Life of Muhammadsa
BY
HADRAT MIRZA BASHIRUDDIN MAHMUD AHMADra
Page 114-128 RUMOUR OF PROPHET'Ssa DEATH REACHES MEDINA
RUMOUR OF PROPHET'Ssa DEATH REACHES MEDINA
The rumour of the Prophet'ssa death and the news of the dispersal of the Muslim army
reached Medina
Women and children ran madly towards Uhud
Many of them learnt the truth* from the returning soldiers and went back.
* That the Holy Prophet (pbuh) was alive and well
RUMOUR OF PROPHET'Ssa DEATH REACHES MEDINA
One woman of the tribe of Banu Dinar went on until she reached Uhud.
This woman had lost her husband, father and
brother in the battle. According to some
narrators, she had also lost a son.
At (this sad news ) ...she remained
unmoved and asked again and again, "What
has the Prophetsa of God done?“*
.. (one) returning soldier.. told her, "As for the Prophetsa, he is as you wish, fully alive."
The woman rushed to .. the Prophetsa, held his mantle in her hand, kissed it and said,
"My father and mother be sacrificed to thee, O
Prophet of Godsa, if thou livest, I care not
who else dies"
* An expression of grief, at hearing the sad news of death of a loved one
RUMOUR OF PROPHET'Ssa DEATH REACHES MEDINA
We can see, therefore, what fortitude and devotion did Muslims—both men and women—display in this battle.
.. Prophetsa was returning to Medina, The cord of his dromedary was held by Sa‘d bin Mu‘adhra, a chief of Medina.
Sa‘dra saw his own aged mother advancing to meet the returning party of Muslims, … turning to the Prophetsa, (he) said, "Here, O Prophetsa, is my
mother."
The Prophetsa seeing her said, "Woman, I grieve over the loss of thy son."
"But," replied the devoted woman, "after I have seen you alive, I have swallowed all my misfortunes."
Normally, grief eats up a human being, and here was an aged woman who had lost her son, a staff for her old age. But she said that, instead of letting
her grief eat her up, she had eaten up her grief.
RUMOUR OF PROPHET'Ssa DEATH REACHES MEDINA
Back in Medina, the Prophetsa returned to his mission.
He engaged himself again in training and teaching his followers.
But as before, his work did not go on uninterruptedly.
The Prophetsa reached Medina. In this battle, many Muslims were killed and many wounded.
Still the battle cannot be said to have ended in defeat for Muslims.
The incidents … above .. prove that Uhud was as great a victory for
Muslims ….
Jews of Medina
After Uhud, the Jews became more daring, …
They would publish foul abuse
in verse, and ..insult the
Prophetsa and his family.
Once the Prophetsa was called to
decide a dispute and he had to go
to a Jewish fortress. The Jews planned to drop a stone slab on him and thus put an end to his life. ... The Jews later
admitted their foul intrigue.
Muslim women were insulted in
the streets. In one such incident a
Muslim lost his life.
On another occasion the Jews stoned a Muslim
girl and she died in great pain.
Jews of Medina
This behaviour of the Jews strained their relations with Muslims,.. (instead of fighting with Jews) Muslims only turned them out of Medina
• One of the two Jewish tribes migrated to Syria.
• Of the other, some went to Syria and some settled in Khaibar, a well-fortified Jewish stronghold, to the north of Medina.
Alcohol is forbidden
In the interval of peace between Uhud and the next battle, the world witnessed an outstanding
example of the influence of Islam on its followers.
Arabs were confirmed drunkards.
To drink five times a day was in fashion in
every Arab home.
To wean such a people from this deadly habit was
no easy matter
.. in the fourth year after the Hijra the Prophetsa
received the command that drinking had been
forbidden.
With .. this command, drinking disappeared from
Muslim society.
Alcohol is forbidden ..when the revelation making drink unlawful was received,
the Prophetsa sent for a Companion and ordered him to proclaim the new command in the streets of Medina.
In the house of an Ansari (a Muslim of Medina) a drinking party was going on.. … In this condition they heard some one
proclaim that drinking had been forbidden by the Prophetsa under a command of God.
One of the party stood up and said, "It looks like a proclamation against drinking; let us find out if this is so.“
Another stood up, struck the earthen pot full of wine with his staff, broke it to pieces and said, "First obey, then
inquire. It is enough that we have heard of such a proclamation. ... It is rather our duty to let the wine flow in the street and then inquire about the proclamation"
Drinking disappeared
from the entire Muslim society after
this proclamation.
