generous man.” He repeated that three times on three different occasions. On the third time, the
Prophet (Peace be upon him) ordered that he should be released. He soon went nearby, washed and  then came back to profess the new faith addressing the Prophet (Peace be upon him) : “No face had  been more awful to me than yours but now it is the closest to my heart, no religion had ever been  more  repugnant to me than yours, now it is the dearest in my heart. Now I want to perform the ‘Umrah
(lesser pilgrimage).” The Prophet (Peace be upon him) gave him good tidings and asked him to do  that.
On his arrival in Makkah, the Quraishites accused him of apostasy. He denied it and affirmed that he  had embraced Islam, then swore that they would never get a grain from Yamama, a suburban area  around Makkah, unless the Prophet (Peace be upon him) would allow it. In fact, he did it and refused  to  send food supplies to Makkah until the Prophet (Peace be upon him) interceded at the Makkans’  earnest  plea.
BANI LIHYAN INVASION:
Bani Lihyan had acted treacherously towards ten of the Prophet’s Companions and had them hanged.
Their habitation being situated deep in the heart of Hijaz on the borders of Makkah, and due to  deepseated  blood-revenge between the Muslims on the one hand, and Quraish and the Arabians on the  other, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) deemed it unwise to penetrate deep and come close to the  greatest enemy, Quraish. However, when the power of the allied Confederates collapsed and they  began to slacken and resign to the current unfavourable balance of power, the Messenger of Allâh
(Peace be upon him) seized this rare opportunity and decided that it was time to take revenge on Bani
Lihyan. He set out in Rabi‘ Al-Awwal or Jumada Al-Ula in the year six Hijri at the head of two hundred
Muslim fighters and made a feint of heading for Syria, then soon changed route towards Batn Gharran,  the scene of his Companions’ tragedy, and invoked Allâh’s mercy on them. News of his march reached
Bani Lihyan, who immediately fled to the mountain tops nearby and thus remained out of his reach.
On  his way back, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) despatched a group of ten horsemen to a place called
Kura‘ Al-Ghamim, in the vicinity of the habitation of Quraish in order to indirectly confirm his growing  military power. All these skirmishes took fourteen days, after which he left back for home.
EXPEDITIONS AND DELAGATIONS CONTINUED:
1. A platoon led by ‘Ukasha bin Al-Mihsan was despatched to a place called Al-Ghamir inhabited by
Bani Asad in the year six Hijri. The enemy immediately fled leaving behind them two hundred  camels which were taken to Madinah.
1. A platoon led by Muhammad bin Maslamah set out towards the habitation of Bani Tha‘labah in
Dhil Qassa. But a hundred men of the enemies ambushed and killed all of them except
Muhammad bin Maslamah who managed to escape but badly wounded.
2. In retaliation against Bani Tha‘labah, Abu ‘Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah, at the head of forty men, was  despatched to Dhil Qassa. They walked that night and took the enemy by surprise in the  morning. Again, they fled to the mountains except one who was injured, and later embraced
Islam. A lot of booty fell to their lot in that particular incident.
3. A platoon, under the leadership of Zaid bin Haritha, was sent to Al-Jumum, the habitation of Bani
Saleem, in the same year. A woman from Bani Muzaina showed them the way to the enemy’s  camp. There the Muslims took some captives and gained a lot of booty. Later on, the Messenger  of Allâh (Peace be upon him) granted the woman her freedom and married her to one of his  followers.
4. Zaid bin Haritha, in Jumada Al-Ula 6 Hijri, at the head of a hundred and seventy horsemen, set  out to a place called Al-‘Ais, intercepted a caravan of Quraish led by Abul-‘As, the Prophet’s  relative and looted their camels. Abul-‘As escaped and took refuge in Zainab’s (his wife and the
Prophet’s daughter) house. He begged her to ask the Prophet (Peace be upon him) for the  restitution of his wealth. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) recommended, but without coercion,  that the people do that. They immediately gave the man back all his wealth. He went back to
Makkah, gave over the trusts to those entitled to them, embraced Islam and emigrated to
Madinah where the Prophet (Peace be upon him) reunited him with his wife, Zainab, after three  and a half years of their first marriage contract. The verse relating to prohibition of marriage  between women Muslims and disbelievers had not been revealed then.
5. In Jumada Ath-Thania, the same year, Zaid at the head of fifteen men raided Bani Tha‘labah and