Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 46 The Battle of Uhud Part 1 Yasir Qadhi 23 rd January 2013

So in sha Allah today we will be starting the first of series of lectures about the Battle of Uhud. We have finished the Battle of Badr and we've also done our summary of the entire Meccan Sira and apologize about my voice but I'm still suffering little bit from the flu so apologies about that. So let us begin today by setting up the the Battle we talked about the incidents that took place after the Battle of Badr. What are some of the most important incidents? Who can remind me? Those who are taking notes. What are some of the most important incidents between Badr and Uhud? The what? Abu Sufyan's attack. Yes, he attacked Medina. There were minor skirmishes. Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf as well, his assassination. All of these took place in between Badr and Uhud. Now the Battle of Uhud is of course the next major battle. And the Meccans, the Quraysh began planning for this battle immediately after Badr. So the loss of Badr the disaster of Badr, the calamity of Badr, it was the immediate cause for the Battle of Uhud. And unlike Badr, Uhud was an all offensive. Badr was reconnaissance mission. Badr was something that was meant to save the the caravan and then protect the caravan from attack. Uhud was the first full out battle. Uhud was the first battle that they armed to the hilt, that they are prepared for an offensive war. And why are they fighting? Four reasons. Number one, religious. That by now there is religious animosity that the Quraysh, the idol worshipers have now developed religious animosity to Islam, to the Prophet alaihi wasallam, to monotheism. Number two, social reasons. Social reasons. What are the social reasons? Well, revenge. Number one is revenge within the social reasons. They have embarrassed themselves at Badr. They have lost many relatives. They have lost their fathers, their brothers and especially the leaders of the Quraysh, in particular Abu Sufyan who was in charge of the caravan is highly embarrassed. And Ikrimah, his father Abu Jahl and Safwan, his father Umayya have all lost their lives at Badr. So there is now blood on their minds. They want revenge and so they want to now get revenge and retribution for what has happened to them in Badr. Number three is the exact same reason as Badr and that is economic. The third reason is economic and by economic we obviously mean the exact same point that Medina geographically it intersects the caravan that goes from Mecca to to Sham. It's directly in that region and if you remember what happened that they were not able to really send successful caravan that the Muslims basically were waiting for them even the second time the caravan came around after the Battle of Badr and therefore they made up their minds that they really don't have any option other than to fight. And remember that their attempts at finding an alternative route has been had been spoiled. Allah informed the Prophet their alternative route had been spoiled. They were not able to find an alternative route. Therefore effectively they cannot trade with Syria anymore. And this is big loss. In fact it will destroy their economy because as we have said many times the Meccan economy was based upon that pipeline between Syria and Yemen. Between Syria and Yemen there was this pipeline, there was this trade route and the Quraysh were in charge of it and they were the ones who basically profited off of this. If you cut off one side of the pipeline the other side is not going to function. You need that full back and forth. You need that trade to go all the way. If you cut off one side the whole trade is gone. So they're definitely in desperate situation economically and then of course there are political reasons as well and the political reason is that the Prophet is now becoming political threat to the Quraysh, that the Prophet is increasing his alliances with the tribes of Medina, the size of the Islamic Republic is growing and therefore no doubt there is political threat as well. Therefore religious, social, economic, political, all of these reasons are reasons why the Quraysh felt the need, the necessity to launch counter offensive, to launch actually it's not counter offensive, it is really an offensive against the Muslims. Now Ibn Ishaq tells us that as soon as Abu Sufyan returned with the caravan of Badr and the news of Badr returned as well, what happened at Badr, that Abu Sufyan immediately made up his mind at that point in time that he has to go and fight. So this was something that was not on the spur of the moment. This is something that is being planned for more than year is being planned basically from Badr up until basically Shawwal. So an entire year because Badr took place, when did it take place? 17th Ramadan in the second year and Uhud takes place basically in Shawwal of the third year. Therefore an entire year of planning has gone and Abu Sufyan took with him Ikrimah ibn Abu Jahl and Safwan ibn Umayya. Now why these two? Because Abu Jahl and Umayya were their most prized leaders. They were the cream of the crop. Abu Jahl we don't need to talk about him enough we have spoken. And Umayya as well the famous Umayya ibn Khalaf, the owner of Bilal. This is Umayya, right? So he's that also prestigious leader. So he takes their two sons and he goes knocking on the doors of the Quraysh. Everyone who had contributed to the caravan of Badr. Everyone who had given money to the caravan he goes and he tells them we need your money back now. Give us your investments back. What you have profited because remember the Badr's caravan had come back safe and sound. So they got their profit, remember, right? That Allah said you wanted the easy one but had higher thing in mind for you. You wanted the more luscious but had higher goal. So the luscious prize booty comes back to the Quraysh and it is distributed to all of the shareholders. Each one gets their percentage. Then of course Abu Sufyan's in charge, he knows who who got how much, right? So the same person who knows exactly, he's your accountant. Now he comes knocking on your door cuz he knows exactly how much you got and he says hand it back now. He says hand it back because we now have to go on an offensive against the Quraysh. We have to go on the offensive against the Muslims. And Allah references in the Quran by saying that those who have disbelieved they are willing to spend their money in order to stop people from the way of Allah. They will spend it. And they will regret spending it and they will lose. All of this is in the future by the way. So Allah is predicting what's going to happen. This ayah by the way Surat al-Anfal, Surat al-Anfal verse 36 and it is interesting Surat al-Anfal was revealed right after Badr. And yet Allah is predicting Uhud. And he's talking about the preparation of Uhud right after Badr. Because as we said right after Badr the money is being raised. So once Surat al-Anfal comes down which is right after Badr, within the surah Allah is referencing Uhud but of course when it comes down Muslims don't realize what's going on, right? But the reference is here. They're going to spend their money. Then they're going to regret spending that money and then they shall in the end be destroyed and then they will go to Jahannam humiliated. So Allah references the spending and the collecting of money right after Badr within the surah of Anfal. And from the Quraysh now they decided that they needed help because they didn't have enough people to fight the Muslims. And realize that the Quraysh being the business owners that they were, they had plenty of tribes that were interested in keeping this economic pipeline taking place. And the two largest tribes that they reached out to were Kinanah and Tihamah. So they reached out to these tribes of Kinanah and Tihamah basically saying and they also have vested interest in having this pipeline running. So they're saying help us out with your money, with your armor and even with your men, artillery, everything. Lend us your money, give us your people, whatever you're able to help us out with. So the Kinanah and the Tihamah as well they added to whatever the number that the Quraysh had and the entire group as we know came to around 3,000. Allah knows what was the percentage of each. was not able to find it in Ibn Ishaq or other early sources but nonetheless we can estimate, we can guesstimate that the bulk of the army would have been Quraysh. Why? Because Kinanah and Tihamah would have helped them more with armor, with weapons and also with slaves because when you have sought help in this manner, they got plenty of slaves to spare. So, in terms of actual military people, most of them would have been Quraysh, but the Kinanah and Tihamah, they might have sent few token people, small army, small expedition, but the main help would have been with with logistics, with armory, with saddles, these types of things they would have given to the Quraysh. And therefore, what we are seeing with the Battle of Uhud is that for the first time the conflict is now getting between