ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas Mosque: the camp of the siege

History

In Shawwal of the year 8, the Hawazin are defeated at Hunayn. The fighters of Thaqif flee and shut themselves in their fort at Taif. According to al-Waqidi, they had stored provisions there for a year. The Prophet ﷺ sends the spoils to al-Jiʿrana and marches on Taif. On the way, he builds a mosque with his own hands at Liyya (see no. 08), then stops under the lote tree of as-Sadira (see no. 10).

The first camp is too close to the wall. ʿAmr ibn Umayya ad-Damri relates that a rain of arrows fell on them, « كَأَنَّهُ رِجْلُ جَرَادٍ » (“like a swarm of locusts”). The Prophet ﷺ tasks al-Hubab ibn al-Mundhir with finding « مَكَانًا مُرْتَفِعًا مُسْتَأْخِرًا عَنِ الْقَوْمِ » (“a raised place, set back from the enemy”). Al-Hubab stops, says al-Waqidi, where “the mosque of Taif, outside the town” stands.

Two wives of the Prophet ﷺ are with him, Umm Salama and Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with them). He has two tents put up for them. Al-Waqidi states: « ثُمَّ كَانَ يُصَلِّي بَيْنَ الْقُبَّتَيْنِ حِصَارَ الطَّائِفِ كُلَّهُ » (“then he prayed between the two tents throughout the siege of Taif”).

Ibn Hisham reports that the Prophet ﷺ was the first in Islam to use a mangonel. According to al-Waqidi, it was Salman the Persian who had the idea, because it was used in Persia. One day, Companions approach the wall to breach it, sheltered by a dabbaba, a kind of roof covered with cowhides. Thaqif rains red-hot iron bars down on them: this was “the day of the Shadkha”. They then begin to cut down the vines of Thaqif. The besieged appeal to the ties of kinship, and the Prophet ﷺ stops the cutting: « فَإِنِّي أَدَعُهَا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّحِمِ » (“So I leave them for Allah and for kinship”).

His herald proclaims: « أَيُّمَا عَبْدٍ نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحِصْنِ وَخَرَجَ إِلَيْنَا فَهُوَ حُرٌّ » (“Any slave who comes down from the fort and comes out to us is free”). More than ten slaves come down. One of them, Nufayʿ ibn Masruh, lets himself down by means of a pulley (bakra), hence his nickname Abu Bakra. Al-Bukhari confirms that he came down to the Prophet ﷺ, “the third of twenty-three, from Taif”. The Prophet ﷺ entrusts each of them to a Companion, tasked with feeding him and teaching him the Quran. Later, when the notables of Thaqif want to take them back, he answers: « أُولَئِكَ عُتَقَاءُ اللَّهِ » (“Those are the freedmen of Allah”).

Ibn Ishaq counts twelve Muslim martyrs, including ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Umayya, the brother of Umm Salama. According to the historians, the siege lasts about twenty nights. In the Sahih of Muslim, Anas speaks of forty nights. In the Sahih of al-Bukhari, Ibn ʿUmar relates the end. The Prophet ﷺ announces: « إِنَّا قَافِلُونَ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ » (“We are leaving, if Allah wills”). The Companions, disappointed, want to stay. He tells them: « اغْدُوا عَلَى الْقِتَالِ » (“Go out to fight in the morning”). They come back covered in wounds. He repeats: « إِنَّا قَافِلُونَ غَدًا إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ » (“We are leaving tomorrow, if Allah wills”). This time, the news pleases them, and the Prophet ﷺ laughs. The historians state that Allah had not given him permission to take Taif.

At the departure, he is asked to curse Thaqif. He answers: « اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ ثَقِيفًا وَأْتِ بِهِمْ » (“O Allah, guide Thaqif and bring them”). Ibn Ishaq, al-Waqidi and Ibn Saʿd report these words. At-Tirmidhi also reports them, in the form « اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ ثَقِيفًا », and grades them hasan, but al-Albani judges the chain weak.

Thaqif finally came to Islam. ʿUrwa ibn Masʿud, one of its chiefs, was the first to convert; he went back to call his people, who killed him, and he was buried with the martyrs of the siege. In Ramadan of the year 9, a delegation of Thaqif came to Medina and embraced Islam. It asked to keep al-Lat, its idol, for three years, then one year, then one month. The Prophet ﷺ refused. It also asked to be exempted from prayer. He answered: « لَا خَيْرَ فِي دِينٍ لَا صَلَاةَ فِيهِ » (“There is no good in a religion without prayer”). He appointed as governor ʿUthman ibn Abi l-ʿAs, the youngest of them and the most eager to learn the Quran.

Al-Mughira ibn Shuʿba and Abu Sufyan went back with the delegation to destroy al-Lat, the idol named in the Quran: « أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَالْعُزَّىٰ » (“So have you considered al-Lat and al-'Uzza?”, an-Najm 53:19, translation of the meaning, Sahih International). Al-Mughira climbed onto the idol and struck it with a pickaxe. Ibn al-Kalbi places al-Lat under the left minaret of the mosque of Taif. The authors do not agree on whether this is this mosque or another one, in the old town.

