Life of Muhammad — Page 79
sa 79 climbed a hill before the encounter began. Two others had gone to a wood to feed their camels. On returning from the wood they found sixty-six of their companions lying dead on the field. The two counselled together. Said one, "We should go and make a report of this to the Holy Prophet sa. " Said the other, "I cannot leave a spot where the chief of our party, whom our Prophet sa appointed our leader, has been murdered. " So saying, he sprang single- handed upon the disbelievers and died fighting. The other was taken prisoner but was later released in fulfilment of a vow which the tribal chief had taken. The murdered party included ‘ A mir bin Fuhaira ra , a freedman of Ab u Bakr ra. His murderer was one Jabb a r ra who later became a Muslim. Jabb a r ra attributed his conversion to this mass massacre of Muslims. "When I started murdering ‘ A mir ra ," says Jabb a r ra , "I heard ‘ A mir ra say, ‘ By God I have met my goal' I asked someone why a Muslim said this sort of thing when he was meeting his death. That person explained that Muslims regarded death in the path of God as a blessing and a victory. " Jabb a r ra was so impressed by this reply, that he started making a systematic study of Islam, and ultimately became a Muslim ( Hish a m and Usud al- Gh a ba ). The news of the two sad events, in which about eighty Muslims lost their lives as the result of a mischievous intrigue, reached Medina simultaneously. These were no ordinary men who were murdered. They were bearers of the Qur’an. They had committed no crime and had harmed nobody. They were taking part in no battle. They had been decoyed into enemy hands by a lie told in the name of God and religion. These facts proved conclusively that enmity to Islam was determined and deep. On the other hand the zeal of Muslims for Islam was equally determined and deep.