Expedition of Dhu al-Ushayrah

Historical overview

During the second year of the Hijra (2 AH / 624 CE), the Muslims launched a minor raid to the oasis known as Dhu al‑Ushayrah, located north‑west of Medina. The Prophet’s order was to intercept a Quraysh caravan that had been harassing the Muslim community and to deter further raids. Abu Bakr al‑Siddiq led a small detachment of about forty men, striking near the well of the oasis. They captured the caravan, seized its livestock and goods, and returned to Medina with a modest booty. The expedition demonstrated the early Muslim community’s resolve to protect itself and assert its presence in the surrounding desert. Though small in scale, it was significant in consolidating Muslim control over the trade routes and in curbing Quraysh aggression during the formative years of Islam.

Historical context and how to read this record

This record presents Expedition of Dhu al-Ushayrah, dated in the archive as 2 AH / 624 CE and associated with Dhu al‑Ushayrah (oasis near Medina). The date, place, summary, named groups, terrain features, and references shown here come from the bundled or published event record. They provide a concise entry point for study, while the linked source notes remain the place to check what each historical or religious text actually reports. A label in the archive is not, by itself, proof that every chronology, number, or interpretation is agreed across historians.

The timeline on this page is deliberately limited to information attached to the record: its displayed event date and era, its named location, and the geographic markers that the map author normalized for the scene. These map markers are not a minute-by-minute sequence of movements. They do not claim to reconstruct every decision, speech, or formation. Where historians preserve differing accounts, the distinction matters: a conventional date can help readers orient themselves, but a date recorded in a database should not be mistaken for a universally settled day or for a primary-source quotation.

The terrain is a deterministic educational model. A shared height function keeps water, formations, landmarks, and ground visually aligned; the normalized coordinates make the same record render consistently when the optional cloud archive is unavailable. This approach supports comparison of broad relationships—such as a camp in relation to a water feature, a fortified settlement against a highland, or a route beside a valley—without presenting synthetic elevation as archaeological survey data. Lighting, camera angle, and visual scale are choices for legibility, not evidence about the historical scene.

Read the forces and commanders panel as a record of the labels supplied for this map, not as an independently verified census. Estimates in classical narratives can differ because authors preserve separate transmissions, use rounded totals, or describe groups in different ways. This page keeps uncertainty notes attached to the relevant record when they are available. A missing strength estimate means the archive does not make one here; it should not be filled by inference from the size of a marker or from the appearance of the 3D scene.

The source dossier names the references bundled with this event, including Qur’anic passages or classical works where supplied. Numbering, chapter divisions, translations, and pagination can vary by edition, so a careful citation should identify the edition and translator consulted. A source title in the list is a research lead, not a claim that the entire event is established by that work alone. Compare the passages in context, separate a source’s wording from later commentary, and consult qualified scholarship when a question concerns creed, law, or a contested historical conclusion.

For an efficient study sequence, begin with the short overview, note the event date and place, then select each geographic marker in the dual reader. The camera will move to the schematic coordinate while the corresponding source note is brought into view. Next compare the land and water features, read any force labels and their uncertainty notes, and return to the source dossier before drawing conclusions. This order helps distinguish what the archive records, what the visualization illustrates, and what a reader may need to verify in a primary edition. The purpose is source-aware orientation and respectful learning, not a substitute for historical fieldwork or a scholar’s judgment.

Record timeline and tactical markers

1. Archive date: 2026-10-06 · 2 AH / 624 CE
2. Recorded setting: Dhu al‑Ushayrah (oasis near Medina)
3. Map feature 1: sandy dunes
4. Map feature 2: rocky outcrops
5. Map feature 3: dense date palms in oasis
6. Schematic marker 1: Raiding party led by Abu Bakr · Abu Bakr al‑Siddiq · ≈40 men
7. Schematic marker 2: Caravan caravaners · unknown · ≈50 men (caravan escort)

Marker ordering is a reading aid, not a chronological claim about the event.

Forces and commanders

• Raiding party led by Abu Bakr — Abu Bakr al‑Siddiq (≈40 men)
• Caravan caravaners — unknown (≈50 men (caravan escort))

Geography: water and landscape

• Well of Dhu al‑Ushayrah (oasis)
• sandy dunes
• rocky outcrops
• dense date palms in oasis

Sources

• Tabari, Volume 7, Chapter 12 (Battle of Dhu al‑Ushayrah)
• Al‑Waqidi, Kitab al‑Muḥtafi bi Tarikh al‑Qurṭub, vol. 5

More 3D maps

• Karbala · The Plain of 61 AH
• Battle of Badr · Wells and Two Slopes
• Khaybar · Basalt Harrat and Fortified Oases
• Hijrah Route · Makkah to Madinah
• Najaf & Kufa · The Historic Plain
• Siffin · Euphrates Campaign Landscape