Islam and Kufr. Because before the conflict was between the Quraysh and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. It was very local, if you like, conflict. In every single conflict, the circle will widen until finally it is an all-out Islam versus paganism. And what happened was that the animosity of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam united the Arabs for the first time. Just like the religion of Islam united the Arabs for the first time. Up until the coming of Islam, the Arabs were always disunited. No two would ever agree, you know, two different tribes. Islam came and it made the the Arabs into two camps. Those who opposed and those who accepted. And then eventually, of course, those who accepted won over and therefore, for the first time in human history, the Arabs were united under the leadership of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. That will, of course, happen at the end of time. Let's get now the end of his time. Let's get back to the Battle of of Uhud here. So, the the circle of conflict is being winded widened. We now have some of the largest tribes, Tihamah, Kinanah, these are some of the largest tribes of the region are now participating as well. And on the 7th of Shawwal in the 3rd year of the Hijrah, literally year year and few weeks after the Battle of Badr, on the 3rd on the 7th of Shawwal in the 3rd year of the Hijrah, the Quraysh set out from Mecca. And perhaps it was as if they wanted to mark the anniversary event as well, that this is basically almost year after the Battle of Badr they they set out. And what especially shows their eagerness is that typically this journey would have taken two weeks at very leisurely pace. And if you wanted to speed up little bit, moderate, you would take 10 days. But in their eagerness, they actually traversed this entire distance in seven days. And that is showing us how eager they were to get to the battle, to get fighting with them, that they did this in seven days. Now, as we said, the Quraysh had managed to gather, around 3,000, men. And they had 200 horses. And that is large amount of horses. And they had obtained 700 armors for men. 700. And again, this is most likely coming from Tihamah and Kinanah. That put together now for the first time they have 700, armors. Now, realize back then, the average person did not have weapons for fighting. Remember, there is no there is no army that's being paid. These are people that are living in Mecca, they are tradesmen, they are craftsmen, they are doing their job. To invest in armor is lot of money. And if you use it once every 10, 20 years, it's not worth it. Most people would not have had the weapons or the armor to fight. And this is where the Tihamah and Kinanah people are coming in. Help us out. So then they'll lend them they're not using. Here, take 200, here 300. This is very big, amount. Also, realize that again, most of this armor is coming from elsewhere, from Yemen or from Syria. And because the Arabs were not experts at metallurgy, they were not the experts at iron smiths, this is being imported. And this is very expensive. And that's why when you read the books of history and the books of battles, one of the most prized possessions for warrior to obtain in battle was to obtain the armor of his opponent. He would love to obtain this. This was more precious to him than many other things. Why? Because armor is big investment. It's very expensive, item. And it is something that once you have it, you can use it basically for lifetime. You can keep it for long period of time. So, they had 700, basically arm, armors, basically armed men, wearing their, body suits, if you like, you know, their you know, the mails, the the the the the chains, the the the chains of armor that come. This is how they would have the protection. And this time they decided to take many of their wives with them. It is said up to two dozen of the women of the Quraysh participated. Why was this? Because when you have the women participating, they can serve as incentive that if we lose, we're in big trouble. Right? Cheerleaders, you can say cheerleaders as well, okay? And frankly, they were types of cheerleaders, yes, in their own way, because the women would, give their poetry. The women would sing out their poetry out loud. And this poetry was somewhat sensual in nature. Somewhat sensual in nature, that they are encouraging the men to basically show their manhood and discouraging them from coming back empty-handed. And, you know, so they're they're basically, they are in in fact that type of cheerleaders, they are encouraging them and forward. But there's also in more important than this is when you have women, you really have to fight. Or else, you know, there's going to be, big problem. So, they're so confident that many of the leaders took their wives with them, including Abu Sufyan, who, of course, took Hind bint Utbah, that famous Hind that we will talk about for many times throughout the Sirah. And Abu Sufyan, was the main leader of the army. And he put on the right flank, he put in charge Khalid ibn al-Walid. And on the left flank flank, he put in charge Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl, Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl. And therefore, these three people were the main leaders of Uhud. Abu Sufyan is at the head of the army. The right flank is Khalid ibn al-Walid. The left flank is Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl. Now, al-Abbas, radiyallahu anhu, al-Abbas, we mentioned that he most likely converted at the Battle of Badr. After the Battle of Badr. We mentioned that in the prisoner of war situation, when he tried to hide his money, if you remember, right? And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "Well, you say you have no money. How about that money that you hid in such and such place? And you told Umm al-Fadl that in case die, this much goes here, this much goes there." That's when he said, "Ya Rasul Allah, no one could have told you this other than Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala." said back then that there is very plausible theory, and we're never going to know facts because we can't can't know for sure, that he was secret convert. And he then returned to Mecca as secret convert. Publicly, he is not known to be Muslim at this time. Publicly, he converts later on. But there is theory that he converted after the Battle of Badr. He was not convert in Badr, even though he didn't want to fight. And he said, and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "You are telling the truth." He said, "They forced me." Istakrahuni, "They forced me to fight. didn't want to fight and didn't really participate. Didn't know much, you know, in the battle." And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "He's telling the truth. He didn't want to fight." so most likely he converted secretly and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam sent him secretly to as secret Muslim to, Mecca. And he remained there up until almost the, conquest. And then before the conquest, he made the Hijrah. and the point being that this incident seems to suggest that that is the case. What incident? Al-Abbas, as soon as the Quraysh left and he felt the situation was clear for him, immediately he sent trusted servant to go to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and inform him in explicit detail how many people, how much, arms, how many horses, the entire, layout of the army. Now, why did he delay until this very day? Well, one of two reasons come to mind. Firstly, perhaps the Quraysh themselves were not trusting Abbas. After all, he is an uncle. And after all, he has not shown his animosity, unlike, Abu unlike Abu Lahab did, for example, in his lifetime, right? So, he's not shown his animosity. So, there's always this doubt, is he is he not? So, perhaps they didn't inform him until the very end. Or, and this is also very plausible theory, he couldn't send anybody until the city is empty. Or else, there would be this, clear indication if he sends his servant, it's pretty clear. mean, you know, this very dangerous for him to do that. So, he waits for them to leave. As soon as they leave, he then sends trusted servant. And this servant goes as fast as humanly possible. And that was three days. So, the clock is ticking. Cuz the Quraysh did it in seven. So, the clock is ticking. So, as fast as And this is you cannot get faster than this. You cannot do the journey between Mecca and Medina, in those days, on camel faster than three days. And so, he gets to, Medina in three days. And he finds the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in Quba. He was visiting Quba at the time. And he hands the letter to him. And Ubayy ibn Ka'b is there. And he tells Ubayy to read the letter, cuz obviously the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam cannot read, an nabiyy ummiyy. So, he tells Ubayy to read the letter. And Ubayy tells him all the details. And he says to Ubayy, "Do not tell anybody until tell you. Don't tell anybody about this news." And he immediately rushes back to Medina. And