We are in the 9th year of the Hijrah.

And again we are coming to the end of the

seerah - there isn't that much left to discuss. The 9th year is actually called
the 'year of delegations'. There is however a number of issues when it comes to
delegations.
1) Although we are discussing it now as is custom, the delegations did not just
occur in the 9th year after Tabuk. Rather they actually began probably around th
e battle of Ahzab in the 5th year right to the end of the prophet PBUHs life. An
d there are plenty of delegations found in ibn Ishaaq, ibn Hishaam, Al Waaqidi e
tc. Some scholars have attempted all of them togethers including ibn Kathir. Lat
er scholars build on the classical books, and these days we have in depth disser
tations on the delegations of the prophet PBUH. An indian scholar wrote a 250 pa
ge book on the delegations that has now became the standard reference for any an
d all delegations. So the delegations occured over a long period but to pause ev
ery time and talk about a delegation would be repetetive. This is why scholars l
ump them all after Tabuk as we are doing now.
2) No standard book of tafsir lists
g. So what happens is that, here is
bulk of the delegations since it's
te maybe 10 or 15 delegations which

the delegations because it simply gets borin

where the seerah talks simply gloss over the
not that relevant to us. So we will illustra
make up only 10% of the actual amount.

So why is the 9th year called the year of delegations? Because the frequency of
delegations reached its height. What is a delegation? It is when a tribe sends a
representative to negotiate with the prophet PBUH. Delegations dosen't mean the
y are embracing Islam. It simply means some negotitation - yes they might embrac
e Islam, but others might hesitate and wait. The third group were hypocrites who
were just pretending to embrace and as soon as the prophet PBUH died they left
Islam. Then there were those who openely said "we won't be muslim but let's have
a peace treaty". We also had another extreme of delegations of threat; an examp
le is Musaylama al Khazab (the liar). He met the prophet PBUH and he was the hea
d of delegation from his tribe in Yamama. He attempted to negotiate "you have ha
lf the Earth I'll take other half". The point is the 9th year is the year in whi
ch delegations became so frequent the entire year is called the year of delegati
ons. After the conquest of Mecca and especially after Tabuk, where the muslims b
y default won since the other side didn't show up, it sealed the fate for the re
st of the arabs. Why? Because if there was any capital of Arabia it was Mecca. A
nd if there was a primary tribe it was the Quraysh. So with Mecca and Quraysh co
nquered, there is no rallying force against the muslims. The rest of the tribes
know they cannot put up a fight. Of course they tried to in Ahzab and others und
er the Quraysh but that didn't work. So with the conquest of Mecca, Hunayn and b
attle of Tabuk it's a done deal. Either the tribes embrace Islam or they make a
peace treaty or they go into all out war as Musaylama tried. By the way at this
stage you were allowed to be a pagan in Arabia - in the 6th, 7th, 8th year you w
ere allowed via a peace treaty. But in the 9th year that's when the announcement
came when the first verses of surah Tawbah were revealed and Allah says "after
four months you have to leave". The point is, in this year, because of the chang
es of the political landscape, the surrounding tribes had to embrace Islam or ne
gotiate and that is why this year is called the year of delegations.
We will discuss around 15 delegations - discussing any more will give us no real
benefit. We begin with the delegation of Abdul Kays. The tribe of Abdul Kays li
ved in the area Bahrain - back then, Bahrain was not the island, it was the land
close to the island we know now. Many of the people were christian, some pagans
etc so there was a mixture. The tribe of Abdul Kays sent two delegations. The f
irst was in the 5th year of the hijrah, and this is considered to be perhaps the
first ever delegation the prophet PBUH recieved. Then the tribe sent a second d
elegation in the 9th year i.e. year of delegations. Why is this signficant? It's
said the tribe was the first tribe outside the hijaaz to accept Islam voluntari
ly. Therefore this is a great matter of pride for this tribe. A special signific

