7.1
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī who, in his narration from ʿUrwah, said:
The incident at Uḥud was in the month of Shawwal, six months after the incident involving the clan of al-Naḍīr.126
7.2
Al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwah, said concerning God’s decree «you disobeyed once He had brought you within sight of your goal»:127
7.2.1
On the day of the Battle of Uḥud, when Abū Sufyān and the infidel Quraysh attacked, the Prophet said, “I had a vision that I donned an impenetrable coat of armor, which I surmise must be Medina. Remain, therefore, in your stately houses and fight from within their walls.” Now Medina was a maze of buildings, making it like a fortress. One of the men who had not fought at Badr said, “O Messenger of God! March us out to them so that we may engage them in battle!” ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl said, “I agree, by God, O Prophet of God! Truly I don’t see it so. I swear by God that no enemy has ever visited defeat upon us when we have met them in open battle unless some evil had befallen us. Nor have we ever remained in Medina and fought from behind its walls without meeting defeat at the hands of our enemies.”
A number of other Muslims spoke to him, saying, “We agree, O Messenger of God! March us out against them.” So the Prophet called for his armor. When he had donned it, he said, “I suspect the number of the fallen will be great on both sides. While asleep, I had a vision of a slaughtered animal—a cow, I’d say. By God, this omen is a boon.”128 A man replied, “O Messenger of God, I would sacrifice the life of my mother and father for you! Please remain here with us.” He continued, “It does not behoove a prophet, once he has donned his armor, to remove it until he has faced the trial. Are there men nearby who might lead the way to the enemy?” The guides then set off and led him to al-Shawṭ of al-Jabbānah. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy remained behind with fully a third of the army, or nearly a third.129 The Prophet continued onward and eventually encountered the Meccans at Uḥud, where the Muslims arrayed themselves in battle ranks to face them. The Prophet had sworn to his companions that, if the Meccans were to defeat them, no army would capture or pursue them. When the two forces met, the Meccans defeated them. The Muslims disobeyed the Prophet, and they fought and quarreled among themselves. Thus God removed his favor from them to try them—as God had decreed. The Pagans charged, with Khālid ibn al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah leading their cavalry, and seventy men from the Muslim side were slain and many severely wounded. One of the Messenger of God’s teeth130 was broken, and his face was bruised, prompting Satan to cry out in his loudest voice, “Muḥammad has been slain!”
7.3
Kaʿb ibn Mālik said:
I was the first to find the Prophet. I recognized his eyes through his coif of chainmail, so I cried out as loud as I could, “This is the Messenger of God!” but he signaled for me to be quiet. God soon caused the Pagans to relent, and the Prophet and his companions ceased fighting. Then Abū Sufyān cried out to them, for the corpses of a number of the slain among the Prophet’s companions had been mutilated—their limbs had been severed from their corpses, and one of them had had his chest rent.131 Abū Sufyān called out, “You are certain to find among your slain some whose corpses have been mutilated. That was not done with the consent either of our men of esteemed judgment or of our nobles. May Hubal be exalted!” “God is most exalted and most glorious!” retorted ʿUmar, but Abū Sufyān persisted: “What a wondrous deed you have wrought—the slain a recompense for the slain of Badr!” Again ʿUmar retorted, “The slain are not equal! Our slain are in Paradise, but your slain are in Hellfire!” “Then surely our hope is for naught,” Abū Sufyān responded, and then they withdrew and returned to Mecca.
The Prophet assigned a group of his companions to pursue the Meccans, and eventually they reached the area near Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad. Among those who pursued the Meccans that day was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd. That was at the time God decreed:
«Those whose faith only increased when people said, “Fear your enemy: they have amassed a great army against you,” and who replied, “God is enough for us: He is the best protector.”»132
7.4
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī according to his narrative:
When the Messenger of God entered the mosque, he enjoined the Muslims to pursue the infidels. They heeded his summons and pursued them for most of the day. Afterward the Messenger of God returned with them to Medina, and God revealed: «Those who responded to God and the Messenger after they suffered defeat»133
7.5
ʿAbd al-Razzāq had related to us:134 though the Messenger of God’s face was struck with seventy blows of the sword on that day, God prevented every single blow from harming him.