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Posted by msk2000 on 12/03/07 02:36
He came on towards me but collapsed and fell. I left him there until
he died, then I came and took back my spear. Then I went back to the
camp because I did not want to kill anyone but him. My only aim in
killing him was to gain my freedom.'
The Quraysh warriors were soon scattered and forced to retreat. It
looked as though they had been defeated! Seeing this, forty of the
fifty Muslims archers on top of the mountain ran down from their
position to collect booty, for the Quraysh army had left many of their
belongings behind. The archers rushed to take what they could,
forgetting the Prophet's orders. Khalid Ibn al-Walid, Commander of the
Quraysh cavalry, saw what' happening and quickly turned his men around
and ordered them to attack the Muslims from behind. The Muslims were
taken completely by surprise. The Quraysh then began attacking from
both sides at once. Many Muslims were killed and instead of winning
they began to lose the battle.
To add to the confusion
it was rumored that the Prophet (pbuh) had been killed. When the
Muslims heard this they were at a loss to know what to do. Then a man
named Anas called out, 'Brothers! If Muhammad (pbuh) has been killed
what will your lives be worth without him? Don't think about living or
dying. Fight for Allah. Get up and die the way Muhammad (pbuh) died!'
and on hearing these words the Muslims took courage.
There had been several cavalry attacks on the position held by the
Prophet (pbuh) and his companions and the Prophet's cheek had been
badly gashed. As the Meccans closed in again he called out, 'Who will
sell his life for us?' At this, five Ansar got up and fought until
they were killed, one by one.
Their places were soon taken, however, by a number of Muslims who
drove off the attackers. Amongst the defending Muslims was Abu Dujanah
who put his arms around the Prophet (pbuh) and made himself into a
human shield. Throughout the remainder of the battle he held on to the
Prophet (pbuh), but as the fighting drew to a close he suddenly let
go.
Abu Dujanah was dead, killed by the many arrows in his back that had
been aimed at the Prophet (pbuh). With the defeat of the Muslims,
Quraysh were at last avenged. As they left the field of battle Abu
Sufyan called out to his men, 'You have done well; victory in war goes
by turns-today in exchange for Badr!' When he heard this, the Prophet
(pbuh) told 'Umar to answer him, saying, 'Allah is Most High and Most
Glorious. We are not equal. Our dead are in Paradise and your dead are
in Hell!' The Muslim soldiers then followed the departing Quraysh part
of the way to make sure they were not going to attack Medinah.
After the enemy had left, the Prophet (pbuh) made his way around the
Battle-field to see the extent of the Muslim losses. Many of the most
faithful Muslims had been killed. Among the dead, the Prophet (pbuh)
found the body of his closest friend and uncle, Hamzah, who had been
killed by the slave, Wahshi. At the sight of this, the Prophet (pbuh)
said, 'There will never be a moment as sad for me as this.
Hamzah's sister, Safiyya, came to pray and ask forgiveness for her
brother, saying 'We belong to Allah and to Allah we are returning.'
After the Prophet (pbuh) had prayed over the many dead, he said, 'I
tell you that no one has been wounded in Allah's cause but Allah will
remember him and on the Day of Resurrection will raise him from the
dead. Look for the one who has learned most of the Koran and put him
in front of his companions in the grave.' They were buried where they
had fallen as martyrs.
Of them Allah says:
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
"Do not think that those, who were killed for Allah's sake are dead.
Nay, they are alive. With their Lord they have provision. Jubilant
(are they) because of that which Allah hath bestowed upon them of His
bounty, rejoicing for the sake of those that have not yet joined them
because they have nothing to fear or grieve over".(Koran iii.169-170)
It is said that the Prophet (pbuh) swore that no Muslim who had died
for his beliefs would want to come back to life for a single hour
even if he could own the whole world, unless he could return and fight
for Allah and be killed a second time. The Muslims realised that their
defeat had been caused by their disobedience to the Prophet (pbuh).
The Koran tells us that the Muslims had been tested by Allah at Uhud
and had failed but that Allah forgave them for their weakness.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
"Some of you there are that desire this world, and some of you there
are that desire the next world. Then He turned you from them, that He
might try you; and He has forgiven you; and Allah is bounteous to the
believers". (Koran iii.145)
People living nowadays should learn from the lessons learned by the
early Muslims at Uhud. Disobedience to the Prophet (pbuh) and love for
the things of this world caused their defeat. The same can happen to
us as well. Even if we have no battle like Uhud to fight,
we can still die for Allah's sake by fighting what is bad in
ourselves. When the Prophet (pbuh) came back from a battle he said to
his men, 'We have returned from the lesser war to the greater war.' He
meant by this that the struggle that goes on within every human being
to become a better person is the more difficult battle.
