Banners and Mounts

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had banners, and that was his sunnah in every battle, flags, and the Muslims would also have slogans, or battle cries, all to encourage the soldiers to fight. The banner was white, and it was given to Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr, and there were also two black flags — one of them was called al-ʿUqāb, and this was the standard, carried by ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and the other was given to one of the Anṣār. So the Muhājirūn had a flag, and the Anṣār had a flag, and both of them were black, and then the army also had a white flag, carried by Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr.

The entire army had only two horses, one for al-Zubayr and the other for al-Miqdād ibn ʿAmr, and they had seventy camels, and every three would take turns on one camel. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Abū Lubābah with him, and they offered to give up their turns for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to ride, and he said, "You are not stronger than me, nor can I dispense with the reward any more than you can — I need the reward just like you do." This was the leader of the Muslims, this was their teacher, and he would not even allow his Companions to give up their turns for him — the humility, tawāḍuʿ, of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). That is why the Companions loved him so much, as no followers have loved a leader before.