Quraysh Preparations for the Battle of Uhud

After the harsh defeat that Quraysh suffered at the battle of Badr, Mecca was gripped by intense anger and a fierce desire for revenge. ¹ The shock of losing its champions and nobles was a strong incentive to mobilise every resource for a battle aimed at erasing the traces of that tragedy and restoring Mecca's standing.

Quraysh's leaders, headed by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Safwan ibn Umayya (may God be pleased with him), Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl (may God be pleased with him) and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabi'a, agreed on an all-out war against the Muslims. ¹ To secure the necessary funding, Quraysh sold the thousand camels with which the earlier caravan had escaped, and gathered from them the sum of fifty thousand dinars. ¹

Quraysh did not rely on its own strength alone. It opened enlistment to the neighbouring tribes of the Ahabish, Kinana and the people of Tihama, and it used incitement to do so. Safwan ibn Umayya persuaded the poet Abu Azza, who had been released at Badr without ransom, to stir the tribes against Medina, in return for providing for his daughters and enriching him if he returned alive. ² Quraysh also employed the poet Musafi' ibn Abd Manaf al-Jumahi for a similar task, kindling the spirit of vengeance among the tribes. ³

Quraysh's determination to fight was hardened by the heavy economic losses it suffered in the raid of Zayd ibn Haritha (may God be pleased with him), which led it to hasten the completion of its equipment for a decisive battle. ³