Chapter 18
Trials of Muslims after:
The Battle of Uhud.
An enormous level of maturity was demanded from the Believers during the Battle of Uhud, in responding prudently to the tremendous agony they were made to experience after the momentum shifted to the side of Quraysh. Once their brilliant initial display of trust in Allah, commitment and patience dwindled away in a moment’s lapse and a love of the world, the Believers were forced to undergo painful and bitter experiences.
Neglect in properly carrying out the command of Rasulullah ﷺ, changed the destiny of the Battle in the blink of an eye; victory was suspended, making way for clear manifestations of Divine warning. The entire Believers paid the price for the mistake of a few, finding themselves amid an almost irreversible routing. Such is sunnatullah, or the Law of Allah. That Rasulullah ﷺ was among the Believers could do little to alter it.
Yet, the Companions were in a state of unconditional obedience to Rasulullah ﷺ- as confirmed by their words of trust:
“We have believed you, Messenger of Allah…we have sincere faith in the truth of the Quran that you have brought, and we vow to obey and follow you. Do as you wish; just command us and we will be by your side. For the sake of the One who has sent you, even if you were to plunge into sea, we will follow and not even a single one of us will lag behind!”
(Ibn Hisham, II, 253-254).
This was the peak of sincere enthusiasm.
The Divine tribulation at Uhud carried the impetus of sending out a warning to the Believers, over their momentary ignorance regarding certain sensitive and significant responsibilities.
One of the greatest wisdoms underlying the ordeal of Uhud was to cleanse the Believers of the hypocrites that had mixed into their ranks.
Equally, Uhud instilled the idolaters of Quraysh a false sense of a victory that was to carry no practical import, and thus reduced them to a state of immobility. The false victory toned down the hate and anger that had accumulated in the hearts of idolaters since their defeat at Badr, gradually reducing, over time, their coldness towards Islam.
It is striking to see the Companions, from their youngest to their eldest, virtually compete with each other to participate in the Battle and fall martyr. Fifteen year old kids were resorting to all means possible just to be part of Rasulullah ﷺ army. The secret behind them running to death lay in the fullness of their hearts with iman and their deep love for Rasulullah ﷺ, the reason for the existence of the universe. Whenever iman unites with love, there is to be found all kinds of otherwise unthinkable feats of bravery; and wherever that unity is nowhere to be found, there arises laziness, indecision and fear. The way to enhancing this love is to increase dhikr, and salawat for the Blessed Rasulullah ﷺ, to contemplate the blessings of the Allah, glory unto Him, and to engage in a struggle to wholeheartedly adopt the ways of Rasulullah ﷺ.
That the Light of Being -upon Rasulullah ﷺ wounded at Uhud, which lead to the circulation of the rumor that he had been martyred, carries a fundamental lesson for the Believers. They were subjected to a test of iman and will. Their hearts were effectively prepared, from beforehand, for the truth that Rasulullah ﷺ- , too, was after all a human being who was to return to the presence of his Lord when the time came, and that they needed to stick to the path shown by him and not turn back on their heels after his passing away.
Abounding in such meaning laden lessons, the Battle of Uhud also taught the road to triumph, and the way to avert the danger of disorder and defeat.
In preparing for the battle of Uhud, the Makkan Musyirikin had spared neither pains nor expense in getting together a skilled and well equipped army before embarking on such a grand expedition. Although the Makkan Musyirikin were not victorious thee was a deep current of unrest among all the Arabs tribes. They felt sure the Makkan Musyirikin would not be long in raising another and a larger army, and that soon the fate of the small band of Muslims would be sealed.
With a view to have a share in the honor of having overpowered the Muslims, tribes here and there were even preparing to join the Makkan Musyirikin in warring the Muslims. Again, the Jewish tribes in Madinah, who had entered into a covenants with the Muslims that they would render them help when necessary, had broken their promises, and sided with the Makkan Musyirikin. Besides this, there was yet another faction known as the hypocrites in Islamic terminology, whose existence in the Muslim camp was dangerous, because they had access to all plans and secret of the Muslims.
