Wâqidy has related that when the apostle of God had conquered Mekkah, the nobles of the tribes Hoâzân and Thaqyf said to each other: ‘Muhammad has vanquished the Qoraish, and after he has completed their subjugation he will probably turn against us; therefore it will be suitable that we attack him ere he prepares his army and marches towards us.’ After this consultation the tribe Hoâzân entrusted Mâlek B. A’wuf Annassry—who was in the vigour of youth, and celebrated for his liberality and munificence—with the supreme command. The Bani Nassr, the Bani Khashym, the Bani Sa’d B. Bakr, and a number of the Bani Hallâl obeyed him, but the clans Ka’b and Kallâb, of the tribe Hoâzân, refused to do so. The chiefs of the Thaqyf also prepared an army and joined Mâlek B. A’wuf. Some allege that on this occasion the commander of the Thaqyf was Qâreb B. Alaswad; others, however, assert that their chief was Kunânah B. A’bd Shumâlyl Thaqfy. In fine, thirty thousand men had agreed to attack his holy and prophetic lordship, and took Woryd B. Ussamad—who was blind, one-handed, and sixty years of age, but distinguished by his great intelligence among the young and the old—along with them on their march. When they arrived in Awttâs, Woryd heard the crying of the children, the voices of females, and the bellowings of cattle, and asked: ‘What sounds are these which I hear?’ The people replied: ‘Mâlek B. A’wuf has brought the families and property of the combatants along with the army.’ Hereon Woryd called Mâlek, and asked him his reasons for bringing all these. Mâlek replied: ‘To induce the troops to be valiant in battle, for the sake of protecting their relatives, lest by becoming separated their name and reputation might be jeopardized. If their property is with them, they will fight bravely to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy, and in this manner they will also be hindered from fleeing.’ Woryd rejoined: ‘This is a mistaken opinion and a vain hope, because if circumstances compel the people to flee nothing will retain them, and if thou gainest the victory it will be solely attributable to the valour of the swordsmen and lancers. If, however, the contrary takes place, only disgrace and shame will fall to thy lot.’ He further asked where the Ka’b and the Kallâb clans were, and was told that they had not joined the army. Then he said: ‘Luck and activity have abandoned you; for if this had been a day of honour and exaltation to you the Ka’b and the Kallâb would not have stayed away. Would to God you had followed their example, and had not embarked in this business!’ After that he asked: ‘What chiefs of the people are present?’ And being told that A??mru B. A’amer and A’wuf B. A’amer were there, he said: ‘What can be expected from these two sheep?’ During this conversation Woryd also said to Mâlek: ‘It will be proper to remove the women, children, and property of the army to a strong fortress, and to march to the battle only with brave combatants.’ Mâlek, however, rejected this advice, and said: ‘O Woryd, thou art old. Dotage has overtaken thee, and thou knowest not what thou sayest.’ Woryd replied: ‘O ye Hoâzân tribe, Mâlek will disgrace you. Your wives, children, and property will fall into the hands of the enemy, whereon the dust of shame and misfortune will cover you. He will abandon you, and will run into the fort of Ttâyf. Discard him and return.’ These words made the people inclined to follow the old man’s advice. Mâlek, however, exclaimed: ‘O ye Hoâzân tribe, obey me, and mind not what anyone else says.’ Then he drew his sabre, leant with his breast against it, saying: ‘If you do not obey me, I shall fall on this sword so that it will come out at my back.’ The Hoâzân said: ‘If we are rebellious he will commit suicide, from a feeling of wounded honour. Woryd, being old, blind, and weak, is unable to command us, and we know of no other man able to do it.’ They therefore disregarded Woryd and adhered to Mâlek, who marched with them to Honayn.
