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The battle was now divided
into two separate actions. There was the main body of the Muslims
holding out against the main part of the Quraish army, and there
was the group with the Holy Prophet holding out against part of
Ikrimah's squadron and some of the; Quraish infantry which had returned
to attack him.
Now began the ordeal of the Prophet. (See
Map 2. below)
When the Muslims left their positions in
pursuit of the Quraish, the Holy Prophet remained at his battle
location. Here he had with him 30 of his Companions who stuck to
him and refused to be tempted by the prospect of plunder. Among
these 30 were some of the closest of his followers, including, Ali,
Abu Bakr, Sad bin Abi Waqqas, Talha bin Ubaidullah, Abu Ubaidah,
Abdur-Rahman bin Auf, Abu Dujanah and Mus'ab bin Umair. With the
group were also present two women who had busied themselves with
carrying water to the Muslims and had now joined the Prophet.
As Khalid captured the archers' position
and the Quraish cavalry began to wheel round to attack the Muslims
in the rear, the Prophet realised the seriousness of the predicament
in which the Muslims were placed. He could do nothing to control
and direct the actions of the main body, for it was too far away;
and he knew that his own group would soon be under attack. His present
position was utterly untenable, so he decided to move to the foot
of the spur immediately behind him (not the spur at the foot of
which the Muslim right wing had been placed), and with this intention
he started to move backwards. But he had not gone more than about
a quarter of a mile with his 30 Companions when Ikrimah with his
horsemen moved up and barred his way. The Prophet determined to
stand and fight where he stood; and it was not long before a Quraish
infantry group also arrived to attack the Prophet.
The Prophet's group found itself assailed
from front and rear. The Muslims formed a cordon around the Prophet
to defend him and the fighting gradually increased in intensity.
The Prophet himself used his bow to effect and continued to use
it until it broke. Thereafter he used his own arrows to augment
those of Sad, whose superb archery gave a great deal of trouble
to the Quraish. Every Muslim took on an opposing group of three
or four men and either fell himself or drove his opponents back.
The first of the Quraish to reach the Prophet's
position was Ikrimah. As Ikrimah led a group of his men forward
the Prophet turned to Ali and, pointing at the group, said, "Attack
those men." Ali attacked and drove them back, killing one
of them. Now another group of horsemen approached the position.
Again the Prophet said to Ali, "Attack those men."
1 Ali drove them back and killed another
infidel.
As the fighting increased in severity, the
Quraish began to shower the Prophet's group with arrows and stones,
They would use these missiles from a distance and then charge with
swords, either mounted or on foot. To shield the Prophet from the
arrows, Abu Dujanah stood in front of him, with his back to the
Quraish infantry, from which came most of the arrows. After some
time the back of Abu Dujanah was so studded with arrows that he
looked like a porcupine, but he continued passing his own arrows
to Sad. Talha also stood beside the Prophet. On one occasion, when
an arrow seemed about to hit the Prophet in the face, Talha put
his hand in the arrow's line of flight and stopped it with his hand.
Talha lost a finger as a result, but saved the Prophet.
Against the main body of the Muslims, Khalid
was launching assault after assault with his squadron and doing
severe damage. About now he killed his second man-Sabt bin Dahdaha-with
his lance. In this battle Khalid relied mainly on his lance, with
which he would run down and impale his adversary. Every time he
brought a man down, he would shout, "Take that! And I am
the Father of Sulaiman!" 2
The first rush of the counter-attack passed,
and was followed by a lull in the Prophet's sector, as the Quraish
withdrew a short distance to rest before resuming their attacks.
During this lull, one of the Muslims, noticed that the Prophet was
looking cautiously over his shoulder. The man asked the reason for
this, and the Prophet replied casually, "I am expecting
Ubayy bin Khalf. He may approach me from behind. If you see him
coming, let him get near me". He had hardly said this
when a man detached himself from Ikrimah's squadron and slowly advanced
towards the Prophet, mounted on a large, powerful horse. The man
shouted, "O Muhammad! I have come! It is either you or me!"
At this some of the Companions asked the Prophet for permission
to deal with the man, but the Prophet said, "Let him
be!" 3 The Companions moved
aside, and left the way open for the rider to approach.
1. Tabari: Vol. 2, p. 197.
2. Waqidi:
Maghazi, p.198.
3. Ibid:
pp. 195-6; Ibn Hisham: Vol. 2, p. 84.
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