I was sitting next to Zayd bin Arqam when he was asked, "How many military expeditions did the Prophet ﷺ undertake?"He answered, "Nineteen."He was asked, "How many of them did you take part in with him?"He replied, "Seventeen."I asked, "Which one was the first?"He said, "Al-Ushayr," or "al-Usayrah."I mentioned this to Qatada, and he said, "It was al-Ushayrah."
كنت إلى جنب زيد بن أرقم فقيل له: كم غزا النبي ﷺ من غزوة؟ قال: تسع عشرة، قيل: كم غزوت أنت معه؟ قال: سبع عشرة، قلت: فأيهم كانت أول؟ قال: العشير أو العسيرة فذكرت لقتادة فقال: العشيرة.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Military Expeditions (3949), and Muslim narrated it in the Book of Jihad and Expeditions (1254:143), both through the route of Shuba, from Abu Ishaq (that is, Sabi), who said, "I was sitting beside Zayd bin Arqam," and then he mentioned the hadith.His statement, "So he was asked," the one who asked is the narrator Abu Ishaq Sabi, as comes explicitly in Bukhari in another place (4471) with the wording, "I asked Zayd bin Arqam."His statement, "So I mentioned it to Qatada," the one who mentioned it is Shuba.Qatada's statement, "Ushayrah," is in the diminutive form, with the letter shin, and with the ha affirmed, though some omit it. Qatada's wording is what the biographers agree upon, and it is the correct one. Ibn Hajar said this in Fath al-Bari (7/281). Ushayrah was a populated village at the lower part of Yanbu al-Nakhl, which later became a stopping point for Egyptian pilgrims there. It is the first of the villages of Yanbu al-Nakhl on the side facing the coast. See al-Maalim al-Athirah, p. 192.His statement, "So which of them was first?" meaning, which expedition did you campaign in with the Prophet ﷺ first? He said, "Ushayrah," because two expeditions preceded it, namely Abwa and Buwat. This is the order that Bukhari transmitted from Ibn Ishaq, that is, Abwa, then Buwat, then Ushayrah. See Fath al-Bari (7/279–281).