There were the men who had not the courage to offer opposition to Islam openly. They believed that they could more successfully undermine the strength of the Islamic society of Madinah by joining it. The hypocrites too, decided to come out in open and trouble the Muslims in every possible way. Other neighboring tribes, seeing how the Muslims were situated, also commenced making preparation to attack them. Once more the Muslims found themselves in danger, both within and without the city of Madinah. Rasulullah ﷺ was deeply concerned as to the welfare of those who had given up all to follow him.
As their leader he was bound to take thought for the good of his people, and he found that the life of his faithful companions were in constant danger. They surrounded on all sides by bitter foes. It was extremely anxious time for the Muslims. Day and night they were in constant danger. Day and night they would compel to be armed not knowing they would be attacked. The stress and strains of those days soon told of them; their patience and energy were entirely exhausted. In despair they went to Rasulullah ﷺ to tell him how unbearable things had become. Rasulullah ﷺ did his best to cheer them. He begged them not to give up hopes. Rasulullah ﷺ assured them that Allah will not dissert them in their hour of need, and that they would soon be safety and peace again.
One day at dawn there was a great uproar as the gates of the
city of Madinah. The Muslims, thinking that they had been attacked, quickly
gathered and prepared to march out to meet the enemy. To their surprise they
saw Rasulullah ﷺ galloping towards them. At the beginning of the uproar he had
immediately ridden out to see what the trouble was, and returned to tell his
people that there was no cause of anxiety. This proved to the Muslim again the
intrepidity of their Rasulullah ﷺ. He had ridden out alone and unarmed to see
what had caused the uproar, and if the enemy had indeed come to attack the
Muslims they would, seeing Rasulullah ﷺ alone, have immediately taken the
opportunity of killing him.
In spite of the grave danger, the Muslims continued their mission of conversion, although they did not meet with any great success. Preachers would commit the Holy Quran to memory and try to spread the truth to members of one tribe or another. But treacherous persons, thinking this a good opportunity of doing away with few Muslims on the sly, would invite preachers on the pretext of being instructed, and once having them at their mercy would cruelly put them to death. Once Abu Bara , the chief of certain tribes, came himself to Rasulullah ﷺ with some valuable presents.
He told Rasulullah
ﷺ that his people were inclined to embrace Islam, and asked him to send with
him a few preachers. Rasulullah ﷺ refused the presents and told Abu Bara ,
that he feared treachery, Abu Bara but
assured Rasulullah ﷺ that he could be trusted and that the preachers
would be quite safe with him. This convinced Rasulullah ﷺ, and sent seventy.
These went a short distance out of Madinah with Abu Bara. Then they were met a
large army and all of them were put to death, with the exception of “Amru bin Umayya ra’,
who alone managed to escape to Madinah and give details of the terrible
experience to Rasulullah ﷺ and the Muslims.
After some time the people of a place called Raji’ sent word
that they had become Muslims, and wanted Rasulullah ﷺ to send some preachers to
instruct them more fully. Rasulullah ﷺ sent ten, who met with the same fate as
the former seventy; eight were killed and two Sayidina Zayd ra and Sayidina
Khubayb ra were sold as slaves. Sayidina Khubayb ra was executed by his master
and Sayidina Zayd ra was bought by Safwan bin Umayya for the same purpose. At
his execution Abu Sufyan said to him, “would you like your life to be spared on
condition that Muhammad was slain instead? And Sayidina Zayd ra replied at the
last moments of his life when the sword was ready to cut off his head: “My life
is nothing compared with Muhammad - Rasulullah ﷺ; I would give my life if it
would save him even the prick of a thorn.”
The facts are, during that time, the whole of Arabia was against
Islam. Idolaters, Jews, and hypocrites, all were against the Muslims, doing
their utmost to destroy them. This torturing and killing of innocent men was
heart breaking to Rasulullah ﷺ. He would willingly suffer hardship himself; he
would fain undergo any torture, but it was a sore grief to him to see his
faithful companions thus treated. The tale of misery is too long and painful to
tell the detail.
