allah ﷺ equipped himself and the Muslims with him, and I would set out in the morning to equip myself with them, [but I would return without having settled anything, and I would say to myself: "I am able to do that whenever I wish!" and so it kept dragging on with me until the people went about it in earnest. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out in the morning and the Muslims with him], (16) while I had settled nothing of my equipment, and thereupon I would set out in the morning and return without having settled anything. And so it kept dragging on with [me], (17) until they hastened and the expedition passed by, (18) and I resolved to set out and catch up with them — and oh, had I but done it! —, but that was not decreed for me. And so I began, when I went out among the people after the setting out of the Prophet ﷺ, to be grieved that I found no example before me except a man suspected of hypocrisy, (19) or a man whom Allah had excused among the weak. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not mention me until he reached Tabūk, and he said, while seated among the company at Tabūk: What has Kaʿb ibn Mālik done? Then a man of the Banū Salimah said: O Messenger of Allah, his two cloaks and his admiring of his flanks have held him back! (20) [Then Muʿādh ibn Jabal said: What an evil word you have spoken! By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, we know of him nothing but good]! (21) The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained silent, and while he was thus, he saw a man in white shifting in the mirage, (22) whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Be Abū Khaythamah! And behold, it was Abū Khaythamah the helper, and he was the one who gave the alms of a ṣāʿ of dates, on account of which the hypocrites slandered him. (23)
= Kaʿb said: When it reached me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had set out on the return from Tabūk, my anguish overcame me, (24) and I began to ponder lying, and said: "With what shall I escape his displeasure tomorrow?", and I sought in that the help of everyone of sound opinion from my family. Then when it was said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has cast the shadow of his coming (is near)!", falsehood departed from me, (25) until I knew that I would never extricate myself from it with anything, and I resolved firmly to speak the truth. (26) The Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in the morning, (27) and when he returned from a journey, he would begin with the mosque in which he performed two rakaʿāt, after which he would sit for the people. When he did that, the ones who had stayed behind came to him and began to excuse themselves before him and to swear to him, and they were more than eighty men. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ accepted their outward declarations, took the oath of allegiance from them, asked forgiveness for them, and left their inner states to Allah. Until I came, and when I greeted, he smiled the smile of the angered, and then he said: Come! And I came walking until I sat before him, whereupon he said to me: What made you stay behind? Had you not acquired your mount? I said: O Messenger of Allah, by Allah, had I been sitting with another of the people of the world, I would have supposed that I would escape his displeasure with an excuse, for I have been given eloquence, (28) but by Allah, I know for certain that if I tell you today a lying account with which you are pleased about me, Allah will soon make you angry with me, and if I tell you a truthful account at which you become angry with me, (29) I hope thereby for the forgiveness of Allah. (30) By Allah, I had no excuse! By Allah, I was never stronger or better provided than when I stayed behind from you! Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: As for this one, he has spoken the truth. Arise until Allah decides concerning you! So I arose, and men of the Banū Salimah sprang up and followed me and said: By Allah, we did not know that you had ever committed a sin before this! You have failed in that you did not excuse yourself before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with that wherewith those who stayed behind excused themselves, (31) for the request of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for forgiveness for you would have sufficed for your sin! He said: By Allah, they did not cease to reproach me until I wished to return to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and accuse myself of lying! He said: Then I said to them: Has anyone undergone the same as me? They said: Yes, two men have undergone the same as you, they said the same as you said and they were told the same as you were told. He said: I said: Who are those two? They said: Murārah ibn al-Rabīʿ al-ʿĀmirī, (32) and Hilāl ibn Umayyah al-Wāqifī. He said: Thus they named to me two righteous men who had attended Badr, in whom is an example. (33) He said: So I held firm when they named me those two. (34)
= And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the Muslims to speak to us, the three of us, (35) from among those who had stayed behind from him. He said: So the people shunned us and changed toward us, until the earth became foreign to me in my own soul, and it was not the earth that I had known. We remained thus fifty nights. As for my two companions, they gave way and sat in their houses weeping. As for me, I was the youngest and the sturdiest of the people, so I would go out, attend the prayer, and walk about the markets, while no one spoke to me. And I would come to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and greet him while he was in his sitting-place after the prayer, and I would say to myself: "Has he moved his lips with the returning of the greeting or not?" Then I would pray near him, and I would steal glances at him: when I turned to my prayer, he would look at me, and when I turned toward him, he would turn away from me. Until, when that lasted long for me of the harshness of the Muslims, I walked until I climbed over the garden wall of Abū Qatādah = and he was my cousin and the most beloved of people to me = and I greeted him, but by Allah, he did not return my greeting! Then I said: O Abū Qatādah, I adjure you by Allah, do you know that I love Allah and His Messenger? But he remained silent. He said: I repeated it and adjured him, but he remained silent, and I repeated it and adjured him, whereupon he said: Allah and His Messenger know best! Then both my eyes overflowed, and I turned away until I climbed over the wall.
