In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Treasures of the Prophetic biography.
The Battle of Uhud.
The third year after the Hijrah.
Following these events,
and the conclusion of this year,
namely, the second year after the Hijrah,
the people of Makkah gathered,
and assembled three thousand fighters
from Quraysh, their allies, and the Ahabish.
They took their women with them,
and prepared this army for vengeance.
The command was given to Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb,
following the killing of Abu Jahl,
with the cavalry led by Khalid Ibn al-Walid
and 'Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jahl.
This Makkan army set out after this thorough preparation
toward Madinah,
seeking revenge for those they lost at Badr.
The news reached the Prophet, peace be upon him,
so he mobilized the people.
The people took up their weapons for fear of a surprise attack,
not laying them down,
even during their prayers,
fearing the people of Makkah might descend upon them.
The people of Madinah from the Ansar,
such as Sa'd Ibn Mu'adh,
Usayd Ibn Hudayr,
and Sa'd Ibn 'Ubadah,
stood guard over the Prophet, peace be upon him.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, gathered
his senior Companions,
and told them of a vision he had seen, peace be upon him.
He said:
"By Allah, I have seen something good.
I saw cows being slaughtered,
I saw a notch in the tip of my sword,
and I saw that I had inserted my hand into a sturdy coat of mail."
He interpreted the cows as a group of his Companions who would be killed,
the notch in his sword as a man from his household who would be struck,
and the coat of mail as Madinah.
Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"I am of the opinion that we should fight them from within Madinah;
we shall fortify ourselves in Madinah and fight them there.
If they remain in their camp, they will be in the worst of positions,
and if they enter Madinah,
we shall fight them from the alleys and from atop the houses."
The senior Companions agreed with him on this,
and among those who agreed with them
was 'Abdullah Ibn Ubayy Ibn Salul.
A group of the young Companions,
who had missed the fighting at Badr, stood up
and said, "O Messenger of Allah,
we have been longing for this day,
and we have prayed to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to bring it to us.
We fear that it might be thought that we have turned away from you."
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"There is no harm."
Then he entered his house
and donned his armor for battle, peace be upon him.
This was an act of taking the necessary means.
The people were waiting for him, peace be upon him,
for him to come out to them.
Sa'd Ibn Mu'adh said to them:
"You have pressured the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to go out."
They returned the matter to him,
and they regretted what they had done.
They said to him:
"O Messenger of Allah,
it is not for us to oppose you;
do as you wish.
It was merely an opinion we held.
If you prefer to stay in Madinah, then do so."
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
"It is not fitting for a Prophet, once he has donned his armor, to take it off
until Allah judges between us."
So the Prophet, peace be upon him, went out to battle.
While they were on the way,
the hypocrite 'Abdullah Ibn Ubayy Ibn Salul returned with a third of the army,
saying, "I do not expect there to be any fighting."
Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, revealed [verses] regarding the hypocrites.
“And that He might know the hypocrites, unto whom it was said: Come, fight in the way of Allah, or defend yourselves. They answered: If we knew aught of fighting we would follow you. On that day they were nearer disbelief than faith. They utter with their mouths a thing which is not in their hearts. Allah is Best Aware of what they hide.” (3:167)
“And that He might know the hypocrites, unto whom it was said: Come, fight in the way of Allah, or defend yourselves. They answered: If we knew aught of fighting we would follow you. On that day they were nearer disbelief than faith. They utter with their mouths a thing which is not in their hearts. Allah is Best Aware of what they hide.” (3:167)
“And that He might know the hypocrites, unto whom it was said: Come, fight in the way of Allah, or defend yourselves. They answered: If we knew aught of fighting we would follow you. On that day they were nearer disbelief than faith. They utter with their mouths a thing which is not in their hearts. Allah is Best Aware of what they hide.” (3:167)
“And that He might know the hypocrites, unto whom it was said: Come, fight in the way of Allah, or defend yourselves. They answered: If we knew aught of fighting we would follow you. On that day they were nearer disbelief than faith. They utter with their mouths a thing which is not in their hearts. Allah is Best Aware of what they hide.” (3:167)
“And that He might know the hypocrites, unto whom it was said: Come, fight in the way of Allah, or defend yourselves. They answered: If we knew aught of fighting we would follow you. On that day they were nearer disbelief than faith. They utter with their mouths a thing which is not in their hearts. Allah is Best Aware of what they hide.” (3:167)
This hypocrite succeeded in luring away three hundred men who were hypocrites or weak in faith,
though most of them were hypocrites.
