The Ghazwah of Banu Lihyan and the Legislation of Salat al-Khawf
historicalShaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:
Banū Liḥyān were the tribe responsible for fabricating the request for Islamic teachers that lured a delegation of Companions into the massacre at al-Rajīʿ, among them Khubayb ibn ʿAdī, who was executed after praying two rakʿahs as his final act. Because Banū Liḥyān were based in the Hijaz close to Makkah rather than to the north or south, any expedition against them risked provoking Quraysh directly, delaying the reckoning until 6 AH.
The Prophet ﷺ led 300 Companions out of Madinah heading north, concealing the true destination even from his own men, before doubling back toward Makkah once clear of the city, a tactic he regularly used to preserve the element of surprise. Banū Liḥyān, however, had advance warning through their own scouts and fled entirely before the Muslims arrived, leaving their camp deserted. The Prophet ﷺ remained in the area two or three days as a show of force and deterrence, but no battle took place, making this one of the less militarily significant campaigns of the Sīrah despite technically qualifying as a ghazwah (an expedition the Prophet ﷺ personally led, as distinct from a sariyyah led by others in his absence).
❧THE LEGISLATION OF ṢALĀT AL-KHAWF
The expedition's lasting significance, according to the more likely account, lies in an encounter that occurred during it: Banū Liḥyān appealed to Quraysh for help, who sent a small force under Khālid ibn al-Walīd, still a polytheist at this point, roughly a year before his own conversion. No battle occurred, but the two sides camped within sight of each other, and when the time for Ẓuhr came and the Muslims stood to pray, Quraysh recognized an opportunity: catching the Muslims mid-prayer, disarmed and prostrating, would make for an easy ambush. Khālid, however, counseled waiting for ʿAṣr to repeat the same opportunity. In the interval between the two prayers, Jibrīl brought down Sūrat al-Nisā' 4:102 (وَإِذَا كُنْتَ فِيهِمْ فَأَقَمْتَ لَهُمُ الصَّلَاةَ فَلْتَقُمْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ مَعَكَ وَلْيَأْخُذُوا أَسْلِحَتَهُمْ...), instructing the Prophet ﷺ in the practice later known as Ṣalāt al-Khawf (the Prayer of Fear): when leading prayer under threat of attack, the congregation is to split into two groups, one praying with the Prophet ﷺ while armed and the other standing guard, then switching roles partway through so that the entire congregation prays while never leaving the group collectively undefended. The detailed fiqh of how this is carried out occupies extensive discussion among the jurists, well beyond the scope of the Sīrah narrative itself.
One ḥadīth also places the first known transmission of the travel supplication (du'ā' al-safar) during this same expedition, the Prophet ﷺ teaching the Companions to seek refuge from the hardships of travel and to declare, on returning, that they come back repentant, worshipping, and praising their Lord (اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ وَعْثَاءِ السَّفَرِ وَكَآبَةِ الْمَنْظَرِ وَسُوءِ الْمُنْقَلَبِ فِي الْمَالِ وَالْأَهْلِ؛ and on return: آيِبُونَ تَائِبُونَ عَابِدُونَ لِرَبِّنَا حَامِدُونَ).