Life of Muhammad — Page 194
sa 194 everything which they had been taught and which they had learnt? This verse was revealed at the time of U h ud. Rumour had then gone round that the Prophet sa had been killed by the enemy. Many Muslims lost heart and withdrew from the battle. The verse came from heaven to brace them. It had the same effect on this occasion. Having recited the verse, Ab u Bakr ra added to it a word of his own. He said, "Those amongst you who worship God, let them know that God is still alive, and will ever remain alive. But those amongst you who worshipped Muhammad sa , let them know it from me that Muhammad sa is dead. " The Companions recovered their balance on hearing this timely speech. ‘ Umar ra himself was changed when he heard Ab u Bakr ra recite the verse quoted above. He began to return to his senses, and to recover his lost judgement. By the time Ab u Bakr ra had finished the recitation of the verse ‘ Umar's ra spiritual eye was fully opened. He understood that the Prophet sa had really died. But no sooner had he realized it, than his legs began to tremble and give way. He fell down exhausted. The man who wanted to terrorize Ab u Bakr ra with his bare sword had been converted by Ab u Bakr's ra speech. The Companions felt the verse had been revealed for the first time on that day, so strong and so new was its appeal. In a paroxysm of grief, they forgot that the verse was in the Qur’an. Many expressed the grief which overtook Muslims on the death of the Prophet sa , but the pithy and profound expression which H ass a n ra , the poet of early Islam, gave to it in his couplet remains to this day the best and the most enduring. He said: ‘ Thou wast the pupil of my eye. Now that thou hast died my eye hath become blind. I care not who dies now. For I feared only thy death. ' This couplet voiced the feeling of every Muslim. For months in the streets of Medina men, women and children went about reciting this couplet of H ass a n bin Th a bit ra.