Khalid ibn al-Walid: Military Commander of the Saqifah Coup

Fighting on the basis of the Qur'an's revelation ended after the martyrdom of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). While the Prophet's body was still being washed and shrouded, the struggle over interpretation began. The Commander of the Faithful, the Prophet's executor and caliph, was occupied with washing the purified body of the Messenger of God, while the Companions of the Document, the very allies in rebellion against the command, put the document into action and gathered at Saqifah so that, by any means, the Prophet's testament would be set aside and the caliphate taken from Ali (peace be upon him).

In truth, contrary to what is claimed today, Saqifah was not the consensus of the ummah, nor, as some simple-minded people imagine, a form of popular rule. It was only the implementation of the conspiracy of the Companions of the Document, about which the Prophet had warned in the sermon of Ghadir (1). In explaining the noble verse, "Thus will God show them their deeds as regrets upon them, and they will not come out of the Fire" (2), Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said: "In this way God shows them their deeds with regret and remorse. This is at the time of death, when they see the punishments prepared for them. They are the Companions of the Document, who made a covenant to oppose Ali, and they will not leave the Fire of Hell" (3).

There is no doubt that the Companions of the Document had pledged allegiance, before Saqifah, to the caliph whom they themselves had appointed. Saqifah, with all its ominousness then and now, was a puppet show staged to implement the covenant of the Companions of the Document. In reality, all the seditions, killings, and divisions that occurred after the Prophet's martyrdom were the bitter effects of that document. Therefore, the roots of Saqifah must be sought in the Document.

It is therefore very natural that those who had a role in writing and signing the Document should have had a fundamental and prominent role in Saqifah and in the events that followed, especially the martyrdom of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her). The Commander of the Faithful also exposed the deceit of the Document before them in the Prophet's Mosque. He turned to those present in the mosque and said: "O Muslims, O Muhajirun and Ansar! I adjure you by God: did you hear the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) say those words on the day of Ghadir Khumm, and did you hear what he said during the expedition of Tabuk?"

Then Ali (peace be upon him) left nothing that the Prophet had publicly said about him before the people without reminding them of it. They acknowledged all of it and said: yes, by God.

When Abu Bakr feared that the people might support Ali (peace be upon him) and prevent him, he took the initiative and said to the Imam: What you have said is true; we heard it with our own ears, understood it, and our hearts retained it. But after that I heard the Prophet say: "We are a household whom God has chosen and honored, and He has preferred the hereafter for us over this world. God will not combine prophethood and caliphate for us, the Ahl al-Bayt."

Ali (peace be upon him) said: Is there anyone among the Prophet's companions who was present with you for this statement? Umar said: The Prophet's caliph speaks the truth; I too heard from the Prophet what Abu Bakr said. Abu Ubaydah, Salim the freedman of Abu Hudhayfah, and Muadh ibn Jabal also said: He speaks the truth; we heard this from the Prophet.

Ali (peace be upon him) said to them: You have fulfilled the accursed document over which you covenanted in the Kaaba: "If God causes Muhammad to be killed or to die, take the matter of caliphate away from us, the Ahl al-Bayt." Abu Bakr said: How did you know this? We had not informed you of it! (4)

After the Prophet's testament was ignored at Saqifah, the pledge of Ghadir was broken, and Abu Bakr took control of affairs, the next step was to take allegiance from the people. Some who belonged to the party of the Document easily entered the party of Saqifah, while others were forced to submit to allegiance.

But the allegiance of these people did not matter much, because until the one introduced at Ghadir as master and guardian pledged allegiance, the first ruler's affair would not be settled. Therefore he sought the help of his allies, those who by signing the Document had pledged to aid him so that, by any means possible, Ghadir would be dragged into oblivion and Ali's right would be usurped.

Thus they were sent to the house of Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her) to take allegiance from Ali (peace be upon him). He refused to pledge allegiance, and those tragic events occurred, the same calamity that was more bitter for the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and their Shia than Karbala. In this context, the role of Khalid ibn al-Walid, whom they called the Sword of God, is important.

It must not be forgotten that Khalid was among those who took part in the attempt to assassinate the Prophet at Tabuk. He was also one of those who signed the second accursed document, and after the Prophet's martyrdom he participated in Saqifah (5).

Umar said to Abu Bakr: "All the people have pledged allegiance to you except this man, his household, and these few people. Now send for him." Abu Bakr sent Umar's cousin, who was called Qunfudh, and said to him: O Qunfudh, go to Ali and tell him: "Respond to the Prophet's caliph." Qunfudh went and delivered the message.

