We discussed the preperations for war.

The fact that the Quraysh were camping ne

arby; the shura the prophet PBUH did and then when the prophet PBUH wore his arm
our.
Now as Badr, we don't have the whole battle in order. Rather we have small piece
s of the puzzles all narrated by various sahaba. The problem comes with filling
in the gaps, and figuring out what happened in what order. Every sahabah is tell
ing their progeny one or two events in Uhud. This especially because of Uhud, be
cause it was chaotic and because it was overall a loss, if we read five differen
t seerah books you get five different chronoligcal events of the battle. In thes
e lectures this is one reconstruction. There might be slight variations: its a m
atter of connecting the dots and inferring what exactly happened in between. All
ah knows best.
What appears to be the case is that around 13th Shawwal the Quraysh were approac
hing MAdinah. The 13th is a Thursday, 14th Friday and the actual battle took pla
ce the morning of Saturday. The theory is by the 13th the Quraysh and muslims ar
e within scouting distance. By the 14th the prophet PBUH goes to Uhud - this is
why as soon as he did shura and prayed Juma'a, he makes his way to Uhud. And acc
ording to a number of reports the prophet PBUH made his way very secretly. He as
ked for a guide to take him through the date palms - not the main highway. They
went through the garden groves (back alley way). Why? Because that would give th
eir location away too early. They want to get to Uhud first so they can choose w
here they want to camp. Its narrated as they were walking through the date palms
, one of the hypocrites who was a blind man hears the commotion. So he says "who
is this? Is this Muhammad and his companions? Verily I don't allow you to come
onto my lands". One of the sahabah wanted to raise his swords to get rid off him
but the prophet PBUH said "leave him - he is blind from his eyes and heart". So
why are they on this route? Clearly because the Quraysh are closeby, and the pr
ophet PBUH wanted to choose the location.
He arrives on Uhud on the early afternoon of the 14th. Juma'a was prayed at arou
nd 11ish in our times (Juma'a is a seperate salah to Zuhr by strongest opinion t
hus it can be prayed ealier this is the Hanbali position), and so the prophet PB
UH and the sahabah arrived at Uhud by 2ish. It's literally a half an hour walk (
by car just 3 minutes). So the prophet PBUH arrives on Uhud and the Quraysh by t
heir scouts know the muslims are there, and make their way. Thus by the night of
the 14th both armies are at Uhud and have camped.
The prophet PBUH began organising the army and analysing their skills. He reject
ed around a dozen or so sahabah because they were too young: anyone under the 15
was sent back. Of those were Abdullah ibn Omar, Zaid ibn Thabit (compiler), Usa
ma ibn Zaid ibn Harithah, Abu Saeed al Koodri, Zaid ibn Arkam. And Usama ibn Zai
d was around 11/12 at this time - and he is trying to sneak into the army. Subha
nAllah. Where are our 11 year olds and what are they doing? So a number of these
young men argued their way to remain and two successded. Raf'i ibn Khadij was 1
4 - so the prophet PBUH asked him "how old are you? 14 - ok go back" but some of
his relatives begged and said "he is an expert archer" and so the prophet PBUH
let him remain. When he remained, Samur'a ibn Jundu stands up and said "I am str
onger than Raf'i and have beatan him in wrestling a number of times - its not fa
ir so let me stay". According to one book he even jumped on Raf'i to show his st
rength. And so the prophet PBUH allowed him to stay. Compare these young men who
are full of imaan to Abdullah ibn Ubay and the hypocrites. They were experiance
d in battle yet went back. Compare this to the bravery, imaan and courage of the
se young men.
Ibn Ishaaq says the prophet PBUH placed the army such that the army was facing M
adinah as we mentioned. Their backs were to Uhud; on their left was a small moun
tain called 'Jabalal Ay Nain' - its now called 'Jabalal Ruma (mountain of the ar
chers)'. So the prophet PBUH camped at a place where three sides were protected

