On Mount Ohud.... Reminder During the Umrah Trip by Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

On Mount Uhud — A Reminder During the Umrah Trip

Years of different floods and different things that happened, and the government decided to preserve the graves in this compound later on. So they were moved over here. The graves were not actually initially here. And the two graves that they kept marked were the graves of Hamza and Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr. We spoke about Mus'ab in the van for a few minutes. For Hamza, it might take an hour to cover his life. So we're not going to speak about his entire life.

The Story of Hamza's Islam

I would just say that the Prophet ﷺ was extremely happy the day he became Muslim, and he was extremely sad the day he passed away — rather, the day he became shaheed.

Hamza became Muslim because he was out hunting in the outskirts of Mecca, and someone came to him and told him that your nephew — Hamza is the brother of Abdullah, so he is directly a nephew of the Prophet ﷺ, and they were also foster brothers. They shared drinking milk from Halima.

This person said: Abu Jahl has hit your nephew and has injured him. The Prophet ﷺ was in front of the Ka'bah and he was praying, and Abu Jahl came from behind and hit the Prophet ﷺ. Some say that he grabbed the Prophet ﷺ's neck or his kameez and made him choke on his own shirt, and the Prophet ﷺ was hurt by it — not only physically, but also psychologically. It was difficult for him.

Allah says:

That We know that what they say about you actually bothers you. Sometimes we think that the Prophet ﷺ — no, he was not bothered by those things because Allah was always on his side. No, he had human emotions. What people said about him actually bothered him. That your chest tightens up when they make fun of you, they speak low of you. But don't worry — Allah says:

We have raised your name. We have cleared any type of competition with you. You're the highest. There's no one that can reach your level.

Nonetheless, Hamza heard about this, and he ran back to the city and came to Abu Jahl and pretty much told him off and hit him. He said: don't touch my nephew. And he came to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ said: that's not what I want. That's not what I want. I did not want you to hit him back for me. That's not what I desired.

Hamza said: oh my nephew, I did all of this for you. Everything I just did was to please you and to protect you. What do you want? What will make you happy?

When a person only has one incentive, their answer never changes. Their demeanor never changes. The level of response never changes. When a person has different incentives, their answers will continue changing, because they're always moving. Their point of reference of their ethics are always changing. The Prophet's only incentive was to make them Muslim.

He said: oh my uncle, if you want to make me happy, recite the Kalima and become Muslim. And Hamza became Muslim — and it was a victory for the Muslims, and the Sahabas were given strength through his Islam. And a few days later, Umar became Muslim. So back-to-back, the Prophet was given victory through these two men — Hamza and Umar. Obviously Hamza was much older than the Prophet ﷺ and much older than Umar.

The Battle of Uhud — Strategy and Sacrifice

And then Hijrah takes place. Hamza comes to the Prophet ﷺ, and Hamza is the protector — the physical protector of the Prophet ﷺ. No one can mess with the Prophet ﷺ because of Hamza being there.

How did he become shaheed? The story goes — just quickly, if everyone can hear me — right where the masjid is right now, you can imagine that to be the Muslim camp. That's where the Muslims were camping, that's where they were set up to fight. And right across on the opposite end is where the non-Muslims were camping. So you can imagine — Muslims are looking this way, non-Muslims are looking this way. And the Prophet ﷺ had placed the famous 70 archers on that small hill over there. From what we understand, the hill was much bigger, but nonetheless, that hill over there — the Prophet ﷺ strategized these archers to stand there. It was a very strategic move, a very smart move actually.

Khalid ibn al-Walid said: I was never outsmarted by anyone except for the Prophet ﷺ. And that was one of the reasons why he became Muslim.

How Khalid ibn al-Walid Came to Islam

When the Prophet went for Hudaybiyyah — when he traveled to Hudaybiyyah — we'll speak about that in Makkah al-Mukarramah — Khalid had actually camped out to intercept the Prophet's caravan. So before he comes to Makkah, he can take care of him. But the Prophet ﷺ took an alternate route and outsmarted Khalid, and that was the first time Khalid thought about becoming Muslim.

