Stories from Early Islam — Page 94
94 of Jews of Madinah had also joined in. As they were under no obligation to fight outside the city, the Prophet sent them back. Abdullah bin Ubayy was also among the Muslims who came out to fight against the Makkans. He was a hypocrite. He objected to the Prophet’s decision to send the Jews back. He felt that the Muslims were no match for the Makkans. As soon as the Jews left, he also withdrew with three hundred of his sup- porters. The Holy Prophet was thus left with 700 only under his command, out of which only one hundred were in armour. The Muslim army reached a place called Uhud. The Holy Prophet posted fifty of his men on a narrow hilly pass at the back and told them that they must guard the pass and on no account should they leave their post without receiving his orders. With the remaining force, he faced an army nearly five times as large and many times better in equipment. Soon after the battle began, the Makkans retreated and started running away from the battlefield, hotly pursued by the Muslims. Seeing this, the Muslims who were posted at the pass became eager to join in the pursuit. Their commander reminded them of the clear orders of the Prophet and tried in vain to stop them from going after the fleeing enemy. However most of them left saying that there was no point in staying there while the enemy was in flight. One of the Makkan commanders, Khalid bin Waleed, who later became a great Muslim general, saw this poorly guarded pass. He drew the attention of his colleague, Amr bin Aas towards it. Both these generals stopped their fleeing warriors