Ghazwat al-Abwāʾ

Ghazwat al-Abwāʾ, also referred to as Ghazwat Waddān, was the first military expedition led personally by the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ after the Hijrah. It took place in the second year of the Hijrah (approximately 623 CE), when the Prophet ﷺ set out from Madīnah with a small contingent of the Muhājirūn to intercept Quraysh trade movements and to establish the emerging Muslim community’s strategic presence in the region.

According to early sīrah sources, the expedition did not result in direct armed confrontation. Instead, the Prophet ﷺ concluded a non-aggression and alliance agreement with the local tribe of Banū Ḍamrah, ensuring mutual security and peaceful relations. This treaty is regarded as an early example of Prophetic diplomacy, combining strategic preparedness with restraint and treaty-making.

The expedition is also significant for marking the beginning of organized Muslim military activity in Madīnah. It demonstrates that early expeditions were not solely offensive but also served political, economic, and security objectives, including the protection of trade routes and the establishment of alliances with surrounding tribes.

## References

1 Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, trans. Syed Muḥammad Ibrāhīm and Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān Ṣiddīqī (Karachi: Nafīs Academy, 1990), 2: 119. 2 Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī, al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm (Urdu) (Lahore: Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1995), 271. 3 Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār and Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām, Sīrat Ibn Hishām, Urdu trans. Syed Yāsīn ʿAlī Ḥusnī Niẓāmī (Lahore: Idārah Islāmiyāt, 1994), 1: 415. 4 Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd al-Baṣrī, Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, trans. ʿAbdullāh al-ʿAmadī (Karachi: Dār al-Ishāʿat, 2003), 1:247.:12–13. 5 Muhammad b. ʿUmar al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, Urdu trans. Sāʾīm Chishtī (Lahore: Chishtī Kutubkhānah, 2024), 1: 31