Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 253
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 253 and his feet might be covered with wild grass. The Holy Prophet began to move towards Medina about sunset. By this time, the Muslims in Medina, men and women, were streaming out in the direction of Uhud, all anxious to be reassured as to the Holy Prophet’s safety. An Ansari woman, grief - stricken and be wildered, encountered the party among whom the Holy Prophet was riding towards Medina. She enquired from one of the party about the Holy Prophet and received the reply that her father, brother and husband had all become martyrs in the battle. She repeated her inquiry about the Holy Prophet and was told that he was safe and he was pointed out to her. On beholding him she said, ‘All calamities are easy to endure, so long as you are safe. ’ When the Holy Prophet entered the city he heard mournful wailings from most houses. He was deeply moved, and in order to comfort the mourners remarked ‘My uncle Hamzah has also been martyred, yet no one mourns him. ’ The leaders of Ansar misconstrued this o bservation, as if the Holy Prophet was expressing his grief over the fact that there was no one to mourn Hamzah. They, therefore, told their women to stop mourning their dead and to proceed to the Holy Prophet’s apartment and there mourn the death of Hamza h. They went and when the Holy Prophet heard their wailing, he inquired about the cause of it, and it was explained to him that the women of Ansar were mourning the death of Hamzah. He expressed appreciation of their devotion and affection and supplicated for God’s favour upon them, but told them that Islam did not permit wailing and mourning of this type, and he forbade it for the Muslims.