Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 258
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 258 three days and returned to Medina after an absence of five days. At Hamral Asad the Muslims made prisoner one of the enemy, the poet Abu Uzza, who had loitered behind the rest. He had been taken prisoner at Badr, and, having five daughters dependent on him, had been released on the promise that he would not again bear a rms against the Holy Prophet. He now sought for mercy, but the Holy Prophet rejected his plea, observing, ‘A believer may not be bitten twice from the same hole. ’ He was executed on account of his treachery. Another Quraish, Mu’awiya bin Mughira, had been discovered in the vicinity of Medina on the night after the battle of Uhud. He begged Uthman bin Affan to intercede for him, and Uthman procured for him a three days’ truce. Mu’awiya lingered on near Medina b eyond the period of his truce, and having been discovered, was executed for having failed to observe the term of the truce. Though the victory of Quraish in the battle of Uhud inflicted no great permanent loss on the Muslims, yet temporarily it proved awkward for them. They had lost seventy men, among them three or four leading personalities, and a very large number had receive d injuries; the Jews of Medina and the disaffected who had to some degree been cowed down by the victory at Badr were now revived in spirit, so much so that Abdullah bin Ubayy and his followers openly mocked at the Muslims and made fun of them; Quraish wer e much encouraged and felt that not only had they avenged their defeat at Badr, but that in future, whenever the occasion arose, they would be able to overcome the Muslims; Arab tribes also became more daring in their hostility towards the