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Burial of the Martyrs:
The Messenger of Allâh supervised the martyrs’ burial and said: "I
bear witness that anyone who is wounded in the way of Allâh, Allâh will
resurrect him with his wound bleeding a liquid which is blood-like in colour but
musk-like in scent."
Some of the Companions carried
their men killed in the war to Madinah, but the Messenger of Allâh ordered that they should be sent back in order to be
buried where they were killed. He ordered that they should not be washed but
buried as they were after stripping them off their armours and leather clothes.
He used to bury every two or three martyrs together in one grave and even join
two men in one garment while saying: "Who is the more learned of the Qur’ân?"
and he would commit him to earth first. He would say: "I bear witness to
those on the Day of Resurrection." He buried both ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr
bin Haram and ‘Amr bin Al-Jamuh in one grave due to the affection they used to
possess to each other.
They missed the coffin of
Hanzalah, they sought it and found that it was on a spot nearby with water
dripping off it. The Messenger of Allâh
told
his Companions that the angels were washing him and said: "Ask his
wife". They asked her and she confirmed that he had been in a state of
ceremonial impurity. That was why Hanzalah was called ‘Ghaseel Al-Malâ’ikah’
(i.e. the one washed by the angels).
When the Messenger of Allâh
saw how his uncle and foster brother, Hamzah,
was mutilated, he was extremely grieved. When his aunt Safiyah came to see her
brother Hamzah, the Messenger of Allâh
ordered her son Az-Zubair to dismiss her in order not to see what happened to
her brother. She refused and said, "But why should I go away. I have been
informed that they have mutilated him. But so long as it is in the way of Allâh,
whatever happens to him satisfies us. I say: Allâh is Sufficient and I will be
patient if Allâh wills." She approached, looked at him and supplicated Allâh
for him and said: "To Allâh we all belong and to Him we will verily
return." and she implored Allâh to forgive him. Then the Messenger of Allâh
ordered that he should be buried with
‘Abdullah bin Jahsh — who was his nephew as well as his foster brother.
Ibn Mas‘ud said: We have
never seen the Messenger of Allâh
weeping so
much as he was for Hamzah bin ‘Abdul Muttalib. He directed him towards Al-Qiblah, then he stood at his funeral and sobbed his heart
out.
The sight of the martyrs was
extremely horrible and heart-breaking. Describing Hamzah’s funeral, Khabbab
said: "No shroud long enough was available for Hamzah except a
white-darkish garment. When they covered his head with it, it was too short to
cover his feet. Similarly if they covered his feet his head would be revealed.
Finally they covered his head with it and put some plant called ‘Al-Idhkhir’
to cover his feet."[]
Al-Imam Ahmad reported that
when it was Uhud Day and the time that the idolaters returned, the Messenger of
Allâh said:
"Istawoo (i.e. form
rows as for prayer) so that I offer thanks and praise to my Lord, the Great
and the All-Mighty."
So they stood in rows behind
him. Then he said:
"O Allâh, no one can
withhold what You permit or permit what You withhold. No one can guide whom
You decree to go astray or make go astray the one whom You guide. No one can
grant provisions you have withheld and no one can withhold what you grant.
No one can near what You ordained to be distant, or detach what You decree
to be close. O Allâh, spread onto all of us Your Mercy, Your Grace, and
Provisions."
"O Allâh, I implore
You to grant me permanent bliss that neither changes nor vanishes. O Allâh,
You Alone we seek for Help at hardships. You Alone we resort to for security
on a day of terror. O Allâh, to You Alone I resort to protect us from the
evils of Your grants (i.e. the evils they may lead us to) and from the evils
of Your deprivation. O Allâh, make us love Faith and make it pleasant and
beloved wholeheartedly by us! Make disbelief, ungodliness and disobedience
detestable to us. Let us be among those who are rightly guided. O Allâh,
make us live as Muslims and cause us to die as Muslims; and make us join
with the righteous but not with the disgraced and misled ones. O Allâh,
make Your enmity befall the disbelievers, who belie Your Messenger and
divert from Your righteous way. O Allâh, let Your wrath, Your chastisement
and Your enmity befall the disbelievers, and those on whom You sent down the
Book. Let them be afflicted with war decreed by You. O Allâh, the Author of
Truth."
