Its reported Saffiyah ran onto the battfield and upon this the prophet PBUH shou

ted out a women is on the battfield i.e. saying she should not be. The one who r
ecognised were was her son, Zubair ibn al Awwam. And so Zubair ran up to her and
said "Ya mother" but before he could speak she pushed him and said "I have no n
eed of you know do not intefere". Then Zubair said "but the prophet PBUH said 'y
ou should not go'". As soon as she heard this she instantly stopped. She is full
of emotion and wants to see her brother but when she hears the prophet PBUH sai
d to stop, she stopped instantly. She then handed two clothes she was carrying a
nd said "I got these for Humza, use them to bury and shroud him". Notice how obe
diant she is to the prophet PBUH. Saffiyah and Humza RA were full brothers thus
they had a very close bond. She's heard he has been killed and he has been mutil
iated so is very emotional - but still she obeyed the prophet PBUH. Zubair finds
Humza to wrap him in the garments. Then Zubair said right next to Humza was an
ansari who had nothing. And he said "I am embarrased Humza should get two and th
is ansari get none - so we drew lots to decide which person gets which and we ga
ve them as allocated".
This shows us the poverty of the sahabah. They didn't even have shrouds to cover
themselves. Also, here we have specific property intended for Humza. But the si
tuation dictates this personal gift be used other than what the initial donar in
tended. It is waajib to ensure everyone gets at least one shroud to cover the bo
dy. Thus at times maslama Aama trumps maslama kaslasa i.e. the needs of the umma
h overcomes the needs of the donar.
The prophet PBUH surveyed all of the dead and this is when he saw Humza RA and c
ried. Some reports say even the privates were cut off so you can imagine how dis
gusting this was to see. The stomach was opened up, the nose, fingers etc all mu
tiliated as a personal vengance. And at this the prophet PBUH said what we menti
oned before "If I see them I will do this do 30 of them". At this Allah revealed
"if you will take vengence be the same (i.e. 1 isnt equal to 30) but if you for
give this is even better". Thus after this the prophet PBUH forbade mutiliation
- it is therefore haraam.
The sahabah were commanded to dig graves and often two, three or four had to be
buried in one grave (since they couldn't bury one grave for each). And the proph
et PBUH said "let those who know the most Quran be buried first". This is the ho
nour of learning the Quran. Look at the blessings of memorising the Quran: livin
g and dead the one who knows more Quran will be honoured. As the prophet PBUH sa
id "this book, Allah will raise people through it". And its apart of our shariah
that we show glory to Allah by showing honour to the elderly and the hafizul Qu
ran. Indeed what a traumatic time people are dead with mutiliated bodies but sti
ll there is special honour given to the sahabah who have memorised the Quran.
The prophet PBUH then gathered all the sahabah together and gave them a speech.
The prophet PBUH did not pray janazah for the dead. We know you don't pray janaz
ah for the shaheed. Rather the prophet PBUH made dua for Uhud. He praised Allah
no matter what happens; whatever happens happens by the permission of Allah; He
asked Allah to give those who have died Jannah and He asked Allah to punish the
enemy. He also said many hadith about martydom which are well known "his wounds
will still be as fresh as the day he has killed" and "the sight is the sight of
blood but the smell will be as sweet as musk". All of this is to encourage the s
ahabah. Ibn Ishaaq say 65 people died; ibn Ishaam adds 5 more to make 70. There
is a Quranic evidence to show 70 died. Allah said "when a calamity falls you, ev
en though you inflicted double amount to them then you will say 'why is it happe
ning?'. At Badr there were 140 mushriks killed so around 70 were killed at Uhud.
Out of 3000 people the muslims caught only one prisoner of War. His name is Abu
Uzza and he was executed on the battlefield because of what he had done. He part
icipated in Badr and was captured as a PoW. His randsom was 4000 dirhams and he
begged the prophet PBUH to let him go and said "O Muhammad I have no sons and no

daughters, I beg you be generous and let me go". So the prophet PBUH said "I le
t you but let me never see you fighting us". The prophet PBUH was soft hearted a
nd send him back for free. When Uhud was going to take place Abu Suffyan came to
him and told him to write war poetry. Abu Uzza said "I cannot because I made a
promise to Muhammad I won't help you". Abu Suffyan said "Come on 3000 we won't l
ose and even if you die I promise I will take care of your daughters like my own
". So Abu Uzza was tempted by the money of the booty if he wins or the money for
his daughters. So he wrote poetry and fought against the muslims. So he was tre
acherous to his promise and Allah punished him for it. Qiyaana - breaking a prom
ise, is never ever allowed in our religion. We cannot ever do it. You cannot rep
ay treachery with treachery. You can get vengence like for like for other things
but not this. This is why Abu Uzza when he did treachery Allah made it so out o
f the 3000 people he was found by the muslims.
