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"By my Lord, yes.
And even now he hears what you say."
"You are more truthful than Ibn
Qamiah", replied Abu Sufyan.
Then took place a last dialogue between
Abu Sufyan and the Prophet. The Prophet did not speak personally
to his enemy, but would tell Umar what to say and Umar would shout
the reply back at Abu Sufyan.
Abu Sufyan: Glory to Hubal! Glory to
Uzza! 1
The Prophet: Glory to Allah, Most High and Mighty!
Abu Sufyan: We have Uzza and Hubal. You have no Uzza and no Hubal.
The Prophet: We have Allah as Lord. You have no Lord.
Abu Sufyan: The deed is done. This was our day for your day of
Badr. The destiny of war is not constant. We shall meet at Badr
again next year.
The Prophet: At Badr we shall meet. You have our pledge.
Abu Sufyan: You will find among your dead some who have been
mutilated. I neither ordered this nor approved of it. Do not blame
me for this. 2
Having made this last statement, Abu Sufyan
turned away and walked back to his army.
The Quraish left the battlefield and gathered
in their old camp of the day before. As they left, the Holy Prophet
sent Ali as a scout to see how the Quraish were mounting-mounting
camels or horses. Ali carried out his reconnaissance and returned
to the Prophet to report that the Quraish were mounting camels and
were leading their horses. The Prophet observed, "That
means that they intend to return to Makkah and will not attack Madinah.
Had they wished to attack Madinah, they would have mounted their
horses for battle. In that case, by my Lord, I would have gone this
very instant to fight them again," 3
The Quraish spent the night in Hamrat-ul-Asad,
10 miles, from Madinah. 4 The Muslims returned
to Madinah, except for some stragglers who were to turn up the following
day and the day after.
The next morning the Holy Prophet got up
and put on his armour. His face showed clear signs of the damage
which it had suffered in the battle. His cheek, forehead and lip
that had been badly cut were still swollen. The loss of his two
teeth caused him pain, and his right shoulder hurt badly where the
sword of Ibn Qamiah had landed. This shoulder was to trouble him
for a whole month.
The Prophet sent for Bilal, his Muazzin,
5 and ordered him to call the Faithful
to battle. Only those would be permitted to join this morning's
expedition who had taken part in the battle of the day before. The
thundering voice of Bilal rang across the streets of Madinah and
carried the message into every Believer's home.
The Muslims rose from their mats as they
heard the Prophet's orders to assemble for battle. Most of them
were wounded, some more severely than others. They had spent a sleepless
night in pain and suffering. All night long the women had been busy
nursing the soldiers, washing and dressing their wounds. Not many
of the Muslims were in fit shape for battle; but they got up from
their mats. There were no groans or cries of pain.
Some limped, others used hastily improvised
crutches, yet others put their arms around their comrades to get
support as they walked. They came, limping and staggering, towards
the Prophet. They saw the Prophet and they cried Labbeik-
Present, Sir! And these tired, wounded Muslims, led by a tired,
wounded Prophet, set out to fight the infidel. They numbered about
500.
As the Muslims were assembling for battle,
a wild argument was taking place in the Quraish camp. Ikrimah, no
less aggressive than he had been the day before, was insisting on
a return to battle for the reason that the Muslims were in a bad
way as a result of the battle and now was the time to seek them
again and completely crush them before they recovered from the setback.
1. god and goddess in the Arab pantheon.
2. Ibn Hisham:
Vol. 2, pp. 93-4; Waqidi: Maghazi, pp. 229-30; Ibn Sad: p.
551.
3. Ibn Hisham:
Vol. 2, p. 94.
4. This place
was near the present Bir Ali, on the main road to Makkah.
5. The one who call the Adhan-the Muslim
call to prayer.
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