he speaks to some of the leaders of the Ansar, in particular, Sa'd ibn al-Rabi'ah, one of the leaders of the Ansar, telling him what's going on. Because this is the first time Medina is going to be attacked. And then, after this, he sends out two or three spies to check on the Quraysh before he calls general meeting. And this is very interesting. Did he doubt his uncle Abbas? Of course not. He trusts his uncle. Yet still, this is very big news. And it will affect everything. And you cannot operate on the presumption of maybe even genuine mistake. What if the Quraysh have duped Abbas even? How does he know what's going on, right? So, the Prophet some first thing he does, he sends out two or three spies to find out what's going on. And they go and they actually see the 3,000 army close by and they come back and they basically say the Quraysh are grazing at such and such pasture, which is basically day or two away. Literally, they're on our outskirts now. So, everything falls into place. And again, this shows us the meticulous care. The Prophet was not an emotional reactionary. He did not just act on the whim or the spur. The Prophet is acting very cautiously. He's thinking. He's making sure everything is is appropriate, right? And he told us in many Hadith from the Shaitan, acting in haste comes from Shaitan. And the anni or acting in predetermined thought, this is from Allah Ta'ala. Being cautious and thinking things through, this is from Allah. And acting in haste is from Shaitan. And we should learn from this that the situation is critical. mean, they're about to face the largest army, but still he does not panic. First thing he does, he makes sure he says, "Is it really this case? Is it really that case?" No doubt some time was lost, but it is better to be sure than to cause panic and then find out that it was false alarm. So, he finds out that indeed the Quraysh are close by and probably we don't have exact dates, but we can estimate or guestimate that probably this is now by the 11th of Shawwal, basically. Our Prophet has confirmed that the Quraysh are day or two away and the Quraysh basically got to the outskirts of Medina. It is said in somebody 12th and somebody 13th, they got to the outskirts of Medina. So, he literally has like window of 48 hours give or take little bit. He literally has window of two days to do something. And therefore, he calls large meeting of the Muslims. Now, there is dream that has been narrated that the Prophet saw. And he told the Muslims about this. According to Ibn Ishaq before the battle and according to Bukhari after the battle, which makes more sense. And he saw this dream again according to Ibn Ishaq before the battle. So, according to Ibn Ishaq's version, he saw the dream, he told it to them. But it doesn't make sense. Bukhari's version makes more sense. Bukhari's version is he saw the dream in Mecca and he did not understand its interpretation until after Uhud. Then he told the Sahaba of the dream after Uhud and this makes sense now. Okay. So, he saw some dream that he could not interpret until Uhud took place. When Uhud takes place, he then understands the dream. Then he tells the Sahaba after Uhud to calm them down, to console them. That look, this is what saw. And this version makes more sense than Ibn Ishaq's version because Ibn Ishaq's version basically has him telling them of the defeat before the defeat and that doesn't make sense, right? So, the Bukhari's version seems more authentic. What is the dream? the dream is cryptic. Dreams are typically cryptic. The dream is cryptic and we need little bit of explanation. The Prophet said Hadith is in Bukhari, saw in dream that had struck with my sword, but my sword broke. But my sword broke. And this is what afflicted the Muslims at Uhud. This is the disaster of Uhud. Then hit it again and it came back as good as it ever was, as strong as it ever was. And this was the victory that Allah gave to the Muslims and the coming together of the believers. Meaning after Uhud, there shall be victory. This was the victory and the joining together because Uhud separated them as we'll discover. Uhud brought them into munafiqeen and mumin. And then the Prophet said, "After Uhud, the Muslims now knew who's right and wrong. Now we are now one group again." Uhud was disaster in one sense, in many senses we'll talk about. Was it full disaster or partial? But one of the negatives of Uhud was that the Muslims for the first time showed open disunity. This had never happened up until this time. The Muslims showed open disunity, meaning the munafiqeen broke away. That's what mean by this, right? The munafiqeen broke away. So, the Prophet is saying, "After Uhud, we will gain our unity again." And after Uhud, we'll have our victory again. And then he said, "And saw cows. saw cows. And Allah is Allah is good. And this was the believers on the day of Uhud. This was the believers on the day of Uhud. In the version of Imam Ahmad's Musnad, it is added the Prophet said, saw myself wearing protective armor. saw myself wearing protective armor, so interpreted that to be Medina. So, the dream is telling him that stay with your armor, which means stay in Medina. interpreted that to be Medina. Now, Bukhari's version has all of this taking place after Uhud, which makes sense. That after Uhud, he's now seeing what's happening. Meaning the dream of Mecca comes back to him and now he's interpreting. Okay, now it makes sense. If you look at the other version, it doesn't make sense because it's as if he's predicting that you guys are going to be killed and then we're going to come back together. That doesn't make sense, right? You guys are going to separate, then we're going to be united. Rather, the dream was cryptic and the Prophet did not tell the Muslims cuz he didn't know what it was about. And then he only told them after Uhud so that he then interpreted himself. Now, what is the meaning of cows? Because everything else is interpreted. The sword is interpreted. struck with my sword, it broke. This is the calamity of Uhud. Then struck again and it was as shining and perfect as it ever was. This is the next battles. And the Muslims were united, so they are going to be united, right? Then he says, "And saw cows." saw the cow. And this has given lot of interpretation. What does the cow symbolize? What is the meaning of cow? And Ibn Hajar says that the symbolism of cow is that of the of Uhud. The martyrs of Uhud. Why? Because cow is an animal that is useful dead and alive. If it's alive, and if it dies, alhamdulillah. So, it's as if the Muslims are being told, "Look, these believers, Allah has chosen for them something better." This is the interpretation of Ibn Hajar. Is that you guys here? That it's the of Uhud. That they are being symbolized whether they're living or dead, Allah has something good planned for them. And Allah knows best, but he did not explain what is the interpretation of the of the cow. Now, as we said, time was of the essence. The Meccans were already outside probably day or two away. And so, the Prophet after consulting with the leaders of the Ansar, Sa'd ibn and others, he then called general gathering. Also notice in this wisdom that the difference between true and thoughtful leader or or person of responsibility versus the tattletale versus the sensationalist. The person who's thoughtful, if some big news comes, he will tell firstly core group. Then he's going to widen the circle. Whereas the sensationalist guy, he's just going to spread everything, spill the beans all at once. Our Prophet first told the core group around him to get their to get some idea what to do. Then when he had some notion and idea, now he opens the floor for everyone. And this is part of and part of leadership and even every one of us, even if we're not community leaders, every one of us, there are things that you don't need to go and tell the whole world or even if you do not immediately find out to any be be careful, step by step. So, after he gets this inner circle, he then calls gathering. And it so happened that it was Friday anyway, so everybody was gathered together on the Friday anyway. And so, what this means is that on Thursday, he is gathering information from the closest of his companions, Sa'd ibn and others, and he spends the day in the inner circle. Then on Friday, he then tells them to stay after the battle. Also, Ibn Ishaq mentions there was as well. And were not that common. You know, there's small community. So, everybody had come for the as well. So, it is as if Allah willed that there's going to be larger gathering than usual. And so, there was one of the one of the had passed away. So, there's and so, everybody has now been gathered there. And now the Prophet tells them everything. No holds barred. He tells them exactly as it is. That we have so many people outside and what do you think we should do? And then he said, without opening the floor, he first gives them his own opinion. Then he opens the floor. He says that and see myself in protective fortress. Basically, the dream now. see myself in protected fortress. We are in which is protected fortress. Now, Medina, as