So the prophet PBUH returned to the Madinah and the women and children lined up
waiting to see who has returned or not. And suddenly the wailing began, and wail
ing had not yet been forbidden. What is wailing? It is that the ladies cry out a
t the top of their lungs and say paticular phrases "wal-wala". And they say thin
gs such as "how will we live? I cannot take it?" and sometimes they will beat th
emselves, tear their hair etc. Its an extreme form of crying. And wailing began
all over the Madinah - and the prophet PBUH when he got home said "Where are the
women of Humza to wail for him?" When this spread the women of the Ansar gather
ed together, came outside the house of the prophet PBUH and they began wailing f
or Humza. SubhanAllah all he has to is utter a word and the sahabah comply insta
ntly. The prophet PBUH came outside his house and praised them but then he made
a general decree. That from now on wailing is haraam and therefore wailing becam
e haraam in the aftermath of Uhud. Its also reported shortly after an ansari gav
e birth. And the husband came to the prophet PBUH and asked "what should I name
this child?" and the prophet PBUH said "name him the most beloved name to me, Hu
mza". Thus we can see the pain he is in. Later on the prophet PBUH said the most
beloved names to Allah are Abdullah and Abdur Rehman. Also note its a good way
to name children by pious people after them.
Its also narrated the prophet PBUH personally visited many families to break the
news to. We can assume it was those who didn't have extended families. Of those
is Hamana bint Jahsh who married Mus'ab ibn Omair (the first one to make Hijrah
, the rich young prince who died with nothing). So the prophet PBUH visited Hama
nah which shows the level of Mus'ab. Note the two main muhajir that died in Uhud
were Mus'ab and Humza - most were Ansar. And the prophet PBUH said "Ih' tasibi"
which means 'expect your reward from Allah' but its a phrase that means 'I have
bad news this won't be easy'. She said "what who?" and the prophet PBUH said "y
our brother" since her brother also died. So she said "may Allah forgive him etc
" and was greiving for him. Then he said 'ihtasibi' again. She said "who?!" And
he said "Mus'ab ibn Omair". And she let out a loud shreik and began wailing much
more. And the prophet PBUH said "truly the husband has a special level with a w
ife". SubhanAllah its very true a wife grows up in her household and the brother
etc. but Allah places a special love in the womens heart for her husband. So th
e prophet PBUH said "Verily the husband has a high miqaam (platform) in the eyes
of the wife".
We also have the famous anynonymus story of a women who lost her father, husband
and her brother. She is first told the death of her father but asked "how is th
e prophet PBUH?" Then the death of her husband but she asked "how is the prophet
PBUH?" And same with her brother. So much so when she saw the prophet PBUH with
her own eyes he is okay she said "every trail after you I can bear" i.e. as lon
g as you (the prophet PBUH) is alive I can bear.
We learn the Quraysh even though at the end they knew the prophet PBUH was alive
, still decided to regroup and return to Mecca. Howeve on the way back they bega
n debating: "what should be done? Shall we go back to Madinah and finish them of

f?" The prophet PBUH knew they would be doing this so as soon as he got back to
Madinah he organised a contingent "we need another contingent to ensure they wil
l not return". And he said "Only those who participated will be allowed" and the
refore 70 of them voluntered, at the head of them was Ali ibn Abi Talib. This wa
s on the 16th Shawwal, one day after Uhud. And he told Ali to camp at Hamra Al A
ssad - its called the expidition of Hamra (Gazwa tul Hamra). And he said to Ali
RA "see what they are riding - if they are riding horses they will come back to
Madinah; but if they are riding their camels they will go to Mecca". And indeed
they were riding their camels back to Mecca. The next day the prophet PBUH joine
d them and Allah praises these 70 in the Quran in al-Imran. Remember all the eve
nts of Uhud are throughout Surah al Imran. So Allah says "those who responded to
Allah and His messenger after they were wounded". Aisha RA recited this verse t
o Uruwa and said "both of your fathers are in this verse". Aisha RA is referring
to: Zubair ibn Al Awwam (father) and Abu Bukr (grandfather). Who is Uruwa's mot
her? Asma bint Abu Bukr. Note the number one raae (narrator) from Aisha is Uruwa
- why? Because he is her blood nephew. He is the only person who could talk to
Aisha directly without a hijaan. And he is not a sahabi - he was born way after
Abdullah. He is much younger so he lives a longer life thus most of the hadith o
f Aisha RA are from Uruwa. Anyway Abu Bukr and Zubair both responded and went to
Hamra.
