The Archers Come Down

The battle went on; and because of the spread of the Muslim forces, and the way the enemy had been dispersed, the Makkan cavalry were unable to attack properly. And, mashāʾAllāh, in this battle the Quraysh suffered a heavy defeat — initially, a heavy defeat. After Badr, they now had eight of their great commanders, men of the first importance, killed in this engagement. Their morale collapsed in consequence, and they began to run: that is, the main force. Up to this point Jabal al-Rumāt was secure; but when the enemy began to run, they left behind all their loot, all their spoils — for a man is now worried for his life, expecting to be killed; so they left it. In a battle, morale is everything. If a man thinks "I can do this", or a side thinks "we are winning" — that is why there is so much talk, so much hype, so many morale boosters in war. But when they lost, they simply went, for all that they were great men. They abandoned a great deal of their equipment. And so, mashāʾAllāh, people ran towards it: the Muslims ran towards it.

From Jabal al-Rumāt, from that little hill, the archers saw the same thing. "We have won", they thought — a clear victory, a clear rout. So many of them ran down that ʿAbdullāh ibn Jubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) was left there with only about ten mujāhidīn: ten of the Ṣaḥābah remained. At this point Khālid ibn al-Walīd is on the other side. He is not yet a Muslim, but he is a brilliant commander. He is not with the main body of the fighters; he is on the flank, and he sees this. He sees the weakness opening. The position, then, is this: the Muslims are in the centre; the enemy is retreating in one direction; and there is this exposed ground. Khālid's men come round surreptitiously, in a surprise attack. They finish off the ten who remained, ride down, and, subḥānAllāh, begin to attack the Muslims. A surprise attack, after one's guard has been let down, is among the worst things one can face. And when the others on the far side, who had been retreating, discovered this — when someone informed them that there was another chance now, that the Muslims had been attacked — they too doubled back and returned. The Muslims were now sandwiched between the two.

A good many Muslims were martyred in this. There were now martyrs among the Muslims. Whereas only twenty-two mushrikīn were killed in what followed, approximately seventy Ṣaḥābah became shahīd, martyred, in this battle. Among them was the Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, the master of all martyrs, Ḥamzah (may Allah be pleased with him), the youngest uncle of the Prophet (peace be upon him) — or the younger uncle of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Although, had they pressed the attack, they could probably have finished everyone off — so the historians say — for some reason, and this is from Allah (swt)… When there is a surprise victory of this kind, one has taken what seems enough: that is enough, let us go back now. Abū Sufyān and his people left. They did a certain amount of damage, and then they left. Alḥamdulillāh.

Fifty-five verses are now given over to the whole of the lessons, the feedback, the criticism, the praise, and certain emotional benefits arising from this. All of that is discussed here.