Sariyyat ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays

The Sariyyah of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays (RA) was a covert expedition commissioned by the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ during the Medinan period to counter a developing threat against the Muslim community. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays belonged to the Anṣār and was known for his courage and loyalty. According to the classical sīrah and maghāzī sources, intelligence reached the Prophet ﷺ that Khālid ibn Sufyān al-Hudhalī was mobilizing tribes in the region of ʿUranah or Nakhlah with the intention of attacking Madīnah. In response, the Prophet ﷺ dispatched ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays (RA) alone on a secret mission to neutralize the threat before it could materialize into open warfare.

The expedition took place around 4 AH / 625–626 CE. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays (RA) traveled discreetly until he located Khālid ibn Sufyān among his people. Employing caution and strategy, he approached him in conversation and gained his confidence before carrying out the Prophet’s ﷺ order. After completing the mission, he returned safely to Madīnah and informed the Prophet ﷺ of the outcome. Reports mention that the Prophet ﷺ gave him a staff (ʿaṣā) as a mark of distinction, telling him that it would serve as a sign between them on the Day of Resurrection. The narration became well known in the literature of maghāzī and virtues of the companions.

Muslim historians regarded the Sariyyah of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays (RA) as an example of preemptive security measures adopted by the early Muslim community during a period of constant tribal hostility. The expedition demonstrated the strategic vigilance of the Prophet ﷺ and the trust he placed in capable Companions for sensitive assignments. Classical authorities such as Ibn Isḥāq, al-Wāqidī, and Ibn Saʿd preserved accounts of the mission in their works on the sīrah and maghāzī, where it is discussed among the important expeditions of the Madinan era.

## References

1 Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī, al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm (Urdu) (Lahore: Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1995), 395. 2 Shiblī Nuʿmānī and Syed Sulaimān Nadwī, Sīrat al-Nabī (Lahore: Maktabah Khalīl, 1990), 1:267. 3 Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd al-Baṣrī, Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, trans. ʿAbdullāh al-ʿAmadī (Karachi: Dār al-Ishāʿat, 2003), 1:284.4 Qāḍī Muḥammad Sulaymān Salmān Manṣūrpūrī, Wa-mā arsalnāka illā raḥmatan li’l-ʿālamīn (Lahore: Progressive Books, 2022), 2: 150-70. 5 Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Muḥammad Bākhshīsh Abū Mālik (Casablanca: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1994). 6 Muhammad b. ʿUmar al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, Urdu trans. Sāʾīm Chishtī (Lahore: Chishtī Kutubkhānah, 2024)