The Battle of Uḥud
Quraysh came seeking revenge for Badr, and the two hosts met at the mountain of Uḥud. The Muslims held the victory in the morning, then the archers left the hill and the battle turned — seventy were martyred, among them Ḥamza.
In brief
- Date
- Shawwāl, 3 AH — March 625 CE.
- Place
- The foot of Mount Uḥud, north of Medina.
- The Muslims
- They set out 1,000; ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy turned back with a third, leaving 700.
- Quraysh
- 3,000 fighters with two hundred horses under Abū Sufyān, with Khālid ibn al-Walīd on the right wing — not yet a Muslim.
- The archers
- The Prophet ﷺ set fifty archers on the hill under ʿAbdullāh ibn Jubayr and said: “Do not leave, even if you see the birds carrying us off.”
- The martyrs
- 70, chief among them Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, and among them Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr. The Prophet’s face was wounded and a tooth broken.
His story
The Prophet ﷺ favoured staying within Medina, but the young men urged going out, so he went. When he put on his armour they regretted it and said: we chose against your view. He said: “It does not befit a prophet who has put on his armour to lay it down until God judges.”
The battle opened in clear victory, and the idolaters broke and abandoned their camp. Seeing this, the archers thought it finished and came down to gather the spoils; their commander held with a few and they were killed. Khālid wheeled his cavalry around the hill and struck the Muslims from behind, and their ranks were confounded.
Word spread that the Prophet ﷺ had been killed and many faltered, while a small band stood shielding him with their bodies. Qurʾān came down teaching them: “God fulfilled His promise to you when you were killing them by His leave, until you lost courage and disputed the matter and disobeyed.” Uḥud is not a defeat to be told, but a lesson that victory comes by obedience, not by numbers.