An Important Mission to Intercept a Letter
The following narration has already been mentioned with reference to another companion; however, I shall mention it again in regard to Hazrat Ali (ra).
This event took place on the occasion of the Conquest of Mecca, in Ramadhan 8 AH, January of 630 CE. Hazrat Ali (ra) narrates that the Holy Prophet (sa) sent him, Hazrat Zubair (ra) and Miqdad (ra) bin Aswad to Raudh Khaakh – this event in fact took place before the conquest of Mecca – and the Holy Prophet (sa) stated to them, “Go forth and when you reach Raudh Khaakh, there you will find a woman who will be mounted upon a camel and she has a letter. Take the letter from her.”
Hazrat Ali (ra) further relates, “Subsequently, we raced off on our horses and reached Raudh Khaakh. Upon reaching there, we indeed found a woman mounted on a camel. We instructed her to hand over the letter; however, she denied having any letter. We then warned her that either she should produce the letter or we would be compelled to remove her clothes in order to search for it. Upon this, she took out the letter which was concealed in the bun of her hair and handed it over to us. We took the letter and returned to the Holy Prophet (sa). Upon opening the letter, we discovered that Hatib (ra) bin Abi Balta had addressed some of the idolaters of Mecca and was revealing information about a certain plan of the Holy Prophet (sa). The Holy Prophet (sa) called for Hatib (ra) bin Abi Balta and asked him to explain the matter. Hatib (ra) submitted, ‘O Messenger (sa) of Allah! Please do not make a decision in haste with regard to me. [The reason I have done this is because] I am not from the Quraish, but in fact I came and joined them. However, the other Muhajireen who are with you have relations in Mecca through which they are able to safeguard their wealth and properties. Therefore, since I have no relations there, I wished to do a favour for the people of Mecca, with the intention that perhaps through this favour of mine, they will have some regard for me. I did not commit this act owing to disbelief or apostasy, or owing to any hypocrisy” – he stated that neither was he a disbeliever, nor an apostate and he did not commit this act for any of those reasons – “nor can I ever give preference to disbelief after having accepted Islam. I assure you of this.’ Upon this, the Holy Prophet (sa) stated, ‘Indeed, you have spoken the truth.’ In other words, he accepted what he had said.”
(Sirat Khatamun-Nabiyyin, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), p. 840) (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Jihad, Bab al-Jasus, Hadith 3007, Urdu Tarjamah Sahih al-Bukhari az Hazrat Sayed Zain al-Abidin Wali Allah Shah Sahib, Vol. 5, pp. 350-352, Nazarat Ishaat)