Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
Coordinates: 28.384061, 36.557684
The Expedition of Tabuk, also known as the Expedition of Usra, was a military expedition that was initiated by Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in October 630 AD (AH 9).
Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ led a force of as many as 30,000 north to Tabuk, near the Gulf of Aqaba, in present-day northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Preparations
Following rumours of a Byzantine invasion, the Muslims and allies of Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ received an urgent call to join the campaign, but the Arabs of the desert showed little interest.
Many came up with excuses not to participate.
Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ provided incentives to persuade the Arabs to join and provided many with gifts.
Expedition
Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his forces marched northwards to Tabuk, near the Gulf of Aqaba in October 630 (Rajab AH 9).
It was one of his ﷺ largest and last military expedition. Hz. Ali ibn Abi Talib رضي الله عنه, who participated in several other expedition of Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, did not participate in Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ’s Tabuk expedition upon his instructions, as he held command at Medina.
After arriving at Tabuk and camping there, Hz. Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ army prepared to face the Byzantine invasion.
Hz. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ spent twenty days at Tabuk, scouting the area, making alliances with local chiefs.
With no sign of the Byzantine army, he ﷺ decided to return to Medina Sharif.
Though Muhammad ﷺ did not encounter a Byzantine army at Tabuk, according to the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, “this show of force demonstrated his intention to challenge the Byzantines for control of the northern part of the caravan route from Mecca to Syria”
At-Tawba Mosque
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ prayed here when he arrived with 30,000 men in AD 630 for the Battle of Tabuk against the Byzantines.
The battle never took place, but while here, the Quran’s ninth chapter, Surah At Tawba, was revealed.
At Tawba Mosque was originally made of bricks, mud and palm-tree trunks.
The Ottomans rebuilt it in 1652. A picture of what it looked like until the most recent rebuild in the early 20th century hangs at the back of the mosque.
It is considered one of the oldest mosques in the world.
It is a beautiful mosque in the center city of tabuk.