The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said: "How quickly you lied against the Prophet, broke the covenant, and turned back. By God, the Prophet did not appoint anyone other than me as caliph. O Qunfudh, return, for you are only a messenger. Tell him: Ali says to you: By God, the Prophet did not appoint you as caliph, and you know well who the Prophet's caliph is."

Qunfudh returned to Abu Bakr and delivered the message. Abu Bakr said: "Ali speaks the truth; the Prophet did not appoint me as his caliph!" Umar became angry, leapt up, and stood. Abu Bakr said: "Sit." Then he said to Qunfudh: "Go to Ali and tell him: respond to the Commander of the Faithful Abu Bakr."

Qunfudh came to Ali (peace be upon him), entered upon him, and delivered the message. The Imam said: "By God, he lies. Go to him and tell him: By God, you have taken a name that does not belong to you; you know well that the Commander of the Faithful is someone other than you."

Qunfudh returned and informed Abu Bakr and Umar. Umar rose in anger and said: "I know his weak intellect and weak judgment, and I know that none of our affairs will be set right until we kill him. Leave me so that I may bring you his head!"

Abu Bakr said: "Sit," but Umar refused, until Abu Bakr adjured him and he sat. Then he said: O Qunfudh, go to him and say: "Respond to Abu Bakr." Qunfudh came and said: "O Ali, respond to Abu Bakr." Ali (peace be upon him) said: "I am occupied with another matter. I am not someone who abandons the testament of my friend and brother and goes to Abu Bakr and the injustice over which you have gathered" (6).

Qunfudh went and informed Abu Bakr. Umar leapt up in anger, called Khalid ibn al-Walid and Qunfudh, and ordered them to bring firewood and fire with them. Then he set out until he reached the door of Ali's house, while Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her) was sitting behind the door, her blessed head wrapped, and her body weakened by the passing of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Umar came forward, struck the door, and then called out: "O son of Abu Talib, open the door!" Lady al-Zahra (peace be upon her) said: "O Umar, what do we have to do with you? Will you not leave us alone?" Umar said: "Open the door, otherwise we will burn the house down upon you" (7).

How can one believe that someone who is the Sword of God brought firewood to burn a house that was the place where revelation descended? Is the one who threatens to burn the house of the Prophet's only remembrance not the sword of Satan?

After the envoy of the first ruler set the house on fire, entered it, and struck the piece of the Prophet's flesh with the sheath of a sword, the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) rose, seized Umar by the collar, shook him, threw him to the ground, and struck his nose and neck, intending to kill him.

But he remembered the Prophet's words and his command regarding patience and submission, and said: "O son of Suhak, by the God who honored Muhammad with prophethood, were it not for a decree written by God, you would know that you cannot enter my house." At that moment Umar called for help. The people turned toward the house and entered. Khalid ibn al-Walid drew his sword in order to strike Fatimah (peace be upon her). The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) attacked Khalid with his sword. Khalid adjured him, and the Imam held back (8).

After the Commander was wrongfully dragged toward the mosque and refused to pledge allegiance to the first usurper, Umar threatened to kill him and said: "By God, we will strike off your neck!" The Imam said: "By God, you lied, O son of Suhak. You have no power to do that; you are too low and too weak for it."

Khalid ibn al-Walid rose, drew his sword, and said: "By God, if you do not pledge allegiance, I will kill you." The Commander of the Faithful moved toward him, seized the front of his garment, and threw him backward so that he fell on his back and the sword dropped from his hand (9).

Umar, together with Khalid, Mughirah, and a group of people, attacked Zubayr and forced him to pledge allegiance. Zubayr, while Umar was sitting on his chest, said: "O son of Suhak, by God, if my sword were in my hand, you would have kept away from me." Then he pledged allegiance.

Salman says: "Then they seized me and struck my neck until it swelled like a lump. Then they took my hand and twisted it, so I pledged allegiance under compulsion" (10).

Khalid ibn al-Walid desecrated the sanctity of the Commander of the Faithful and shamelessly attacked the piece of the Prophet's flesh, even though he himself was among those whom the Prophet had ordered to greet Ali (peace be upon him) with the title Commander of the Faithful (11).

In reality, Khalid ibn al-Walid was not a commander of Islam; he was the military commander of the Saqifah coup. It is clear why the people of Saqifah, who fed the ummah innovation in place of the Sunnah, would call him the Sword of God. Almost wherever an opponent of Saqifah was to be physically eliminated, Khalid ibn al-Walid was involved.

Examining the deeds and conduct of this vile man strengthens the possibility that, just as the party of Saqifah divided the caliphate among themselves, they assigned the military command of the coup plotters to Khalid ibn al-Walid. Whenever and wherever they needed the power of the sword to destroy Ghadir, they went to a thug named Khalid ibn al-Walid, and he accepted the missions entrusted to him wholeheartedly.

