THE BATTLE OF UHUD
(3rd Year of the Migration, 7 Shawwal / AD 625)
The Qurayshi polytheists did not want to forget about the agony of the defeat in Badr, in fact, they could not forget it. They lost most of the notables of the Quraysh there. Their honor was harmed by the blow they received from a handful of Muslims. Their prestige in the eyes of the neighboring tribes was harmed, too.
Besides, the fact that the trade ways leading to Damascus via the coast were controlled by the Messenger of Allah affected their trade badly and weakened their military and economic strength. After that, the Qurayshi polytheists started to send their caravans to Damascus through Iraq but the Prophet was informed about it after a while; he sent a shariah, which caught their trade caravan and seized their goods, there.
Naturally, this situation increased the grudge and enmity of the Qurayshi polytheists against Muslims and aroused their feelings of revenge. They were looking forward to taking revenge at the earliest opportunity. Their few small attacks after the Battle of Badr increased their grudge instead of soothing it because they were defeated as a result of those attacks.
The Offer of the Qurayshi Notables
Meanwhile, some people especially those who lost their close relatives in the Battle of Badr among whom were Jubayr b. Mut’im, Safwan b. Umayya, Ikrima b. Abu Jahl, who was among notables of the Quraysh, made this offer to Abu Sufyan:
“Muhammad destroyed us by killing our great people. It is time we took revenge on him. Let us give the capital of the goods in the caravan to their owners and use the profit to make preparations for the war.”[2]
The offer was accepted unanimously.
The goods were sold and changed to gold. It was a total of one hundred thousand gold coins. Fifty thousand gold coins were given to the shareholders as their capital. They started to make preparations for the war with a profit.[3]
Makkan polytheists, who were intimidated by the Battle of Badr, decided to prepare a big army. They did not suffice with the local volunteer soldiers and even with the soldiers of their constant allies, the tribe of Ahabish[4]. They wanted the other tribes in the Arabian Peninsula to support them. They appointed a special delegate and allocated a special fund to persuade those tribes. Their aim was to hire mercenaries from other tribes.
While they were making preparations for the war speedily, the propaganda committee, which consisted of many famous people, poets, and orators, and which they appointed, was traveling all over Arabia informing the tribes that they expected to be allied with about the nature and aim of their movement and trying to convince them; they did their best to arouse and provoke people against the Prophet. If we consider that people at that time fought one another and shed blood due to a single word of a poet or a single speech of an orator, it will be understood how effective those poets and orators were in encouraging people to join them.
The Army of the Polytheists is Ready
The army of the polytheists managed to have an army of three thousand people together with the soldiers that joined them from the tribes around and the mercenaries. There were seven hundred armored soldiers, two hundred cavalrymen, and three thousand camels.[5]
Some women joined the army in order to give the soldiers moral support, to encourage them to fight and to maintain their excitement. They were going to sing, play the tambourine, and give the soldiers moral support!
The commander of the army was Abu Sufyan Sahr b. Harb. The women were under the command of Hind, who was Abu Sufyan’s wife and who had lost her father in the Battle of Badr. This woman, whose heart was full of grudge, made all of the womenswear that they were going to take the revenge of their close relatives killed in the Battle of Badr.
There were three standards of the Quraysh army. One of them was being carried by Sufyan b. Uwayf, one of them by Talha b. Abi Talha and the third one by a person from the tribe of Ahabish.
Thus, the Qurayshis finished their preparation and set off from Makkah; their expedition was going to take twenty days.
News that Reached Madinah
Some news reached the Prophet in Madinah. The man who was assigned to give the Prophet the news handed the letter to the Prophet with excitement. It was written in the letter that the Qurayshi polytheists finished their preparations and that set out for Madinah.
The signature under the letter belonged to Hazrat Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet. He continued to live in Madinah upon the order of the Prophet in order to help the believers there and to inform the Prophet about what was happening in Makkah. When he told the Prophet that he wanted to migrate to Madinah, the Messenger of Allah said, “You make jihad better there. It is better for us if you stay in Makkah.”[6]
The Prophet kept the content of the letter a secret at first. Only a few people were aware of it. However, as the saying goes, “Ill news travels fast”, it was soon heard that the Quraysh were coming toward Madinah.
The Messenger of Allah sent some Companions toward Makkah so that they would observe and find out the state of the Quraysh army. The mujahids saw the Qurayshi army on the way; after finding out about their state, they returned to Makkah to tell him about the state of the Quraysh army.
The news that the mujahids brought was in compliance with what Abbas had written in his letter.