Thirteen months had passed since the Prophet Muhammad (saw) had prevailed over the polytheists of Quraysh at Badr. During this intervening period, he devoted himself to restoring the normal rhythm of daily life in Madina and to ensuring that the Muslims were educated and brought together in accordance with the Islamic way of life. The Meccan notables who had lost their close relatives at Badr were, however, consumed by a burning desire for revenge and were watching for an opportunity to preserve their social and political honor. On the other hand, their prosperity and security were tied to their prestige. In order to maintain their existing power and status, they had to put an end to the Prophet Muhammad’s control over the northbound trade routes. Moreover, after the expulsion of the Banu Qaynuqa from Madina for violating the Constitution of Madina, the provocations of the other Jews on this matter further intensified their desire for vengeance. They therefore agreed to unite their forces and launch an attack against the Prophet Muhammad. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was expecting such an attack sooner or later, and because he attached great importance to intelligence, he was soon informed of the developments through Anas and Mu‘nis, the sons of Fudalah, whom he had assigned for this task. He immediately convened a council of war. Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, the leader of the Khazraj tribe, who was experienced in the defense of the city, along with some prominent figures of Madina, stated that it would be appropriate to remain within the city and wage a defensive battle. The city consisted of districts made up of scattered yet internally compact buildings, which forced the enemy both to lay siege and to engage in street fighting. Enemies who were unable to carry out both of these operations simultaneously had, up to that time, never succeeded in capturing the city. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) found these experience-based views very sensible. However, the Meccan polytheists must also have been aware of this experience, for instead of attacking the city, they chose to establish their camp at the foothills of Mount Uhud, located approximately five kilometers north of Madina. They attempted to harass and provoke the Muslims by damaging all the cultivated lands and plantations they could find in that area. At the same time, they began spreading throughout the city the notion that the Muslims were afraid of them. This situation led to the proposal of an alternative view regarding the strategy of war. A group of young men who had been unable to participate in the Battle of Badr, together with the Prophet’s uncle Hamza, argued that the enemy should be confronted outside the city in order to prove that the Muslims were not fearful. The majority supported this opinion, and the Prophet Muhammad (saw) respected the will of the majority. Preparations were made swiftly. A medical unit was formed to treat the wounded, consisting of fourteen women, among whom were the Prophet’s daughter Fatimah, Umm Ayman, Hamnah bint Jahsh, and Umm ‘Umarah. That same week, following the Friday prayer, the army set out. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) set out with approximately one thousand men, appointing Abd Allah ibn Umm Maktum, a blind Companion who was one of his muadhdhins, as his deputy in Madina. However, Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, unable to accept that his advice had not been heeded, withdrew from the army together with the forces loyal to him and returned to Madina. As a result, the Prophet Muhammad was left with only seven hundred men to confront the Meccan army of nearly three thousand, two hundred of whom were cavalry and six hundred heavily armored, most of them mercenaries. At that point, regardless of what the outcome might be, it was no longer possible to turn back from the decision to wage war. When the Prophet Muhammad (saw) reached Mount Uhud, he identified the most suitable position for battle. He stationed his men in one of the mountain passes that had no outlet, thus facing Madina while having his back to the mountain. The position occupied by the Muslims was such that it enabled them to withstand an enemy force nearly five times their number. In particular, it was essential to secure the pass to the rear. For this reason, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) placed fifty archers under the command of Abd Allah ibn Jubayr at the pass between Mount Uhud and the hill of Aynayn, in order to prevent an enemy attack from the rear and to keep their cavalry at a distance. He strictly instructed them not to abandon their positions under any circumstances until they received a further command from him. The battle, which took place in Shawwal of the 3rd year after the hijrah, began in accordance with Arab custom with single combat, known as mubarazah. Two Meccan warriors who stepped forward were killed by Hamza and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The fighting soon intensified. The Quraysh women who had lost their husbands, fathers, and sons at the Battle of Badr, led by Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, sought to incite their men by beating drums and chanting poetry. However, faced with the fierce assault of the Muslims, the enemy quickly began to scatter and flee after suffering around twenty casualties. Thanks to the arrows of the archers holding the pass on the hill of Aynayn, many horses were wounded, leading to a sudden withdrawal on the opposing side. When the Muslims on the battlefield began pursuing the enemy on the one hand and collecting spoils on the other, the majority of the archers abandoned their positions, assuming that the battle had already been won. Although their commander, Abdullah ibn Jubayr, attempted to call them back, he was unable to prevent them. After a short while, the situation was completely reversed. Khalid ibn al-Walid, the commander of the Quraysh cavalry, maneuvered with a group of horsemen around the rear of the hill of Aynayn. After killing the small number of archers who remained, he attacked the Muslim soldiers from behind as they were preoccupied with collecting spoils. Seeing this, the Quraysh army regrouped and returned to the attack against the Muslims. Caught between assaults from two directions, the Muslim ranks fell into confusion. During this phase of the battle, the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle Hamza was killed. At times, the psychological and tactical dimensions of the battle also came to the fore. On top of the confusion experienced by the Muslims, a rumor spread that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) had been killed. Although this was intended to cause the forces loyal to the Prophet Muhammad to disperse, the Prophet Muhammad himself, despite being wounded, was placed under close protection by everyone, foremost among them Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Ali ibn Abi Talib. Together with them, the Prophet Muhammad withdrew to a secure position on the slope of Mount Uhud. Since the Meccan forces under the command of Abu Sufyan kept this area under siege for a short while, the Prophet Muhammad and those with him remained on the mountain for some time, defending themselves. Believing that they had avenged Badr by inflicting around seventy casualties upon the Muslims, the Quraysh army lifted the siege. Although it appeared to be a significant opportunity, they did not dare to attack Madina, as they did not know how large an armed force might confront them (7 or 11 Shawwal 3 / 23 or 27 March 625). Before leaving the battlefield, Abu Sufyan issued a threat, declaring that they would meet again at Badr one year later. The Prophet Muhammad (saw), through the powerful voice of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, conveyed his acceptance of Abu Sufyan’s threat and challenge. After the Quraysh army withdrew, the Prophet Muhammad buried the martyrs and returned to Madina the same day. While some of the Muslims remained on guard against a possible attack by the Quraysh army, others withdrew to their homes and began tending to their wounds. The Prophet Muhammad himself was wounded, and toward dawn the following day, he received news that the Quraysh army intended to launch a raid on Madina. In order both to prevent a surprise attack by the enemy and to demonstrate that the Muslims had not been weakened, he decided to pursue the Quraysh army. Setting out with a force of five hundred men, he advanced as far as Hamra al-Asad, located approximately 13 kilometers from Madina, and camped there for five days. Realizing that they were being pursued, the exhausted polytheist army abandoned any thought of turning back and continued on their way toward Mecca.