After committing all the
martyrs to earth, and after offering praise and supplication to Allâh, the
Messenger of Allâh
went back to Madinah.
On his way back, matchless
examples of love and devotion were revealed by the truthful women believers; in
no way less great than the men’s heroic deeds in the fight.
Hamnah bint Jahsh met the
Messenger of Allâh
on the way back, and he
announced the death of her brother ‘Abdullah bin Jahsh — to her. She
said: "To Allâh we belong and to Him we will verily return. I ask Allâh’s
forgiveness." Then he announced the death of her maternal uncle Hamzah bin
‘Abdul Muttalib. She said: "To Allâh we belong and to Him we will verily
return. I ask Allâh’s forgiveness." But when he announced the death of
her husband Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair to her, she shouted and woed. Seeing her doing
so, the Messenger of Allâh
said: "The
woman’s husband is extremely dear to her."
He passed by a woman of Bani
Dinar whose husband, father and brother were all killed at Uhud. When their
death announced, she said: "How is the Messenger of Allâh ?" They said: "Well indeed. O mother of so... Thanks
for Allâh; he is well and as good as you desire." She said: "Let me
see him." They pointed at him. Seeing him she said: "All misfortunes
are nothing so long as you are safe."
Umm Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh came
running to see the Prophet . At that time her
son was holding the rein of his mare. Seeing his mother, he said to the Prophet : "O Messenger of Allâh
. This is my mother." The Prophet
said: "She is welcome"; and he stopped and waited for her.
When she drew near, he consoled her, for her killed son ‘Amr bin Mu‘adh. But
she said: "So long as I see you are safe, my misfortune will certainly go
into oblivion." Then the Messenger of Allâh
supplicated Allâh for the relatives of those who were killed at Uhud
and said: "Cheer up! Umm Sa‘d and bear good tidings to their kindred that
all their people killed in the battle are comrades in Paradise and they are
intercessors for all their kinsfolk." She replied, "O Messenger of Allâh,
we are satisfied. Who would cry on them after this cheerful news?" Then she
resumed saying: "O Messenger of Allâh, invoke Allâh (for those who stayed
behind)" He said: "O Allâh keep sorrow off their hearts! And console
them with their misfortunes. Compensate those who stayed behind with goodness
and welfare."
In the evening of that day —
i.e. Saturday, the seventh of Shawwal, 3rd year A.H. — the Messenger arrived
in Madinah. As soon as he reached his house, he handed his sword to his daughter
Fatimah and said: "O daughter, wash the blood off this sword. By Allâh it
has been helpful to me today." ‘Ali bin Abi Talib handed her, his sword
and said: "And wash the blood of this sword too. By Allâh, it has been
helpful to me today." So the Messenger of Allâh
said: "Sahl bin Haneef and Abu Dujana have been as courageous as
you are in the fight."
Most of the narrations
confirmed that seventy Muslims were killed and most of them, sixty-five,
Helpers; forty-one of whom were from Khazraj and twenty-four from Aws. This,
besides one Jew and four Emigrants.
As for the polytheists,
twenty-two of them were killed, but some versions speak of thirty-seven; after
all, Allâh knows best.
On Saturday night, the eighth
of Shawwal, and after their return from Uhud, the Muslims spent that night in an
emergency case —though they were dead-beat, extremely exhausted. They stayed
on the alert, and spent that night guarding the outlets and inlets of Madinah.
They were specially busy guarding their general leader, the Messenger of Allâh
for fear that some suspects could commit an
unexpected folly.
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