The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 295
VII - Commencement of War with the Tribes of Najd and the Jews, the Marriage of Ḥaḍrat Fāṭimah and Ḥafṣah, and a Few Miscellaneous Incidents 295 of a few days, the Holy Prophet sa returned. The fact that the Banū Sulaim and Banū Ghaṭafān would gather again and again with the intention of launching a sudden attack upon Madīnah clearly demonstrated that these barbaric and warlike tribes of the Arabian desert were very deadly enemies of Islām. Day and night, they would remain preoccupied in order to find some opportunity by which the Muslims would be utterly destroyed. Just attempt to visualize the vulnerable state of the Muslims at the time, as to how their days were passing in that era. On the one hand, there were the Quraish of Makkah who had become blinded due to their enmity of Islām and due to their spirit of revenge for the Battle of Badr. Clinging to the drapes of the Ka‘bah, they took vows that they would not rest until the Muslims had been annihilated. On the other hand were these blood-thirsty wild beasts of the Arabian desert, who were restless to drink the blood of the Muslims due to their being incited by the Quraish and their own animosity towards Islām. As such, take note of how many times within the course of a few months after Badr, the Holy Prophet sa was compelled to travel personally in order to safeguard himself from the deadly motives of the barbaric tribes of Arabia. As Sir William Muir has described, these were days of scorching heat as well, and not to mention, this heat was of the Arabian desert. If it were not for the special succour of God, and if the vigilance of the Holy Prophet sa had not kept the Muslims constantly watchful and alert, and if the Holy Prophet sa had not employed strategies to scatter the force of the enemy prior to their launching a sudden attack at night, the Muslims would have surely been destroyed and ruined in those days; and these were only external threats. As far as internal threats were concerned, they were no less either. Even in Madīnah itself, there existed a group known as the hypocrites, who lived among the Muslims as their own, and it would definitely be no exaggeration to refer to them as a snake in the grass. In addition to them were the treacherous and habitual conspirators in the form of the Jewish people, whose enmity had reached the furthest limits in its depth and breadth. Goodness Gracious! What a time of adversity this was for the Muslims!! Let us hear it in their own words. Ubayy bin Ka‘b, a renowned Companion relates: ُ كَانُوْا لَا یَبِیْتُوْن َ اِلَّا بِالسِّلَاح ِ وَلَا یُصْبِحُوْن َ اِلَّا فِیْه ِ فَقَالُوْا تَرَوْن َ اَنَّا نَعِیْش ُ حَتّٰی نَبِیْت َ اٰمِنِیْن َ مُطْمَئِنِّیْن َ لَا نَخَاف ُ اِلَّا اللّٰه