Khalid ibn al-Walid RA's Mission to Najran and Its Mass Conversion

Toward the end of the 9th year after the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ sent many sahaba (companions) out across Arabia as governors and teachers of Islam, especially to the north and the south. Among them were Mu'adh ibn Jabal RA, who was sent to Yemen, and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari RA, who was sent to another province of Yemen.

At the start of the 10th year, the Prophet ﷺ sent Khalid ibn al-Walid RA to the province of Najran, just north of Yemen. He told Khalid not to attack until he had given the people three days to choose. They could accept Islam, or pay jizya (a tax on non-Muslim subjects) if they were Christians or Jews, or leave. Khalid RA sent out criers with this message, and the whole province of Najran accepted Islam without any fighting.

Khalid RA had brought an army but now had no one to fight, and he was unsure what to do. He wrote to the Prophet ﷺ to report that the people had all become Muslim and to ask for instructions. The Prophet ﷺ told him to send a delegation to Madinah, so that he could test them himself.

When the delegation arrived, the Prophet ﷺ did not recognise them. It is reported that he remarked that they looked like the people of Hind (India). They told him they were from Najran. The Prophet ﷺ then questioned them, at times sharply, to test whether their faith was genuine, and they passed the test. He then asked them the secret of how they always defeated anyone who attacked them. They gave two reasons. Once they made a decision, they never fought among themselves, and they never wronged other people.