Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 196
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 196 Waqqas ahead to gather intelligence. When these entered the valley of Badr, they saw some Meccans collecting water from a spring. They took them by surprise and captured a Negro slave whom they brought back with them for questioning. The Holy Prophet was a t the time engaged in Prayer and they started the interrogation of the slave. They asked him about the whereabouts of the caravan. He professed ignorance about the whereabouts of the caravan but said that Abul Hikam, Utba, Shaiba, Umayya and others were en camped on the other side of the valley. Those who were questioning him thought he was deliberately pretending ignorance of the whereabouts of the caravan and beat him and threatened him to force him to tell them the truth. He stuck to his story. The Holy P rophet then came up and forbade the Companions molesting the slave and questioned him in a gentle tone concerning the whereabouts of the Quraish army. He replied that the army was encamped behind the sand - dunes on the other side of the valley. On being ask ed the number, he replied that it was a large army but he did not know its exact strength. He was asked how many camels were daily slaughtered to provide meat for the army. He indicated ten. The Holy Prophet turned to his Companions and observed, ‘The stre ngth of the army is about one thousand. ’ He then inquired from the slave, ‘Which of the leaders of Quraish are with the army?’ He replied, ‘Utba, Shaiba, Abul Hikam, Abul Bakhtari, Uqbah bin Abi Mueet, Hakeem bin Hizam, Nadhar bin Harith, Umayya bin Khalf, Suhail bin Amr, Naufal bin Khuweilid, Ta’eemah bin Adi, Zamaa bin Aswad are all there. ’ The Holy Prophet turned to his Companions and observed, ‘Take note, Mecca has flung all the