When his holy and prophetic lordship—u. w. b.—was informed of the approach of the enemy, he despatched A’bdullah B. Abu Hadzar Aslamy to reconnoitre and to bring correct information. He also ordered the victorious army to make preparations for battle, and appointed A’bbâs B. Asyd to be his lieutenant in Mekkah. According to one tradition he marched with twelve thousand men—ten thousand of which belonged to his own army, and two thousand of those who had been liberated at Mekkah—and according to another with sixteen thousand, to Honayn. On that occasion he demanded one hundred cuirasses from Ssafuwân B. Ommyah, and the latter queried: ‘O Muhammad, wilt thou take them forcibly, or as a loan?’ His lordship replied: ‘As a loan.’ Then Ssafuwân loaded the cuirasses on his own camels, and sent them to that prince. A’bdullah B. Abu Hadzar obeyed orders, visited the camp of the enemy, and returned with the information that he had seen great numbers of men, with an immense quantity of arms and property; whereon his lordship answered, with a smile: ‘I hope all that property will become the plunder of the Musalmâns.’
It is said that Mâlek B. A’wuf had sent three men to spy out the army of Islâm; but they returned with fear and trembling, and when Mâlek asked them for the reason of their trepidation, they said: ‘When we arrived near the army of Muhammad we beheld men dressed in white riding piebald steeds, and we have never before seen men like them. It will now be proper for thee to return; for if thy army encounters those men, it will become as frightened as we are, and will flee.’ Mâlek, however, reproved the spies and kept them near himself, lest they might divulge what they had seen. Then he despatched another spy, who returned with the same news as the preceding ones. Mâlek persisted in his enmity in spite of this strange information [about the celestial warriors on piebald horses], until he was defeated.
It is said that when Ssiddyq Akbar scanned the multitudes of the army of Islâm, he said: ‘This day we shall not be conquered on account of the paucity of our army.’ Some biographers allege that these words had been uttered by another companion; but when his holy and prophetic lordship—u. w. b.—heard them he was displeased, and on account of those words God the Most High and Glorious put the army of Islâm to flight in the beginning, to convince the people that victory can be gained only by the favour of the Omnipotent Sovereign, and not by great numbers; and with reference to this subject the verse ‘Verily, Allah has given you the victory,’ etc., was revealed.
Mâlek B. A’wuf had entered the Wâdy of Honayn before the arrival of the army of Islâm, leaving his troops in ambush, and ordering them to rush upon the Musalmâns as soon as they perceived them. The prophet reviewed his army just before the impending battle, giving a standard to O’mar B. Alkhattâb, another to A’li Murtadza—u. w. b.— another to Sa’d B. Abu Woqqâss, and so on to the chief of each Arab tribe, and marched against the enemy. The passage, however, being narrow, the army of Islâm entered the Wâdy of Honayn in separate detachments by numerous routes. The opponents were watching their opportunity, attacked the Musalmâns suddenly, and so confused them that they fled. The first brigade which commenced to run was that of the Bani Salym, with the multitudes under Khâled B. Alwolyd, most of whom had no arms [having thrown them away in their flight?]. The defeat was so general that but a small number remained around the person of his lordship the apostle—u. w. b.—with the following heroes: A’li—u. w. b.—A’bdullah B. Masu’d, Abu Sofyân B. Alhâreth B. A’bd-ul-Muttalleb with the children of Ja’fer, and Rabya’h with the sons of A’bbâs, Quthan and Fadzl, and Asâmah B. Zayd with his brother and the brother of his mother, Omm Ayman. When his holy and prophetic lordship perceived that his companions acted according to the proverb, ‘The tenets of apostles cannot put a stop to flight,’ he desired to comfort them with the words: ‘Do thou [O prophet] bear [the insults of thy people] with patience, as [our] apostles who were endued with constancy bore [the injuries of their people],’* and to induce them to remain steadfast in the battle. He therefore several times repeated, with his pearl-dropping mouth, the words: ‘O ye helpers of Allah, and helpers of His prophet, I am the servant and the apostle of Allah.’ According to another tradition he said: ‘Where to, O men?’ The confusion of the Musalmâns was, however, so great that not one of them looked back. On that occasion the apostle of God impelled the camel on which he was mounted to move towards the enemy; but Abu Sofyân B. Alhâreth took hold of its bridle, and A’bbâs B. A’bd-ul-Muttalleb, catching hold of the heaven-aspiring stirrup, would not allow him to proceed. Hereon his lordship shouted: ‘I am the prophet! I do not lie! I am the son of A’bd-ul-Muttalleb.’
