يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَا لَكُمْ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمُ انفِرُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ اثَّاقَلْتُمْ إِلَى الأَرْضِ أَرَضِيتُم بِالْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا مِنَ الآخِرَةِ فَمَا مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا فِي الآخِرَةِ إِلاَّ قَلِيلٌ

38. O you who believe! What excuse do you have that when it is said to you: "Mobilize (for the campaign of Tabuk)¹¹ in God's cause!" you cling heavily to the earth? Are you content with the present, worldly life, rather than the Hereafter? Yet slight is the enjoyment of the worldly life as compared with the Hereafter.

11. The outcome of the Muslim–Byzantine encounter in Mu’tah came as a shock to Arabia and the Middle East, for the Romans did not gain the upper hand over the Muslims, even though they outnumbered the Muslims thirty-three to one. Ultimately, thousands of people from the semi-independent Arab tribes living in Syria and the adjoining areas converted to Islam. To avenge himself for Mu’tah, and to prevent the advance of Islam, the Byzantine Emperor ordered military preparations to invade Arabia.

God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, who always kept himself abreast of developments bearing on his mission, promptly decided to challenge the Byzantines on the battlefield. Any show of Muslim weakness might have given fresh life to the dying forces of Arabian polytheism and hostility, which had received a crushing blow at Hunayn. Such a development might also have encouraged the hypocrites in and around Madīnah to cause serious damage to Islam from within. They were already in touch with the Ghassanid Christian prince and with the Byzantine Emperor, and had built a mosque, which the Qur’ān calls the Mosque of Dhirār (Dissension) (9: 107), near Madīnah, to serve as their operational base.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, publicly appealed to the Muslims to prepare for war and, contrary to his usual practice, declared that the Romans were his target.

It was mid-summer, the scorching heat was at its peak, the harvest season had just arrived, and there was a shortage of material resources. Moreover, the enemy was one of the two superpowers of the time. Despite all this, the Companions responded ardently to the Prophet’s call and commenced their war preparations, all contributing much more than their financial means warranted.

In Rajab 9 AH (after Hijrah)/631 CE. God’s Messenger and 30,000 soldiers left Madīnah and marched to Tabuk, quite close to what was then the Byzantine territory in Syria. The Byzantine Emperor, who had begun amassing a huge army, abandoned his plans and withdrew his army, for the Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, arrived before he was expected and well before the Byzantine troop concentrations were completed (Ibn Sa‘d, 2: 165–168; at-Tabarī, 3: 100–111).

The Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, stayed in Tabuk for 20 days, during which several buffer states under Byzantine hegemony agreed to pay the protection and exemption tax (jizyah) and live under his rule. Many Christian tribes embraced Islam willingly (al-Bidāyah, 5: 13). This bloodless victory also enabled the Muslims to consolidate their position before a prolonged conflict with the Byzantines, and altogether shattered the power of both the unbelievers and the Hypocrites in Arabia.