ance for us is that, in the 5th year of the Hijrah bordering on Persia, they've
heard of Islam, the message has reached them, they are interested so they send r
epresentatives. So in the 5th year a small group converted to Islam and arrived
in Madinah. It's mentioned the prophet PBUH was once giving the khutbah and pred
icted "soon a delegation will come to you, and they are the best people from the
east". So in a day or two Umar RA was in the marketplace when he saw a group of
delegates arrive as the prophet PBUH predicted. He jumped up and rejoiced and s
aid "I give you the good news for the prophet PBUH said you are the best people"
. And all of the delegates rushed to meet the prophet PBUH except for the younge
st among them, his nickname was 'al Asaj ibn al-Kays' (the wounded one) who is a
famous sahabi.
As for al Asaj, he stayed behind, cleansed himself, took a bath, wore some good
garments, put on perfume, and then went to meet the prophet PBUH. In other words
he took time to prepare himself and then comes. And the prophet PBUH says "Ya A
saj you have two characteristics Allah and His messenger love them". Al Asaj sai
d what is that? And the prophet PBUH replied "you can control your tempter (forb
erance), and you don't act hastily (calm and collected)". this is a very famous
hadith that occured in this story in the 5th year. So al Asaj says "these two ch
aracteristics, have I developed them or has Allah given them to me?" It's a very
clever question. The prophet PBUH said "no Allah implanted them in you". This s
hows us that at some level there is an element beyond your control. Some people
are short tempered etc. So al Asaj very cleverly responded "all praise be to All
ah who has implanted in me characteristics that He loves". And al Asaj is a very
famous sahabi because of this.
Then the delegates said "ya RasulAllah between us and you is the tribe of Mudar,
a pagan tribe, and they are fighting us so we can only come to you in the sacre
d months (i.e. we won't be able to come for a year), so tell us something that w
ill cause us to enter Jannah and we can teach our people when we go back". So cl
early this is an intellegent tribe. This hadith is in Bhukari and Muslim so it i
s fully authentic, and it's a very famous hadith which has alot of theological i
mplications. The prophet PBUH responded "I command you to have imaan in Allah, a
nd do you know what is imaan? That you say the shahada, pray the prayers, fast R
amadan and pay zakat." And he stopped there - he didn't mention Hajj because it'
s the 5th year of the Hijrah and there is no Hajj. Why is this a theological had
ith? Because he said "do you know what is imaan?" And then the prophet PBUH list
ed the pillars of Islam. So he defined imaan with same defintion of Islam that i
s found in the hadith of Jibreel AS. This is why the hadith is very deeply discu
ssed, i.e. what is imaan, what is Islam and what is their relationship? The dele
gates also mentioned they live in a cold climate so asked if they could drink al
cohol. The prophet PBUH forbade them from doing so, and he literally listed all
the different types of alcohol one by one which are forbidden. It is said that,
they were the first group to build a masjid outside the hijaaz, and they were th
e first to pray juma'a.
The second delegation is that of Banu Sa'ad ibn Bakr. Halima, the foster mother/
carer of the prophet PBUH when he was an infant, was from the tribe of Banu Sa'a
d. So this tribe as we discussed a while ago would come down to Mecca and take c
are of the children of Quraysh. And the Banu Sa'ad is one of the subtribes of Ha
waazim which fought alongside the Quraysh at Ahzab. So the delegates sent at the
time was not a muslim. The tribe was meant to negotiate a treaty, and this took
place before one of the most important delegations which was that of Ta'if. So
before takeef this tribe comes, and negotiates a peace treaty. They send one of
elders Dimam ibn Sa'laba. Recall the main difference between Hawaazim and Takeef
was that Takeef was residents of Ta'if, but Hawaazim lived around Ta'if. So the
y are bedouins. This means in terms of their manners they were rough. So the Haw
aazim cheifton comes in, and he was a very hairy scruffy man with two ponytails.
And this is common amongst the bedouins that they had ponytails. So ibn Sa'laba
comes in, brings his camel all the way to the door of the masjid; then he barge