Jâber—Allah reward him!—says: ‘We marched as far as the Wâdy of Honayn, where the enemy was concealed in ambush in a gorge. All of a sudden we perceived a multitude, armed with swords and lances, rushing at us and putting us all to flight, so that no man cared for another man. The apostle turned to the right side of the Wâdy, to which place also nine of the Bani A’bd-ul-Muttalleb hastened, and guarded him, taking up their positions around his camel. On that occasion Mâlek B. A’wuf exclaimed: ‘Point out Muhammad to me!’ And when he learned where the prophet was, he hastened towards him, but Ayman, the son of Omm Ayman, obstructed his way, and fought with him till he attained martyrdom. After that Mâlek tried much to approach the apostle of God, but his horse refused to move.
It is related that when the Musalmâns had fled and were dispersed, the Qoraish idolaters and a number of Mekkans, who had been compelled nolens volens to embrace Islam on the day the city was taken, rejoiced and vented their feelings of envy, uttering expressions resembling those of Abu Sofyân B. Harb, who said: ‘The companions of Muhammad are flying so furiously that they will halt nowhere until they reach the seashore.’ Another man exclaimed: ‘Good news to thee, O Ssafuwân: Muhammad and his friends have fled from the battle-field!’ And Kaldah B. Hanbal, the maternal brother of Ssafuwân B. Ommyah, said: ‘This is a day on which sorcery becomes useless.’ But Ssafuwân replied to everyone, saying: ‘Be silent! May Allah break thy jaws! If a man of the Qoraish is my ruler, I am more pleased than when one of the Hoâzân becomes governor.’
There is a tradition of Muhammad B. Esahâq that Shaybah B. O’thmân B. Abu Ttolhah stated as follows: ‘When the prophet marched to Honayn I was also present, intending to wreak vengeance upon him if opportunity served for the deaths of my father and brother, who had been killed at Ohod. When the two armies met, and the Musalmâns had been put to flight, but the apostle of God had remained, I alighted from my camel, bared my sword, and intended to attack him from the right side; I, however, caught sight of A’bbâs B. A’bd-ul-Muttalleb standing in a white cuirass which shone like silver, and cleaning the dust from the person of that prince. I then said to myself: “This is the uncle of Muhammad, and I can do nothing to him on this side. Then I meant to rush at him from the left, but there I perceived his uncle’s son, Abu Sofyân B. Alhâreth, protecting him, and saw that I could not touch him with a lance in that direction. Accordingly, I determined to get at him with my sword from the rear, but I perceived a flame of fire, like lightning, which intervened between him and me, so that I was nearly burned. This so frightened me that I covered my eyes with my hands, and that very instant his lordship happened to cast a glance at me, saying: “O Shaybah, come nearer!” When I approached he placed his hand on my breast, and exclaimed: “O God, drive away Satan from him!” I swear by God that then his lordship became dearer to me than my own ears and eyes. Then I began to fight the infidels by order of his lordship, and if at that time my father had been alive, and had been an enemy of the apostle of God, and had encountered me, I would have slain him.’
