Stories from Early Islam — Page 171
Preferring Others to Oneself The battle of Yarmuk was one of the greatest battles in the his- tory of Islam. The Muslims were pitted against the might of the Byzantine Empire. Against an army of two hundred thousand soldiers, Khalid bin Waleed, the Muslim Commander had only a force of forty thousand under him. The Romans were much better equipped in every respect than the Muslims. The battle lasted for six days, and on each day the fight- ing was more fierce than the previous day. Women also took an active part in the battle. Not only did they encourage the Muslim men to fight bravely against heavy odds, and admonish and rebuke them when they tried to run back from the battle- field, but also they actually assaulted them with tent poles and stones, thus forcing them back to face the enemy. Some of the Muslim women flung forward with their swords, and rushed into the thick of the battle, until they were ahead of the men. Umme Hakim, the daughter of Haarith; Asmaa, the daugh- ter of Abu Bakr and Juwariyah, the sister of Muawiyah, were among the women who fought bravely in this battle. It is recorded that the Muslims suffered a loss of four thou- sand men in this battle. Most of those who survived were injured, the wounds varying from light to severe. On the fourth day of the battle alone, about seven hundred Muslim soldiers