we have said many times, Medina was very unique city in many ways. It had natural impediments on many sides. And if not next Wednesday, then the Wednesday after, we'll show you the Google Maps to see it from on top and you'll see little bit of this. had some natural protections. On two sides were, by now we should all know, volcanic lava rock, al-harrah. Harrah sharqiyah, harrah gharbiyah, still is called to this day, right? The two harrahs. And we had talked about these large volcanic planes that walking is very difficult on, and people don't go past these planes, especially horses and camels, they're not going to go past onto this area. This is on two sides. On one side, which is somewhat of the north northwest side, you have the big stretch of Uhud. You have this large mountain of Uhud. And you have pockets towards Quba area of large date palms, plantations, basically. Right? North is Uhud is north. Yes, it is. We'll show you the map. Uhud is north of Medina. and you also have towards the southern parts, little bit southwest, sorry, southeast, you have the area of Quba, which is full of luscious date plantations. And of course, when you have large date plantations, you're not going to have an army marching through those, either. So, this is why, by the way, in the Battle of Khandaq, they could dig trench, because the trench was not around the whole city. If it was around the whole city, they could never have done this. The Battle of Khandaq, the only reason they could have dug trench is because there really is only one stretch of land that is vast and open where the enemy can attack easily from. And that's why they could do it. And we'll talk about that. How was it, 2-3 miles or something? But it was reasonable, mean, reasonable for the time. Obviously, 2-3 miles, and can you imagine that long in our times? But still, for them, this is what they did in that short period of time. so, in the Battle of Uhud, so the Prophet is saying, "We have now protected fortress here in Medina." And the suggestion was that they should avail themselves to the natural fortification of the city, and the army, if it would have attacked Medina, would never have been able to, you know, this would literally result in street-to-street fighting. And in street-to-street fighting, who's going to win? The people who know the street. The people who know the layout of the ground. They could have set up barricades, they could have split themselves up into so many different pockets. it is even said that if this would have happened, the women and children would have been participating from the roof by throwing things down, you know, they would have had projectiles or hot, you know, oil or something like this. So, because this is their city, they know it. And they're going to split up the entire army into these small little enclaves and then fight them street-to-street. So, this would have been protected fortress. So, the Prophet suggested to remain in Medina. And amazingly, Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul agreed. Not because he was somebody who appreciated the Prophet, but because it was the correct opinion. And Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul was seasoned warrior. He was the most seasoned warrior amongst them. And he understood as well the tactics of remaining in Medina. And so he said, "Yes, this is the correct position." That, and he said this, "Medina has never been successfully attacked from within, when we stayed as city." So, he's now going back into historical precedent. We have never been defeated from within the city. The city has always protected us. So, Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul agrees with the Prophet because it is the right opinion, not because he respects the Prophet, because it is the right opinion. The Prophet was right, and Abdullah ibn Ubayy knew he was right. So, he said, "Yes, we should remain in the city as well." However, there was group of younger companions, many of whom Ibn Ishaq says became shaheed. So, they were sincere in this. They were eager for battle. They wanted to fight. And they said, "Why should we remain in our houses like cowards? Rather, we should go out like brave men and fight them on the battlefield." And these were people who had regretted not participating in Badr. And they wanted to show their manliness, manliness, their feats of bravery, their war, if you like. And they continued pressuring the Prophet to go out. All the while, the senior Sahaba were silent. And they didn't say anything. Until finally, when the Prophet felt that the majority were saying he should go out, he then agreed to this, and he went inside to wear his armor. And as soon as he went inside, the older Sahaba opened up. And they began reproaching the younger Sahaba. And they said, "The Prophet told us his opinion at the beginning. And yet you persisted in suggesting the opposite until finally he agreed to your your opinion. How could you have done this?" And the younger Sahaba felt very embarrassed at what had transpired. So, when this happened, they sent in Hamza, and of course, Hamza is the uncle that is going to be shaheed in Uhud, as we know. They sent in Hamza into the house, cuz obviously it's his private house, his chambers. They sent in Hamza into the house of the Prophet to tell him that we changed our minds. And when Hamza entered in, the Prophet had already put on his armor, and he had fastened the the the straps and everything. Then he comes in, and he tells him, "The Sahaba are now they have now rethought this through, and they've changed their minds." And so, the Prophet said, "It is not possible, once prophet has worn his armor, that he takes it off until he fights the enemy." This is hadith, which is narrated in Muslim, Imam Ahmad, and other hadith. Ma yanbaghi, it's not appropriate, it's not befitting, that prophet wears his armor and then takes it off without engaging in battle. Meaning, it is too late. Now we're going to go to war. This was the decision, decision, and we're going to go to war. Now, look over here, subhanallah, so many benefits from this incident. Look at the status of shura in the life of our Prophet, alayhi wasallam. He felt confident staying in Medina. But he knows, like any good leader knows, that you need the people behind you. And you cannot just impose your will on them. Even though if anybody could impose his will, it was the Prophet, alayhi wasallam. And as Allah says, and we've said this so many times, Allah tells us, "Wa amruhum shura baynahum." Their way of dealing with matters is to have shura. To have consultative voices. What do you think? Let's all reach some type of consensus or majority. And therefore, when the majority of companions, according to the Prophet's interpretation, we don't even know what was the majority. We don't know. Maybe it was vocal minority. But when the others are silent, the impression being given is what? That this is the majority. And so, once this impression is given, he then gives into the demand, and then he puts on his armor. Notice as well the wisdom of the older companions. Firstly, they wanted to accept the advice of the Prophet, alayhi wasallam. And secondly, they did not argue in his presence. This is amazing, the height of adab. The height of etiquette. Because they could have told the younger companions right then and there, "Can you be quiet, please? We've already made up our minds. He's already made up his mind." They could have done this. But isn't this rude to have this bickering dispute in front of the leader, in front of the Prophet, alayhi wasallam? They could have had this harshness, but out of respect to him, they kept their mouths quiet. And this really shows us the amount of respect they had, that they're not even going to rebuke the younger Sahaba for something they know to be wrong, just waiting for him to go out of earshot, then they're going to rebuke, right? And this really shows us the height of respect that, wallahi, it is unimaginable, really, that that type of respect can now be replicated in front of any living person. This is an amazing amount that only our Prophet, alayhi wasallam, you know, is going to be able to get because of his maqam. Also notice that it is the sunnah of Allah, Ta'ala, that young men in particular are always overzealous and rash. It is in their character and nature, impetuousness, rashness, quick acting, little bit of arrogance and cockiness, generally speaking. We're not talking about just this group, every generally speaking, it is in their nature. And this is really what makes them young men. That's what young men are, right? That always we find those who are young are more overzealous than they are required to be. And Allah mentions, and by the way, this could work both ways, that it could be overzealousness within the religion, it could be against the religion, it could be exaggeration, you know, that is not in the spirit of the religion, but has good niya. All of this is doable. So, Allah mentions in the Quran, they were, you know, "Wa kana fi fi Madinatihi tis'atu yufsidoona fil ard." There were group of nine lads that were causing