The Commentary of Al-Qasidah — Page 81
The commentary of al-Qa si dah 81 them that the Muslims were limited to about 300 to 325 soldiers. Fearing over-confidence on the part of the Meccans, ‘Umair warned them, ‘O Meccans, my advice to you is not to fight with them because I have not seen men mounted upon camels, but death. ’ He meant to say that every Muslim on the battlefield was prepared to die and would not accept defeat without a fierce fight. 7 The love displayed by the companions on the battlefield is simply remarkable. Initially in the Battle of U h ud, the Muslims were on their way to victory. However, due to a small group of Muslim soldiers disobeying the command of the Holy Prophet sa , the situation turned into one of defeat. The enemy archers ascended onto the hills and launched waves of arrows at the Holy Prophet sa. Hadrat T al h ah extended his hand to shield the face of the Holy Prophet sa from these arrows. Arrow after arrow pierced into the hand of T al h ah ra , but this valiant companion would not move his hand. So many arrows penetrated his hand that it was disabled and later amputated. Years later during the caliphate of Hadrat ‘Al i ra , when the Muslims were fighting one another, a man offensively remarked to Hadrat T al h ah as the one-handed. Another companion rebuked the man saying, ‘Yes, he is the one-handed, but a very blessed one- handed indeed. You should know that T al h ah’s hand was amputated because he used it to shield the sacred face of the Holy Prophet sa. ’ 7 As-S i ratun-Nabawiyyah, Ibni Hish a m, Dhikru Ru’y a ‘ A tikah bint ‘Abdil- Mu tt alib…, p. 424 – 425, D a rul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2001