It is said that in the morning of the day of Honayn, when the Musalmâns had been dispersed, his holy and prophetic lordship—u. w. b.—said to A’bbâs, who had a strong voice: ‘Call our friends in this manner: “O ye Anssâr, O ye companions of brownness, O ye companions of the chapter of the cow.”’* Abbâs obeyed, and the companions who heard his exclamation hastened from all directions to wait upon the prince of existences, whom they found to be safe. The first crowd who enjoyed the felicity of kissing the heaven-aspiring stirrup consisted of a number of Anssâr, whom his lordship asked: ‘Are there any others with you?’ They replied: ‘No; but if thou wilt go to Rak A’mâd, we shall not fail to serve thee, and to place our very lives at thy disposal.’ After that the army became victorious, as God the Most High has said in the glorious Qurân: ‘Allah afterwards sent down His security upon His apostle and upon the faithful, and sent down troops [of angels] which ye saw not,’ etc., to the end of the verse.*
It is related that when the companions had, in consequence of the call of O’thmân [supra A’bbâs], assembled around the apostle of God to the number of nearly one hundred, they again attacked the enemy with perfect confidence, and his lordship exclaimed: ‘Now the furnace of war is heated, and the fires of the battle are kindled.’ During the contest the apostle of God alighted from his camel, took up a handful of earth, saying, ‘The countenances are touched,’ and, in fact, there was not a single eye into which some of that earth had not entered, and some traditions have it that their mouths were filled with earth. After that he mounted a camel, and implored the Lord of Glory to vouchsafe him the victory. Then the breeze of conquest wafted over the army of Islâm, and the infidels fled in confusion. There is a tradition that his lordship ordered his camel to stoop, and that he took up a handful of earth in this position. There is also a statement that he had taken up the earth by order of Jebrâil, and some allege that A’li took up a handful of soil according to the command, which he handed to the prince of the inhabitants of the world. Jâber the Anssâri states: ‘The noise of the gravel, which the apostle of God projected in the battle of Honayn, at the faces of the idolaters, so struck my ears that I imagined sand was being poured out from the sky into a dish;’ and this event is referred to in the blessed verse: ‘Neither didst thou, O Muhammad, cast [the gravel into their eyes] when thou didst [seem to] cast it; but Allah cast [it], that He might prove the true believers by a gracious trial from Himself.’* There is also a tradition that in the said battle every stone and every tree assumed in the eyes of the opponents the shape of a trooper pursuing them. There is a tradition of Jobayr B. Motta’m that he said: ‘When the Musalmâns drew their swords and attacked the infidels, I perceived something black descending from the sky, which fell down between us and the enemy. Looking closely at the object, I discovered it to be a mass of black ants, which became so numerous that they filled the length and breadth of that Wâdy. In connection with this circumstance the glorious companions overpowered the professors of heresy and of hypocrisy, but I entertain no doubt that those ants were angels.’ Sa’yd, the son of Jobayr, states: ‘God the Most High and Glorious sent five thousand [angels?] to aid us.’ It is related of Mâlek B. Awus that he said: ‘Some of my people who were present in the battle have related that when his holy and prophetic lordship threw a handful of gravel against us there was not a single man on our side whose eyes it had not touched. Our hearts began to trepidate, and great confusion overwhelmed us. Between the sky and the earth I perceived men dressed in white garments and mounted on piebald horses. They had sashes on both shoulders, and we became so frightened that we were unable to look at them.’ It is on record that after the termination of the battle one of the opponents asked: ‘Where have those men dressed in white and mounted on piebald horses gone to, by whose efforts alone we have been defeated?’ When these words were reported to the august mind of his lordship he said: ‘They were angels.’
It is related that in the Wâdy of Honayn an idolater, Abu Jardal by name, was riding towards the Musalmâns on a camel. He was a fearless warrior and great shedder of blood, so corpulent and tall that none of the Arabs dared to encounter him in single combat, or to attack him. In his perfect self-confidence and pride Abu Jardal was on that day reciting Rajaz verses and challenging an opponent; the victorious companions, however, hesitated to fight him, but all of a sudden the lion of attack, and son of the Mussttafa’s uncle [i.e., A’li] rushed on Abu Jardal, and slew that obdurate wretch with his bright scimitar in such a manner that the sanguinary planet Mars was astonished, the professors of Islâm were comforted, and the idolaters discomfited.