One example is Sa'd ibn Ubadah. During Abu Bakr's caliphate he did not pledge allegiance to him, and during Umar's caliphate, fearing Umar's plot, he went toward Syria. He died in Hawran while he had no allegiance to any caliph upon his neck. But his death was highly suspicious. In truth, he did not die a natural death; he was assassinated. After his killing, it was spread that jinn had killed him, while those accused of killing him were Khalid ibn al-Walid and Mughirah ibn Shu'bah (12).

It is not surprising that they called him the Sword of God with the aim of extinguishing the light of Ghadir and overshadowing the one who brought down the brave and famous men of Arabia, the one before whom, when the Prophet sought a champion to fight Amr ibn Abd Wudd, none of the Muslims even raised his head. They attempted to place the base personality of Khalid above him, while the Commander of the Faithful is the very one about whom the Messenger of God said in his virtue: "O Ali, you are the lone horseman of the Arabs ... and you are the Sword of God, which never misses" (13).

What has been said so far about Khalid ibn al-Walid, this supporter and guardian of Satan's path, introduces his character to a considerable degree. Yet listing all his crimes is beyond the scope of this writing. The planning of the failed assassination of the Commander of the Faithful in the mosque reveals the height of this man's wretchedness. In this context, however, the massacre of the tribe of Malik ibn Nuwayrah is mentioned as an example of the savagery of the man whom they named Sayf Allah, so that it becomes clear that all of Khalid's wars and killings were aimed at enmity toward the family of the Messenger of God, especially the Commander of the Faithful.

Al-Bara ibn Azib says: The Messenger of God was sitting among his companions when a group from Banu Tamim, led by Malik ibn Nuwayrah, came to the Prophet. Malik said: "O Messenger of God, teach me faith." The Messenger of God said: "Bear witness that there is no god but the One God and that I am the Messenger of God; perform the five daily prayers; fast the month of Ramadan; pay the zakat of your wealth; and hold the wilayah of my executor after me" - and with his blessed hand he pointed to the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) - "and do not shed blood unjustly, and ..."

Malik said: Repeat these for me, for I am forgetful. The Prophet repeated them for him. Malik stood up while saying: "By God, I have learned faith." After he had moved away from the Messenger of God, the Prophet said: "Whoever wishes to look at a man from the people of Paradise should look at this man."

Abu Bakr and Umar asked whom the Prophet was indicating, then went until they caught up with Malik and said to him: Glad tidings to you from God and His Messenger. Malik replied: "May God make your glad tidings good if you bear witness to what I bore witness to, and may God not make your glad tidings good if you deny them."

Abu Bakr said: Do not speak like this; I am the father of Aishah, the Prophet's wife. Malik said: What do you two want from me? They said to Malik: "You are among the companions of Paradise, so ask forgiveness for us." Malik said: "May God not forgive you two. You have left the Prophet, the possessor of intercession, and ask me to seek forgiveness for you?"

The two returned while signs of grief were visible on their faces. When the Prophet saw them, he smiled and said: "Is there anger in the truth?" When the Prophet was martyred, Banu Tamim returned to Medina with Malik ibn Nuwayrah to see who had succeeded the Messenger of God.

They entered on Friday while Abu Bakr was delivering a sermon from the pulpit. Malik asked: What happened to the executor whose loyalty the Messenger of God commanded me to uphold? They said: O Arab, a new matter has occurred. Malik said: "By God, no new matter has occurred; rather, you people have betrayed God and His Messenger."

Then he turned toward Abu Bakr and said: "Who raised you onto this pulpit while his executor is sitting here?" Abu Bakr insulted him and said: Remove him from the mosque. Qunfudh and Khalid seized him by the neck and threw him out of the mosque. After this incident, Khalid said that they were not safe from Malik's sedition (14).

Abu Bakr sent Khalid to kill Malik. Malik prepared for battle, and Khalid treacherously granted them safety. Malik and his tribe laid down their swords. Khalid massacred them or took them captive, and on the same night that he severed Malik's head from his body, he violated Malik's wife (15).

In this great tragedy, Khalid's soldiers also violated the remaining women of Malik's tribe. This is while all the hadith scholars narrated from a group who were with Khalid: "The muezzin called the adhan among us, and the muezzin also called the adhan among Malik's tribe; we prayed and they prayed; we bore witness and they also bore witness."

In that case, how was Malik ibn Nuwayrah accused of apostasy, counted among the apostates, and Khalid counted as the commander of the war against apostates? Moreover, Umar objected to Abu Bakr and said: "How can we fight a people who have uttered the two testimonies, while I heard the Prophet say: I have been commanded to fight until they say the two testimonies; when they say them, their blood is protected."