And the second time was when his brother told him: the Prophet ﷺ said about you — "Oh Khalid, your brother is so smart, how is he still not a Muslim?" When his brother told him this — that the Prophet ﷺ praised his intellect — he said: the Prophet ﷺ said that about me? Like he was so happy from the praise of his enemy. The Prophet ﷺ said that I'm a smart person. He said: yeah, the Prophet ﷺ said you were a smart person. He said: you know what, let me go visit the Prophet ﷺ. And him and 'Amr ibn al-'As came and they became Muslim.

The Archers and the Turning Point

So over there was a strategic move. The back of this side was protected by the mountains. So the Prophet ﷺ — again, a very smart strategic planner — chose this spot because this side was protected by the mountains. Up directly in front of him was the enemy, so fight them face to face. We'll win that battle all day because Allah's help is with us, and the Sahabas are extremely courageous and very powerful. These are not people who are not ready to fight. They're ready to fight. They're ready to give their life for the Prophet ﷺ. So we have them face to face — we will defeat them. And the back around is protected by these archers. So if anyone tries to come around, these archers will destroy them — like they're snipers.

As the battle starts and continues and thickens, the Sahabas push the enemies back and the enemies actually start to retreat and run away. The Sahabas are pushing them further, and the battle is going completely one-sided for the Muslims.

As these archers on those hills see this happening, they run down the hill — they run down the mountain — because they see that the battle has been won. It wasn't because they wanted, perhaps, the bounties of war. They noticed that the battle has been won — let's go celebrate together — and they run down the hill. But the order that was given to them by the Prophet ﷺ was: do not move from your spot until I come and tell you. Even if we win, or if your life depends upon it — if you have to give your life, you give your life — don't leave the spot until I come and tell you that you can abandon it.

They see a clear victory, and of course the Sahabas — they're human beings. So Allah says about them:

Indeed, those who turned away among you on the day the two armies met — it was only Shaytan who caused them to slip because of some of what they had earned. And Allah has already forgiven them. Allah has forgiven them for this slip-up. It was not something that we speak about in a negative way — "oh my God, the Sahabas messed up!" No. It was extremely normal. The Sahabas were winning, they ran down the battlefield.

Khalid was an extremely smart person. He noticed that the post had been abandoned. He went from behind the mountains — through behind these mountains, the lower part of the mountains, so you can't necessarily see them — and he goes all around these mountains with his few people that were with him, and comes from around. So now, just imagine for a moment: the Muslims have actually dropped their guard. They dropped their guard. They're actually celebrating — like, yeah, we got them! You can imagine the celebration of winning a battle for the sake of Allah. They're collecting their shuhada. They're collecting the things that were left on the battlefield. They're also pushing the non-Muslims back. So they're not necessarily even thinking about another attack. This man comes from behind with his horsemen, and in the entire battle by the way, Khalid did not fight in the Battle of Uhud — it's documented that he never fought until this point. He was waiting. He was watching. And when he became Muslim we benefited from him as well. So he was viewing the battle, seeing where there's an opening. When he saw it, he jumped in.

He comes from the back, and now the post is gone. The Sahabas are standing there, and he attacks from behind — because now the archers are not there to protect.

The Lesson of Abandoning One Sunnah

Our elders say — my father, may Allah have mercy on him, would tell us — that we lost Hamza and Mus'ab and 60 to 70 other Sahabas because one Sunnah of the Prophet was abandoned. One Sunnah. He says: how many Sunnahs do we abandon, and what effect does that have in our life?

It's excellent — don't move from here. That's all it was. And the outcome of that was these people becoming shaheed. The outcome of that was the Prophet bleeding. The outcome of that was the Prophet's tooth becoming shaheed.

The Prophet ﷺ — there was a small hill over there, and the Prophet was standing on top of the hill so he could view the entire battle. A person saw him and threw a rock — directly at his face. It hit the Prophet directly in his face, in his head. And the chain mail links that were holding his helmet pretty much went into his mouth, and he started bleeding from his mouth. His tooth became shaheed, and his head was bleeding. When Ali removed his helmet, his blessed head was completely covered with blood. And Ali called Fatima and said: please help me clean your father's head. His teeth are bleeding, his head is bleeding, his face is bleeding.

The Martyrdom of Hamza

The people that sacrificed in this battle — a few names before we go. When Khalid came from behind, chaos took place. They started saying the Prophet has passed away — because when he got hit, he fell. Their main source of courage was the Prophet, and when they said the Prophet has passed away, they started going — they couldn't control themselves, and they were ready to become shaheed.

