Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) was 20 years old when the fourth Battle of Fijar broke out.

During the Age of Ignorance (jahilliya), which was before Islam, killings among Arabs, bloody conflicts, acts of terrorism, blood feuds, all kinds of theft, and corruption went on incessantly. Besides, what else could be expected from a people who would frequently destroy one another, whose hearts were devoid of compassion and mercy, and whose societal lives were far away from justice and law? Since the very beginning, the Arabs had deemed the months of Muharram, Rajab, Dhilqada, and Dhilhijja to be holy. The spilling of blood and the committing of any misdeeds and any sort of injustice were all strictly prohibited during these months. For this reason, they were referred to as the “haram (forbidden) months”. The Battle of Fijar took place during one of these months. It acquired its name since blood was split and because both sides committed great injustice and cruelty.

The Battles of Fijar were fought four times among Arabs. The Master of the Universe (PBUH) was ten years old at the time of the first Battle of Fijar. These four battles, which took place in a long period of nine to ten years, arose from shallow and insignificant reasons. A man from the Ghifaris said “I am the most honorable among the Arabs”, while lying down in the Ukaz fair. Upon hearing this, a man from the Hawazin tribe assumed that it was an insult directed towards him, drew his sword, and wounded the man’s foot. Due to this reason, the first Battle of Fijar began between the Kinana and Hawazin tribes..

The second battle broke out between the Quraysh and the Hawazin after a woman had been harassed at the Ukaz Fair. The third battle took place between the Kinana and Hawazin tribes when a tribesman from Sons of Kinana did not pay his debt to a man from the tribe of the Sons of Amir, and had instead, extended the grace period. Whereas the Fourth Battle of Fijar, in which our Holy Prophet (PBUH) took part when he was 20 years old, was fought among the Quraysh, Sons of Kinane, and the Qays al-Aylan. It resulted from an incident in which a man named Barraz bin Qays from the Kinana killed a man called Urwa from the Qays al-Aylan (Hawazin).

The Quraysh were the allies of the Sons of Kinana; therefore, they had to fight in this battle. Abu Talib did not want to partake in the fourth battle, which was being fought in the Ukaz Fair, since it was a “haram month” and because he guessed that there would be much cruelty inflicted. However, he was obliged to join when the other branches of the Quraysh insisted on fighting. It was narrated that Abu Talib took his glorious nephew with him to this battle one or two times. However, our Holy Prophet (PBUH) only picked up the enemies’ arrows and handed them to his uncle. The two sides reached an agreement when they realized that this clash would not end. According to their agreement, the dead bodies would be counted, and the opponent would pay the blood money to whichever side that had the most losses; in this way, the war would finally end. The final tally resulted in there being about twenty more dead soldiers on the Qays al-Ayan’s side; thus the Sons of Kinana and the Quraysh paid the blood money for these twenty individuals. It was in this manner that this bloody war finally came to an end, which was twenty years after the year of the incident of the elephant.