s in and says "where is the son of Abdul Muttalib". SubhanAllah we see the wisdo
m of why Allah chose the prophet PBUH to have the most prestigious lineage. This
is a bedouin, ignorant, crude and unlettered. Yet he knows Abdul Muttalib and h
e knows the man claiming to be a prophet is his grandson. So this no doubt has a
n impact on his thinking and embracing Islam. That "if I will embrace a religion
let it at least be from someone with lineage and prestigue". If we go back to H
unayn what was the prophet PBUH saying? "I am the true prophet, and I am the gra
ndson of Abdul Muttalib". At that time that was the rallying call needed so the
prophet PBUH used it. In any case the prophet PBUH said "I am the son of Abdul M
uttalib".
So Dimam points at the prophet PBUH and says "you are Muhammad?" And the prophet
PBUH said "yes I am Muhammad". So Dimam says "I will ask you, and I will be ver
y tough with you, so don't get angry with you". So the prophet PBUH said "ask wh
at you wish". So Dimam said "your envoy came to us, and he told us that Allah ha
s sent you". So the prophet PBUH said "he has spoken the truth". So the bedouin
says "who created the heavens, skies and Earth?" The prophet PBUH said "Allah".
Then Dimam says "So I ask you by the One who created the heavans, skies and Eart
h, I ask you by Allah, are you swearing Allah has sent you to us?" From his simp
le mind he is thinking if the prophet PBUH swears by Allah he can't lie. So the
prophet PBUH said "I swear by Allah I have been sent by him". So Dimam said "you
r envoy also said we have to pray 5x a day, so I ask you by the One who sent you
did Allah command us to pray 5x a day?" The prophet PBUH said "Yes". And then t
he series of questions go on about zakat, fasting and hajj - note hajj is mentio
ned because this is the 9th year of the Hijrah. According to some narrations thi
s is the same man who said "do I have to pray anything more than the fard 5 pray
ers?" And the prophet PBUH said "no unless you want to". So then he said "do I h
ave one penny more than zakat - do I have to fast one day outside Ramadan? etc"
THe prophet PBUH said "no unless you want to". So he finishes the whole hadith,
then the bedouin says "I swear by the One who has sent you that I shall follow t
his and not increase or decrese one bit". The prophet PBUH said "if he is true t
hen he shall enter Jannah" i.e. this is the bare minimum of Islam - if you do al
l this and avoid the major sins you have done your job. Its said when Dimam retu
rned back to his people, he was the one who started preaching to his people - he
was so respected by his community that the same day he returned, the entire tri
be converted to Islam. And the same day he returned he destroyed the idols in hi
s town. And its said no other delegate had as much impact as Dimam i.e. the enti
re tribe converted in one day. No doubt there is some type of baraqah in this tr
ibe because Halima is from them.
Also there is an interesting miracle reported when the tribe of Muzayana came. T
he entire tribe came to embrace Islam. When they wanted to return home the proph
et PBUH said to Umar RA "ya Umar give them the food they need to return". SO he
needs to provide them with food to last for a few weeks. SO Umar RA says "ya Ras
ulAllah I only have one bag of dates at home". So the prophet PBUH said again "y
a Umar give them the food they need to return". So Umar RA said "I will do that"
. So he goes back to his home, and lo and behold his entire room was full of dat
es to the ceiling. SubhanAllah. The whole room was full of dates; and when he sa
w this he called the tribe and all 400 of them took and filled their sack of dat
es. The last one who exited said "I looked back and the pile of dates was just a
s it was when we began taking our provisions from it".
Not all tribes ended so positively - some tribes had some issues even though the
y accepted Islam, in paticular the Banu Asad ibn Kuzayma. They were 10 people wh
o entered loudly in the masjid, and they said "Oh messenger of Allah we testify
that we are muslims, and we would like you to know that we have come to you with
out you sending anyone. And we've accepted Islam without you fighting us. So we
aren't like the other arabs. And we've travelled in the darkness and the cold in
order to come to you". So they kept on bragging about what they have done. Alla
h revealed about this tribe "they think they have done you a favour by embracing