lot of chaos in the land. And they were the ones who, what did they do? Who are the nine lads? Tis'atu "What did they do?" The camel, the she-camel. They were the ones who then who then decided to do this prank, quote unquote, on the camel of God. Then Allah showed them what's going to happen, right? So, again, the point being, this is Allah mentions them as tis'atu. And also, the the ashabul kahf as well were young men. "Amanoo bi rabbihim." They were group of young men. They had that strong iman in Allah. It is human nature that young men sometimes they go in the positive, sometimes they go with good intentions but not in the positive direction. The niyah is good but not in the positive direction, such as right now, right? And sometimes it is the exact opposite, which is they have bad intentions and they're still overzealous in that and and subhanallah even to this day if you look at, you know, these extremist militants and tactics that are taking place around the world that we disapprove of in the name of Islam, the main people who support these tactics are always some of our overzealous youth. They're the ones who think that this is the way forward and this is legitimate jihad and this and that and we know that this is not the way forward and in their anger, in their overzealousness, anybody who dares to criticize them, khalas, he's munafiq, he's sellout, he's this, he's that. This is typical. It is part of yani being overzealous without having the knowledge, right? It's human nature. And of course, amongst the Sahaba, we're not saying this of them. We are saying they had good intentions but they didn't have enough as much wisdom as the older Sahaba did and it's always helpful for the youth to listen to what their elders have to say. This is the general rule. It's always helpful for our young men to be patient and realize that their elders have been there, done that. Their elders have lived through much more than they have lived through and they have much more experience than they have and the same applies throughout all of our centuries today and and throughout all of our history. In any case, so the Prophet wore his armor and the fact that he said cannot take it off now shows us something very interesting. And we know this from other ayat and hadith. There is special sharia for the prophets that they have certain laws that nobody else has. There's special sharia for the prophets that they have code that they have to operate by and this code is unique for them. And we know of many such aspects that the Prophet was able to do, we're not able to do. He would fast 3 days without ever eating or drinking. 72 hours, 76 hours without one morsel, one sip of water. And when the Sahaba tried to do it, they fainted, they couldn't do it. So he said, am not like one of you." Allah gives me food and drink in way he's not going to give to you. Right? So he would fast 2, 3 days non-stop and he forbade the Sahaba from doing this. And according to one opinion, it was wajib for him to pray tahajjud every single night. It was wajib. Because Allah says in the Quran, "Thuluthai layli was furuh thuluthahu qul layla illa qalila." And according to Ibn Taymiyyah, it was wajib for the Prophet to pray tahajjud. Whereas for the he felt this is the majority, then khalas, now the decision has been made. Now that the decision has been made, no one should blame anybody else after this now. And that's what happened. None of these younger Sahaba that made this decision were then criticized for the rest of their lives because that was their sincere desire, that was what they thought what was best and qaddara Allah, their will was accepted and that was the plan that was accepted by the Prophet, end of story, life goes on. And this is very big lesson for every one of us, that once we make up decision that was done properly then after this, we should not blame anyone or anything. Our mouth should be free of "See what happened? Didn't tell you this?" This is not of the etiquette. Now again, if we have done it properly. What is properly? istikhara and istishara, two things. Keep this in mind, right? Istikhara, you know, prayer. Istishara, asking people. These are the two things. Anytime you have major decision, Islam tells us istikhara, istishara. Pray istikhara, get istishara. Istishara is advice from those who are people that are worthy to advise you. Close friends, family, relatives, experts, whatever. You get the advice, you make up your mind. Now suppose it turns out to be disaster, khalas, you did what you thought was best. Allah has something better planned, you don't see it yet. And this is exactly what happens in the Battle of Badr. So Uhud. So the Prophet he wears his armor. In fact, Ibn Ishaq tells us that he wore two suits of armor, double armor. And this despite the fact that of course, Allah has promised to protect him and he doesn't need armor at all but to show his followers and to show the ummah that if one wants to engage in any in any type of endeavor, you have to engage in it according to the means, according to the level, according to the rules of the game. You don't act foolishly and say "Tawakkal ala Allah." You don't act foolishly and say "Allah will do everything." No, you have to do everything possible and if that means arming yourself to the hilt before you go to the battle as he did, then so be it. This was to demonstrate to the Sahaba that it is foolish not to dress up for the battle. It is foolish not to have your preparations. And Allah says in the Quran regarding battle, "Khudu hidhrakum." Take your precautions and Allah says going for hajj, "Wa tazawwadu." Make sure you have your food and water and drink with you. Fa inna khayra zadit taqwa. So whatever you're doing, make sure you do it with Allah in mind, of course, but you have the means, the physical means necessary. And so our Prophet wore two layers of armor on him and again, this was done so that the leader demonstrates, the religious leader demonstrates to the followers that look, you need to be armed. Don't be foolish and say, I'm going to go out like this and put my tawakkul in Allah." Tawakkul in Allah means tying your camel and then putting tawakkul in Allah. And this is his tying of the camel. And the Prophet divided up the army into three main groups. The Muhajirun under the leadership of Mus'ab ibn Umayr, the Aws under the leadership of Usayd ibn Hudayr, and the Khazraj under the leadership of al-Hubab ibn al-Mundhir. And so these three were the leaders on the Muslim side and because the situation was so dire, they only had few horses, handful of horses and amongst all of them, they only had 100 suits of armor. So only 100 of them were wearing full body armor and the Muslims in the late afternoon of Friday, they made their way to the mountain of Uhud. In the late afternoon of Friday, after the salat al-Jumu'ah had taken place, after the istishara had taken place, probably we can say an hour, an hour and half would have taken place, then they made their way to the mountain of Uhud. And the mountain of Uhud is actually misconception that many people have. They think the mountain of Uhud is one mountain. And this is wrong. The mountain of Uhud is not mountain, it is range of mountains. It's whole number of peaks, not just one peak. It's whole series of mountain mountains and the mountains of Uhud are over 1 mile long. It's very long mountain. And the mountains of Uhud are north of Medina, north northwest. So, north northwest of Medina. Little bit to the side, and they are range of mountains. Inshallah, next class, hopefully, or the class after, I'll show you the slide on on the screen. And these days, by car, it takes less than 10 minutes from the Masjid of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to the mountains of Medina, mountains of Uhud. Less than 10 minutes by car. And because of the increased inhabitants of Medina, the city of Medina now goes all the way to the mountain of Uhud in terms of its city, in terms of the people living there. And there are plenty of people living under the shade of the mountain now. And this is considered to be part of the city. Of course, in the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, there were big gaps, obviously. The city was very small. As I've said this before, that the entire core of the city fit inside what is now the Masjid. The whole city, the core of the city, cuz Medina was actually number of small cities. Quba had small city, then the Banu Salama had small city. So, they had little small encampments here and there. The core, which is the downtown, if you like, or the actual Medina, it fit into the entire Masjid that is now constructed. And that is why the graveyard, Baqi, was outside the city. Baqi was outside the city. Of course, now Medina has increased thousand percent or something, you know? And so, this is now Baqi and and the the the Prophet's Masjid are basically right in the center, and the whole city goes outward. And of course, Uhud, there are many ahadith about Uhud. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "Uhud is mountain of Jannah." "Uhud is Jabal of Jannah." What does this mean? Some scholars say that this means that Uhud is beloved mountain. Others say that Uhud will be transported into Jannah. Whatever the case might be, Uhud is mountain of Jannah. This is an authentic hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And in one hadith, when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came back from one of his expeditions, the first thing they saw was the mountain of Uhud before they got to the city. So, they're coming back from the north. So, they see the mountain of Uhud. And so, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, hadith is in Bukhari, "Uhud Jabalun yuhibbuna wa nuhibbuhu." "Uhud is mountain that loves us, and we love it." So, it is sign of Iman to love Uhud. It is sign of Iman to love Uhud. Uhud Jabalun yuhibbuna wa nuhibbuhu. Uhud is mountain that loves us, and we love it. And it is narrated in Sahih Muslim that once the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was climbing Uhud with Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman, the three of them, they were climbing Uhud, and the mountain began to shake and tremble. And so, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam tapped it with his feet. And he said, "Uthbut, Uhud." "Calm down, Uhud. Be firm, Uhud. Fa innama alaika nabiyyun wa siddiqun wa shahidayn." "Because you have on you now, you only have nabi and siddiq and two shahids on you." "Uthbut, Uhud. Fa innama alaika nabiyyun wa siddiqun wa shahidayn." So, he is saying to Uhud, he's speaking to Uhud, "Calm down. For really, there's only nabi and siddiq and two martyrs on you." And Uhud is one of the markers of the holy city of Medina. Medina is Haram. Medina is Haram. Who can remind me what is Haram? This goes back many months. You're not supposed to kill anybody in it. You're not supposed to kill anybody in it. So, we can kill everybody outside. Careful, ya akhi. Everybody who enters is protected. Everybody who enters is protected. It has special muharramat. You're not supposed to injure somebody. Cut the trees or something. So, cutting the trees, hunting, hunting. So, basically, certain things are haram inside that are halal outside. That's why it's called haram. From the same verb as haram, haram. It's sacred. Certain things that would otherwise be halal are haram. Of them, for example, you're not allowed to carry weapon unsheathed. For example. Right? You can't carry sword unsheathed. It has to be inside. In our times, qiyas, second amendment guys, the the the the bullets have to be somewhere else, maybe. It's going to be in the trunk, yeah. It's going to be qiyas, The second amendment guys, any day that you can't have it inside, let's say. Any this type of haram is going to be Now, of course, there's always exceptions when there's maslaha. So, the guards, for example, yani, they're doing this for the protection of the haram. Right? So, they're doing it for the protection of the haram, they have an exception. But otherwise, generally speaking, haram has certain laws that make it sacred. And therefore, what is the sanc- What is the boundaries of the haram? Mecca has its boundaries. As for Medina, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself told us exactly what are the boundaries. And this hadith is in Bukhari and Muslim and many ahadith that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "Al Madinatu haramun min Air ila Thawr." And in another hadith, bayna labatayha. So, Air and Thawr are two mountains, and labatayha are its harratayha, which is east and west. So, the two mountains are north and south, and then the two plains are east and west. So, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam literally, he specified the four points of the compass. And he said, "Al Madinatu haram." Medina is sacred land between Air and Thawr. And that's north and south. And between the two rocky volcanic plains, that's east and west. So, we can draw the map of Medina then, the haram map of Medina, which has perfectly been allocated. So, Air, Al Madinatu haramun min Air ila Thawr. Thawr is on the south side, Air is on the north side. Air is small mountain that is after Uhud. Right after Uhud is the small mountain of Air. So, Uhud is included inside the haram. Air, I'll repeat. Uhud is what of Medina? North, southwest? North, northwest. Okay, up up that way. Air is north of Uhud. Small little mountain. have personal anecdote here. was very honored to have private tour of Medina with my Sheikh. Many of you know my Sheikh, Allah yarhamu, Sheikh Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri, the author of Raheem al-Makhtum, the one who wrote the sirah that Allah Azza wa Jal blessed me to study with him one-on-one Sahih Bukhari. And have ijazah from Sahih Bukhari. And was very humble man. Wallahi, and he's very very sweet, very humble man. He died of cancer number of years ago. but Allah blessed me to study with him. And yani, asked him, "Sheikh, can you give us Can you give me, you know, tour of Medina, the the sites of Medina, and especially the Battle of Uhud that wanted from him, the Battle of Uhud?" And so, one morning, so long ago, subhanallah, when was when this had been 1990 six or seven, long time ago. one morning, remember was 7:00 a.m. We had to meet up somewhere, and we went to went to number of sites. We went to Uhud. And he gave us his interpretation. There was one more companion with me, Kuwaiti student that was also his student. So, the two of us went with him in in in his car. And we went to Uhud, and he gave us his interpretation of the battle, which will present to you, because it's different than other people's interpretation of what happened, who went where. And then we drove all the way around Uhud. And he showed us Air. And he said, "This is Air." We saw we saw this small little mountain. He said, "This is Air that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, 'Al Madinatu haramun min Air ila Thawr.'" And that was the only time ever saw Air, because who's going to go all the way around Uhud? There's some winding roads. don't know how he even knew about this. But And subhanallah, he wasn't even Saudi, he's Indian. He's from Mubarakpur. You know, he's from Azamgarh, right? but his interest, his eagerness in the sirah, he knew much more than any of the locals there, you know? So, yani, talking about this brings back those memories that actually saw Air with him. And pray that Allah Azza wa Jal yani blesses him immensely for all that he has done for me and for the ummah. That book is an amazing book, Raheem al-Makhtum. in any case, so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "Al Madinatu haramun min Air ila Thawr." So, Air, as we said, is small mountain on the other side of Medina. And the question arises, why did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam go to Medina? Why did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam go to Medina? The response very simple. Now that the younger Sahaba have basically said, "We have to go out and fight," he needs to think about the best location to face the enemy. And there's only one of two options. Either you meet them in an open battlefield, or you meet them in constrained area that you know the territory better than them, that there is an advantage because of the layout of the land. Open battlefield would have been disaster, because there's one to four ratio. Open battlefield would have been pure folly. There's no way you're going to win. But by going to Uhud, as we'll see, inshallah, next Wednesday, inshallah, it has to be next Wednesday now. By going to Uhud, what he's effectively done is to maximize that small quantity of 700 or 1,000 people, they will be the most effective. Why? Because three areas are now blocked off. Three areas are blocked off and there's narrow patch of land, focused patch, where the enemy has to attack from and he is protected by three sides. One side is open, that's where he puts the archers. We're going to talk about that, right? So, the Uhud is basically two sides are protecting him. They can't come from behind, there's mountain. One side is open, but there's that small mountain, Jabal ar-Rumah, which we'll talk they're going to talk about, right? And that's the mountain he puts the 50 archers, so third side is now blocked, right? Then he has one open side left and that open side, now you can concentrate your your battalion, your troops and the Quraysh are going to have to come from this narrow place and therefore you've maximized the effectiveness of small army against large army. That's the advantage of Uhud. And again, we don't even need to point out the military genius of the Prophet to figure this out without having gone through any academic training, without going through any military academy or Sandhurst or West Point or something. Of course, Allah taught him. This is in in in his yani fitra to to to figure this out. So, he chooses to go to Uhud. And he's the one who gets there obviously so that the Quraysh now know they have to come here to battle. If you're going to fight outside the city, it's going to be on our terms, on our ground, on our soil, in land that we have chosen, in