أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52652
العمر : 72
 | | موضوع: The battle of Honayn الإثنين 12 فبراير 2018, 9:33 am | |
| The battle of Honayn
Book 20
“Who is he besides the Most Gracious that can be an army to you to help you? The disbelievers are in nothing but delusion.” (TMQ Al-Molk:20)
“Truly Allah has given you victory on many battle fields, and on the Day of Hunain (battle) when you rejoiced at your great number, but it availed you naught and the earth, vast as it is, was straitened for you, then you turned back in flight. Then Allah did send down His Sakinah (calmness, tranquility and reassurance) on the Messenger (Muhammad SAWS), and on the believers.” (TMQ At-Tawba: 25-26)
(Scene: 1)
Islam spread widely in Makkah and the Muslims had become strong. However, the tribe of Hawazen, a strong tribe that settled in south Makkah, had not embraced Islam. The people of Hawazen were men of war; they were very strong and brave. They had decided to fight the Muslims. The heads of Hawazen and Thaqif tribes held a meeting to discuss the matter and finally decided that they would gather an army to put an end to Islam before it spreads throughout the whole Arab Peninsula.
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) knew about the agreement between Hawazen and Thaqif tribes to fight the Muslims, so he sent someone to discover the details for him. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) did not want to begin an attack; he fought only to defend himself and the Muslims. When the messenger he had sent returned to tell him that both Hawazen and Thaqif tribes were preparing to fight him, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ordered the Muslims to prepare a huge army to be ready for the enemies’ sudden attack.
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) led an army of ten thousand soldiers, with Abu-Sufyan joining him with two thousands more soldiers. The people of Makkah presented many weapons to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) as help. The Muslims’ army became great and strong, scaring the enemies of Islam.
(Scene: 2)
Many tribes joined Hawazen such as Banu Sa`d, the tribe in which Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) spent his infancy. The head of Banu Sa`d, an old blind man who was good for nothing but his sound views, came to attend the meeting. The head of Hawazen, Malik Ibn-Auf, was only thirty years old and was full of youth and vigor. He ordered the soldiers to take their money, women, and children with them. When the soldiers came with their families, money and sheep, the head of Banu Sa`d said in great astonishment, “Why do I hear the sounds of donkeys, cows and crying babies?”
They told him, “Malik Ibn-Auf brought with every soldier his money and family.”
The blind old man said, “Where is Malik?”
When Malik came, the old man asked him again, “Why do I hear the sounds of donkeys, cows and crying babies?”
“I ordered every soldier to bring his money and family with him.”
“Why for God's sake?”
“I wanted every soldier to fight and defend all what he has in life.”
The old man rebuked Malik and asked him to return the women, money and children back home. He added, “If you intend to win, nothing will help you as a man with his arrow in his hand, but if you lose, you will be disgraced by your family and money.” The old wise man left Malik and returned to his family.
Malik refused to take the old man's wise advice seriously, and the old man in turn, refused to join him in that battle. Malik ordered the women to ride the camels in rows behind the soldiers. Then he arranged camels, cows, and sheep behind the soldiers in rows in order to prevent them from running away when the Muslims’ army attacks them.
(Scene: 3)
The Muslims began to move. They had to get through a narrow bottleneck to reach the wide valleys behind Otas Mountains, where Malik and his followers were waiting for the Muslims with their women, children, and animals. The bottleneck that the Muslims had to pass through was called Honayn. It was a dark narrow strip that could only accommodate small groups; its sides were slopping. A group of Malik's men stood on the mountains tops, waiting for the Muslims to arrive.
A man came and told Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), “Hawazen's youth and wealth are gathered at Honayn.” Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) smiled and said, “This will be the Muslims' booties tomorrow, God's willing.” Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) gave the flag of Muhajereen to Ali Ibn Abu-Taleb, and gave Sa`d Ibn Abu-Waqqas, Omar Ibnul-Khataab and a man of Al-Ansar each a flag also.
Then he rode his mule and ordered the army to move forward. Khaled Ibnul-Waleed led the Muslim knights. The Honayn strip was still dark. Whenever the Muslims tried to pass through Honayn, the disbelievers hurled them with huge stones and shot them with arrows from the tops of mountains and the Muslims returned, defeated.
