غزوة حنين معجزة إلهية لخالد بن الوليد في إختبار صعب للمسلمين Battle of Hunayn

History in tale channel Battle of Hunayn After entering Mecca in Ramadan of the 8th Hijri year, enmity started to arise from the east side. Some Arab tribes, led by the Hawazin and Thuqaif tribes, began to gather men and collect weapons to attack Mecca and Muslims. The Hawazin tribe was large one that occupied large areas in the Arabian Peninsula. Because of their numerous clans and proponents, they resided in Najd and Al-hijaz and their houses extended from Hunayn in the north-east of Mecca till the south-west of Najd. As for Thuqaif, which was considered one of the most important branches of Hawazin, its main location was in the city of Taif in the south-east of Mecca. There was an old hostility between the Hawazin and Quraysh tribes, and they always felt that they were strong rival. So after the Prophet's (peace be upon him) entry to Mecca and the conversion of its people into Islam, Hawazin and Thuqaif started to worry that the turn was getting on them. They saw in Muhammad (peace be upon him) new Qurayshi leader and they wanted to stop him before he attacked them. The Tribes of Thuqaif and Hawazin, with their different wings, such as Bani Nasser, Jashm, Saad Ibn Bakr and some people from Bani Hilal, decided to unite and take the initiative in attacking the people of Mecca hoping to surprise the Muslims and gain victory over them. The total number of tribal force was about 20,000 combatants that gathered in the Utas area near Wadi Hunayn (the valley of Hunayn). They had approximately 24,000 camels and countless sheep. The army commander was Malik Bin Auf, the master of Hawazin himself, who was famous for being brave and fearless, but also known for being bad in taking advice and for always sticking to his own opinion. As soon as he succeeded in gathering various tribes under his command, he ordered that all the women, children and money should go out behind the army to alert each of his men of the seriousness of the situation and encourage them in combat to defend their properties with all their might. If we add the number of women, elderly and children, which were at least triple the number of the fighting force, we will find that Hawazin moved towards Mecca with approximately 80,000 people. There was another leader in the alliance, named Duraid Ibn Al-Summa, who was blind old sheikh, over 100 years old. When Duraid heard the voices of women, children, and camels, he was very surprised and asked Malik about them. Malik told him that he wanted to make the men fight with all their power to defend them. Duraid was very upset of his words and blamed him saying that if he lost the battle, it would be scandal between his family and money, but Malik rejected his opinion and insisted on his decision. Duraid knew that he wouldn't be able to convince him so he decided to leave him alone, but he told him that it was better not to fight directly with the Army of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and that if he wanted to win, he must set up an ambush to surprise the army and destroy it. Malik listened to him and started setting plan to face the Muslims. At that time, news reached the Prophet (peace be upon him) in Mecca, that Arabs had gathered different tribes and moved to attack Muslims. Although the situation in Mecca was starting to stabilize bit within one month from its people conversion into Islam, the Prophet still decided to respond strongly to the news that he had received. The Prophet (peace be upon him) sent Abdullah Ibn Abi Hadrud to the Hawazin camp and ordered him to stay with them and know their updates. Abdullah indeed set off and arrived at their camp, where he knew the numbers of their army and their intention to move, and set up their camp in Awtas, and that they were planning to attack the Muslims as soon as possible. So, he went back to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and informed him of their news immediately. Muhammad (peace be upon him) decided to go out with the entire Muslim Army that had entered Mecca, which numbered 10,000 fighters, together with 2,000 from the people of Mecca who had recently joined Islam, led by Abu Sufian Ibn Harb. Actually, we should pause here little and analyze the Prophet's thought at that time... Muhammad (peace be upon him) decided to take the new Muslims with him, even though they were new to Islam and he knew that some of them were still hesitant about their Islam. He was aware that if they stayed in Mecca, they would apostatize from Islam again and separate themselves from Mecca, especially if the Muslims were defeated in the battle. In addition, his decision to leave Mecca and meet the enemy outside was also very important. Staying in Mecca and waiting for the enemy’s attack could have arisen the greed of Mecca’s people, who were