The prophet PBUH camped at Hamra for three days to make sure the Quraysh do not
come back. And we learn that actually the Quraysh were one hairs length away fro
m returning. They were just about to come back. From Al Waaqidi we learn why the
y didn't: many of the Quraysh began lemanting the fact they didn't do what they
hoped i.e. killed the prophet PBUH. The main person was Ikrimah ibn Jahal and he
said "we need to go back and return". But Safwan ibn Ummayah, one of the noblem
en, was against the idea. And he said "oh my people do not do this for verily th
ey will be fuming in anger and you don't know, maybe their groups of the Khazraj
and Aws who didn't participate will not participate". The Quraysh didn't know a
bout the munaafiqs, nor the political situation in Madinah. Ikrimah continued to
persist: he said "neither have we killed Muhammad nor have we done something of
genuine honour". They were all about to be convinced until Allah sent a tactic
against them in the form of Ma'bad al Khazaee. He was not yet a muslim (most lik
ely he did convert later). Even though he wasn't upon Islam, his heart was sympa
thetic to the muslims - especially the treachery given. So Ma'bad visited the pr
ophet PBUH and gave special consoledences to him. He himself said "I would rathe
r the other group were inflicted". And so he leaves Madinah and on his way back
home he meets Abu Suffyan who recognises him to be a nobleman. And Abu Suffyan i
s happy because now they will find out the state of Madinah. At this Ma'bad saw
a good opportunity: he wasn't a muslim but he painted the whole picture "Oh you
don't want to see them now: they are fuming with anger and all those who didn't
fight and going to fight now" i.e. he repeated exactly what Safwan had said. Its
amazing how Allah used this tactic. Exactly what Safwan made them scared about,
Ma'bad pictured it as described. That they are "beating the drums of vengance;
and they have promised themselves they will not extract peace until they do what
you did to them". And so Abu Suffyan asked "what do you advise?" and Ma'bad sai
d "flee away on your horses as fast as you can flee". When someone as noble as M
a'bad is so terrified this sealed the decision of the Quraysh. The prophet PBUH
had no idea what happened of course.
Is Uhud a genuine loss or not? It's common to say it was a loss. Indeed in terms
of how many people died the muslims certainly lost. The Quraysh lost around 22
whereas the muslims lost at least 70. However there is many other ways to look a
t victory and loss.
1. Goal of the muslims was to defend Madinah. Were they victorious in this? Yes.
The goals of the Quraysh was to obliterate the muslims. They failed in all depa
rtments. They thought they would suprise the muslims but they didn't. Indeed the
y got to Madinah so quickly but still the muslims were prepared so he suspected

there might be a spy (and there was - Al Abbbass). So in terms of goals - no.
2. Who remained on the battlefield and who left? In fact it was the muslims that
remained and the Quraysh went back.
3. Prisoners of war: the muslims had one but the Quraysh had zero so the muslims
won here.
4. The mushrikoon did not persue the muslims; rather the muslims persued them th
e next day. This shows us the muslims had the upper hand post battle.
5. The muslims remained for three days at Hamra al Asad.
6. The issue of the trade route was still the same. The whole point of trying to
go to Syria had still not been resolved.
7. The final point ibn Al Qiyyam mentions: from the very tesitimony of the Quray
sh which Ikrimah said "we haven't done anything worthy of praise yet".