And in these moments of chaos, Wahshi was able to get a hold of Hamza. Because if it was ever face-on-face, or if Hamza was ever aware enough, he would not have been able to strike him. It was because of what was happening around — and now Hamza was completely taking charge of everything, protecting his companions. Wahshi saw an opening and took advantage of it.

When Wahshi became Muslim, he came to the Prophet ﷺ. As he entered the gathering the Prophet said: who are you? He said: I am Wahshi. The Prophet raised his head and said: who? He said: I am Wahshi. He said: who? And Wahshi says: I sensed it on him. Are you the killer of my uncle? Did you kill my uncle? And Wahshi says: yes, I killed your uncle. The Prophet said: yes. So why are you here? He said: for forgiveness. Please forgive me. The Prophet ﷺ forgave him. After he forgives him, he becomes Muslim.

The Prophet then asked him to describe why and how he made Hamza shaheed. Our brother became shaheed on October 5th of last year, and any time someone asks me to describe it, or someone tries to describe it to me, it amplifies the pain. So when the Prophet asked him, we can imagine he was ready to accept the pain of the description. And when I asked the police officer to explain to me what happened, you have to be ready to accept what he's going to say — to accept the explanation and description of what happened to your brother.

Wahshi said: Abu Sufyan and Hind came to me and said: if you kill Muhammad, we will free you. I said: I cannot touch him — he is protected divinely. There's no way I can get close to him. They said: option B — if you kill Ali, we will free you. He's Ali. He's too quick. He's too smart. He will sense me from a mile away. I won't have a clear shot on Ali. So I can't do it. Then they said: okay, if you kill Hamza, we will free you. And he said: Hamza also is very quick and very intelligent, but he has become old, so I can try to get close to him.

And he said: the entire battlefield — I only had one job. Look for Hamza. Look for Hamza. Look for Hamza. And my freedom depended upon it. It wasn't justifying himself — he was giving context.

Finally, I saw him when this chaos took place. And from the back — not from the front — from the back, I saw an opening and I took my shot. I threw the spear. And he says: when the spear hit him, this man still had enough strength to turn around and look. He had so much strength that he was able to take the spear and the pain that came with it, and turn around. And he said: I actually thought he was going to come towards me. And then he fell. And he became shaheed.

Safiyyah at the Battlefield

Then came Safiyyah, the aunt of the Prophet ﷺ, running onto the battlefield. Saying: someone has told me my brother has died — is it true that Hamza has become shaheed? And she's running on the battlefield, running through everyone in front of her. Muslims came to try to stop her — she took her armor and pushed them away. She said: I want to see my brother. And this is the love of a sister — the love for a sibling.

She comes closer and closer. The Prophet tells the Sahabas: tell her to come to me. Tell her to come to me. He first tells the Sahabas: tell her to stop — and they are unable to make her stop. She was in rage. And before she even saw her brother, the Prophet ﷺ said: make sure to clean up the body a little bit so that she doesn't see the body in the way that it was — or else she won't be able to handle it. And she came to the Prophet first, and then she went and saw Hamza. And he is buried right behind us.

That's a quick story of who Hamza was in this battle.

Talha ibn Ubaydullah — The Human Shield

We also have the pain of the Prophet ﷺ himself when he was standing on that hill. The archers saw him and had a clear view of him, so they started to shoot arrows towards him. And the Prophet ﷺ — imagine all the companions are all over the place and he doesn't really have support around him. As he's standing there, he thinks to himself that he needs support. He sees someone come and stand in front of him. And as he notices this person come and stand in front of him, in his mind he thinks to himself:

My dear brothers and sisters, this statement — kun ya Talha — is something extremely powerful. He looks without seeing who it is, and says: hopefully the person who is standing in front of me is Talha. We are people who seek the Prophet's company — the Prophet used to seek these people's company. Kun ya Talha — hopefully this person is Talha. If Talha is here, I'll be happy. And when the Prophet looked up, it was indeed Talha ibn Ubaydullah.

He stood there, and as he stood there, he protected the Prophet while shooting arrows. And when an arrow came directly towards the Prophet ﷺ, he put his hand out. The arrow hit his hand and his hand became paralyzed.

