Mishkat al-Masabih, hadith 3795

وَعَن ابنِ عُمر قَالَ: بَعَثَنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي سَرِيَّةٍ فَحَاصَ النَّاسُ حَيْصَةً فَأَتَيْنَا الْمَدِينَةَ فَاخْتَفَيْنَا بِهَا وَقُلْنَا: هَلَكْنَا ثُمَّ أَتَيْنَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقُلْنَا: يَا رَسُول الله نَحن الفارون. قَالَ: «بَلْ أَنْتُمُ الْعَكَّارُونَ وَأَنَا فِئَتُكُمْ» . رَوَاهُ التِّرْمِذِيُّ. وَفِي رِوَايَةِ أَبِي دَاوُدَ نَحْوَهُ وَقَالَ: «لَا بَلْ أَنْتُمُ الْعَكَّارُونَ» قَالَ: فَدَنَوْنَا فَقَبَّلْنَا يَده فَقَالَ: «أَنا فِئَة من الْمُسْلِمِينَ»

God’s Messenger sent us with a detachment and the people wheeled round in flight, so when we came to Medina we hid in it thinking that we had become corrupted.1 Then we went to God’s Messenger and told him we were those who had fled, but he replied, “No, you are the ones who return to fight after wheeling away, and I am your main body.”2 1. Literally “had perished.” They thought that they had committed a serious sin by turning in flight. 2. The word fi’a is here used. The suggestion is that to withdraw to join one’s unit stationed in the rear is not flying from the enemy. Cf. Al-Qur’an; 8:16. Tirmidhi transmitted it. Abu Dawud’s version has something similar. He said, “No, you are the ones who return to fight after wheeling away.” We then approached and kissed his hand, and he said, “I am the main body of the Muslims.”