After Thaqif converted, ʿAmr ibn Umayya, a man of the tribe, built a mosque on the place where the Prophet ﷺ had prayed (Ibn Ishaq). Al-Waqidi calls him Umayya ibn ʿAmr. In the 2nd century AH, an inscription of Umm Jaʿfar, the wife of the caliph Harun ar-Rashid, announces the restoration of “the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at Taif”. In the 8th century AH, al-Matari describes a large mosque whose courtyard kept, between two small domes, the place where the Prophet ﷺ prayed. The building was rebuilt under Kings Saʿud (1378 AH) and Faisal (1381 AH), then from 1436 AH. It has been listed in the national heritage register since 1444 AH.

The mosque bears the name of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas (may Allah be pleased with him). He was the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, who had prayed for him: « اللَّهُمَّ فَقِّهْهُ فِي الدِّينِ » (“O Allah, give him understanding of the religion”). During the troubles of the time of Ibn az-Zubayr, he left Mecca for Taif. He died there in 68 AH, at about seventy years of age. Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya prayed over him and said: « الْيَوْمَ مَاتَ رَبَّانِيُّ هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ » (“Today the godly scholar of this Umma has died”). His grave is now in the cemetery next to the mosque. Whoever passes by may greet the dead as the Prophet ﷺ taught: « السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ أَهْلَ الدِّيَارِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُسْلِمِينَ » (“Peace be upon you, people of these dwellings, from among the believers and the Muslims”).

What is certain and what is not

• Certain: the siege of Taif and its failure, the « قافلون غدا » and the coming down of Abu Bakra (al-Bukhari); the death of Ibn ʿAbbas at Taif in 68 AH.
• Historians' account: the camp moved back, the two tents, the mangonel, the Shadkha, the freed slaves, the delegation of the year 9 and the destruction of al-Lat. The supplication « اللهم اهد ثقيفا » is also in at-Tirmidhi, but its chain is disputed.
• The place: the mosque is said to be built on the place where the Prophet ﷺ prayed. This is an old and continuous tradition (attested at least since the 2nd century AH), solid for the area, not for the exact spot.
• Disputed: the location of al-Lat (under this mosque or under another). The hadith of Abu Dawud ordering the mosque of Taif to be built in place of the idol is judged weak by al-Albani.
• False: the graves of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya (buried in al-Baqiʿ in Medina) and of Ibn az-Zubayr (killed in Mecca) are not here. The graves of the martyrs of the siege cannot be identified.

Sources

1. Ibn Hisham, as-Sira an-nabawiyya, vol. 2, p. 481-487 (route, camp, two tents, mosque of ʿAmr ibn Umayya, mangonel, Shadkha, vines, permission refused, freed slaves, martyrs, « اللهم اهد ثقيفا وأت بهم »); vol. 2, p. 536-541 (ʿUrwa ibn Masʿud, delegation of Thaqif, « لا خير في دين لا صلاة فيه », al-Lat, ʿUthman ibn Abi l-ʿAs).
2. Al-Waqidi, al-Maghazi, vol. 3, p. 922-937 (fort, al-Hubab, « كأنه رجل من جراد », two tents, Salman and the mangonel, Shadkha, « أدعها لله وللرحم », Abu Bakra, « أولئك عتقاء الله », duration, departure, supplication); vol. 3, p. 937-938 (list of martyrs).
3. Ibn Saʿd, at-Tabaqat al-kubra, vol. 2, p. 119-120 (siege of 18 days, two tents, supplication); vol. 2, p. 280 (« مات رباني هذه الأمة »); vol. 5, p. 75 (death of Ibn ʿAbbas in 68 AH); vol. 5, p. 86 (Ibn al-Hanafiyya buried in al-Baqiʿ).
4. Al-Bukhari, as-Sahih, no. 4325 (« إنا قافلون غدا إن شاء الله »); no. 4326-4327 (Abu Bakra); no. 143 (« اللهم فقهه في الدين »).
5. Muslim, as-Sahih, no. 1059 (siege of forty nights, from Anas); no. 975 (greeting the graves).
6. At-Tirmidhi, as-Sunan, no. 3942 (« اللهم اهد ثقيفا », graded « حسن غريب »); gradings of al-Albani and Zubayr ʿAli Zaʾi (weak): https://hadithunlocked.com/tirmidhi:3942
7. Abu Dawud, as-Sunan, no. 450; Ibn Majah, as-Sunan, no. 743; al-Bayhaqi, Dalaʾil an-nubuwwa, vol. 5, p. 305 (mosque of Taif in place of the idol).
8. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istiʿab, vol. 3, p. 933 (death of Ibn ʿAbbas, age, prayer of Ibn al-Hanafiyya).
9. Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, vol. 8, p. 44 (commentary on no. 4325: duration, supplication).
10. Yaqut al-Hamawi, Muʿjam al-buldan, vol. 5, p. 3 (al-Lat “under the left minaret of the mosque of Taif”, based on Ibn al-Kalbi).
11. As-Samhudi, Wafaʾ al-wafa, vol. 3, p. 181-182 (al-Matari, al-Fasi, inscription of Umm Jaʿfar dated 172 AH).
12. Saudipedia, « مسجد عبدالله بن عباس » (rebuildings of 1378, 1381 and 1436 AH; listing in the register in 1444 AH): https://saudipedia.com/مسجد-عبدالله-بن-عباس
13. Hammad as-Salimi, « المساجد الأثرية في الطائف », Al-Jazirah, 31/10/1999: https://al-jazirah.com/1999/19991031/fu4.htm