A controversial expedition took place after the conquest of Makkah, when Khalid ibn al-Walid was sent on a mission to Banu Jadheemah (بنو جذيمة) to call them to Islam. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was informed of the events that unfolded there, he ﷺ became angry, raised his hands towards the sky, and said, اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَبْرَأُ إِلَيْكَ مِمَّا صَنَعَ خَالِدٌ “O Allah, I do indeed absolve myself of what Khaalid did!”[1]
It should be kept in mind when analysing this event, that Khalid was a new Muslim who had only converted to Islam a few months prior to the conquest of Makkah. It’s also important to note that the companions are human beings who can sin and make mistakes, which is why their human struggles and how they overcame them, make them an excellent example for us to follow. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
أَصْحَابِي كَالنُّجُومِ بِأَيِّهِمْ اقْتَدَيْتُمْ اهْتَدَيْتُمْ
“My companions are like stars, whichever of them you use as a guide, you will be rightly guided.”[2]
The Islamic State is not a utopia, and there is no doubt that incidents will occur in an Islamic society which are not in accordance with sharia law. This has been true throughout Islamic history, starting with the first Islamic state established and ruled by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
What is important is to have effective state mechanisms in place to deal with any grievances (Al-Maẓālim المَظالِم) that may occur, and provide adequate redress and compensation to the victims, so they feel they have received justice.
In a future khilafah (caliphate) the institution responsible for investigating and passing judgement on such matters is the Mazalim Court. The principle (qa’ida قاعِدَة) underpinning this court i.e. redressing grievances (Al-Maẓālim) existed from the time of the Prophet ﷺ as we shall see shortly when discussing the Banu Jadheemah expedition. As a formal institution (jihaz جِهاز) however, this wasn’t introduced until the Abbasid Khilafah, and later the Seljuk and Mamluk sultanates which housed the Mazalim Court in a separate building called the Dar ul-‘Adl (House of Justice).
Dr As-Sallabi narrates the events surrounding the expedition: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent Khaalid ibn Al-Waleed to the Banu Jadheemah (بنو جذيمة) tribe and instructed him to invite its people to Islam [not to fight]. This mission took place in the month of Shawwaal, in the year 8H, prior to the Hunain Expedition. Khaalid had with him men from Banu Saleem, Mudlaj, the Ansaar, and the Muhaajiroon; in total, his unit consisted of 350 men.
When the people of Banu Jadheemah saw the approaching army, and more particularly, when they saw that Khaalid was leading it, they took to their weapons. Khaalid said, “Put down your weapons, for indeed, the people (i.e., the Quraish and many others) have embraced Islam.”
One of the men of Banu Jadheemah, whose name was Jahdar, stood up and said, “Woe upon you, O people of Banu Jadheemah; he is indeed Khaalid! By Allah, the only thing that will follow our laying down of our weapons is imprisonment; and the only things that will follow that will be the striking of our necks. By Allah, I will never lay down my weapons.” His people continued to try to calm him down until he was left with no choice but to lay down his weapons.
Khaalid then ordered for their hands to be tied behind their backs [combatants not women and children]; this command having been carried out, he once again invited them to Islam. They did not properly say, “We have embraced Islam (أَسْلَمْنَا)”; instead, they said, “We have changed our religion. We have changed our religion (صَبَأْنَا)” Khaalid began to kill some of them; meanwhile, some of the Muslim soldiers objected vehemently to Khaalid’s actions.
Khaalid then placed each prisoner under the custody of one of his men; one day later, Khaalid ordered for each Muslim to kill his prisoner. Some of the Muslims [Banu Saleem] obeyed Khaalid’s order; others [Muhajirun and Ansar], such as Abdullah ibn ‘Umar refused to carry out his order. The latter group, upon returning to the Messenger of Allah informed him about what had happened. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ became angry, raised his hands towards the sky, and said, اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَبْرَأُ إِلَيْكَ مِمَّا صَنَعَ خَالِدٌ “O Allah, I do indeed absolve myself of what Khaalid did!”
An argument broke out between Khaalid and Abdur-Rahmaan ibn ‘Auf regarding the topic of what was done to some of the tribesmen of Banu Jadheemah, and harsh words were spoken between the two. Abdur-Rahmaan feared that Khaalid was motivated by the desire to exact revenge on behalf of his uncle Al-Faakaih ibn Al-Mugheerah, who was killed by Jadheemah during the pre-Islamic days of ignorance.
