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The Ridda wars (Arabic: حروب الردة), also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr against rebel Arabian tribes during 632 and 633 AD, just after Muhammad died.[1] The rebels' position was that they had submitted to Muhammad as the prophet of God, but owed nothing to Abu Bakr. Some rebels followed either Tulayha or Musaylima or Sajjah, all of whom claimed prophethood. Most of the tribes were defeated and reintegrated into the Caliphate. The peoples surrounding Mecca did not revolt.
Prelude[edit]
In about the middle of May 632, Muhammad, now ailing, ordered a large expedition to be prepared against the Roman empire. 3000 Muslims were to join it. Usama ibn Zaid, a young man and son of Zayd ibn Harithah, was appointed as commander of this force.[2]However, Muhammad died in June 632 and Abu Bakr claimed to be Caliph with the help of a group of his friends.
On the first day of his caliphate, Abu Bakr ordered the army of Usama to prepare for march. Abu Bakr was under great pressure regarding this expedition due to rising rebellion and apostasy across Arabia, but he was determined.[3] Before his march, Usama sentUmar to Caliph Abu Bakr and is reported to have said:
However, Abu Bakr refused. He was moved to this decision at least partially by his desire to carry out the unfulfilled military plan of Muhammad.
On June 26, 632 the army of Usama broke camp and moved out. After leaving Medina, Usama had marched to Tabuk. Most of the tribes in this region opposed him fiercely but were defeated by Abu Bakr's army. Usama raided far and wide in the region of Northern Arabia, starting with the Quza'a, and then made his way to Dawmatu l-Jandal (modern Al Jawf, Saudi Arabia).
As a direct result of his operations, several rebel tribes resubmitted to Madinian rule and claimed that they re-accepted Islam. The Quza'a remained rebellious and unrepentant, however 'Amr ibn al-'As later attacked them and forced them to surrender again.[1]
Usama next marched to Mu'tah, attacked the Christian Arabs of the tribes of Banu Kalb and Ghassanids in a small battle. Then he returned to Medina, bringing with him a large number of captives and a considerable amount of wealth, part of which comprised the spoils of war and part taxation of the re-conquered tribes. The Islamic army remained out of Medina for 40 days.
Defense of Madinah[edit]
The concentrations of rebels nearest Madinah were located in two areas: Abraq, 72 miles north-east of Madinah, and Dhu Qissa, 24 miles east of Madinah.[5] These concentrations consisted of the tribes of Banu Ghatafan, the Hawazin, and the Tayy. Abu Bakr sent envoys to all the enemy tribes, calling upon them to remain loyal to Islam and continue to pay their Zakat.
A week or two after the departure of the Islamic army under Usama, the rebel tribes surrounded Medina, knowing that there were few fighting forces in the city. Meanwhile,Tulayha, a self-proclaimed prophet, reinforced the rebels at Dhu Qissa. In the third week of July 632, the apostate army moved from Dhu Qissa to Dhu Hussa, from where they prepared to launch an attack on Medina.
Abu Bakr received intelligence of this move of rebels, and immediately prepared for the defense of Medina. As the main army was out of Medina under Usama, Abu Bakr scraped together a fighting force mainly from the clan of Mohammad, the Banu Hashim. The army had stalwarts like Ali ibn Abi Talib r.a, Talha ibn Ubaidullah r.a and Zubair ibn al-Awam r.a, who would later (in the 640s) conquer Egypt. Each of them was appointed as commander of one-third of the newly organised force. Before the apostates could do anything, Abu Bakr launched his army against their outposts and drove them back to Dhu Hussa.
The following day, Abu Bakr marched from Medina with the main army and moved towards Dhu Hussa.[1] As the riding camels were all gone with Usama's army, he could only muster inferior pack camels, and the army mounted these camels. These pack camels, being untrained for battle, bolted when Hibal, the apostate commander at Zhu Hussa, made a surprise attack from the hills on the Muslims; and the Muslims retreated to Medina. The apostates recaptured the outposts that they lost a few days earlier. At Medina Abu Bakr reorganised the army for the battle and attacked the apostates during the night, taking them by surprise. The apostates retreated from Dhu Hussa to Dhu Qissa. On the morning Abu Bakr led his forces to Dhu Qissa and defeated the rebel tribes and captured Dhu Qissa on 1 August 632.
The defeated apostate tribes retreated to Abraq, where more clansmen of the Ghatfan, the Hawazin, and the Tayy were gathered. Abu Bakr left a residual force of soldiers under the command of An-Numan ibn Muqarrin at Dhu Qissa and returned with his main army to Medina. On 4 August 632, Usama's army arrived in Medina. The army had been away for 40 days.
Abu Bakr ordered Usama to rest his men in Medina and re-equip them to fight against the rebels. Meanwhile in the second week of August 632 Abu Bakr with his army moved to Zhu Qissa. Taking the remaining forces from Numan ibn Muqarrin under his command, he moved to Abraq, where the retreated rebels had gathered, and defeated them. The remaining rebels retreated to Buzakha, where Tulayha had moved with his army from Samira.
Abu Bakr's Strategy[edit]
In the fourth week of August 632, Abu Bakr moved to Zhu Qissa with all available fighting forces. There he planned the strategy of the Campaign of the Apostasy to deal with the various enemies who occupied the entire land of Arabia except for the small area in the possession of the Muslims. [5] The battles which he had fought recently against the apostate concentrations at Zhu Qissa and Abraq were in the nature of immediate preventive action to protect Medina and discourage further offensives by the enemy. These actions enabled Abu Bakr to secure a base from which he could fight the major campaign that lay ahead, thus gaining time for the preparation and launching of his main forces. Abu Bakr had to fight not one but several enemies: Tulayha at Buzakha, Malik bin Nuwaira at Butah, Musaylima at Yamamah. He had to deal with widespread apostasy on the eastern and southern coasts of Arabia: in Bahrain, in Oman, in Mahra, in Hadhramaut and in Yemen. There was apostasy in the region south and east of Mecca and by the Quza'a in northern Arabia.
Abu Bakr formed the army into several corps. The strongest corps, and this was the main punch of the Muslims, was the corps of Khalid ibn Walid. This was used to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces. Other corps were given areas of secondary importance in which to subdue the less dangerous apostate tribes. The first corps to go into action was that of Khalid, and the timing of the despatch of other corps hinged on the operations of Khalid, who was given the task of fighting the strongest enemy forces one after the other. Abu Bakr's plan was first to clear the area of west central Arabia (the area nearest to Medina), then tackle Malik bin Nuwaira, and finally concentrate against the most dangerous and powerful enemy: the self-proclaimed prophet Musaylima.