Sariyyat Iṭrāf Fadak

The Sariyyah of Iṭrāf Fadak was a military expedition dispatched by the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ during the Madinan period toward the outskirts of Fadak, an oasis region located north of Madīnah near Khaybar. The expedition formed part of the Prophet’s ﷺ broader strategy of securing important trade and travel routes while monitoring tribes and groups whose activities were considered potentially hostile to the Muslim community.

According to the classical sīrah and maghāzī sources, the Muslim detachment was sent to the surrounding areas of Fadak in response to reports of tribal mobilization or unrest. The operation appears to have functioned mainly as a reconnaissance and deterrent mission, intended to demonstrate Muslim presence and prevent hostile alliances from forming in the region. The surviving reports do not describe a major military engagement connected with the expedition.

The Sariyyah of Iṭrāf Fadak reflects the importance of smaller sarāyā in the Prophet’s ﷺ military and political policy. Through such expeditions, the Muslims maintained security around Madīnah, protected caravan routes, and gradually extended the influence of the Islamic state into strategically significant areas of Arabia.

## References

1 Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī, al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm (Urdu) (Lahore: Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1995), 520. 2 Qāḍī Muḥammad Sulaymān Salmān Manṣūrpūrī, Wa-mā arsalnāka illā raḥmatan li’l-ʿālamīn (Lahore: Progressive Books, 2022), 2: 150-70. 3 Muhammad b. ʿUmar al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, Urdu trans. Sāʾīm Chishtī (Lahore: Chishtī Kutubkhānah, 2024). 4 Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Muḥammad Bākhshīsh Abū Mālik (Casablanca: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1994).