place that we have chosen. And so, the Prophet alayhi wasallam marches out as we said on Friday and this is on the 14th of Shawwal in the third year of the Hijra and on the way there, we all know what happens and that is Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, they slowly began retreating and then going behind the army and then slinking away. He didn't even have the manhood to tell the Prophet what he's doing. He didn't even have the courage to make an announcement. He literally, amongst his own group, they're talking and whispering and mumbling and then they just start withdrawing back and back until finally they literally turned their backs and start marching away, breaking away from the army. And when this happens, the Sahaba began rebuking them saying, "Where are you going? What's going on?" And they said, Abdullah ibn Ubayy said that he listened to some of our youth and left my advice. "Why should we risk our lives fighting him when he hasn't listened to us?" So, Abdullah ibn Ubayy, now this is the first time he's really showing his colors. Now, one of the main benefits of Uhud that Allah himself mentions in the Quran, Allah wanted to demonstrate the reality of the hypocrites. The Muslims up until this point were innocently unaware of how evil the hypocrites were. And they needed to know how evil the hypocrites were in order to make sure that they're not stung from the same hole twice. That in Khandaq and other battles, this is not going to happen. And so, Allah says that he is doing this so that Allah can separate the filthy from the pure. So, one of the main points of the Battle of Uhud is to separate the evil from the good and in this series of incidents, the true colors of the hypocrites are shown. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Haram, he is the father of the famous Jabir ibn Abdullah. He's about to die in the Battle of Uhud. Jabir ibn Abdullah is about to die. Sorry, Abdullah is about to die. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Haram, he's one of the most famous companions. When he sees ibn Abi Salul going away, he runs to him on his horse and he says, remind you, remind you to fear Allah and to not leave your Prophet or the people at this time when the enemy is about to attack. Fear Allah, you're going to leave us at this critical point in time." And he says, "Did you not promise him that you would protect him and defend him like you defend your own families?" He's referencing the treaty. He's referencing Aqabah. He's referencing the Constitution of Medina. We all agreed. Didn't you promise him? So, notice he reminds him of Allah and he reminds him of human morality. Like you made promise and that's really all that you have, right? Of Allah and of human dignity and decency. If you're not going to fear Allah, at least remember your promise. That you made him promise, right? And Abdullah ibn Ubayy gave that response. "If we knew they would fight, we would go with you." "If we knew there would actually be fight, we would not leave, but we don't think they're going to attack." And Allah explicitly explicitly quotes ibn Abi Salul in the Quran and calls him liar. That he knew full well was going to happen, but he invented an excuse and thought he could get away with it. And Allah mentions in the Quran that Allah is not going to allow the Muslims to remain in status quo until he separates the from the So, one of the main purposes of Uhud was to separate the filthy from the pure so that Allah could demonstrate what happens. And it is only during times of fitna, during times of trial, when one's iman is really shown. This is when you really see person's faith. When you see fitna happen, musibah comes down, what is the response of the person? Now you find out how much iman he has. And Uhud did this. And Allah says also in Surah Al Imran, and by the way, for Uhud, number of Surahs came down. Large sections of Al Imran came down. Also Surah an-Nisa, sections of Surah an-Nisa came down as well. And so, in Surah Al Imran, verse 166, Allah mentions and this is about Uhud. "Whatever happened to you on the day the two armies met, it was by the permission of Allah." And it was done so that you could know the hypocrites. And they were told, "They were told, come. Go fight or at least defend. If you're not going to be offensive, at least be defensive." They said, "This is quoting ibn Abi Salul. If we really knew there would be fighting, we would have not abandoned you. We would have gone with you." Allah says, "They're saying with their tongues what is not in their hearts." Allah called him liar. That this is not what they are really intending. And they are closer to kufr than they are to iman. So, when the Muslims saw such large group of people leaving, two things happened. The first was that the Muslims themselves began talking amongst themselves, "What is to be done with this group of 300?" One group said, "We should turn back and fight them as traitors before we get to Uhud." And another group said, "Well, let's leave them, deal with them later. Let's get on to Uhud." And this began raising of voices and this is positive argument, meaning it's an argument for the sake of Islam, but Allah reprimanded even this type of argument. says in the Quran, this is in Surah an-Nisa, verse 88. Surah an-Nisa, verse 88. "Why have you disagreed about the hypocrites and gone into two groups? And Allah has thrown them back, meaning to their disbelief, because of what they have done. In other words, you don't worry about them. Don't disunite in your attitude towards the hypocrites." And so, Allah told the Sahaba very gently because this was positive argument. They're angry about what they have done. The second thing that happened was that when these 300 people went away, some other tribes began wavering now. Should we join? Should we not join? Should we go with the Muslims? Should we go with ibn Abi Salul? And one of the tribes of the Aws, the Banu Haritha, and one of the tribes of the Khazraj, the Banu Salama, they were almost about to withdraw. They decided, "You know, we should join ibn Abi Salul." But eventually, the Muslims amongst them won over and the tribes decided to stay with the Prophet alayhi wasallam. So, Allah mentions this in the Quran as well. In Surah Al Imran, in Surah Al Imran, Allah says that there was group that they were about to that they were about to that there was there were two groups, they were about to means to give up. means just to throw in the towel, right? They were they were just about to go with ibn Abi Salul, but Allah is their protector, so Allah protected them. And in Allah, the people who put their trust should put their trust. So, Allah mentions that these two groups were about to go astray, but Allah protected them. astray, but Allah protected them. And these two groups, the Banu Harith and the Banu Salama, forever afterwards, they always would boast about this. Boast about it even though they were about to go astray. Why should they boast? Because Allah says wallahu waliyuhuma. Allah is their protector. And because of this, the tribes and and to this day, those who are descendants of these tribes, they boast that this is the tribe that Allah said Allah waliyuhuma. Right? That this is wallahu waliyuhuma. There Allah is their protector. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought them back to the the camp of Islam. And eventually, as we all know, 700 Muslims reached the camp and they set up their camps at Uhud. And Ibn Ishaq mentions, and we'll talk inshallah tomorrow or next Wednesday in the diagram, where Ibn Ishaq mentions that their backs were facing the mountain and there they were facing the city of Medina. So their backs were towards the mountain of Uhud and they were facing the city of Medina. And therefore, the Quraysh actually had to double across the entire city of Medina to reach them. The Quraysh had to go all the way across. And and basically, you know, go above where they had come from so that they could meet the Muslims. And there is of course an added point here and that is they're tiring them out even more. They have another half day's journey. So that to the very last they're going to be marching. And there's also this added tactic, that I'm jumping the gun, but you get the point here. Instead of going to the south of the city, which is closer to the Quraysh, the Prophet goes to the north of the city. So the Quraysh actually have to double back to have the war, to have the battle. And this is another half day's march. And this half day's march is going to tire them out even more. And that's one of the intended goals of going all the way to the north of the city. And one final point inshallah and then we don't want to start the actual battle obviously today because there's no time for that. One final point and that is 700 Muslims participated in Uhud. Therefore, in the whole world at this time, there were not more than thousand Muslim men. That's all there was. From this small contingent, from this small group, look at how Allah changed the world. 