Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Chapter five

Interpretations of Khalid bin al-Waleed

86. On The day of the conquest ofMecca

On the day of the conquest of Mecca the Prophet (s) has ordered Khalid not to fight and not to kill anyone. The Prophet (s) has said to Khalid and az-Zubayr: “Do not fight except those who will fight you.” Nevertheless Khalid fought and killed more than twenty persons from Quraysh and four persons from Huthayl. The Prophet (s) entered Mecca and saw a woman killed on the way. He asked Handhala the clerk who had killed her. He said that Khalid bin al-Waleed had killed her. The Prophet (s) ordered Handhala to follow after Khalid and to forbid him from killing any woman, child or employee.[710]

87. His violence to bani Juthayma

Once the Prophet (s) had sent Khalid with three hundred men of the Muhajireen and Ansar after the conquest of Mecca to Bani Juthayma to invite them to Islam and not to fight them. Bani Juthayma had killed Khalid’s uncle al-Fakih bin al-Mugheera before in the pre-Islamic time. When Khalid came to bani Juthayma, he said to them: “Put your arms aside because all the people have become Muslims.” When they put their arms aside, he ordered his companions to tie them and then he began to kill them. He killed a great number of them.[711]When the Prophet (s) was informed of that, he raised his hands towards the heaven and said twice: “O Allah, I am clear of what Khalid bin al-Waleed has done.”[712]

Then the Prophet (s) sent Imam Ali (s) to the people of Juthayma and sent with him a great amount of money and ordered him to pay them blood money. Imam Ali (s) paid them their shares and some of the money remained with him. He asked them: “Is there anyone that has not taken his right?” They said: “No, there is not.” He said: “Then I give you this remainder of the money as a precaution from the Prophet (s).” When he came back, he told the Prophet (s) of what he had done. The Prophet (s) said to him: “You have done well.”[713]

Abbas Mahmood al-Aqqad has mentioned this event in his book Abqariyat Umar. He has said: “The Prophet (s) sent Khalid to bani Juthayma to invite them to Islam and not to fight them. He ordered him not to fight anyone if he saw a mosque or heard azan. Then bani Juthayma put their arms aside after argument among them and they gave in. Khalid ordered them to be tied and then he killed many of them. One of them, called as-Sumayda’, could escape and came to the Prophet (s). He told the Prophet (s) of what had happened and complained against Khalid. The Prophet (s) asked him: “Did anyone deny Khalid’s doing?” The man said: “Yes, a yellow medium sized man and a red tall man.” Umar, who was present, said: “O messenger of Allah, by Allah I know them. The first one is my son (Abdullah) and the other is Salim the mawla (freed slave) of Abu Huthayfa.” After that it appeared that Khalid had ordered everyone to kill the captives whom he had captured. Abdullah bin Umar and Salim had set free two captives that they had captured…the messenger of Allah raised his hands towards the heaven and said: “O Allah, I am clear of what Khalid has done.”…then the Prophet (s) sent for Ali bin Abu Talib (s) and ordered him to go to bani Juthayma with camels and money. He (Imam Ali) paid them the blood money.”

The Prophet (s) did not kill anyone for that because the killers were Muslims and the killed ones did no say: “We have become Muslims” but they said: “We have apostatized” and this statement was not clear in showing that they believed in Islam and therefore a Muslim should not be killed for an unbeliever.

On the day of al-Bitah, Khalid has committed horrible crimes against Malik bin Nuwayra and his people. We have mentioned the details in chapter one of this book. Let you refer to that and ponder on it to know who was responsible for those horrible crimes when the bloods, the monies and the honors of the Muslims had gone in vain and when the verdicts of Allah had been annulled, His sanctities had been violated and the revolt of the revolters against Khalid had been calmed. At the head of those revolters was Umar who, when becoming the caliph, had despised Khalid and hastened to depose him immediately as mentioned by ibnul Atheer and the other historians.