hesitant about their Islam, to help the tribes attacking Muslims and by that, Muslims would be attacked from outside and inside leading to great catastrophe. Therefore, the Prophet's decisions were very wise and farsighted. On the 6th of Shawwal of the 8th Hijri year, the Muslims’ Army headed out of Mecca towards Awtas. Four days later, specifically on the 10th of Shawwal, Muslim forces arrived at the valley of Hunayn and set up their camp in preparation for the combat in the following day... And there, the prophet ordered one of his companions to stand above the hill that overlooks the valley of Hunayn, watch it carefully and inform him with any movement made by their enemy. The next day, almost before dawn, the man returned from his place and told the Prophet that it was all clear. The Prophet began dividing the army into several battalions in order to cross the valley of Hunayn and head towards Awtas to clash with the enemy. In the front, he placed group of approximately 700 fighters from Bani Sulaym under the command of Khaled ibn Al-Waleed, then several formations were organized behind them till they reached about 29 formations. By sunrise, Muslim forces began to descend from the mountain towards the valley. Khaled ibn Al-Waleed rushed with his battalion in the hope to quickly surprise the enemy forces in Awtas. But what happened next was unexpected... As soon as Khaled Ibn Alwaleed came down with the front rows of the army, everyone was surprised by barrage of stones and arrows thrown at them from almost every direction. Malik Ibn Auf had taken the advice of Duraid Ibn Al-Samma and hid his men between the trees in the valley and ordered them to stay there till the arrival of the Muslim Army. Then he ordered them to go out and throw stones and arrows to destroy them and cause chaos in their lines. Khaled ibn Al-Waleed and the front rows were the first to receive the shock of the ambush. When the arrows reached them from all sides, the members of the battalion began to flee immediately from the site to save their lives. Khaled tried to stop them and began shouting at them to stop escaping and gather around him again, but during his call, he was hit by several arrows that caused him to fall off his horse and he was seriously injured, so he was carried away and remained on the ground on the side of the valley unable to move. Afterwards, the fleeing forces rushed backwards in panic towards the battalions behind them in an unorganized manner causing state of chaos in the entire Muslim army. When the men at the back saw their severe state of flop, they started running away quickly with them without understanding what was going on. The chaos increased after the camels and horses merged together, so the whole rows were scattered everywhere... The Prophet became alone in the corridor with only 10 of his companions including Abu Bakr, Omar, Ali and his uncle Al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them all). The Prophet started shouting at people reminding them that he was the messenger of Allah and asking them to come back. But his call was not heard in the midst of the chaos in the battle. During those events, some people from Hawazin approached the Prophet's (peace be upon him) side in attempt to kill him. huge man rushed towards them on his camel holding long spear with black flag on its end, so Ali Ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) and man from AlAnsar advanced towards him and they succeeded to bring his horse down, then they hurled him down. Afterwards, the Prophet and his companions sought refuge beside some rocks on the side after everyone had succeeded in repelling the attacks of the impulsive battalion of Hawazin. The Prophet began to look closely at the battlefield and insisted on not letting Malik be pleased with the initial victory he had achieved... The Prophet set off on his mule in the direction of his enemies with his uncle and Abu Sufian Ibn Harb and began shouting loudly “I am the prophet, am not lying, am the son of Abdul Muttalib". At that moment, the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered his uncle Al-Abbas, as he had loud voice, to shout out with all his power at the Muslims and encourage them to gather around him. Al-Abbas shouted out the Prophet’s words and the Muslims began to strengthen up and answer the call and went to meet with the Prophet quickly... With time, the number of Muslims increased around the Prophet until they became thousands. Muhammad (peace be upon him) ordered everyone to attack and hit the enemies back. The Muslim forces quickly set off after regaining their courage and began launching fierce counterattack on Malik and his army. There was clear difference between the strength and skill of Muslims and their enemies in the duel. At that time, the Prophet held handful of dirt and threw it towards his enemies