The Battle of Uhud

The battle of Uhud, the second great battle between the Muslims of Medina and Quraysh, took place on Saturday 7 Shawwal 3 AH at the foot of Mount Uhud, north of Medina ¹. It began as a complete Muslim victory and ended in heavy losses after most of the archers left their positions. Seventy Companions were martyred, foremost among them Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The Prophet was wounded in the face, and Quraysh withdrew without occupying the Muslim camp or entering Medina ².

Quraysh was consumed with rage over the defeat at Badr. It forbade weeping for its dead, delayed the ransoming of captives, and held back the goods of the caravan that had escaped with Abu Sufyan to finance revenge ³. It gathered three thousand fighters, including two hundred cavalry and seven hundred in armour. Overall command went to Abu Sufyan, and command of the cavalry to Khalid ibn al-Walid, who was then still a polytheist ⁴. In Medina the Prophet held a consultative council, in which most of the Companions chose to march out to the battlefield, despite his preference for staying.

The Prophet camped with seven hundred fighters in the gorge of Uhud, facing Medina with his back to the mountain, which gave him the best position on the field. He selected fifty skilled archers and placed them under Abdullah ibn Jubayr ibn al-Nu'man al-Ansari. He stationed them on a small hill south-east of the camp, known as the Archers' Hill, to protect the left flank from the polytheist cavalry. He charged them: "Protect our backs. If you see us being killed, do not come to our aid; and if you see us taking spoils, do not share them with us" ⁵. He placed al-Mundhir ibn Amr (may God be pleased with him) over the right wing and al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam over the left.

On the road to Uhud, close to the enemy, Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul mutinied and withdrew with about three hundred fighters, exposing a hypocrisy that had been hidden ⁶. The clans of Banu Haritha of the Aws and Banu Salama of the Khazraj were about to turn back, but they held firm. Abdullah ibn Haram, the father of Jabir, tried to bring the hypocrites back, but they refused. Seven hundred Companions remained with the Prophet.

At the start, the weight of the battle centred on the polytheists' standard, which was held by Banu Abd al-Dar. Al-Zubayr leapt upon its first bearer, Talha ibn Abi Talha, threw him from his camel and slaughtered him. The men of Banu Abd al-Dar took the standard in turn and were wiped out to the last, ten men, until an Abyssinian slave named Sawab carried it. He knelt upon it with his chest and neck until he was killed ⁷. Abu Dujana, with his red headband, went forward carrying the Prophet's sword and cut through the ranks of the polytheists ⁸. The polytheists fled, until al-Zubayr saw the women hitching up their skirts as they ran up the mountain ⁹.

Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib fought in the thick of the people like a grey camel, cutting down the ranks. Wahshi ibn Harb, an Abyssinian slave of Jubayr ibn Mut'im, lay in wait for him. Jubayr had promised him his freedom if he killed Hamza in revenge for Jubayr's uncle Tu'ayma, who had been killed at Badr. Wahshi said: "I shook my spear until I was satisfied with it, then I threw it at him. It struck him in the belly and came out between his legs" ¹⁰. Then Hind bint Utba came and slit open Hamza's liver ¹¹.

When most of the archers saw the Muslims gathering the spoils, they left their position, all except Ibn Jubayr and nine others. Khalid ibn al-Walid seized the opening, swung his cavalry around behind the Muslim army and destroyed Ibn Jubayr and his companions. The routed polytheists turned back on the Muslims ¹². The Muslims found themselves between two millstones. In the confusion the news spread that the Prophet had been killed, and some of them collapsed, until Anas ibn al-Nadr reminded them: "What will you do with life after him? Stand up and die as he died" ¹³.

At the most desperate moment, only Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas remained with the Prophet at his rear. Utba ibn Abi Waqqas pelted him with stones, breaking his front tooth and wounding his lip. Abd Allah ibn Qami'a struck his cheek, and two rings of his helmet sank into it ¹⁴. Talha fought like eleven men until his fingers were cut off, and he received thirty-nine wounds ¹⁵. Abu Dujana sheltered the Prophet with his back while the arrows fell on him, and he did not move ¹⁴. Nusayba bint Ka'b fought until she received twelve wounds ¹⁴. Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah removed the two rings of the helmet from the Prophet's cheek with his incisors ¹⁴.

About thirty Companions gathered around the Prophet and forced a way to the mountain gorge. During the withdrawal, the Prophet himself stabbed Ubayy ibn Khalaf in the collarbone, and he died of it at Sarif ¹⁶. Once he had settled in the gorge, Fatima washed his wound and stopped the bleeding with a piece of burnt mat ¹⁷. Abu Sufyan then called out to the Muslims. Umar answered him and made clear that the Prophet was alive ¹⁷.

Seventy were martyred: sixty-five Ansar, four Muhajirun and a Jew. The Prophet ordered them buried in their resting places without washing, and he placed first in the grave whoever knew the most Qur'an ¹⁸. Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' was found on the verge of death with seventy blows on him, and he sent his greeting to the Prophet ¹⁹. When they searched for Hanzala, they found him dripping water. The Prophet told them that the angels had washed him, so he was named "the one washed by the angels" ¹⁸.

The next day the Prophet called on the people to pursue Quraysh. The Muslims marched on their wounds until they reached Hamra al-Asad, eight miles from Medina ²⁰. He sent Ma'bad al-Khuza'i to Abu Sufyan, who waged a war of nerves against him until the Meccan army's resolve collapsed, and they continued their withdrawal to Mecca. The Prophet executed Abu Azza al-Jumahi, who had broken his pledge ²¹.

About sixty verses of Surat Al 'Imran came down on the matter of Uhud, beginning with the verse آل عمران 121 ²². The verses address the position of the hypocrites, the cause of the reversal in disobeying the order, and the wisdom of the trial in distinguishing the truthful from the liar.

The Sheikh says, with wonder, that worms, which we assume have no mind, do not come near the body of a martyr, and he mentions that the flow of the valley at Uhud came down on the martyrs of Uhud forty years after the battle (needs_source) ²³.

He relates that the Companions consulted one another and decided to move the bodies of the martyrs away from the course of the valley out of respect for them, and that as the digging began one of them struck with his axe, which fell on Hamza's foot, and blood flowed from it forty years later (needs_source) ²⁴.

The speaker presents four images from history, two of victory and two of defeat, and seeks a single cause that explains them all. He offers Uhud as one of these images ^{25 26}.

He recounts that the archers left their post at Uhud despite the order of their commander, Abdullah ibn Jubayr, to hold the gap. The order was that he and the fifty men with him should stay where they were, whether the army won or lost ^{26 27}.

He says Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him) entered through the gap the archers had left, and the Prophet was wounded. He sets this beside the flight of the army from around the Prophet at Hunayn ²⁸.

He recounts a woman called Nusayba who stood as a shield over the Prophet at Uhud; her back was wounded and her hand was later cut off. He says her hand went ahead of her into Paradise. In the caliphate of Umar, people who did not know her story asked her where her hand had gone, and Umar was listening ^{29 30}.