Islam - NO, Allah has done them a favour". And Allah says 'if you are truly mus
lims, you should be thankful Allah has made you muslim'.
Another interesting tribe was that of Banu Amr ibn Sa'sa. This is the tribe that
was responsible for the well of Bi'r Maoona. one of the main instigators, Amr i
bn Tufayl, physically came to Madinah as apart of the delegates but he had no in
tention of embracing Islam. Then ibn Tufayl said to his henchman "let us get rid
of his man". Note this is taking place in the 7th/8th year. Most likely this is
taking place before the conquest of Mecca because once Mecca is conquered its h
opeless for any tribe to do anything against the muslims. So this is a small ass
assination attempt. Amr ibn Tufayl says "I will distract him with a series of qu
estions, and I when I give you the signal, you pull out a dagger and stab him".
Most likely it was a poisionous dagger. So when they came into the prophet PBUH,
Amr ibn Tufayl said "give us a private audience". And the prophet PBUH said "No
until you embrace Islam". He tried asking again but the prophet PBUH declined.
When he realised it wasn't going to happen, he gave his henchman Arbad the secre
t signal. But Arbad did not do anything. The conversation continues but again Ar
bad does not do anything. The third time when Arbad dosen't do anything, ibn Tuf
ayl realises it won't happen. So to conclude the discussion he tells the prophet
PBUH "I give you three options: if you want, you take charge of the people of t
he cities and I will take charge of the bedouins" i.e. he wants to split leaders
hip. "If not, then the second option, you make me the leader after you. If you d
on't do this, there will be an army against you from my side". Look at the arrog
ance of this man.
And so the prophet PBUH refused to accept any of the conditions and he said "Al
lah will stop me. 'Oh Allah I put you in charge of being sufficient from against
Amr ibn Tufayl' and guide his people". This was the prophetic methodalogy that
even though the prophet PBUH is asking Allah to take care of this man, he still
wants guidance for his people. After they felt Amr became furious with Arbad. He
said "what is wrong with you, you are considered to be the strongest amongst al
l the people". Arbad said "don't get angry, when I entered upon the prophet PBUH
it was my intention. But I could only see you and not him. Every time you are g
iving me the signal I could only see you!" So Allah directly protected the proph
et PBUH as He has done multiple times. Both of them suffered a very evil demise
eventually. As for Amr ibn Tufayl, its said on the way back to his tribe, he sto
pped at the house of a prostitute and spent the night there. In the middle of th
e night he was inflicted with a disease which spread through his body. When he r
ealised he's about to die he says "Amr ibn Tufayl will die on this house?!" So h
e mounted his horse and fled away in the darkness because he didn't want to die
in such a location. So he literally fled and died at a random place. As for Arba
d, he returns to his tribe and says something bad about Allah. Lo and behold the
next day he went out on his camel, and in front of his community lightening cam
e from the heavans and destroyed both him and his camel. It's said he is the ref
erence for Surah Ra'ad verse 12, 13:
12. It is He who shows you lightening, [causing] fear and aspiration, and genera
tes the heavy clouds.
13. And the thunder exalts [ Allah ] with praise of Him - and the angels [as wel
l] from fear of Him - and He sends thunderbolts and strikes therewith whom He wi
lls while they dispute about Allah ; and He is severe in assault.
Another delegation is that of Tamim ad Dari, who was a christian from a northen
tribe. He came as a delegate embracing Islam. His story is narrated by Fatimah b
int Kays, who was one of the sahabiat who immigrated to both Abyssinia and Madin
ah, so she completed both hijrahs. Fatimah narrates she was in her idaat when sh
e heard a voice saying "come to the prayer". And so she went to the masjid of th
e prohpet PBUH and she said "I was in the womens row closes to the men". When th
e prohpet PBUH finished the prayer he went onto the mimbar and his face was beam

