3A

Battle of Badr paved the way for battle of Uhud as Abu Sufyan vowed that he would not take a bath
till he had avenged the defeat at Badr. They wanted to reopen their trade routes to Syria and Iraq.
The Jewish poet, Ka’ab bin Ashraf, Chief of the Jewish tribe. Banu Nazir persuaded the Quraish to
attack on Muslims and promised to help them. The Quraish donated all the profit of the trade
caravan for the next battle. The Quraish had an army of 3000 men. Women also fought like Khalid
bin Waleed’s sister.

Prophet held a council of war. Prophet wanted to stay in Madinah but younger men wanted to fight.
Muslims left with an army of 1000. Before the war, Abdullah bin Ubbay deserted the Muslims with
300 because they fought outside the city. Prophet had 700 now. Both armies met at Uhud.

There was a narrow pass in the mount of Uhud where Prophet posted 50 archers under the
command of Abdullah bin Jubair. They weren’t allowed to leave their positions. In the battle Muslims
fought bravely and left behind 22 dead bodies and a great deal of booty with enemies fleeing. The
booty made Muslims greedy and 44 archers came down. Khalid bin Waleed saw the Muslim archers
come down. He got his army from the back and martyred 6 archers and threw arrows and stones.
Quraish also returned to fight.

Muslims started off strong but soon became puzzled. Holy Prophet fell in a ditch and Mas’ab bin
Umair who looked like Prophet was martyred and rumor spread that Prophet had died. This news
made Muslims fall hopeless. On this Allah said “… if he died or was slain will you turn back on your
heals…” When Prophet came out of the ditch Quraish tried to martyr him but he was surrounded
with companions. The Prophet was injured but Muslims saved him. They threw stones on enemies
and took Prophet to hillside. 70 Muslims were martyred and 22 Quraish were killed. Abu Sufyan and
his army were satisfied so they left.

Muslims were empty handed and did not leave the battlefield. Muslims were mourning the losses.
Hamza was martyred by Wahshi who was hired by Abu Sufyan’s wife. She completely destroyed his
body and chewed his liver for revenge of her father.

In this battle, Muslims women also participated such as Ayesha. They gave water and dressed the
soldiers wounds. Umm e Ammarah held a sword when the Prophet was in danger. The Holy Quran
says, “Those of Those of you who turned back on the day the 2 hosts met, it was Satan who caused
them to fail”.

The Makkans before their departure declared that this day was for defeat of Badr and they
challenged the Muslims to meet them the next year. After the battle, Prophet realized that enemies
might attack him so he left with 70 men, encamped at Hamra ul Asad and waited for Quraish for 3
days. Thus demonstrating to the desert tribes that the Quraish victory was a hollow triumph.