Perhaps this was the argument that was referred to in Saheeh Muslim and other Hadeeth compilations, in a narration which states the following: There was some tension between Khaalid ibn Al-Waleed and ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn ‘Auf, and as a result, Khaalid swore at ‘Abdur-Rahmaan. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said,لاَ تَسُبُّوا أَصْحَابِي فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَوْ أَنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ أَنْفَقَ مِثْلَ أُحُدٍ ذَهَبًا مَا أَدْرَكَ مُدَّ أَحَدِهِمْ وَلاَ نَصِيفَهُ “Do not curse anyone from my Companions; for indeed, were one of you to spend the equivalent of Mount Uhud in gold, it would not be equal to the Mudd (two handfuls) of what one of them gives, nor half that amount.”[3]
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then sent Ali ibn Abi Talib to pay blood money (compensation) for the men of Banu Jadheemah who were killed; he ﷺ gave even more than the normal amount in order to console the people of Banu Jadheemah for their dead relatives.”[4]
Dr As-Sallabi concludes, “Khaalid acted based on what he thought was right; he performed Ijtihaad[5], which is to say that he tried to do what was right based on the knowledge that was available to him, and his Ijtihaad turned out to be wrong. When a qualified person performs Ijtihaad, he gets two rewards if he is correct, and one if he is wrong; and Khaalid was qualified, since he was the appointed leader of the unit. That he performed a valid, albeit incorrect, Ijtihaad is proven by the fact that the Prophet ﷺ did not punish him for his actions,”[6] although as mentioned, he ﷺ compensated the victim’s families which is the well-known ruling for unlawful killing which doesn’t reach the level of first-degree murder.[7]
There is an important lesson to note from this incident which is that obedience to “those in authority” (أُولِي الْأَمْرِ)[8] is NOT absolute because the khaleefah, his ministers and commanders are not sovereign. Sovereignty (siyadah سِيادَة) in an Islamic State is not to the ruler, or the state but rather to the sharia alone. Sheikh Al-Massari says, “The majority of Islamic thinkers from the scholars of usul (principles of jurisprudence) and others, have explicitly stated that the Siyadah is completely, absolutely and exclusively restricted to the Sharia alone.”[9]
It is the sharia which underpins all the branches of government and their respective institutions including the khaleefah himself. Wael Hallaq says, “Whereas the modern state rules over and regulates its religious institutions, rendering them subservient to its legal will, the Sharīʿa rules over and regulates, directly or through delegation, any and all secular institutions. If these institutions are secular or deal with the secular, they do so under the supervising and overarching moral will that is the Sharīʿa.
Therefore, any political form or political (or social or economic) institution is ultimately subordinate to the Sharīʿa, including the executive and judicial powers.” [10]
This leads to the well-known sharia maxim where the Prophet ﷺ said, عَنْ عَلِيٍّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لَا طَاعَةَ فِي مَعْصِيَةٍ إِنَّمَا الطَّاعَةُ فِي الْمَعْرُوفِ “There is no obedience to anyone if it is disobedience to Allah. Verily, obedience is only in good conduct.”[11]
This is a fundamental principle in Islamic political thought, which prevents the rulers in an Islamic State from overstepping the limits of their executive power. Coupled with the Mazalim court, these form powerful accountability mechanisms in a future state.
Notes
[1] Sahih al-Bukhari 4339, https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4339
[2] Ibn Qudama, Al-Mughni
[3] Sunan Ibn Majah 161 https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:161
[4] Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Sallabi, ‘The Noble Life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ,’ p.1716
[5] Ijtihaad is where an Islamic legal expert (mujtahid) expends maximum effort in deriving a divine rule from the Qur’an and Sunnah and the sources they allude to such as consensus (ijma) of the companions and analogy (qiyas). There are a multitude of other sources which may also play a role depending on which school of thought (mazhab) the mujtahid adheres to.
[6] Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Sallabi, Op.cit., p.1717
[7] even in first degree murder the family can opt to accept compensation (blood money) rather than punish the murderer
[8] Holy Qur’an, Surah An-Nisaa, ayah 59
[9] Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Al-Massari, ‘Al-Hakimiyah Wa Siyadah Ash-Shar’i,’ Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights, First Edition, 1423 H /2002 CE
[10] Wael B. Hallaq, ‘The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Moral Predicament,’ Columbia University Press, p.51
[11] Agreed Upon. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7257, https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7257 ; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1840, https://sunnah.com/muslim:1840a
Islamic Civilization 