Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 206
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 206 purpose, and the rest were buried wherever they had fallen. When the burial had been completed, the Holy Prophet stood over the pit and, calling the names of the principal ones whose bodies had been lowered into the pit, exclaimed, ‘Have ye found true that which your Lord did promise you? What my Lord promised me, that verily have I found to be true. Woe unto this people! You have rejected me, your Prophet! You cast me forth, and others gave me refuge; you fought against me, and others came to my help. ’ On this, Umar submitted, ‘Messenger of Allah, do you speak to the dead?’ ‘Yea, verily,’ replied the Holy Prophet, ‘for now they well know that the promise of their Lord has fully come to pass. ’ At the moment when the corpse of Utba had been lowered into the p it a look of distress had overcast the countenance of his son, Abu Hudhaifa. The Holy Prophet turned kindly to him and said, ‘Perhaps thou art distressed over thy father’s fate?’ ‘Not so,’ replied Abu Hudhaifa. ‘Messenger of Allah, I do not doubt the justi ce of my father’s fate; but I knew well his wise and generous heart and I had hoped that the Lord would have led him to the Faith. But now that I see him slain, and my hope destroyed, it is for that I grieve. ’ The Holy Prophet comforted Abu Hudhaifa and bl essed him. Of the Muslims, 14 had become martyrs, 6 Emigrants and 8 Ansar; among them the devoted stripling, Umair bin Abi Waqqas, who had obtained permission to remain among the fighters by beseeching the Holy Prophet with tears. A larger number had been wounded but that was not a distressing loss. The Holy Prophet and the Muslims stopped in the valley of Badr for three days after the battle. This time was spent in the burial of