Two groups of the believers from the Ansar were inclined to turn back,
namely the Banu Harithah of the Aws and the Banu Salamah of the Khazraj,
to return as well with 'Abdullah Ibn Ubayy Ibn Salul,
but Allah kept them steadfast, and Allah, Majestic and Exalted is He, revealed:
“When two parties of you almost fell away, and Allah was their Protecting Friend. In Allah let believers put their trust.” (3:122)
"And upon Allah let the believers rely."
Then he raised his sword and said:
"Who will take this sword by its right?"
Several men stood up for it,
but the Prophet, peace be upon him, said to Abu Dujanah:
"Take it."
He asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what is its right?"
He replied, "That you strike the faces of the enemy with it until it bends."
He said, "I will take it by its right, O Messenger of Allah."
So he gave it to him.
When he took the sword, he tied a red headband around his head,
meaning a piece of cloth,
and began to strut between the two lines.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
"This is a gait that Allah dislikes,
except in a situation like this,"
because it enrages the enemies.
The two armies drew near,
the two groups approached,
and the fighting began.
The standard of the polytheists was with Talhah Ibn Abi Talhah al-'Abdari,
who was one of the knights of Quraysh.
People called him "the Ram of the Battalion" because of his courage.
He came out on a camel, calling for a duel.
Al-Zubayr Ibn al-'Awwam advanced toward him,
and leaped at him like a lion,
until he was with him on his camel.
Then he threw him to the ground,
stood over him, and slaughtered him, may Allah be pleased with him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, cried "Allahu Akbar,"
and the Muslims cried "Allahu Akbar."
Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, said to al-Zubayr:
"Every Prophet has a disciple,
and my disciple is al-Zubayr."
Treasures of the Prophetic biography.
The martyrdom of Hamzah Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
may Allah be pleased with him.
The fighting intensified between the Muslims and the people of Makkah,
and they killed many of the people of Makkah.
In this battle, the uncle of the Messenger, peace be upon him, was martyred:
the Lion of Allah and the Lion of His Messenger,
Hamzah Ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, may Allah be pleased with him.
He was killed by a man called Wahshi Ibn Harb.
Wahshi Ibn Harb tells us about his killing of Hamzah.
He said:
"I was a slave to Jubayr Ibn Mut'im.
The uncle of Jubayr Ibn Mut'im,
who was Tu'aymah Ibn 'Adi,
had been killed at Badr.
When Quraysh marched to Uhud,
Jubayr said to me:
'If you kill Hamzah, the uncle of Muhammad, in retaliation for my uncle,
then you are a free man.'"
He said:
"So I went out with the people.
I was an Abyssinian man who threw a spear like the Abyssinians,
rarely missing my target.
When the people met,
I went out looking for Hamzah, following him with my eyes,
until I saw him in the midst of the people,
like a camel,
crushing the people; nothing could stand against him.
By Allah, I prepared myself for him, wanting him,
hiding behind a tree or a stone,
so that he might come closer to me.
Suddenly, Siba' Ibn 'Abd al-'Uzza approached him before me.
When Hamzah saw him, he said to him:
'Come here, O son of the circumciser of women!'
He struck him a blow that seemed to miss his head.
At that moment, I shook my spear,
and when I was satisfied with my aim,
I threw it at him.
It landed in his abdomen,
and came out between his legs.
He tried to come toward me,
but he was overcome.
So I left him and the spear until he died.
Then I came later and took my spear,
and returned to the camp and sat there.
I had no need for anyone else,
for I had only killed him to be set free.
When I arrived in Makkah, I was set free."
The amazing thing
is that Wahshi Ibn Harb later accepted Islam and repented.
Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, granted him success
in killing Musaylimah the Liar.
So he says:
"I killed the best of Allah's creation [Hamzah],
and I killed the enemy of Allah [Musaylimah]."
Treasures of the Prophetic biography.
From the events of the battle.
The fighting intensified in this great battle,
and Allah sent down His victory upon the Muslims,
and He, Glory be to Him and Exalted, fulfilled His promise to them.
The Muslims drove the disbelievers away from the camp,
and the defeat was upon the polytheists.
Al-Zubayr Ibn al-'Awwam said:
"By Allah, I saw myself
looking at the servants of Hind Bint 'Utbah
and her companions, with their garments tucked up,
with nothing to stop them from fleeing.
In the hadith of al-Bara', may Allah be pleased with him:
'When we met them, they fled,
until I saw the women running toward the mountain,
lifting their garments,
revealing their anklets.'"
The Muslims followed the polytheists,
striking them with their weapons,
and seizing the spoils.
From this, the victory of Allah for the Muslims is evident
in the beginning of this battle.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
had commanded the archers never to abandon their positions.
However, when they saw the defeat,
and saw the women fleeing,
and the men fleeing,
they assumed the battle had ended,
so they descended from their posts.
Abdullah Ibn Jubayr al-Ansari,
the commander of the archers,
was ordering them not to move,
and to remain in their positions,
just as the Prophet, peace be upon him, had commanded.
They replied to him that the fighting had ended,
and they descended from their posts.
Khalid Ibn al-Walid,
and Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jahl,
were the commanders of the cavalry.
They had not participated in this battle [initially],
because there was no role for them,
as the Muslims had occupied the correct positions.
So when Khalid Ibn al-Walid saw the archers,
had abandoned their position,
he circled behind the mountain,
and shouted to the disbelievers of Quraysh, calling them.
The disbelievers of Makkah returned,
and the Muslims found themselves in the middle,
caught in a pincer movement.
Slaughter befell them,
and those who fled among the Muslims fled,
following this chaos that they witnessed,
and the fact that the disbelievers began killing them in a terrible slaughter,
leaving no one alive whom they could kill,
whether by their hands or by their arrows.
Anas Ibn al-Nadr, may Allah be pleased with him, passed by the Muslims,
and said, "What are you waiting for?"
They said, "The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has been killed."
This was because it had been rumored that the Prophet, peace be upon him, [had died].
Anas said to them,
"What will you do with life after him?
Rise and die for that which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, died for."
Then he said,
"O Allah, I apologize to You for what these people have done,"
meaning the Muslims,
"and I disavow before You what these people have done,"
meaning the polytheists.
Then he advanced,
and Sa'd Ibn Mu'adh met him,
and said,
"Where are you going, O Abu 'Amr?"
Anas said,
"Oh, the scent of Paradise, O Sa'd!
I find it right before Uhud."
Then he went forward and fought the people until he was killed.
No one recognized him except his sister, by his fingertips.
This was because he was found to have over eighty wounds from spears or sword strikes.
Anas Ibn Malik said,
"The Messenger, peace be upon him, was left alone on the day of Uhud,
with seven of the Ansar and two men from Quraysh.
When they overwhelmed him, he said,
'Whoever repels them from us shall have Paradise,'
or 'He will be my companion in Paradise.'
A man from the Ansar stepped forward and fought until he was killed.
Then the second stood up,
and fought until he was killed,
until the seven were killed before the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him."
It is established in the two Sahih collections
that the Prophet, peace be upon him,
had his incisor tooth broken and his head wounded.
He began wiping away the blood, peace be upon him,
and saying, "How can a people prosper who have wounded the face of their Prophet?"
And Allah, the Almighty, revealed [the verse].
“It is no concern at all of thee (Muhammad) whether He relent toward them or punish them; for they are evil-doers.” (3:128)
“It is no concern at all of thee (Muhammad) whether He relent toward them or punish them; for they are evil-doers.” (3:128)
In one narration,
the Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
"O Allah, forgive my people, for they do not know."
Treasures of the Prophetic biography (Seerah).