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As the corps
fell back in some disorder, Amr ordered his cavalry regiment of
2,000 horse to counter-attack and throw back the Romans. The cavalry
went into battle with great dash and for some time checked the Roman
advance, but was unable to hold it for long. It was repulsed by
the Romans and turned away from battle, also making for the Muslim
camp. As the horsemen reached the camp along with the foot soldiers,
they found a line of women waiting for them with tent poles and
stones in their hands. The women screamed: "May Allah curse
those who run from the enemy!" And to their husbands they
shouted: "You are not our husbands if you cannot save us
from these infidels." Other women began to beat drums and
sang an improvised song:
O you
who run from a constant woman
Who has both beauty and virtue;
And leave her to the infidel,
The hated and evil infidel,
To possess, disgrace and ruin! 2
What these Muslims received
from their women was not just stinging rebukes; they were actually
assaulted! First came a shower of stones, then the women rushed
at the men, striking horse and rider with tent poles; and this was
more than the proud warriors could take. Indignant at what had happened,
they turned back from the camp and advanced in blazing anger towards
the army of Qanateer. Amr now launched his second counter attack
with the bulk of his corps.
The situation on the Muslim left was only
a little less serious. Here too the initial Roman attack was repulsed,
but in a second attack the Romans broke through the corps of Yazeed.
This was the army of Gregory, with chains, more slow-moving than
the others but also more solid. Yazeed too used his cavalry regiment
to counter attack and it too was repulsed; and after a period of
stiff resistance the warriors of Yazeed fell back to their camp,
where the women awaited them, led by Hind and Khaulah. The first
Muslim horseman from the left wing to arrive at the camp was Abu
Sufyan, and the first woman to meet him was none other than Hind!
She struck at the head of his horse with a tent pole and shouted:
"Where to, O Son of Harb? Return to battle and show your
courage so that you may be forgiven your sins against the Messenger
of Allah." 3
Abu Sufyan had experienced his wife's violent
temper before and hastily turned back. Other warriors received the
same treatment from these women as the soldiers of Amr had received
from theirs, and soon the corps of Yazeed returned to battle. A
few women ran forward alongside the horses and one of them actually
brought down a Roman with her sword. As the warriors of Yazeed turned
again to grapple with the army of Gregory, Hind took up her song
of Uhud:
We are the daughters
of the night;
We move among the cushions
With a gentle feline grace
And our bracelets on our elbows.
If you advance we shall embrace you;
And if you retreat we shall forsake you
With a loveless separation. 4
One may question the propriety of Hind singing
such a provocative song, but she felt that she was young enough
to do so. After all, she was not a day over 50!
1. Waqidi: p. 140.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid: p. 141.
4. Ibid: p. 140.
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