Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 391
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 391 the contrary, urged an immediate advance in such passionate terms that everyone responded to it. So the camp advanced. On entering the Belka by the southern shore of the Dead Sea, they suddenly found themselves confronted by an enemy in numbers and equipment surpassing anything they had ever seen before. Alarmed at the glittering array, they fell back on the village of Mut a. There, finding advantageous ground, they halted and, forming front, resolved to offer battle. The Byzantine phalanx, with its cloud of Arabs on either flank, moved steadily down upon them. In the battle that ensued, Zaid, Jafar and Abdullah fell in that order. The leadership being now vacant, a council hastily called together fixed their choice on Khalid who forthwith assumed the command. But the chance of victory had passed away. It remained for Khalid but to save the dispersed columns from destruction, and even this taxed his skill and prowess to the utmost. By a series of ingenious rapid movements he drew off the remains of the army to a safe retreat. But he dared not linger longer in the dangerous vicinity and so, without further attempt to retrieve t he day, he marched back straightway to Medina. The loss of his cousin Jafar, and Zaid the faithful and beloved friend of five and thirty years, affected the Holy Prophet deeply. On the first intelligence of the reverse and of their death, which he received early in the day through a confidential messen ger, he went to the house of Jafar. His widow, Asmaa, had just bathed and dressed her little ones when the Holy Prophet entered, embraced the children tenderly, and burst into tears. Asmaa guessed the truth and sobbed aloud. A crowd of women were gathering round her; the Holy Prophet silently left the place and,