Therefore it wasn't a pure loss nor was it a pure victory. The muslims did not a
chieve what they wanted, but the Quraysh most certainly did not. Wisdoms we can
derive:
1. Comapring Uhud with Badr:
a. Allah says in the Quran regarding Badr in Anfal "so Allah can seperate the fi
lthy from the pure". Who's the filthy? The mushriks and who is the pure? The mus
lims. In Al Imran Allah mentions something very similar: "Allah will not allow t
he believers to remain as they are until he seperates the kabeeth and thayab." T
he kabeeth in Badr are mushrikeen and the kabeeth in Uhud are munafiqeen. Thus o
ne of the biggest benefits of Uhud is so that muslims truly understand the natur
e of hypocrisy. And there was always a notion of "they aren't that bad" - but th
e muslims needed to see their true colours to show them how evil the hypocrites
are.
b. Allah says in Anfal "Allah wants to affirm the truth with his word and cut of
f any root of the unbelievers". In contrast with regards to Uhud "when it was sa
id to them 'come and fight' they said 'If we knew there was fighting we would fi
ght'". This is what Abdullah ibn Ubay said.
c. In Badr Allah showed a dream in which the number of people of army of the Qur
aysh he saw was much smaller to make him optimistic: "I showed you few of them i
n a dream. If I showed you as they were, you would be demoralised and fought amo
ngst yourself". Thus as a mercy Allah avoided them faltering, bickering and figh
ting. How about Uhud? "When you began faltering and fighting amongst yourselfs"
i.e. the exact same things avoided in Badr, they DID in Uhud. Allah says in Anfa
l "you would have done this but Allah protected you" and the worst in Uhud was w
hen "you disobeyed Allah and His Messenger". Thus Allah protected them in Badr b
ecause of their obediance but in Uhud they themselves failed.
d. Allah said about Uhud He tested them through their disobediance, and He says
clearly whatever happened in Uhud all those have been forgiven. And its narrated
that those rebels who challenged Uthman bin Affan as a calipha, they said to hi
m "weren't you among those who fled at Uhud?" Uthman said "yes but didn't you re
ad the Quran Allah has forigven all those".
e. Allah also said "If you are sincere and united Allah will help you". What did
Sa'ad say at Badr? "By Allah if you charge into the ocean we are right behinf y
ou". Contrast to Uhud: when Abdullah ibn Ubay said "why should we listen to him
when he didn't listen to me" and 300 broke away. Similarly, the sahabah at Badr

were unarmed but were willing to fight. But at Uhud they were fully armed yet th
ey wanted to stop fighting and collect the booty.
f. Amazingly pretty much every senior leader of Uhud is guided to Islam. Abu Suf
fyan, Ikrimah, Khalid bin Waleed, Safwan ibn Ummayah etc. Compare to Badr: all t
he filthy leaders of the Quraysh died. Indeed all those not worthy of imaan died
.
2. We learn no one has the right to intefere with Allahs kudr. Not even the prop
het PBUH. Therefore the phrase which the prophet PBUH said in anger "How can All
ah forgive them when they hurt their own prophet" Allah says very frankly "you h
ave no right to decide who gets forgiven or not". The very person who launched t
he attack became the sword of Allah.
3. Victory is not won through no struggle and effort. No ones rank is raised in
this world or the next except through testing, patience, pain and suffering. The
injury of the prophet PBUH is done to show every human no matter how perfect th
ey are will wound and bleed.
Of the primary benefit we learn the cause of humiliation and defeat was to disob
ey the prophet PBUH and turn to this world. Sincerity to Allah and unity was dis
played at Badr and Allah gave the muslims honour. Whereas in Uhud they chose dun
ya and this was the cause of defeat: disobeying Allah and His messenger and lovi
ng this world. Allah says very clearly "You disobeyed and chose the dunya".
In Bhukari Ukbah ibn Amr says 8 years after Uhud, the year the prophet PBUH pass
ed away, the prophet PBUH made a special dua for the dead of Uhud as if they wer
e alive in front of him and he is saying goodbye to them. And then he stood on t
he mimbar - the last week of his life and he is thinking about those of Uhud. "I
will be the one waiting for you at the fountain. I will testify Allah regarding
you. Meet me at the fountain". SubhanAllah he is telling the sahabah to meet th
em at the fountain on the day of judgement. The sahabah don't know he will die.
Right after remembering Uhud Uqbah said "that was the last time I saw the prophe
t PBUH". It was the last sermon he gave. What did he day? Prayed for those at Uh
ud, at he said "our meeting place is at the fountain" and "I am not worried you
will fall into shirk; I am worried after I die this dunya will open up for you a
nd you will compete with one another to get the most of it". SubhanAllah he is s
till thinking about the shuhada of Uhud and the lesson of Uhud, which was loving
the dunya too much. And this is exactly what is happening now too: people love
the dunya too much.