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) became upset that the Muslims had become scared and had run away in this way. He stood still with Ali, Abu-Bakr, his uncle Al-Abbas and some of his followers. He not only stood still, but also moved forward alone towards the face of the enemy saying, “I am the Prophet, it is true. I am the son of Abdul-Muttalib”.
His uncle Al-Abbas quickly went to him and held his mule’s rein, calling the Muslims back to fight and defend Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Al-Abbas had a clear, strong voice that echoed in the valley, “O Ansar, you who defended and helped Prophet Muhammad. O Muhajereen, you who swore to defend him under that tree one day. Muhammad is still alive. Come O’ men.”
The Muslims became ashamed for leaving the Prophet to fight alone and running away. They yelled from all sides, “We are with you Prophet Muhammad! We are with you”. The Muslims gathered around the Prophet (Peace be upon him). He looked right and said, “O Ansar” they said, “Yes Prophet Muhammad, we are here”.
He looked left and said, “O Muhajereen”. They said, “Yes Prophet Muhammad, we are here”.
The Muslims moved forward and fought the disbelievers until they forced Hawazen's men to retreat. Then the battle took place in the wide valley. Khaled and his brave knights killed many of the Muslims' enemies. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) continued encouraging them. The battle was rough; Ali kept on fighting with his sword and Khaled killed the enemies. The Muslims were fighting for the sake of their religion. The men of Hawazen did their best to stand still but the Muslim’s attack was so harsh that they had to run away, leaving their women, children and money to be the Muslims’ booties.
(Scene: 4)
The Muslims captured 24000 sheep, 4000 ounces of silver and 6000 captives. Malik Ibn-Auf, who arranged the camels, cows, and sheep behind his soldiers so that they would not run away, ran away and sought shelter in Al-Ta'ef citadel.
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) knew that Malik and his followers sought shelter in Al-Ta'ef citadel with food enough for one year. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ordered his men to go and fight Malik. Khaled Ibnul-Waleed and his knights moved in front of the army until they reached the great citadel and besieged it. Malik and his men threw the Muslims with arrows. Many Muslims became injured and the fearless Abu-Sufyan injured his eye. Khaled Ibnul-Waleed moved towards the citadel and shouted, “Is there a man to fight me here?”
No one came to fight him, but a man shouted back, “None of us will go down to fight you; we will stay in the citadel with the food and supplies that will suffice us for one year forward. If you stayed here until our supplies run out, we may fight you till we all die.”
Salman Al-Farsi made the catapult; a tool used to hurl huge stones. The Muslims hurled the huge stones using the catapult to destroy the citadel. Some of the Muslims crept under tanks to get near the citadel to burn it. During those days, tanks were used as a tool of war used by soldiers to hide from the enemy's arrows. Men of Thaqif shot the creeping soldiers with red-hot iron bars. The soldiers came out of the tanks and were shot with arrows. A number of them were injured and some were killed.
The siege continued for a long time and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) asked one of his companions about his opinion concerning such a siege. The man replied saying, “O messenger of Allah! If there is a fox in a hole, and you plot to catch it, you will succeed. Yet, if you leave it, it will not harm you”.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) did not come to Hawazen except to resist an invasion, not to kill people. He had won the battle against Hawazen and no longer feared any invasion from their side. Thus, he ordered the Muslims to lift the siege and while leaving, the Muslims asked the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to curse Thaqif, the people of Al-Ta’ef. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) did not like cursing people, because he has been sent by Allah to guide them and bring them happiness. Thus he prayed for them and said, “Oh Allah guide Thaqif to Islam”.
(Scene: 5)
A woman, who was a prisoner of war, came to the Muslims and said, “I am your Prophet's sister”. They were surprised because they all knew that the messenger of Allah had no sisters or brothers. She used to say, “I swear by Allah that I am your Prophet's sister.”
They took her to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and when she saw him she asked, “Don’t you know me?” The Prophet (Peace be upon him) looked at her and said, “If I had recognized you I wouldn’t have denied it. Who are you?” She replied, “I am your sister, the daughter of Abu-Dhuai'b.” She was Halima's daughter and his foster sister. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) stood up for her, took off his cloak and put it on the ground, asking her to sit down on it while the tears were gathering in his eyes. He asked her about Halima and her husband, Al-Harith. She told him that they had died.
A delegation from Hawazen came to meet the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to announce their Islam. Allah had answered the Prophet's prayer. When the Muslims had asked him to curse the people of Thaqif, he had refused and prayed for Allah to guide them to Islam. |
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