No special effort or
campaign was needed to
bring about this
revolutionary change.
More Martyrdoms What happened at Uhud was not liable to be easily forgotten.
… hostility against Muslims began to gather strength.
In the fourth year after the Hijra, two Arab tribes, the ‘Adl and the Qara, sent their representatives to the Holy Prophetsa...
They requested the Prophetsa to send to them some Muslims .. to teach them the New Religion
The Prophetsa ..sent ten Muslims to teach the tribes the tenets and principles of Islam.
Actually this was an intrigue hatched by the Banu Lihyan, arch-enemy of Islam.
More Martyrdoms When this party reached the territory of the Banu Lihyan, their escorts had the news delivered to the tribesmen and invited them to arrest the party or to put them to death.
On this vicious suggestion, two hundred armed men of the Banu Lihyan set out in pursuit of the Muslim party and overtook
them at last at a spot called Raji‘.
An encounter took place between ten Muslims and two hundred of the enemy. The Muslims were full of faith. The enemy was
without any.
When the disbelievers found the small party of Muslims adamant, they launched their attack upon them. The party
fought without thought of defeat. Seven of the ten fell fighting.
(Later, disbelievers killed one of the remaining three men.) The other two they took with them and sold them as slaves to the
Quraish of Mecca.
One of the two was Khubaibra, the other Zaidra.
More Martyrdoms
The purchaser of Khubaibra wanted to
murder him ..to avenge his own father, ..at Badr.
One day, Khubaibra .. was holding the razor when a
child of the household approached him out of
curiosity.
Khubaibra took the child and put him on his knee. The child's mother saw
this and became terrified.
She was convinced that Khubaibra was going to
murder the child.
Khubaibra .. said, "Do you imagine I am going to murder your child. … Muslims do
not play false."
More Martyrdoms
... At last the Meccans led Khubaibra to an open field to celebrate his murder in public.
When the appointed moment came, Khubaibra asked for leave to say two rak‘ats of prayer. The Quraish agreed last prayers to God in this world.
When he had finished praying, he said he wanted to continue, but did not do so lest they should think he was afraid of dying.
Then he quietly submitted his neck to the executioner. As he did so, he hummed the verses:
While I die a Muslim, I care not whether my headless body drops to the right or to the left.
More Martyrdoms
The second prisoner, Zaidra, was also taken out to be
murdered
Abu Sufyanra, chief of Mecca.. turned to Zaidra and asked, "Would you not rather have Muhammadsa in your place?
Zaidra replied proudly, “.. By God, I would rather die, than
that the Prophetsa should tread on a thorn in a street in
Medina."
" Abu Sufyanra could not help being impressed by such
devotion.
More Martyrdoms
About this time some people of Najd also approached the Prophetsa for Muslims to teach them Islam.
The Prophetsa did not trust them. But Abu Bara’, chief of the ‘Amir tribe, …assured the Prophetsa that they would commit no
mischief.
The Prophetsa selected seventy Muslims who knew the Qur’an by heart
When this party reached Bi’r Ma‘una one of them, Haram bin Malhanra went to the chief of the ‘Amir tribe (a nephew of Bara’)
to give him the message of Islam
… a man … attacked Haramra with a lance. Haramra died on the spot.
As the lance pierced through Haram'sra neck, he was heard saying, "God is great. The Lord of the Ka‘ba is my
witness, I have attained my goal"
More Martyrdoms
Then the tribal chiefs, with the
assistance of the two tribes who had gone
to the Prophetsa to
ask for Muslim teachers and
some other tribes, attacked
the Muslim party.
• All but three of the seventy were murdered.
• One of the survivors …had climbed a hill before the encounter began. Two others had gone to a wood to
feed their camels.
•
• On returning from the wood they found sixty-six of their companions lying dead on the field.
• ( one of them) …. sprang single-handed upon the disbelievers and died fighting.
• The other was taken prisoner but was later released in fulfilment of a vow which the tribal chief
had taken.
More Martyrdoms
The news of the two sad events, in which about eighty Muslims lost their lives as the result of a mischievous intrigue, reached
Medina simultaneously.
These were no ordinary men who were murdered. They were
bearers of the Qur’an.
They had been decoyed into enemy hands by a lie told in the name of God and religion.
These facts proved conclusively that enmity to Islam was determined and deep. On the other hand the zeal of Muslims for Islam was
equally determined and deep.