ing. He said "let every person stay in his place. Do you know I've called you? B
y Allah I haven't called you for a lecture, rather I have called you to hear the
story of Tamim ad Dari. He was a christian and he has become a muslim, and he h
as said something that agrees with what I've been telling you about dajjal." So
the hadith we will go into now is all about dajjal. This entire story occurs in
the 9th year. So the prohpet PBUH is telling the story that "Tamim said he saile
d in a ship with 30 men and they were tossed by the waves of the sea and were lo
st for a month. Until they crashed onto an island at sunset and they were in a s
mall boat. They met a beast with a great deal of hair. And they became scared an
d said 'what are you?' He said 'I am the jasalsa (this is the name given to the
creature of dajjal)'. Tamim said 'what is the jasalsa?' The creature said 'come
to the place where the man is waiting to meet you'. Tamim said 'when we heard th
ere is a man with this creature as his messenger we became more terrified'." The
n the hadith said "we found the hugest man we had ever seen, bound strongly in c
hains. With his hands tied to his neck; his legs bound from the knees to the ank
les with iron shackles. And we said 'who are you?' So he said 'tell me who are y
ou'. They said 'we are people of Arabia who are stranded on this Island of yours
and we took our smaller boats looking for food and water. We met this creature
who brought us to you, and we are wondering are you a devil or a man?' So the ma
n said 'tell me about the date palms of the trees of Baysan. I am asking you whe
ther they are fruitful. They said 'yes'. He said 'its only a matter of time they
will go barren and dry'.
Then he said 'tell me about the lake of Thabariya - is there still water in the
lake?' They said 'yes alot of water'. He said 'soon it will dry up'. Then he sai
d 'tell me the spring of Zubur is there still water there and do the people go c
rops?' They said 'yes'. Then he said 'tell me about the unlettered prophet and w
hat he has done'. Tamim replied 'he's left Mecca and settled in Yathrib'. So thi
s entity said 'have the Arabs fought against him?' They said 'yes'. He said 'wha
t was the verdict?' They said 'we are told he prevailed over the Arabs and they'
ve all shown obediance to him'. So this entity said 'has it really happened?' Th
ey said 'yes'. Then the entity said 'if it is so, then it is better for them to
show obediance to him. Now I will tell you about myself. I am the dajjal. And so
on Allah will give me permission to emerge. I will come travelling in the lands,
I won't spare any town. I'll stay in every town for 40 nights except for Mecca
and Thayba (Madinah). On every road into these cities there will be angels guard
ing it". This is the story of Tamim. The prophet PBUH then goes on. Fatimah says
the prophet PBUH was standing on the mimbar with his staff and he began hitting
the pulpit saying "this is Thayba, this is Thayba, this is Thayba. Didn't I tel
l you about this before?" The people said "yes". The prophet PBUH said "this is
why I like this story about Tamim because it proves what I told you about Mecca,
Madinah and dajjal. But he (dajjal) is in the east, east and east". Fatimah nar
rates she memorised this hadith from the prophet PBUH.
Now this hadith is narrated in Sahih Muslim, and this is why it's caused many is
sues. The fact is this hadith is unique in its narration of a number of things.
Firstly the jasalsa, secondly the dajjal is alive right now chained to some wall
in some island. Frankly, no one has really resolved this with other traditions
that seem to suggest dajjal will be born at a future date. This is why some scho
lars have cast doubts on his hadith even if it is in Sahih Muslim. One such scho
lar is ibn Uthaymeen. Ibn Uthaymeen says his hadith seems to contradict others,
for example, one hadith it is narrated the prophet PBUH came out one night and s
aid "every single person on this Earth will be dead in 100 years". The sheikh sa
ys "how then can the dajjal be one an island somewhere?" Further there are other
issues, that the dajjal is reported to be a short, stocky man. Whereas this had
ith mentions he is a giant. It's also mentioned the dajjal will be born to a cou
ple who was waiting for a child for a long time but it didn't happen. Also dajja
l has kafir written on the forehead but Tamim dosen't mention this. And the sing
le most characterisitic of dajjal is his one eye, but Tamim has nothing on this.
Based on this, some scholars have said something dosen't seem right about this

hadith.
The students of ibn Uthaymeen weren't happy about this because it is in Sahih Mu
slim. By the way, note that Bhukari is a whole another level above Sahih Muslim.
The fact that Bhukari dosen't have this hadith means Bhukari himself didn't lik
e the hadith to his standards. Another very interesting thing that dosen't make
sense is the very famous contraversy of ibn Sayad. He was a magician from a jewi
sh tribe from Madinah. At one point even the prophet PBUH was unsure whether thi
s person was the dajjal or not, to the extent the prophet PBUH went to quiz and
test him. Umar RA until his death would swore ibn Sayad is the dajjal. Yet if th
e hadith of Fatimah is true, why is Umar worried about this man? The point is th
is one hadith gives us details that seem to conflict with the entire narrative o
f dajjal. Thus some scholars have rejected the hadith. Note though hadiths are n
ot judged based on out intellect or feelings. If it dosen't make sense to us, th
at is not a legitimate reason to reject it. However, with this hadith, it appear
s the Quran and Sunnahs narrative of the dajjal is clearly constructed but this
one hadith throws a spanner in the entire narrative. The chain of the hadith is
As-Sha'bi from Fatimah. And As-Sha'bi was a tabioon who was known to take alot f
rom storytellers, so there is a weakness in the chain. If however the hadith is
authentic then we believe it. In the opinion of sheikh yasir qadhi, something do
sen't seem right about it.