Four men of the victorious army attained the honour of martyrdom, seventy of the opponents departed to hell, and the Hoâzân, with the Thaqyf, fled from the battle-field in the most abject manner. On that day six thousand cloaks, twenty-four thousand camels, forty thousand Oqyas of silver, and more than forty thousand sheep, fell into the hands of the professors of monotheism and piety. In consequence of this victory, many hypocrites and heretics became adorned with the decoration of the Faith, entered the circle of adherence to his holy and prophetic lordship— u. w. b.—and placed their heads on the line of obedience.
After the companions had again become victorious in the battle, by an increase of Divine favour, the opponents dispersed in three directions. One detachment proceeded with Mâlek B. A’wuf to the fort of Ttâyf, another fled into the Battyn [low country] of Nakhlah, and the third hastened to Awttâs in order to guard the property there. His lordship the refuge of termination—u. w. b.—whose luminous mind was the depository of the evident signs [i.e., verses of the Qurân] despatched Abu A’amer Asha’ry with a detachment, in which was also Zobayr B. Ala’wwâm and Abu Mûsa Asha’ry, the cousin of Abu A’amer, in pursuit of the fugitives towards Awttâs. The Musalmân forces overtook the opponents after traversing the necessary distance, and used their swords and lances to gain the approbation of God the Most High. While, however, the fire of contention and battle was raging, Abu A’amer, the commander of the glorious army, attained the honour of martyrdom, while Abu Mûsa, making the best use of the weapons for piercing and striking, put the infidels to flight, and Woryd B. Ussamad, the general of the idolaters, or, according to another tradition, Ebn Al-da’h, departed to hell.
This victory became the cause of many others, and the victorious troops hastened in due order to the foot-osculation of the prince of former and of latter times. After Mâlek B. A’wuf had been put to flight, his holy and prophetic lordship—u. w. b.—ordered the spoils to be collected in the place called Joghrân, in order to distribute them as an opportunity occurred, the surveillance over the plunder and the captives being meanwhile entrusted to A’bâd B. Bashar the Anssâry. One of the prisoners was Asmâ, the daughter of Hâreth B. A’bdu-l-’uzza, whom the companions treated harshly in her captivity, although she repeatedly assured them that she had been the milk-sister of the prophet. They would not believe her, but at last placed her on a camel and conveyed her to the exalted presence of his lordship, to whom she said: “I am thy foster-sister, O apostle of God.’ He replied: ‘There must be a sign to prove it.’ Accordingly she mentioned some circumstances in her remembrance, and as soon as the prophet recognised her he leapt up from his seat, and, spreading out his sacred Redâ, honoured Asmâ with a seat thereon. Tears trickled from his sacred cheeks, and he inquired about Halymah, as well as about her husband. Asmâ replied: ‘It is a long time since they have departed from this to the next world.’ His holy and prophetic lordship continued: ‘If thou art inclined to remain with us thou wilt be honoured and respected, but if not I shall give thee something wherewith to return to thy country.’ But according to the proverb, ‘The love of one’s country is a part of religion,’ Asmâ preferred to depart, and was presented by his lordship with one girl, three slaves, camels, and sheep. Kasyl reports that there exists a tradition to the effect that when Asmâ became adorned with the decoration of the Faith, and returned to her country, her people said: ‘Why hast thou not asked the apostle of God to pardon the trespass of Bajâd?’ This man was a connection of Halymah, and his crime consisted in having one day cut a Musalmân to pieces and burnt him. His lordship had therefore issued orders—on the occasion when he sent his victorious troops in pursuit of the fugitives of Honayn—to capture Bajâd. This having been done, the man was kept prisoner till Asmâ arrived and interceded for him at the request of her people, whereon he was pardoned. His lordship questioned Asmâ also about her other relatives, and she replied: ‘My brother, sister, and uncle are still living.’ His lordship said: ‘Return and live with thy people in Joghrân, for I shall go to Ttâyf, shall meet you again next year in Joghrân, and make arrangements for your subsistence.’ Accordingly, when his lordship paid a visit to Asmâ and to her people in the just-named place, he presented her and her relatives with a great deal of property and cattle.