while saying “faces had faded”. The dust entered in the mouths and eyes of the enemies, which was miracle of the Prophet, and chaos thus spread among them. With the increased pressure put by Muslims on them, Malik Ibn Auf decided to retreat and ordered the tribe of Thuqaif, that was at the back, to secure the withdrawal of Hawazin until he organized its rows again. The Muslim forces clashed with Thuqaif, who was surprised by the intensity of the fighting, and with time they began to quickly flee the battlefield towards the back. After while, Malik Ibn Auf succeeded in his desired withdrawal and reorganized his forces in defensive manner at the corridor leading to their camp in Awtas in preparation for the last clash with the Muslims The Muslims succeeded to regain their position on the battlefield and all those who had fled at the beginning of the fight, rejoined the ranks. The Prophet decided to invest this success and began organizing strong group of knights to secure the valley and prevent the forces of Hawazin from taking control over it again... During the organization of the forces, the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked about Khaled ibn Al-Waleed but he was told that he had been injured. The Prophet went to him and started blowing on his wounds, so Khaled rose up feeling strong after his wounds had healed in another great miracle of the Prophet (peace be upon him). As soon as he recovered, Khaled began to regroup Bani Sulaym at the same time when the cavalry group under the command of Zubair Ibn Al-Awwam had set off and clashed with the forces of Malik Ibn Auf again. Soon after, the Muslim forces succeeded in victory, and Malik and the rest of the forces were expelled from the corridor, and the whole valley became under the Muslim's control. The tribes dispersed after their defeat in front of the Muslims in the corridor, most of them returned to Taif, some of them went to the valley of Nakhla and others returned to their camp in Awtas to protect their families and money. The Prophet ordered Al-Zubair Ibn Al-Awwam with the cavalry group, including Khaled ibn Al-Waleed, to stay in the valley and protect it to be line of defense to the Muslim army. He ordered another group of the army under the leadership of Abu Aamer al-Ashaari to head to the enemy camp to destroy them. Indeed, the Muslim group advanced towards the camp and, as soon as they arrived, they clashed very violently, and Abu Aamer killed 9 people in individual duels, but he was killed in the 10th one. Abu Mussa al-Ashaari took the flag and continued fighting with the Muslims until he finally managed to defeat Hawazin and take control over their camp. At the same time, another group of Muslims followed the fugitives to the valley of Nakhla and managed to kill Duraid Ibn Al-Summa. As for those who had taken refuge at Al Taif, the Prophet advanced towards them with the army of Muslims after he had ordered to send the spoils under security to the area of Ju’ranah. There, the prophet besieged the area tightly for almost twenty days. And so, the battle of Hunayn ended with great victory for the Muslims. The battle of Hunayn was one of the most difficult situations that faced the Muslims. It was their first time to be subjected to clever ambush by an enemy force that was about to destroy them. That ambush was similar in kind to the ingenious ambush carried out by Hannibal Barca in the battle of Lake Trasimene during his war against the Romans in the Second Punic War before nearly 900 years. Despite Malik Ibn Auf's smart plan to defeat Muslims, the poor execution by his army members and their firing of arrows as soon as they had seen the front rows only without waiting for the main force to come down, was the most important reason for its failure... Although many Muslims were injured, only four were martyred in the battle. In contrast, enemy forces lost nearly 70 lives in clashes in the valley, the corridor and the camp. But the biggest disaster for them was the capture of nearly 6,000 men and women from Hawazin and Thuqaif, and the Muslims’ obtaining of an incalculable amount of money, camels and spoils. Despite the several benefits that the Muslims gained, but their biggest achievement was the lesson that Khaled ibn Al-Waleed learnt about the importance of ambushes in wars. Despite his military skills and all-time smart plans against the enemies, the addition of the ambush weapon to his plans was one of the most important factors of the victories he achieved during his conquests and wars later on... Let us continue the next time if God permits but let me tell you first, that these videos take lot of time and effort to make so if you liked this video press the like button and subscribe to my channel and activate the notification bell to get informed about any new video produce see you with peace next time if God permits :)