by the mountain. There was only one open side, which had Jabalal Ay Nain smack i
n the middle. Thus he placed 50 of his expert archers there completely sealing o
ff that. All that is left is a small area of 300m that will be the offensive. Th
e whole beauty here is that they are outnumbered more than 4 to 1 - he maximises
the space such that their expert surplus becomes far more meaningless. All that
can happen is 300m of soliders coming at you at one time. 3000 have to all sque
eze in - so the muslims would not be surrounded and it would just be men to men
fighting. Out of Uhud, the most authentic reports is the advice the prophet PBUH
gave the archers. This shows us the prophet PBUH knew there is only ONE strateg
ic weakness in the entire link and that is that stretch of land protected by the
archers. The other three are protected by the mountains, and the 300m in front
the army will take care off. He told the archers:
'Keep the Meccan cavalry away from us with your arrows and don't let them come a
gainst us from the rear, whether the battle goes in our favor or against us. Wha
tever happens keep to your places so that we cannot be attacked from your direct
ion, even if you see us being slain or booty being taken.'
'Protect us with your arrow against the horses'.
'Even if you see the birds eating our bodies do not leave your places until I se
nd for you'.
'Make sure the enemy does not suprise us from behind regardless if we are the wi
nner or losers. Stay there until I call you'.
These narrations are reported in Bhukari and Muslim with the most authentic chai
ns. Therefore we can see the prophet PBUH knew how vital the archers were.
On the morning of the 15th, the prophet PBUH is wanting to encourage the sahabah
for battle. And what better motivation can there be than Allah and His messenge
r. He took out his own sword and says "who will take this sword from me and figh
t?" Immediately "everyone is saying 'I will'". Of those of the first to say it w
as Zubair ibn Al Awwam. The prophet PBUH then asked "who will give the sword the
right it is owed". Abu Dujana said "and what is the haq of the sword?" The prop
het PBUH said "you fight the enemy with it until it breaks". And so Abu Dujana s
aid "I will take it with that haq". And indeed Abu Dujana was a fiersome warrior
. He was a fighting machine and he had a special turban called 'the turban of de
ath'. So he put on the turban and walked up and down with the sword unsheathed f
or the Quraysh to see. And he was walking with much pride. At this the prophet P
BUH said "this type of walking Allah despises except at such a time and such a p
lace". Indeed now it makes sense. This shows us its common sense: the purpose of
such a walk and turban is to instill the right spirit into the sahabah.
The first thing the Quraysh tried to do was seperate the Ansar and Muhajiroon. F
irst Abu Suffyan sent a messenger and he comes within shouting distance and says
"I have been sent by Abu Suffyan, and he is saying 'Oh people of MAdinah, leave
us to our cousins for we have nothing against you and have no desire to fight y
ou'". Now the Ansar were of course the bulk of the army - if the Ansar leave the
700 will go down to nothing. The Ansar became furious and they responded back w
ith insults - in such a situation of time, its permitted to use this type of lan
guage. Its not appropiate except at such a time. On the battlefield you show a h
arshness and roughness that's meant for fighting. So they say "How dare you accu
se us of wanting to leave the prophet PBUH". Then a man says leave this to me. T
his man is Abd u Amrin ibn Sayfee. He was one of the leaders of the Aws before t
he immigration of prophet PBUH. He was of the level of Abdullah ibn Ubay. Howeve
r he did not want to accept Islam, therefore before Badr he abadoned Madinah. So
he took a group of his fellow Aws tribesmen and settled in Mecca. And so he say
s to Abu Suffyan "leave this to me for my people have always respected and honou
red me. You will see the power I have over them". So Abu Amr Ar-Rahib (the monk)

