The words of 'Amr bin As made the Negus very angry...

The words of 'Amr bin As made the Negus very angry, so much so that he involuntarily slapped his own face so forcefully that it almost broke his nose. Then he said in a fit of rage: "Are you asking me to surrender to you the representative of a man, on whom the Archangel Jibreel descends, as it used to descend on Prophet Musa, so that you may kill him? By Allah! He is true and shall be victorious over his enemies".

'Amr bin As says: "On hearing these words I became inclined to the religion of but didn't disclose this thing to my friends".[^2] Prevention Of Repetition Of Bitter Events The bitter and unpleasant event of Raji', as a consequence of which the families of 'Azal and Qarah, who belonged to the tribe of Bani Lihyan, had killed the members of the missionary party of Islam in a cruel and cowardly manner and even arrested two persons alive and sold them to the authorities of Quraysh, who hanged them as a measure of revenge, had deeply grieved the Muslims and brought the journeys of missionary groups to a stand-still.

Now that all the obstacles had been removed from the path of the Muslims and the disturbances caused by the tribes and the Jews had also been suppressed, the Prophet of Islam considered it expedient to chastise Bani Lihyan so that other tribes might become aware of their duties and might not molest the missionary groups of Islam. In the fifth month of the sixth year of migration the Prophet left Madina appointing Ibn Umme Maktum as his representative.

He did not inform anyone of his intentions as he feared that Quraysh and Bani Lihyan might become aware of his plan. He, therefore, adopted the northern route which went up to Syria, and after covering some distance changed his path and encamped in Gharan which was the territory of Bani Lihyan. However, the enemies had become aware of his intention and had taken refuge in the hills.

This armed attack and the humiliation of the enemies had its psychological effect and they were extremely frightened and overawed. In order to achieve his end the Prophet undertook a military manoeuvre and personally marched, with two hundred men, from Gharan to Asfan, which is situated near Makkah.

Then he sent ten persons to the border of Makkah (Kira'ul Ghamim) in the capacity of an exploratory unit in such a manner that the movements of the soldiers of Islam and their display of strength could be known to Quraysh. Thereafter he gave them orders to decamp and all proceeded to Madina.