Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 493
! ! 493 There is an incident recorded in Islam ’s history of when the Muslim army suffered defeat. Haz rat ‘Umar ra sent every man who could be made available to support this army, however the army still lacked manpower. The Iranian army consisted of thirty thousand soldiers. There was no obstacle in the path between the battleground and M e dina. At that time , a Muslim g eneral delivered a speech and said, “Today you are responsible for the survival and the safeguarding of your faith. If you are defeated today , then there lies no army between you and M e dina to hold the enemy back. If the enemy escapes from here, it will head straight to M e dina to attack. ” At this time , a well - known poetess by the name of Kh a nsa ’ beckoned her three sons and said, “Your father was an immoral man. I had to borrow money from my brother , which I would give my husband until the time of his death. You were all little, but I worked hard to raise you on my own. I have lived my li fe virtuously and with modesty. Y ou are all witnesses to this. ” Khansa’ continued and said, “You know that I ha ve put much time and effort into raising you and have never asked you for anything in return. ” Her sons agreed. She continued , “You are my three children and I have no one in this world except the three of you. My love for you is clearly evident by my service to you. Today , a time has come upon Islam whe n men are being called upon to fight. You must heed that call. I f you come back this evening having attained victory, may you come back alive, otherwise may your dead bodies be found lying upon that battleground. If you do not obey this order of mine , then I will not forgive you my bounty on the Day of Judgment. ” Her sons replied, “Yes mother. We accept. ” Upon saying thi s , they set off. One of the most difficult challenges the Muslim army faced, was that the Iranians had brought their warrior elephants with them. Whenever a horse or a camel faced an elephant, it would run away. [At the time,] a Muslim g eneral told two of the three brothers to join him. The g eneral said that they would atta ck the elephants from the front. A lthough death was certain, this tactic may well save the rest of the Muslims. The brothers agreed. It is extremely difficult to attack an elephant from the front, as elephants have been trained to fight in battles by wrapping a person in their trunks a nd then throwing them to the ground. T hey pr oceeded to attack the army chief’s elephant. One brother took a position to the right of the elephant and the other