Islamiyat · May / June 2021 · Paper 21 · Question 3

Write an account of the false prophet Musailimah and the battle fought against him in 632.

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Candidates may include some of the following information. All other relevant information must be credited.

Candidates could start with a detailed account of the false prophet Musailimah followed by an account of the Battle of Yamama fought in 632.

Of all the false prophets that arose after the demise of the Prophet (pbuh), Musailimah was the most powerful and dangerous. He belonged to the Banu Hanifa tribe and was extremely wealthy and influential.

Soon after visiting the Prophet (pbuh) in his lifetime Musailimah declared himself a prophet and claimed to receive divine revelations. He founded a new creed in which he reduced the number of daily prayers, relieved his followers from fasting and zakat and made drinking and adultery permissible. He asked the Prophet (pbuh) to divide the Muslim empire into two parts. The Prophet (pbuh) called him Musailimah the Liar.

Battle of Yamama (632)

Musailimah challenged the caliphate of Abu Bakr who sent two forces against him – one under the command of Ikramah and the other under Shurahbil. The instructions to both commanders were to join forces before launching an attack on Musailimah who had a force of 40 000 Bedouins.

Ikramah was the first to reach the Yamama valley, ignoring the caliph’s orders he launched an attack without waiting for Shurahbil and was beaten back. On reaching Yamama, Shurahbil attacked Musailimah on his own and was beaten back.

Musailimah was emboldened by his victory and Abu Bakr then sent Khalid ibn Waleed to lead an attack against Musailimah. Khalid marched with a force of 13 000 and met Musailimah on the plain of Aqraba. After a fierce fight Muslims had to retreat. Khalid regrouped the army under tribal commanders and created a reserve force of a thousand cavalry under his command. The next day the two armies met and as the front ranks grappled with each other in single combat Khalid led the reserves to the mound where Musailimah camped. Musailimah’s bodyguards were taken by surprise and could not hold Khalid off, they withdrew with Musailimah into a fortified garden.

Musailimah’s army lost their nerve at this turn of events and escaped to the garden where they were defeated by the Muslims. Washi-al Harb killed Musailimah and the Banu Hanifa accepted peace terms.

What was the importance of this battle to future generations of Muslims?

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Candidates may include some of the following information. All other relevant information must be credited.

It could be said that the Battle of Yamama marked the end of the false prophets and Abu Bakr could now establish the Islamic empire on a firm footing.

It could also be said that Musailimah was changing the key principles of Islam and with this battle the core teachings of Islam were saved from being altered and corrupted.

Post-Yamama the Muslims were united as one and could go on to deal with other forces that were against Islam.

The battle also led to the compilation of the Qur’an.