~9 AH, on the return march from Tabuk · 9 AH
Strength of the report
The sources for this incident are thin, one or two narrations in Ibn Ishaq and Musnad Imam Ahmad, and most companions at the time never heard of it.
While traveling at night on the return from Tabuk, the Prophet ﷺ separated from the rest of the army and rode up onto the top of a cliff, with only his camel and two or three companions (among them Ammar ibn Yasir RA and Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman RA) nearby. In the middle of the night, around fourteen or fifteen men with their faces covered charged toward the Prophet ﷺ's camel. He took evasive action and went quickly down into the valley, and the men fled. He then told Ammar RA that they were hypocrites who had wanted to throw him off the edge of the cliff, but that Allah had protected him. Most of the sahaba never heard of the incident at the time, and the Prophet ﷺ simply moved on.
One of the most bizarre plots of the munafiqun, apparently a spur-of-the-moment attempt rather than a long-planned conspiracy, and one that failed through Allah's protection of His Messenger ﷺ.
Other events recorded in 9 AH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
In the middle of the night, we saw around fourteen or fifteen bandits with their faces covered. They charged toward the camel of the Prophet ﷺ.
Do you know who they were?
No, their faces were covered.
They were of the munafiqun; they wanted to throw me off the edge of the cliff.