The Battle of Hunayn: A Turning Point in Islamic History

The Battle of Hunayn: A Test of Faith and Courage

The battle of Hunayn occurred after the victory of Makkah, in the month of Shawwal of the eighth year of Hijrah.

After the Prophet conquered Makkah and things settled, most of its people embraced Islam and he set them free. News came to the Messenger of ALLĀH that the tribe of Hawazin were gathering their forces to fight him, under the command of Malik bin Awf An-Nadri, as well as, the entire tribe of Thaqif, the tribes of Banu Jusham, Banu Sa’d bin Bakr, a few people of Awza’ from Banu Hilal and some people from Bani Amr bin Amir and Awf bin Amir.

They brought their women, children, sheep and camels along, in addition to their armed forces and adequate supplies. The Messenger of ALLĀH marched to meet them with the army that he qbrought to conquer Makkah, ten thousand from the Muhajirin, the Ansar and various Arab tribes. Along with them came the Tulaqa numbering two thousand men.

The Messenger took them along to meet the enemy. The two armies met in Hunayn, a valley between Makkah and At-Ta’if.

The battle started in the early part of the morning, when the Huwazin forces, who were lying in ambush, descended on the valley when the Muslims entered. Muslims were suddenly struck by the ambush, the arrows descended on them and the swords struck them. The Huwazin commander ordered them to descend and attack the Muslims as one block, and when they did that, the Muslims retreated in haste, just as ALLĀH described them.

The Messenger of ALLĀH remained firm in his position while riding his mule, Ash-Shahba’. He was leading his mule towards the enemy, while his uncle Al-Abbas was holding its right-hand rope and (his cousin) Abu Sufyan bin Al-Harith bin Abdul-Muttalib was holding the left rope. They tried to hold the mule back so it would not run faster toward the enemy. Meanwhile, the Messenger of ALLĀH was declaring his name aloud and saying,

“O servants of ALLĀH! Come back to me! I am the Messenger of ALLĀH!”

He repeated these words,

“I am the Prophet, not lying! I am the son of Abdul-Muttalib!”

There remained between a hundred and eighty Companions with the Prophet. These included 

Abu Bakr, Umar, Al-Abbas, Ali, Al-Fadl bin Abbas, Abu Sufyan bin Al-Harith, Ayman the son of Umm Ayman and Usamah bin Zayd. 

There were many other Companions, may ALLĀH be pleased with them.

There were many other Companions, may ALLĀH be pleased with them.

The Prophet commanded his uncle Al-Abbas, whose voice was rather loud, to call at the top of his voice, “O Companions of the Samurah (tree)” referring to the Muhajirin and Ansar who gave their pledge under the tree during the pledge of Ridwan, not to run away and retreat.

He also called, “O Companions of Surah Al-Baqarah.”

Upon hearing that, those heralded started saying,

“Here we are! Here we are!”

Muslims started returning in the direction of the Messenger of ALLĀH. If the camel of one of them did not obey him (as the people were rushing to the other direction in flight) he would wear his shield and descend from his camel and rush to the side of the Messenger of ALLĀH on foot.

When a large crowd gathered around the Messenger of ALLĀH, he commanded them to fight in sincerity and took a handful of sand and threw it in the faces of the disbelievers, after supplicating to ALLĀH,

“O ALLĀH! Fulfill YOUR promise to me!”

Then he threw that handful of sand which entered the eyes and mouth of all the disbelievers, thus distracting them from fighting, and they retreated in defeat.

The Muslims pursued the enemy, killing and capturing them. The rest of the Muslim army (returning to battle gradually) rejoined their positions and found many captured disbelieving soldiers kept tied before the Messenger of ALLĀH.

{Tafsi‌r Ibn Kathīr}

#ibnkathir #tawbah (9:25)