Battle of Tabuk

 To the north of Arabian peninsula was Roman empire.Even before the victory over Makkah,the relations with Romans started getting sour . Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had sent a delegation of Muslims to invite those tribes living in the north bear the border of Syria to Islam .Most of these people were Christians and were under the influence of Roman empire.These tribals killed 15 delegates,and only the of the delegation Ka,ab bin Gafari managed to escape and reached Madinah.Prophet MUHAMMAD (SAW)in this very period sent Messages of Islam to Sharjeel,ruler of Basra,but he also killed The Prophet Muhammad (SAW)envoy Haris bin Umair.This ruler of Basra was also a subordinate of Caesar of Rome .

So,due to these reasons ,the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)sent an army of 3000 soldiers towards Syria in Jamadiul Awal in the year 8 A.H.,so that , Muslims in this region are now t considered weak and harassed.But the Muslims continued advancing and at last 3000 spiritual Muslims clashed with such a big Roman army at a place of 'Motah'.Apparently , the result of this situation would have resulted in complete annihilation of this small Muslim group in the of the big Roman army .But by the virtue of ALLAH ALMIGHTY,this Roman army could not harm the Muslims.The most impressive incident was tha ta commander of the Roman army,Foroha-Bin-Amr Al-Jazami ,got attracted towards the teaching of Islam and became a Muslim.Then,he gave a strong proof of his faith,as when Caesar of Rome asked him either  to reconvert to his previous religion,i.e Christianity and get reinstated or be ready for execution.But,he re negated his rank and status and announced that the success in hereafter is dearer to him than the mundane leadership.So he was killed This incident was such that thousands of the people understood the real importance and moral strength of Islam and they realized that it was not easy for them to cope with the surging flood of this new movement.

1.War preparations by Caesar:

The next,Caesar started deploying his army on the border of Syria to take revenge of the battle of 'Motah'.He started collecting troops from his subordinate tribes .Prophet Muhammad (SAW)was apprised to these preparations.It was a critical moment for Islamic movement.A little slackness at this hour would have spoiled everything.Abd on the other hand ,the hypocrites of Madinah,who were continuously conspiring with anti Islamic forces, would have created problems from within .This would have resulted in a very difficult situation for the movement and organization.And then it would have been extremely difficult to face a powerful attack by Roman forces.It was feared that Islamic movement would have succumbed to these three attacks Keeping all these things in mind,The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)with His GOD -gifted sagacity and vision decided to face the might Caesar , Because at this juncture,lack of courage would have spoil the entire work.

2.Departure for Tabuk:

In Rajab,9A.H.,The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)left Makkah with the army of 30,000 followers .There were 10,000csmel riders The number of camel was so low that many used to take turns in riding them.Vut the believers showed extreme sincerity the of faith, obedience for the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) curiosity to lay their lives in the way of ALLAH.

When they reached Tabuk,They came to know that Caesar has withdrawn his army from the border and there was none to fight.Actually,it was so that when Caesar came to know that Muslims despite knowing about his army are on their way to Tabuk,he thought it fit to call back his troops because he had seen the chivalry of Muslims in the battle of Motah',when 3000 Muslims clashed with a strong army of 200,000 Romans.

3.Stay at Tabuk:

This retreat of Caesar was enough for The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and instead of chasing him,HE(SAW) preferred to strengthen His influence in this area.HE (SAW)stayed there for 20 days.During this period,many small states situated between Islamic state and Roman empire were made to accept subordination to Islamic government,till now they were under Roman influence.These states agreed to pay tax to Muslims,And the tribes whose loyalties were with Romans until now,became helpers of Islamic government.

4.Conspiracy of hypocrites:

When The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) 

left for Tabuk,all those hypocrites who were not Muslims but had joined the Islamic movement for their selfish motives left behind in Madinah.They were sure that the Muslims will not come back safely from there s expedition .Some will succumb to inclemency and hardships of weather and the rest will be slaughtered by the strong army of Caesar.These hypocrites had also built a Mosque (Zarrar Mosque),where they used to meet avoiding Muslims and used to discuss their  anti-Muslim agenda .

On this occasion,they hatched numerous conspiracies to harm the Islamic movement.They even decided to make Abdullah bin Ubai  as the next king of Madinah after the defeat of Muslims,of which they were sure.

5.Return from Tabuk:

After returning from Tabuk, Prophet Muhammad (SAW)had following programmes before him:

• Implementation of a clear policy about hypocrites and to develop a system of complete safeguard against their conspiracies.
• Training of true Believers and the of task of their character building, without which it was not possible for them to shoulder the ensuring great responsibility of the affirmation of truth .
• Proclamation of the clear Political theory of Dar -ul-Islam (House of Islam)on which the new Islamic state was to be built.

6.Zarrar Mosque:

A gang if polytheists of Madinah was involved with Abu Aamir in his anti-Islamic activities.These people used to hatch conspiracies to harm Islam.So,on the advice of Abu Aamir,some of these polytheists built this separate Mosque and it became the center  of their anti-Islamic activities.There were two Mosques in Madinah at that time ;one was Qaba' Mosque in one corner of city and second was Nabvi Mosque situated in the center of the city.So,no third Mosque was required but these polytheists put forth the excuse that some elderly and physically -challenged people find it very difficult to go these two Mosques and hence the third Mosque is needed.

So,the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)knew about the Mosque and ordered some men to go and demolish this Mosque prior to His arrival in Madinah.The demolition of Zarrar Mosque was an open declaration of Muslims future agenda against the hypocrites,which was followed scrupulously later on.

7.Believers' religious training:

In the beginning of Islamic movement,the people who used to incline to the movement were those who used to convert to Islam by heart ,after pondering overall the aspects.Bit when Islam started spreading rapidly,hoards of people started embracing Islam and it was apparent that among them,only few knew Islam completely.Most of people used to accept Islam without learning its fundamentals. Apparently,mass conversions were adding power to Islam but when a group does not fullfil the requirements of Islam or is not ready to abide by the sanctions imposed by Islam ,then,such a group became a cause of weakness.

The same thing happened at the time to f Tabuk .So,in order to save the Islamic movement from this inner vulnerability,a very important instructions was given that some people from from among these neophytes must come to the centers of Islam,i.e Makkah and Madinah and learnt rue Islamic spirit and their details.They must absorb the true Islamic spirit into their souls and on going back they must make arrangements for training of other neophytes.So that all of them may know these basic rules imposed by ALLAH ALMIGHTY and all of them may develop true Islamic sense in them.

This general awareness move was not just aiming at educating the people to read and write.Rather its aim was to develop an understanding of Deen and the sense of discrimination in them to distinguish between Islamic and un-Islamic ways of life.