700 people, that's all there were. This is the max. Every fighting man mean you can't have the luxury of sitting at home now, right? Every person above the age of 15, some even at the age of 14, as we'll mention. That's all they were, 700. You can add few dozen here and there, some secret Muslims in Mecca, some maybe in Yemen, one or two that we know dozen and all of them. But otherwise, in the whole world there are not more than thousand, even thousand is really stretching it, right? But let's say even thousand. 700 of them are in Medina. From this small quantity, from this small quantity, look at how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala changed the world. You know, we get, you know, 6 700 on the peak of Ramadan. We get this much, 500, 600, how much do we get, right? In this masjid we get that much, right? Many of the masajid, our Eid gatherings are three, four times larger than this, here in this city, right? And yet these 700 people, what did they do? How did they change the entire course of humanity? Look at now what's happening, right? Within 15, 20 years, they will be knocking on the doors of Damascus. They will be literally wiping away the Persian Empire. They will be opening up Qahira mean they mean Fustat back then of course, but Cairo and then more North Africa within 50 years, they're going to be in Andalusia. Within hundred years, from China all the way to basically France. Look at now, subhanallah, where this beginning. How many people? And yet they didn't have the weapons, they didn't have the army, they didn't have the horses, but they had something that we don't have. And that is that iman in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that trust in Allah, right? That trust that that iman that was so strong that the mightiest superpowers in the world, the Sassanid Empire and the Byzantine Empire, they could not stand up to this small group of men. They couldn't do it. Because when you have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it doesn't matter who's on the other side. Khalas. In yansurkumullahu fala ghaliba lakum. If Allah is going to help you, who's going to possibly conquer over you? This is what those Sahaba had and it is an amazing thing to think about. 700 people, that's all there is. And within few years, what's going to happen? Within decade, within two decades. But this is where we really see the difference between iman and kufr. And inshallah we will continue next Wednesday. Have few minutes for Q&A and also one or two announcements. So let's have some questions first, inshallah. Questions, yes. The question is why didn't the Quraysh attack Medina? Even the Quraysh have sense of manliness and warfare. You have to attack the men. You have to have battle. And if the battle is won, then the women and children will be yours. There is What is the good word here? There's decorum even of war. There's There's an etiquette. There's no honor. They would not have done this. There's no honor that we could have Now, this is not explicitly mentioned, but we will understand this obviously that when the Prophet is going to Uhud, then clearly the message is being given to the Quraysh, okay, we know you're here. We're going to fight. This is where we are. The message is clearly being sent to them, right? That khalas, okay, you want to you want battle, you got battle. This is where we are and you can meet us there. So this is sense of of reality that even the Quraysh, they would not have stooped to that level of just, you know, rampaging an entire city. And also, had they done this and obviously the Muslims they're only two, three hours away. It's not as if they're on the other side of the other side of the world. This is not it would not have been in any sense expected. Neither the Quraysh would have done it nor would the Muslims have entertained that. Allahu a'lam. Yes. You mentioned about the Prophet when he went to to Uhud and with the with Yeah. So he mentioned about So did he have did he have thought only Allah has ilm So the brother is saying when the Prophet said uthbut fainnama alayka nabiyyun wa siddiqun wa shahidan, how did he know this? Isn't this ilm al-ghayb? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives of his knowledge to whomever he pleases. Ultimate ghayb means knowledge of everything. And that only Allah has. But there's another type of ghayb which is called ghayb nisbi. And ghayb nisbi means relative ghayb. And relative ghayb is something that is so trivial that even sometimes physically it depends. So what is happening in the next room? This is ghayb to me and you. But it's not ghayb to the person in the next room. Right? So there's ghayb nisbi which is relative ghayb. And then there's ghayb mutlaq which is ultimate ghayb. And ultimate ghayb only Allah knows. Qul la ya'lamu man fis samawati wal ard al-ghayba illallah. Only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows the ultimate ghayb. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says wala yuhituna bishay'in min ilmihi illa bima sha'a. Right? So Allah azza wa jalla gives ilm to whomever he pleases. And therefore, our Prophet definitely had much more knowledge than we have, obviously. Is anybody going to say that he had the same knowledge we do? And Allah azza wa jalla showed him things of Jannah and of Nar and of the angels and of those heavens in the Isra wal Mi'raj and of the alam al-ghayb that we don't know about. There's no denying this. And of the things that he knew, he knew Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman and Ali, you know, would basically be Nabi and sorry, Siddiq and Shahidan. And he knew many things as well. He knew that Ali and Aisha would have civil war and he encouraged the both of them to be calm about it. You know, he knew this was going to happen. He knew Hussein would be killed and he cried over this and he said people of my ummah will kill my grandson. You know, and he cried over this. So he knew these things would happen that Jibreel told him these things. And so there's nothing, you know, difficult to understand about this. Yes, brother, go ahead. Why did Why did Allah call that person liar? Why did Allah call Ibn Abi Salul liar? Because he was liar. Because he said something that he didn't mean. He knew he was lying. He gave coward's excuse. He knew that there would be war. He knew there's going to be battle, but he didn't want to fight. He was scared of his own life, losing his life. So he just made an excuse that he knew to be lie. And this is what Allah is saying, yaquluna bi alsinatihim ma laysa fi qulubihim. So he intentionally said something that he knew not to be true. Any questions from the sisters before we break? Or brother, go ahead. You had mentioned istikhara and istishara. Is there any particular order in the sunnah? So the brother is saying had mentioned before we take undertake major decision, we should always do istikhara and istishara. The Quran and Sunnah does not tell us particular order, but rather this is what we learn from the Sunnah and the sirah of the Prophet and the Quran wa amruhum shura baynahum. And idha hamma ahadukum bi amrin falyarka' rak'atayn, you know, wal yastakhir. That when one of you is facing major decision, let him pray two rak'at and and make istikhara. And our Prophet when he did face any major issue, he would speak to the Sahaba. So much so that as we know in the incident of of Hudaibiyah, he spoke to Umm Salamah and Umm Salamah is the one who told him what to do. So, the concept of getting advice from other people that you trust, that you love, that give you other perspectives, this is throughout the Sirah. And also making istikhara to Allah. There is no There's no need for an order. They can both be done in the span of, you know, few hours, yani. And before you undertake major decision, both of these need to be done. Allahu Alam. Yes, brother. That consultation, surely the Rasulullah did consult about whether to stay inside the city or go out. As As to going out, if he consults on going out, then he only consults alone. In terms of Uhud itself, it is not mentioned at all that anybody told him Uhud. So, once the decision was made that they should go out, this appears to have been his decision to go to Uhud. And Allah knows best. With the books of Sirah, they do not mention at all the Sahaba telling him Uhud. Yes. How about the women in some battles, the Muslim women accompanied their forces also as they did in the Battle of Uhud? These in Badr and all, there were no Muslims and no women in in in in in the party of the war. In terms of women participating, it is narrated that on some rare occasions, Muslim women acted as nurses, if you like, or delivering water or whatnot, but by and large, they were not allowed to go on the battlefield. And in fact, when lady came to the Prophet and said, want to do jihad," the Prophet said, "Jihadukunna al-Hajj." Your jihad is the Hajj. And therefore, by and large, in the time of the Prophet, women did not accompany the battle. In Uhud, because it was so close to the city, it is narrated that some of them came as basically we would call them nurses, meaning taking care of here and there, but this is not participating in the actual battle. Okay. Fine.