Sariyyat ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaḥsh

The Sariyyah of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaḥsh was one of the earliest military expeditions organized by the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ after the Hijrah to Madīnah. It took place in Rajab 2 AH / January–February 624 CE and is regarded as a significant precursor to the Battle of Badr. The Prophet ﷺ appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaḥsh as commander of a small reconnaissance party consisting primarily of Emigrants (muhājirūn). He entrusted him with a sealed letter instructing him to proceed toward Nakhlah, a valley situated between Makkah and Ṭāʾif, to observe Quraysh movements and gather intelligence.

Upon arriving at Nakhlah, the Muslim detachment encountered a Quraysh caravan carrying trade goods. After deliberation regarding the sanctity of fighting during the sacred month of Rajab, the party attacked the caravan, killing ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥaḍramī, capturing two Quraysh men, and seizing merchandise. This became the first recorded incident in which blood was shed between the Muslims and Quraysh after the migration to Madīnah. Because the encounter occurred during one of the sacred months, criticism arose among the Arabs and the Quraysh accused the Muslims of violating long-established Arabian norms.

The Qurʾān addressed the controversy in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:217), acknowledging the seriousness of fighting during the sacred months while emphasizing that persecution, expulsion of believers, and obstruction from the path of God committed by the Quraysh were graver offenses. The event therefore marked an important turning point in the evolving conflict between the Muslim community and the Quraysh of Makkah. It also demonstrated the growing strategic and economic pressure placed upon Quraysh trade routes by the Muslims in Madīnah.

Classical sources differ on certain details of the expedition, including the exact number of participants and the sequence of events, yet they uniformly regard the sariyyah of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaḥsh as a formative development in the early sīrah. The incident contributed directly to escalating tensions that culminated in the Battle of Badr later in the same year and occupies an important place in discussions of early Islamic military policy and the legal status of warfare during sacred timesTop of Form

## References

1 Qāḍī Muḥammad Sulaymān Salmān Manṣūrpūrī, Wa-mā arsalnāka illā raḥmatan li’l-ʿālamīn (Lahore: Progressive Books, 2022), 2: 150-70. 2 Muhammad b. ʿUmar al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, Urdu trans. Sāʾīm Chishtī (Lahore: Chishtī Kutubkhānah, 2024), 1: 202-4. 3 Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Muḥammad Bākhshīsh Abū Mālik (Casablanca: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1994).