Because of the friendship between Umar and Malik, he objected to Malik's killing. When he became caliph, he returned the plundered property of Malik's tribe to the survivors, and returned the children and women of the tribe to their people (16).

If Abu Bakr's action was right, why did Umar take this property back from the people? And if Abu Bakr's action was wrong, then he violated the honor of women and usurped the wealth of Muslims. In any case, either both the first and the second were at fault, or one of them was.

Khalid ibn al-Walid, who is called the conqueror of the Ridda wars, is, if one looks carefully, the killer of many Muslims who, after the Prophet's martyrdom, refused to pledge allegiance to anyone other than the Prophet's executor. Therefore they were all treated the same as apostates. In clearer words, the war against the apostates was a cover for killing and plundering the opponents of Abu Bakr's government.

The martyred scholar Nur Allah al-Tustari reports: The origin of much of the opposition of the Arab tribes who refused to give zakat to Abu Bakr, whom they named the people of Ridda - apostates - and whom they killed, was their belief in the rightful caliphate of the Ahl al-Bayt (17). Malik ibn Nuwayrah was one of these so-called apostates.

By narrating the story of Malik ibn Nuwayrah, the satanic nature of Khalid ibn al-Walid's life becomes clear. It is not hidden from any fair-minded person that his sword truly moved under the will of Satan, not under the will of God. But, as mentioned, because his sword was always in opposition to the Commander of the Faithful, and in order to overshadow the great bravery of Ali (peace be upon him), they deceitfully gave him the title Sword of God.

But where is the sword over which the angels rejoice, whose cry fills the heavens, "There is no sword but Dhu al-Fiqar and no young man but Ali," and where is a lowly man under the domination and control of Satan? How evil are those people who, out of hatred for Ali (peace be upon him), present such a vile and low person as the Sword of God.

A wretch whose life can be summarized in these few lines: Khalid ibn al-Walid al-Makhzumi (d. 21 AH), Umar's maternal cousin, an infiltrating element of Jahiliyyah for the distortion and destruction of the Islamic movement, commander of the strike guard of the coup, the number two man in burning the center of tawhid, the house of Ali (peace be upon him) and Fatimah (peace be upon her). He was the one who, with the help of thugs, bound Imam Ali (peace be upon him) and dragged him to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr. He was the executor of the failed assassination of Imam Ali (peace be upon him). After the coup, a hidden dispute arose between him and Umar over power, which manifested after Abu Bakr's death. For this reason Umar dismissed him from the governorship of Syria and appointed Abu Ubaydah in his place (18).

1. Al-Ihtijaj, 1/62, the Prophet's argument on the day of Ghadir before the creation.

2. Surat al-Baqarah, verse 167.

3. Bihar al-Anwar, 28/116, chapter 3: Preparing the usurpation of the caliphate.

4. Asrar Al Muhammad, translation of Kitab Sulaym, p. 233, exposing the secrets of the companions of the accursed document, p. 231.

5. Irshad al-Qulub, Salgi translation, vol. 2, p. 244.

6. Asrar Al Muhammad, translation of Kitab Sulaym, p. 560, the attack and burning at the house of the Commander of the Faithful, p. 560.

7. Sulaym, p. 560, the attack and burning at the house of the Commander of the Faithful, p. 560.

8. Asrar Al Muhammad, translation of Kitab Sulaym, p. 561, the decision to kill Lady al-Zahra and the reaction of the Commander of the Faithful, p. 561.

9. Asrar Al Muhammad, translation of Kitab Sulaym, p. 565, the third threat of killing for forced allegiance, p. 565.

10. Asrar Al Muhammad, translation of Kitab Sulaym, p. 237, the allegiance of Zubayr, Salman, Abu Dharr, and Miqdad, p. 237.

11. Asrar Al Muhammad, translation of Kitab Sulaym, p. 391, the greeting of eighty Arabs and non-Arabs with the title Commander of the Faithful and the objection of Abu Bakr and Umar, p. 390.

12. Al-Ihtijaj, Jafari translation, vol. 1, p. 163.

13. Sahifat al-Imam al-Rida (peace be upon him), p. 90, chapter of additions.

14. Al-Fada'il, Shadhan ibn Jibril al-Qummi, pp. 75-76.

15. Al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, Ali ibn Yunus al-Amili, vol. 2, pp. 280-281.

16. Bihar al-Anwar, Allamah al-Majlisi, vol. 30, pp. 350-352.

17. Al-Sawarim al-Muhriqah, Shahid Nur Allah al-Tustari, p. 83.

18. See: al-Yaqubi, Tarikh, 2/61, pp. 139-140.