Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 238
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 238 summoned his special scribe, Ubayy bin Kaab Ansari, and asked him to read out the letter to him, which he did. The letter contained the grave intimation that a strong army of Quraish was about to leave Mecca for Medina. The Holy Prophet told Ubayy bin Kaab that he should not divulge the intimation contained in the letter to anyone; and returning to Medina, dispatched two of his Companions in the direction of Mecca to gather intelligence about the Quraish army. He also directed that a census should be taken of the Muslim population of Medina. This disclosed that the number of Muslims in Medina had by then reached 1,500. Abu Sufyan led the Quraish army, which numbered 3,000, of whom 700 were clad in mail. They had 200 horses, and 3,000 camels, and were well equipped in every way. They were accompanied by several women who included Hind, wife of Abu Sufyan, and the wives of Ikramah bin Abu Jahl, Safwan bin Umayya, Khalid bin Waleed and Amr bin Aas, and also the mother of Mus’ab bin Umair. The women, according to Arab custom, carried with them timbrels and other instruments of music to accompany their songs, which were design ed to rouse the warriors to heroic deeds. When this force approached Medina, it veered to the north and stopped near Mount Uhud, close to a large pasture where the cattle of Medina grazed and there were also some cultivated fields. Quraish captured the cattle and destroyed the tilth. The Holy Prop het, on being apprised of the approach of Quraish, sent Habib bin Mundhar to gather intelligence about the numbers and strength of the enemy, and told him that on return, he should communicate his intelligence to him in private. Habib slipped