Tabūk and the year of decision

In the heat and hunger of the ninth year the army marched north; ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه equipped a third of it and Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه gave all he had. No fighting occurred. Kaʿb ibn Mālik and two others had no excuse and told the truth rather than offer one; the Muslims were ordered not to speak to them for fifty nights. Kaʿb described the earth becoming narrow upon him, until the announcement of Allah's acceptance came at dawn. He said afterwards that Allah had never blessed him with anything greater than his truthfulness that day.

• 9:117–118 — 'And upon the three who were left behind, until the earth closed in upon them.'

• Truth without excuse was harder and better than a plausible lie — and it is the reason his story is in the Qur'an.
• Sūrat at-Tawbah distinguishes carefully between hypocrisy and human weakness that repents.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4418; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2769

A group of hypocrites built a mosque at Qubāʾ and asked him ﷺ to pray in it, intending it as a meeting place to work against the Muslims and as a station for a man who had gone over to the Byzantines. He delayed until he returned from Tabūk, and revelation named it for what it was: a mosque of harm, disbelief and division. He sent men to pull it down.

• 9:107–108 — Those who took a mosque for harm and disbelief.

• A building is judged by the purpose it serves, not by the name on it.
• Sincerity — 'founded on taqwā from the first day' — is the standard the Qur'an sets against it.

Ibn Hishām; Tafsīr aṭ-Ṭabarī on 9:107; ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm, al-Mubārakpūrī

The Prophet ﷺ sent Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه as leader of the Ḥajj of 9 AH with three hundred men, then sent ʿAlī رضي الله عنه after him to recite the opening of Sūrat at-Tawbah to the people, since by Arab custom such an announcement was delivered by a man of the speaker's own clan. It was declared that no idolater would perform Ḥajj after that year, no one would circle the House naked, and existing treaties would be honoured to their term. The following year he ﷺ led the Ḥajj himself.

• 9:1–5 — A declaration of immunity from Allah and His Messenger.

• Treaties still standing were honoured to their end date even as the policy changed.
• The ending of idolatrous ḥajj was announced publicly, in advance, not imposed by surprise.

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 369, 4655; ar-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm, al-Mubārakpūrī