The situation were going from bad to worse, and Rasulullah ﷺ
realized that if he failed to adopt some sort of policy soon the Muslims would
be compelled to flee from Madinah. At this time the enemy were separated and
not united. Each tribe in itself was an enemy to Islam. Therefore, in these
circumstances, the only practical plan left to Muslims was to attack these
tribes quickly before they had time gradually to unite into one large army and
be sufficiently strong to overthrow the Muslim completely. Being compelled to
defend themselves, several small battles or skirmishes took place one after the
other. The first of these was known as the Battle of Badr Sughra and the next
the battle of Badr Akhira. Then came the battle of Dumatu ‘Jandal and that of
Zari Al Riqa; both in the year of 5 A.H (627 AC). Two more followed in the year
6 A.H (628 AC), the battle of Zu Qarada and the battle of Banu Lihyan.
Several other such skirmishes took place. But it was in the
Battle of Bani Mustaliq that the Muslims completely defeated the inhabitants of
Muraysi and took six hundreds of them prisoners, including the chief of the
tribe, Harris bin Abi Zirar, his daughter and two sons. His daughter Juwarriya,
Rasulullah ﷺ married later at her own request. After the marriage, six hundreds
prisoners belonging to her tribe were set free.
While the Muslims were thus busily engaged in several minor
operations against neighboring Arab tribes, the Makkan Musyirikin in Makkah were by no means
inactive. They were rapidly collecting and preparing a large army in order
again to attack the Muslims in Madinah. They succeeded in getting the Jewish
tribes settled in Khaybar to join them, and also managed to secure the help of
Bedouin tribes living in the neighborhood of Makkah. Thus, again, the Makkan Musyirikin marched towards Madinah, with the determination this time to conquer the
Muslims. The battle that followed was known as the Battle of Khandaq.
What is the lesson of wisdom to be drawn from the battle of uhud?
An enormous level of maturity was demanded from the Believers during the Battle of Uhud, in responding prudently to the tremendous agony they were made to experience after the momentum shifted to the side of Quraysh. Once their brilliant initial display of trust in Allah, commitment and patience dwindled away in a moment’s lapse and a love of the world, the Believers were forced to undergo painful and bitter experiences.
Neglect in properly carrying out the command of Rasulullah ﷺ changed the destiny of the Battle in the blink of an eye; victory was suspended, making way for clear manifestations of Divine warning. The entire Believers paid the price for the mistake of a few, finding themselves amid an almost irreversible routing. Such is sunnatullah, or the Law of Allah. That His Beloved Rasulullah ﷺ was among the Believers could do little to alter it.
Yet, the Companions were in a state of unconditional obedience to Rasulullah ﷺ as confirmed by their words of trust:
“We have believed you, Messenger of Allah…we have sincere faith in the truth of the Quran that you have brought, and we vow to obey and follow you. Do as you wish; just command us and we will be by your side. For the sake of the One who has sent you, even if you were to plunge into sea, we will follow and not even a single one of us will lag behind!”
(Ibn Hisham, II, 253-254).
This was the peak of sincere enthusiasm.
The Divine tribulation at Uhud carried the impetus of sending out a warning to the Believers, over their momentary ignorance regarding certain sensitive and significant responsibilities.
One of the greatest wisdoms underlying the ordeal of Uhud was to cleanse the Believers of the hypocrites that had mixed into their ranks.
Equally, Uhud instilled the idolaters of Quraysh a false sense of a victory that was to carry no practical import, and thus reduced them to a state of immobility. The false victory toned down the hate and anger that had accumulated in the hearts of idolaters since their defeat at Badr, gradually reducing, over time, their coldness towards Islam.
It is striking to see the Companions, from their youngest to their eldest, virtually compete with each other to participate in the Battle and fall martyr. Fifteen year old kids were resorting to all means possible just to be part of Rasulullah ﷺ army. The secret behind them running to death lay in the fullness of their hearts with iman and their deep love for Rasulullah ﷺ, the reason for the existence of the universe. Whenever iman unites with love, there is to be found all kinds of otherwise unthinkable feats of bravery; and wherever that unity is nowhere to be found, there arises laziness, indecision and fear. The way to enhancing this love is to increase dhikr, and salawat for Rasulullah ﷺ, to contemplate the blessings of the Allah, glory unto Him, and to engage in a struggle to wholeheartedly adopt the ways of Rasulullah ﷺ.
Their hearts were effectively prepared, from beforehand, for the truth that Rasulullah ﷺ , too, was after all a human being who was to return to the presence of his Lord when the time came, and that they needed to stick to the path shown by him and not turn back on their heels after his passing away.
Abounding in such meaning laden lessons, the Battle of Uhud also taught the road to triumph, and the way to avert the danger of disorder and defeat.
