|
The enemy coalition had
now completely disintegrated. The Hawazin and other tribes dispersed
to their various settlements while the Thaqeef, led by Malik, hastened
to Taif where they decided to resist till the bitter end. The Battle
of Hunain was over. Muslim casualties in this battle were surprisingly
few, thanks to the indifferent archery of the Hawazin. While many
Muslims had been wounded, only four lost their lives. The reason
for this lay in the superior skill and courage of the Muslims, which
enabled their champions to take on three or four opponents at a
time, killing them one by one. Seventy of the unbelievers were killed
in the valley, at the pass and at Autas, and these included the
sage, Duraid, who had given such sound advice but in vain. In the
enemy camp at Autas, the Muslims captured 6,000 women, children
and slaves and thousands of camels, goats and sheep. 1
This was the first time that the Muslims
had been ambushed in a large?scale operation by their enemies. This
was the second instance in history of the ambush of an entire army
by an entire army (the first being the ambush of the Romans by Hannibal
at Lake Trasimene in 217 B.C.). Malik had made a brilliant and flawless
plan to annihilate the Muslims, but because of the poor performance
of his men could not achieve the mission that he had set himself.
In spite of this poor performance, however, he would have won a
resounding victory had his enemy not been the Muslims. It was the
determination of the Prophet not to accept defeat, and the faith
of the Muslims in their leader, which turned defeat into victory
for them. Unlike Malik, the Prophet was not content with a limited
gain and pressed his advantage to rout the enemy and capture the
entire enemy camp with all its booty.
This was the first time that Khalid had
been taken by surprise. He had always known the value of surprise,
but this time he had been at the receiving end of it. He saw how
his otherwise brave men had panicked at the sudden appearance of
the enemy at an unexpected time and an unexpected place. He made
up his mind never again to be caught unawares. And he never was.
1. No one today knows the location of Autas,
but it must have been in the valley proper, as a camp with 6,000
people (excluding soldiers) and thousands of camels, goats and sheep
could not be established on a hillside or in some little wadi. I
have placed it a little beyond Zaima, but it could have been elsewhere.
|