= And while I was walking in the market of Medina, there was a Nabataean of the Nabataeans of the people of Sham (Syria), of those who had come with food to sell it in Medina, who said: Who will direct me to Kaʿb ibn Mālik? He said: Then the people began to direct him to me, until he came to me and handed me a letter from the king of Ghassān. And I was literate, so I read it, and behold, in it was: "To proceed, it has reached us that your companion has treated you ill, and Allah has not placed you in a house of humiliation nor of being lost, so join us, and we will console you." (36)
= He said: Then I said when I read it: This too is part of the trial!! So I went off with it to the oven and stoked it with it. (37) Until, when forty of the fifty had passed and the revelation tarried, (38) there came to me the messenger of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commands you to keep apart from your wife. He said: Then I said: Shall I divorce her, or what shall I do? He said: No, but keep apart from her and do not approach her. He said: And he sent the same to my companion. He said: Then I said to my wife: Join your family and be with them until Allah decides in this matter. (39)
= He said: Then the wife of Hilāl came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: O Messenger of Allah, Hilāl ibn Umayyah is a helpless old man who has no servant, so would it be displeasing to you that I serve him? He said: No, but let him not approach you! She said: I said: By Allah, he has no urge toward anything! And by Allah, he has not ceased weeping since there befell him what befell him, up to this day of his! He said: Then someone of my family said to me: Had you but asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for permission concerning your wife, for he has permitted the wife of Hilāl to serve him? He said: I said: I will not ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for permission concerning her, and what do I know what he would say to me if I ask him for permission concerning her, while I am a young man!
= Then I remained ten more nights, and thus there were completed for us fifty nights since the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the speaking to us. (40) He said: Then I performed the morning prayer on the morning of the fiftieth night on the roof of one of our houses, and while I was seated in the state that Allah has mentioned of us, (41) while my soul had become constricted upon me and the earth had become too narrow for me despite its vastness, I heard the voice of a caller who had climbed the mountain Salʿ, (42) who said with the loudest of his voice: O Kaʿb ibn Mālik, rejoice! He said: Then I fell down in prostration, and I knew that deliverance had come. He said: And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ announced Allah's acceptance of repentance over us when he had performed the morning prayer, (43) whereupon the people went to bring us the glad tidings, (44) and bearers of glad tidings went to my two companions, and a man drove a horse toward me, and a runner from Aslam hastened toward me and climbed the mountain, and the voice was swifter than the horse. When the one whose voice I had heard came to me to give me the glad tidings, I took off for him both my garments and clothed him with them for his glad tidings — by Allah, I possessed nothing else that day but those two — and I borrowed two garments and put them on, and set out, heading toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. (45) The people met me in groups, congratulating me on the repentance and saying: May Allah's acceptance of your repentance be a joy to you! Until I entered the mosque, and behold, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sitting in the mosque with the people around him. Then Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh rose toward me, hastening, until he shook my hand and congratulated me, and by Allah, no man of the emigrants rose except him = he said: And Kaʿb did not forget that of Ṭalḥah, ever (46) = Kaʿb said: When I greeted the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he said, while his face shone with joy: Rejoice over the best day that has passed over you since your mother bore you! Then I said: Is it from you, O Messenger of Allah, or from Allah? He said: No, but from Allah! And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he was pleased, his face would shine until his face was like a piece of the moon, and we recognized that in him.
= He said: When I sat before him, I said: O Messenger of Allah, it is part of my repentance that I divest myself of my wealth as alms for Allah and for His Messenger. (47) Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Keep a portion of your wealth, for that is better for you! Then I said: Then I keep my share that is in Khaybar. And I said: O Messenger of Allah, indeed, Allah has saved me only through truthfulness, and it is part of my repentance that I speak nothing but the truth as long as I live! He said: By Allah, I do not know of any Muslim whom Allah has tested in speaking the truth, since I mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, in a better manner than that wherewith He has tested me. (48) By Allah, I have not deliberately committed a lie since I said that to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, up to this day of mine, and I hope that Allah will preserve me in what remains. He said: Then Allah revealed: Allah has indeed turned in mercy to the Prophet, up to: and to the three who were left behind, up to: Fear Allah and be with the truthful.
= Kaʿb said: By Allah, Allah has never bestowed upon me a favor, after His having guided me to Islam, that is greater in my soul than my truthfulness toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that I did not lie to him, (49) whereby I would have perished as those perished who lied to him. For Allah said to those who lied, when He sent down the revelation, the worst of what He has said about anyone: They will swear to you by Allah when you return to them, that you may turn away from them; so turn away from them, for they are an abomination and their abode is Hell (jahannam), as a recompense for what they used to earn, up to His saying: is not pleased with the corrupt people [sūra al-Tawbah: 95-96].
= Kaʿb said: We were left behind, the three of us, (50) relative to the affair of those whose repentance the Messenger of Allah ﷺ accepted when they swore to him, whereupon he took the oath of allegiance from them and asked forgiveness for them, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ deferred our affair until Allah decided concerning it. That is why Allah said: and to the three who were left behind, and it is not that what Allah has mentioned pertains to our staying behind from the expedition; (51) it is only His leaving us behind (52) and His deferring of our affair relative to those who swore to him and excused themselves before him, whereupon he accepted that from him. (53)
17448- Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, on the authority of ʿUqayl, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik informed me: that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik = and he was the guide of Kaʿb among his sons when he became blind = said: I heard Kaʿb ibn Mālik tell his account concerning when he stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the expedition of Tabūk, and he mentioned something similar. (54)
17449- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Kaʿb, on the authority of his father, he said: I did not stay behind from the Prophet ﷺ in any expedition that he undertook except Badr, and the Prophet ﷺ rebuked no one who stayed behind at Badr, then he mentioned something similar. (55)
17450- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salamah related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik al-Anṣārī, then al-Salamī, on the authority of his father: that his father ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb — and he was the guide of his father Kaʿb when his eyesight was afflicted — said: I heard my father Kaʿb ibn Mālik tell his account concerning when he stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the expedition of Tabūk, and the account of his two companions. He said: I did not stay behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in any expedition that he undertook, only I stayed behind from him in the expedition of Badr, then he mentioned something similar. (56)
