CRITICS WOULD HAVE one believe that Muslims just decided one day that they should attack Tabūk and showed up in Tabūk for loot and plunder. These critics completely and purposely ignore the historical background of this battle.
In the 9th year of Hijra Calendar, or the year 630 CE, Prophet Muhammadsa sent his delegate to Ḥārith bin Abī Shamr, the ruler of Ghassān. This area was considered under the rule of Caesar. In his letter given to Ḥārith, Prophet Muhammadsa of Islam invited the ruler of Ghassān to accept Islam and said that God through this blessing would extend his governance and he would be blessed. When this letter was read out, Ḥārith became enraged and threw the letter away and said, “Who has the power to take my country away from me? Rather, I myself would attack this claimant and even if I had to fight all the way to Yemen I would do so in order to capture this man”. He then gave the order for his cavalry to get ready to charge. He also wrote a letter to Caesar in order to seek his permission for launching a military assault upon Muslims. This created an atmosphere of hate and intolerance against Muslims in the whole region. As a result of this, Muslims of Madīnah lived in a state of expectancy of an imminent attack.
Secondly, the battle of Mu’ta (629 CE) had just recently taken place in which the Muslims had been victorious, against the expectations of their enemies, and the perception was that Muslims were emerging as a power to reckon with in Arabia. The neighboring powers of Caesar did not look kindly at this development for it meant losing their support in the Arabian Peninsula.
Thirdly, a major method of communication in those days was to convey the message by word of mouth. Usually, the caravans travelling in the area would bring news and information that was conveyed through them. Muslims were given information by a caravan that came from that area under the influence of Caesar that an army consisting of 40,000 soldiers was preparing to attack the Muslims.
It is with this background that Muslims under the leadership of Prophet Muhammadsa started preparation for war against the peril of an impending attack on the Muslims. In the month of September, Muslims prepared themselves for the long journey to Tabūk which was 375 miles towards Syria. There were around 30,000 Muslims, of whom less than 10,000 were cavalry.
After a hot and thirsty march, the army arrived at Tabūk, where there was plenty of shade and water and they made a halt there. The rumors of an impending invasion had, by this time, died away. There seemed nothing at the time to threaten the border. This entire journey took place as a precautionary measure with the sole purpose of self-defense.
Hence, it is abundantly clear from a historical perspective that Muslims did not just attack Tabūk without any justification. First, the ruler of the area himself had pronounced war intentions and plans. Second, after having announced war intentions, he sought legitimization from his superiors to pursue and fulfil that announcement. Third, the news that Muslims received from different traveling caravans was that there was military planning of an imminent march on Muslims, as also recorded by Aḥādīth.126 In light of all this, one cannot simply ignore the gathering storm of belligerence and just allege that Muslims attacked without reasonable cause and provocation.