The Battle Of The Trench
When the Prophet (Pbuh) first arrived in Medinah, the Jews who were
living there had welcomed him. The Prophet (Pbuh) had returned their
greeting, as he wished to be on good terms with them. An agreement was
also reached between the Muslims and the Jews, which gave the Jews the
freedom to practice their religion and which also set out their rights
and their duties. Among these duties was that in the case of war with
Quraysh, the Jews would fight on the side of the Muslims.
Despite this agreement, however, some of the Jewish tribes, who
resented the Prophet's presence in Medinah, soon began to cause
trouble amongst the Muslims
.. They tried to set the Muslim Emigrants from Mecca and the Ansar
against each other. The troublemakers were given many warnings but
they continued to be a nuisance. In the end, the Muslims had no choice
but to drive them from Medinah. A new agreement was offered those Jews
who remained but the trouble did not end there. One of the Jewish
tribes, the Bani Nadir plotted to murder the Prophet (Pbuh) but their
plan was discovered and they, too, were exiled from the city. Knowing
that they could not defeat the Muslims themselves, some of the leaders
of the exiled Jews secretly went to Mecca to enlist the help of
Quraysh. Knowing what the Meccans would like to hear, they pretended
to believe in the same things. They said that they thought that the
old Arab tradition was better than the teachings of the Prophet
Muhammad (Pbuh) and that they believed that the Quraysh religion of
worshipping many idols was better than the Prophet's with only one
God. Then the Jews told them that if all the Arab tribes attacked
Medinah,
the Jews inside the city would help to defeat the Prophet (Pbuh) and
Islam once and for all.
The leaders of Quraysh were pleased to hear all this and seizing on
what seemed to them a very good opportunity, agreed to the plan and
began to gather together a formidable army. In the meantime in
Medinah, only one Jewish tribe, the Bani Quraydhah, refused to betray
the Muslims.
Eventually the Muslims learned of the preparations being made for war
in Mecca and of the plotting of the Jews within Medinah itself. The
betrayal of the Muslims by the Jews did not surprise the Prophet
(Pbuh), who said of them: 'The hearts of the Jews have become closed
to the truth. They have forgotten what Moses taught them long ago that
there is only one God.'
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
"The likeness of those who are entrusted with the Law of Moses, yet
apply it not, is as the likeness of the ass carrying books
Evil is the likeness of the people who deny the revelations of Allah.
And Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk". (Koran lxii.5)
The Muslims wondered how they could defend Medinah. They heard that
Abu Sufyan was coming to attack them with an enormous army which
included many other Arab tribes, as well as Quraysh. What were they to
do with only a single week to prepare? The Prophet (Pbuh) and his men
knew that it would be impossible for them to fight off all these
tribes! The only thing they could do was to stay inside the city and
try to defend it as best they could. Now among the people of Medinah
was a Persian named Salman, who had to live in the city some time
before the Prophet's arrival there. As a convert to Christianity he
had traveled to Medinah after Christian sages had told him that a
Prophet would be born in Arabia. On arriving at Madinah he was,
however, sold into slavery by the merchants with whom he had traveled.
Later he became a Muslim, gained his freedom and became a member of
the Prophet's household.
When the people gathered to discuss a plan of action against the
approaching enemy, Salman was present and it was he who suggested that
they should dig a trench around the city. The Prophet (Pbuh) thought
this a good idea, so the Muslims set to work, although it was in the
middle of winter. They worked day and night, digging the trench as
quickly as possible. The Prophet (Pbuh) himself carried rocks and when
the men were tired he gave them the will to carry on. Someone later
recalled how beautiful he looked, dressed in a red cloak with dust
upon his breast and his dark hair nearly reaching his shoulders. There
was little food at this time and the men were often hungry as they
worked.
On one occasion, however, a little girl gave some dates to the Prophet
(Pbuh), which he spread out on a cloth. The men were then called to
eat and the dates kept increasing in number until everyone had been
fed. Even after everyone had eaten their fill, the dates continued to
increase so that there were more than the cloth could hold.
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