Tactical Deployment of the Muslim Army at Uhud

After arriving at Mount Uhud, the Prophet took up a defensive position: he set the mountain's slopes at his back, so that the enemy army stood between the Muslims and Medina ¹.

The defence plan rested on closing the one gap through which the polytheist cavalry could slip behind the Muslims to outflank and encircle them. To do this, the Prophet ﷺ chose a group of skilled archers, fifty men under the command of Abdullah ibn Jubayr ibn al-Nu'man al-Awsi. He ordered them to take position on a hill to the south-east of the camp, later known as the Hill of the Archers ¹.

The Prophet gave these archers strict orders, telling their commander: "Keep the horsemen away from us with arrows, so that they do not come at us from behind. Whether the day goes for us or against us, hold your place; we must not be struck from your side" ¹. He insisted that they must not leave their position, whatever the outcome, whether the Muslims won or were defeated, until he sent them a signal ¹.

The Prophet divided the rest of the army between the right and left wings:

• Right wing: commanded by al-Mundhir ibn Amr (may God be pleased with him) ¹.
• Left wing: commanded by al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, supported by al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad. Its main task was to hold firm against the cavalry of Khalid ibn al-Walid ¹.

At the front of the lines, the Prophet placed an elite of the bravest Muslims. Foremost among them was Abu Dujana (may God be pleased with him) Simak ibn Kharasha, who took the Prophet's sword after pledging to strike the enemy's faces with it until it bent. He tied his head with his red headband, the sign that he would fight to the death, and walked between the ranks with a gait that the Prophet described as one God dislikes, except in such a place ¹.