Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib

Sariyyat Wadi Al-raml

Some people gathered in Wadi al-Raml and were planning a surprise night attack on al-Madinah. They were looking for an opportune time to carry out their plan. But one person chanced to know their plans and gave the information to the Prophet (a.s). These people were not a regularly organized contingent but were a group of brigands and highway robbers. The Prophet (a.s) gave the standard to Abū-Bakr and sent with troops to quell and disburse this mob. When the troops reached the Wadi al-Raml, the brigands went into hiding. The Muslims looked around for them, and not finding any trace, relaxed thinking that they had fled getting wind of the coming of the Muslim attack. The Muslims were tired of their journey. They decided to spend the night in the valley and slept soundly. After some hours of their sleeping, the brigands came out quietly from their hideouts and attacked the Muslims. In the confusion, some Muslims were killed and the rest ran for their lives. When the unsuccessful group returned, the Prophet (a.s) gave the standard to `Umar to lead the campaign. The morale of the brigands was high now. When they saw the contingent arrive, they came out of their hideouts and started fighting with such ferocity that the Muslim contingent was forced to withdraw. After these two failures, `Amr ibn al-`As told the Prophet (a.s) to give him the command to control the situation. The Prophet (a.s) complied with his wish, but the result was the same as before. After these repeated failures, the Prophet (a.s) appointed `Ali (a.s) as the Commander of the contingent and sent him for the campaign. He also asked the earlier unsuccessful commanders too to join the contingent under him. The first strategy of `Ali (a.s) was to change the route of advance from that which was followed by the earlier three attempts. He also made the journey during night and rested the troops during the day. This provided them a degree of stealth in their movement. They thus were able to surprise the enemy by sudden attack. While the first rays of sunlight was about to touch the peaks, the tips of the swords started shining. The enemy fled because of the element of surprise in the attack and the Muslims proceeded to al-Madinah victoriously. The Prophet (a.s) on hearing of the arrival of the victorious army came out of the city to give them a reception. He happily said:

“O `Ali! If I had not the fear that some people of my Ummah might say what the Christians said about `Isa (a.s), I would have said something about you that people would pick up the soil from under your very feet, wherever you went!”[1]

The success of this campaign was because of the leadership of `Ali (a.s) in planning the strategy of war. He kept a keen eye on the reasons of the failure of the previous attempts and took care to eliminate them. In the first attempt, they were lethargic and careless in their movement. Having gone to the den of the enemy, they casually retired to sleep without even posting nominal night vigil. The second and third attempts they made the mistake of following the same route of travel and thus gave early warning of their arrival to the enemy. `Ali (a.s) eliminated all these faults and added the element or surprise by traveling in the night and reaching the arena just before dawn! If he had made the same mistakes as the first three leaders did, his attempt might have met with the same result as theirs did!

[1] Kitāb al-irshād Shaykh al-Mufīd, Page 76