In the time of the bay'ah of Abu Bakr, when Talha came to give bay'ah, he gave his left hand. When you do bay'ah you are supposed to give your right hand. Some young people got excited and said: oh uncle, give your right hand — with respect to the Khalifa, not your left hand. And Umar was there and he said to them: hey, stay quiet! Who are you? Don't you know? This is Talha ibn Ubaydullah, whose right hand became shaheed in protecting the Prophet ﷺ. You're speaking about him?

But it was more than just the hand story. He took his back towards the enemies and he grabbed the Prophet ﷺ with his arms to his chest — with his back towards the enemies, towards the arrows that were coming towards the Prophet ﷺ.

Scholars talk about: why did he not put his chest towards the arrows and his back towards the Prophet ﷺ? And they mention two things. Firstly, how can one ever turn his back towards the Prophet? And secondly, if his chest was towards the arrows, he would see the arrows coming and it would naturally make him hesitant and reluctant. So he said: I'd rather put my back, and let the arrows hit me without me even knowing. Everyone knows — if someone hits you when you know, you can brace. But if you don't expect it and you don't know it's coming, it hurts even more. So he took the arrows in his back without even bracing.

After they counted — when he fell — his family counted 17. Some narrations — correct me if I'm wrong — 30 spots where arrows had hit his back. And when he fell, and the Prophet fell — they were on a hill and they both fell into a small valley. Abu Bakr ran and came to the Prophet ﷺ to see if he was okay. The Prophet ﷺ said: leave me. Go check on him. Is he okay? Is Talha okay? And Abu Bakr went to Talha and checked him, and he checked his pulse — he was breathing. And he came back to the Prophet ﷺ and said: he's alive. And the Prophet ﷺ — the narration mentions — actually asked to be sat up, because he was laying down. He asked to be sat up. And when he sat up, he just stared at Talha. And he looked at him with so much happiness and honor — that this person is in my ummah — like how a father or a mother looks at their child when they achieve something. The Prophet looked at Talha with so much love.

Abu Bakr said:

The day of Uhud belonged to Talha. That was his day. Everyone knew it.

Abu Bakr says: never in my life did I ever wish to be any other companion — because he's Abu Bakr. But on that day, when I saw the way the Prophet looked at him, I said to myself: I wish I was Talha, so I could have the Prophet stare at me with that type of love. That was Talha ibn Ubaydullah.

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas — The Archer of the Prophet

There was also the story of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, who was the archer of the Prophet ﷺ. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas was the sniper of the Prophet. He was standing in front of the Prophet and the Prophet would give him arrows and say:

Keep shooting, keep shooting. And whenever he would shoot, the Prophet ﷺ would look, and Talha would say: ya Rasulullah, keep your head behind me — my neck, not your neck.

Nahr is what you do to a camel to slaughter it — you hit it on its neck. So: ya Rasulullah, my neck not your neck. Stay behind me. And whenever an arrow would go, the Prophet would tell someone to grab the arrow and give it back to him. This teaches you: just because you're serving doesn't mean you have to be the person who executes. Someone else can execute it as well. And the Prophet ﷺ — the only person the Prophet combined his parents for in his du'a was Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas.

Nusaybah bint Ka'b — Umm 'Ammara, the Warrior

And the last person — the story of Nusaybah bint Ka'b, also known as Umm 'Ammara. She was a warrior of this battle. In the beginning of the battle, she brought water to all the people — all the Muslims who were injured. She brought them water. And when things went haywire, she got on her horse and she fought like a warrior, protecting the Prophet ﷺ.

The story mentions about her that when she heard the Prophet ﷺ had become shaheed — people came to her and started to tell her that her husband became shaheed, her brother became shaheed, her father, four male figures in her family became shaheed that day. Every time someone would come tell her this, she would say: is the Prophet alive? Is the Prophet alive? Yes, the Prophet is alive. She said: I don't believe it until I see it. But your brother became shaheed. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. Is the Prophet alive? Is the Prophet alive? Yes. I have to see.

Finally she was brought to the Prophet ﷺ, and she saw the Prophet ﷺ. And in this state of pure grief and distress she said:

Which means: ya Rasulullah, every difficulty — after looking at you — becomes very small. It's not a big deal anymore. Because now I see you, and I see that you're healthy and at ease. That makes us happy.

So that is Nusaybah bint Ka'b, Umm 'Ammara. And there is also the story of Hanzalah — we'll leave that for another day inshallah, everyone.