Ka'b ibn Malik

The Truthful Tongue at Tabuk

Ka’b ibn Malik was an Ansari of Banu Salima who had pledged at Aqaba. He missed only the expedition of Tabuk: he kept putting off his preparations until the army had gone and he could not catch up. When the Prophet ﷺ returned, Ka’b would not offer a false excuse as the hypocrites did — he told the plain truth, that he had no excuse. 1 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 453–455 — Kandhlawi — Ka'b's account of missing Tabuk and choosing to tell the Prophet the truth rather than make an excuse.

Fifty Days, and the Acceptance of Repentance

The Prophet ﷺ ordered that no one speak to the three truthful men — Ka’b, Murara ibn al-Rabi’, and Hilal ibn Umayya — and for fifty days the earth itself seemed to close upon them. Ka’b even burned, unread, a letter of temptation from the king of Ghassan. On the fiftieth morning the glad tidings rang out from the mountain that Allah had accepted their repentance, and Ka’b vowed thereafter to speak only the truth. 2 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 455–458 — Kandhlawi — the fifty-day boycott of the three; Ka'b burns the Ghassanid letter; the acceptance of repentance and his vow of truthfulness.

Virtues in the Hadith

His own long account is preserved in the Sahih, and Allah revealed of the three:

وَعَلَى الثَّلاَثَةِ الَّذِينَ خُلِّفُوا

”And [He turned in mercy] to the three who were left behind…” (at-Tawba 9:118) — the close of Ka’b’s narration.

Sahih al-Bukhari 4418 · Book 64 (Military Expeditions), Hadith 440 · USC-MSA: Vol. 5, Book 59, Hadith 702 · narrated by Ka’b ibn Malik