went out to the Ansar and said "Oh my people of Aws, this is me Abu Amr." Befor
e he continued they said "May Allah curse you you Abu Amr Ar-Fasiq". Why? He fle
d his own people because he hated the prophet PBUH. So they said "don't tell us
you are a monk, you are an evil person". And Abu Amr was so shocked he couldn't
even open his mouth to continue. He returned to Abu Suffyan saying "My people ar
e diseased". This is the reality of imaan - its alliegance to the prophet PBUH a
nd Allah. Abu Amur's son was Handhala (the one who was washed by the angels).
The Quraysh begin their preperations. The women aswell were there - they are ent
icing the men with bed and promises. Or "If you lose and come back you won't get
anything from us". And they have their series of songs and dancing. As with all
battles, the first issue is a mubaraza. So the mubaraza takes place between Tal
ha ibn Abi Talha and he says "who will fight me". And so Ali ibn Abi Talib stand
s up and says "I will". Talha was wearing full body armour, even the hands, and
Ali RA had nothing. And Talha swung. Ali immediately took the full blow of the s
word on the shield and immediately at lightening speed hits back. It was mastery
skill. And since Talha's whole body is covered with armour, Ali aims at the leg
s with such force that the leg is chopped off. And he collapses he falls back an
d his Awra is shown. Ali RA comes to strike a final blow and Talha begs "I beg y
ou by the rights of kinship don't kill me". Ali RA gets embarrased and he lowers
the sword and walks back. The sahabah said "why didn't you kill him" and so Ali
RA said "I felt embarrased and he begged me by the ties of kinship". Ali RA fel
t dignity - there's a way to fight and kill someone. This is a true noble warrio
r.
Here we have a big gap. We have hardly any details of the intial assault. We jus
t have a few tidbits - all that we know is that the muslims charged after Ali's
victory. And the mushrikoon could not sustain the assult. Despite the powerful,
well armoued army they could not take control. And the womens of the Quraysh wer
e forced to flee, which shows the initial attack was devestating. Why? Because t
he women are stationed at the very end: right behind the army. It shows the musl
ims had the upper hand. This small area of land were being used by the muslims v
ery effectively: they charged and charged forward like a bullet going through we
ak layers of the Quraysh. We also know regarding the intial assault that the fla
g of the Quraysh was given to the subtribe of the Banu Abdidar (which Talha was
from). It was the custom of the Quraysh the Banu Abdidar always held the flag. N
ow, in the battle of Badr they also had it - but when the army fled the flag bea
rer was the first to run away. So Abu Suffyan before Uhud reminds them of what h
appened at Badr. "You turned your backs and fled and you saw what happened. The
flag is the symbol of the army: if it stands the army stands; if it falls the ar
my falls. Now take the flag with the rights it deserves or give up and hand it t
o us". Obviously they made an extreme pact and said "you will see what we will d
o with this flag - as long as one of us remain this flag will be up". And that i
s exactly what happened: the flag was always up. But, one by one, all 10 of the
Banu Abdidar were killed. The first was Talha killed by Ali RA. And one by one,
most of them were killed by Humza RA. Indeed its akward to fight with one hand s
o Humza exploited this. And eventually the flag falls. This truly shows how effe
ctive the initial assualt was. Most of them at the hands of Humza, Ali and Abu D
ujana RA. With the flag on the ground this is the symoblic end of the army. This
is one of the chaos's that happened - the assumption was the muslims won.
Abu Dujana fought a feirce battle. Zubair ibn Al Awwam (married to Safiya bint A
bdul Muttalib). So narrates "when the prophet PBUH offered his sword, but he gav
e it to Abu Dujana I felt something in my heart. So I decided to follow him. And
so Abu Dujana did not meet a single person except he didn't kill him with the s
word by haq. And there was one person causing much havoc among the muslims. So I
made a dua to Allah 'let Abu Dujana meet him'. And Abu Dujana indeed got rid of
f him." Ibn Ishaaq also mentions Abu Dujana narrating "I saw someone encouraging
the Quraysh with all of the encouragments imaginable. So I went to him, raise m
y sword but I heard wal walat. And I felt embarrased to dishonour the sword of t

he prophet PBUH". Indeed it was Hind the wife of Abu Suffyan and thus he spared
her. And we know Humza ibn Abdul Muttalib fought with extreme valour. He was of
those who did not participate in Badr as he had a genuine reason - he didn't eve
n know there would be war. Thus in Uhud he was extremely eager to show his fight
ing. And Ibn Ishaaq has a list of who killed who: in that list, Humza is of thos
e who killed many many of the Quraysh, along with Ali and Abu Dujana RA.
We conclude with a narration of Bhukari: "When we fought them at Uhud they turne
d and fled. Until I saw with my own eyes the legs of the women running up the mo
untains and I can see their ankle braclets". So the womens are so defenceless th
ey themselves do not have their men to protect them. And he says "I remember see
ing Hind running all the way up the mountain". From this we can see how devestat
ing the intial impact was. The muslims broke through the Quraysh, forced them al
l the way back and had the upper hand. This is what caused the chaos and of cour
se what is to follow is a different story and a change of tide.