Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 56
! ! 56 A Noble Example of a Sahab i a ra I w ould like to now give you an example of the condition of those women who had true faith in the Holy Prophet sa. After the Holy Prophet sa migrated to M e dina having greatly suffer ed at the hands of M ecc ans , the Meccans continued to come after him and soon declared war. A battle took place a pproximately four miles from M e dina. Alt hough the Muslims were outnumbered by the disbelievers, they still triumphed. The Prophet Muhammad sa had ordered a section o f the Muslims to stand at a particular spot and to stay there under all circumstances. After the victory, s ome of them argued that there was no reason to continue to stand there. Their leader said that because they had been ordered to stay there under all circumstances , they should not leave their post. Others reasoned that they were only assigne d to stay there during the battle and now that the enemy had fled, there was no sense in staying. Upon saying this, they left. When the fleeing enemy saw this [weakness in the Muslim defense ] , they once again attacked. The attack was so brutal that it c reated chaos amongst the Muslims , who had relaxed their guard once the enemy had fled. At this time, th e Holy Prophet sa was injured, and his two front teeth were sacrificed. A rumor spread that the Holy Prophet sa had been martyred. Upon hearing this, the Muslims suffered a great deal and even the fearless Ha z rat ‘ Umar ra sat with his head hung in sorrow. One of the companions of the Holy Prophet sa passed by and asked him what had happened. He answered by giving the news of the Holy Prophet’s sa martyrdom. The c ompanion replied , “I f that is so , why are we sit ting here ? Where the Holy Prophet sa has gone, let us also go ! ” After saying this, h e advanced towards the enemy and attack ed with such vigor that when they found his dead body, it was covered with more than seventy wounds. T he Holy Prophet sa was safe and sound. W hy would he not be! Allah had promised him that no one would be able to kill him. Finally, h e sa stood up and began his return journey towards M e dina. Alt h ough the c ompanions who accompanied the Holy Prophet sa were aware of his wellbeing , the earlier rumor of his martyrdom had reached M e dina. Women and children ran out in a f renzy. One of the