Planning of battlefield – The Battle of ‘Uhud

Lesson # 416

                                                                                                                                    

Planning of battlefield – The Battle of ‘Uhud

Surah ‘Aali ‘Imraan (The Family of Imran - 3), Stage – 1,

Verse – 121 of 200, Section – 13 of 20, (Part – 4)

BisMIllaahir-Rahmaanir-Rahiim

In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful 

121.  And when thou settedst forth at daybreak from the housefolk to assign to the believers their positions for the battle. And Allah is Hearer, Knower-

121.  Wa  ‘iz  gadawta  min  ‘ah-lika  tubaw-wi-‘ul-Mu’-miniina  maqaa-‘ida  lil-qitaal. Wallaahu Samii-‘un  ‘Aliim-

      

Lesson 

It has been indicated towards the events regarding preparations for the battle, departure from hometown to the battleground and drawing up in flanks for the battlefield by Holy Messenger (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam). Holy Prophet (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam) moved from home for Jihad in the Right Path early in morning, assigned positions to the Believers for the battle, caused to sit them down on the appropriate lines of entrenchments and arranged the map of battlefield.

Here it hints unto the the Battle of ‘Uhud. Afterwards, the events and circumstances about the Battle of ‘Uhad, will be mentioned continuously. It seems appropriate to describe the events of this battle (Gazwah) briefly in this lesson, so that there would not be necessary to repeat it again and again.   

On Saturday, 3 Shawwal, 3 AH (March 19, 625), the Quraysh of Makkah lead their Army to Madinah with three thousand selected braves. {The Prophet (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam) reached the ‘Uhud in the morning of Saturday, the 7th of Shawwal, 3 AH}. One year earlier, they suffered a defeat in the battle of Badr. So now, they came with full preparations. Holy Prophet (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam) consulted his companions (may Allah Almighty be pleased with them). The old people advised that self-defense should be arranged staying within the city. ‘Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy (the chief of the Khazraj tribe) and leader of the hypocrites had also this opinion. The young people said, “It is the sign of weakness; we should go out and fight against them. We shall defend with stakes and engage in a desperate undertaking at each cost.

Holy Messenger of Allah (SallAllaahu alayHi wa AaliHii Wasallam) agreed to this suggestion, came out from His house wearing the armor and departed towards the battlefield from the city with other Muslim. Total strength of Muslims was one thousand. ‘Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy (the leader of the hypocrites) returned with his three hundred disbelievers by saying that ‘when you did not agree to us then we would not cooperate with you’.  

Holy Prophet (grace, glory, blessings and peace be upon him) delivered the flag over to Mas-‘ab bin ‘Umar (may Allah Almighty be pleased with him), appointed  Zubair bin Awam (may Allah Almighty be pleased with him) as commander of  the troop of the horses, kept the people (who were not in armor) under the command of  Amir Hamza (may Allah Almighty be pleased with him), appointed fifty archers at a pass (of the mountain) under supervision of ‘Abd-Allah bin Zubair (may Allah Almighty be pleased with him) and ordered them that they should not leave the pass at any cost. This battle of right and wrong began with these preparations.  

 Transliterated Holy Qur’an in Roman Script & Translated from Arabic to English by Marmaduke Pickthall, Published by Paak Company, 17-Urdu Bazaar, Lahore, Lesson collected from Dars e Qur’aan published By Idara Islaah wa Tableegh, Lahore (translated Urdu to English by Muhammad Sharif)