Chief of the Prophets — Page 129
Chapter Seven 129 wherever they appeared. Such were the scenes in which were reared the great leaders of the Muslim conquests. 1 So the battle took place and indeed it was fierce. Nine standard bearers of the Quraish were killed one after the other. Finally an Abyssinian slave Ṣawāb took the standard and when he was killed, disarray spread in the disbeliever’s army and in a little while, the battlefield was clear and the Muslims occupied themselves in collecting the spoils of the war. 2 When ‘Abdullāh bin Jubair’s companions saw the victory, and that the Muslims were gathering the booty, they sought ‘Abdullāh’s permission to step down and join the Mulsim army. ‘Abdullāh reminded them of the strict instructions of Muḥammad sa and tried to stop them, but they stepped down saying, “Muḥammad sa only meant to guard the mountain pass until security fully prevailed, and now that victory has been clinched, there is no reason not to step down. ” Everyone stepped down except ‘Abdullāh bin Jubair ra and his few companions. When the sharp eyes of Khālid bin Walīd noticed the vacated passage, he swiftly launched an attack with the support of the squad of Ikramah bin Abū Jahl. These two groups attacked the Muslim army voraciously and caused a great deal of upheaval in them. Ḥamzah ra , the uncle of Muḥammad sa was fighting with great valour and tearing apart the ranks of the enemy forces, however the enemy was laying in ambush of him. Jubair bin Muṭ‘im from the enemy side had especially brought along an Abyssinian slave by the name of Waḥshī promising him great reward for killing Ḥamzah ra as revenge since Ḥamzah ra killed Jubair’s uncle during the Battle of Badr. 1 The Life of Moḥammad: From the Original Sources, Sir William Muir and T. H. Weir p. 260, Published at Edinburgh by J. Grant, 1912. 2 Ibni Sa‘d.