Tabuk and the Three Left Behind

In the ninth year, in the burning peak of summer, when the dates were ripe and the shade was sweet, word came of a Byzantine threat to the north. The Prophet ﷺ called the believers to a distant, difficult expedition toward Tabuk, openly naming the destination this time because of the hardship and distance. It was the great test of sincerity: the heat was crushing, the journey long, and the hypocrites made every excuse to stay.

The true believers gave everything. Uthman (ra) equipped a third of the army from his own wealth; Abu Bakr (ra) brought all the money he owned, and when the Prophet ﷺ asked what he had left for his family, he answered: Allah and His Messenger. Umar (ra), who had brought half his wealth thinking to finally outdo Abu Bakr, understood he never would. The poor who could find no mount to carry them wept at being unable to go, and the Qur'an consoled those whose tears were their excuse.

The army reached Tabuk; the Byzantines did not appear, and after securing treaties with the border peoples the believers returned, the expedition itself a victory of will. But its lasting story is of three sincere Companions, Ka'b ibn Malik (ra) and two others, who had simply failed to go, with no excuse but their own delay. When the army returned, the hypocrites lied their way out with false oaths. The three would not lie. Ka'b (ra) stood before the Prophet ﷺ and said: by Allah, I have no excuse; I was never stronger or wealthier than when I stayed behind.

They were boycotted, completely shunned by the whole community on the Prophet's ﷺ command, for fifty days, until the earth itself, Ka'b (ra) said, grew narrow despite its vastness. Then forgiveness descended from heaven in the Qur'an itself: and to the three who were left behind, until the earth closed in on them, and their own souls closed in, and they were certain there was no refuge from Allah except in Him; then He turned to them that they might repent. The Qur'an immortalised their honesty and sealed the lesson of Tabuk: O you who believe, fear Allah and be with the truthful.