Difficult times in Medina after Uhud: The hypocrites and the tragedies of al-Raji‘ and Bi’r Ma‘unah

When all the Muslims gathered in the mosque on the first Friday after the battle, Abd Allah ibn Ubayy rose to speak. He began his address with words of praise for the Prophet Muhammad (saw), expressing his joy and gratitude that the Prophet’s life had been spared. He then could not refrain from voicing his opinions regarding the decision to engage the Meccan army in battle. “If my brothers had listened to me,” he declared, “they would not have been killed today.” His speech was not one that appealed to the minds or hearts of people who were still mourning their dead and tending to their wounds. At that moment, a group stepped forward and accused him of cowardice, even of treachery. Declaring him an enemy of Allah, they said that after what he had done, he no longer had the right to speak there. While efforts were underway in Madina to clearly distinguish loyalties and positions, approximately three to four months had passed since the Battle of Uhud when Khalid ibn Sufyan, the chief of the Banu Lahyan, a branch of the Banu Hudhayl, began preparations to attack Madina, gathering fighters from neighboring tribes. Upon learning of this situation, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) assigned Abdullah ibn Unais alJuhani with the task of eliminating Khalid ibn Sufyan. Abdullah ambushed and killed Khalid in the valley of Uranah, thereby eliminating the threat of an attack on Madina. This incident further intensified the hostility of the Banu Lihyan toward the Muslims. Some members of the tribe went to their relatives from the Adal and Qarah tribes and, together with them, devised a plan to take revenge on the Muslims. According to this plan, Adal and Qarah would send a delegation to the Prophet Muhammad (saw), requesting that individuals be sent to teach them Islam. They would then kill some of these men to avenge Khalid, and sell the others to the Meccan polytheists whose relatives had been killed at Badr and Uhud. One month after the killing of Khalid, a delegation of six or seven men from the tribes of Adal and Qarah came to Madina. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) accepted their request and, in the month of Safar of the 4th year after the Hijrah (July 625), sent with them a group consisting of six, seven, or ten men. This delegation was to teach Islam to these tribes who had declared that they had embraced Islam, to collect zakat from them, and also to proceed as far as the vicinity of Mecca in order to gather intelligence about the Quraysh polytheists. When the delegation led by Mirsad ibn Abi Mirsad (or Asim ibn Thabit) halted by the water of al-Raji‘ in the Hada region belonging to the Hudhayl tribe, they were attacked by a group of one hundred men. All but two were martyred in the fighting. Those two were sold to the Meccans who sought to avenge relatives killed at Badr. There, in front of a large crowd of onlookers, they were offered their freedom on the condition that they renounce Islam. Even under these severe circumstances, both men once again affirmed their loyalty to Islam and to the Prophet Muhammad, demonstrating that they did not fear death in the path of Allah and His Messenger. As a result, they were tortured and martyred by the polytheists. This incident plunged the Prophet Muhammad and the believers into deep sorrow. For a long period thereafter, curses were made in the mosque after the Fajr prayer against those responsible for this tragedy.

Shortly after the Incident of al-Raji‘, in the same month (Safar 4 / July 625), this time Abu Bara’ Amir ibn Malik, the chief of the Banu Amir ibn Sa‘sa‘ah tribe, came to Madina and visited the Prophet Muhammad (saw). He received information from him about Islam. Although he did not embrace Islam, he requested that the Prophet Muhammad send some people to his tribe to convey Islam to them. However, due to the recent events, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was concerned that the envoys who would be sent might face danger. Abu Bara’, on the other hand, guaranteed their safety. Thereupon, after some time, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) appointed approximately seventy (or forty) individuals, most of them from the Ansar and the Ahl al Suffah, to introduce Islam to the people of the Banu Amir ibn Sa‘sa‘ah and to teach them the Qur’an. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) appointed Mundhir ibn Amr al-Khazraji from among the Ansar as the leader of this delegation. He also wrote a letter addressed to the tribal leaders. However, when the delegation reached the lands of the Banu Amir ibn Sa‘sa‘ah, they were attacked by Abu Bara’s nephew and the men he incited. No one survived this attack except Ka‘b ibn Zayd al-Najjar, who was left wounded because he was presumed dead, and Mundhir ibn Muhammad and ‘Amr ibn Umayyah alDamri, who, at the time of the incident, were grazing the caravan’s camels. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) and the Muslims were once again shaken by this tragic event.