3. Al-Ansari-Khazraj battalion with Al-Hubab bin Al-Mundhir to lead it.
The army consisted of a thousand fighters; a hundred of them armoured; another fifty horsemen. He appointed Ibn Umm Maktum to lead the people in prayer in Madinah. Departure was announced and the army moved northwards with the two Sa‘ds, who were armoured, running in front of the army.
Upon passing along Al-Wada‘ mountain trail he saw a well-armed battalion, which were detached from the main body of the army. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) inquired who they were and he was told that they were Jews and were allies of Al-Khazraj. They told him that they wanted to contribute to the fight against the idolaters. “Have they embraced Islam?” The Prophet (Peace be upon him) asked.
“No,” they said. So he refused admitting them and said that he would not seek the assistance of disbelievers against the idolaters.
PARADING THE ARMY:
As soon as he reached a location called Ash-Shaikhan, he paraded his army. He dismissed those whom he considered to be disabled or too young to stand the fight. Among them were ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar bin
Al-Khattab. Usama bin Zaid; Usaid bin Zaheer, Zaid bin Thabit, Zaid bin Arqam. ‘Araba bin Aws, ‘Amr bin Hazm, Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri, Zaid bin Haritha Al-Ansari, Sa‘d bin Habba and Al-Barâ’ bin ‘Azib,
Sahih Al-Bukhari pointed out that he had shared in the fight that day.
The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) allowed both Rafi‘ bin Khadaij and Samura bin Jundub to join the army — though they were too young. The former proved to be skillful at shooting arrows; the latter wrestled the former and beat him. The admission of Rafi‘ made Samura say: “I am stronger than him, I can overcome him.” When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) heard this saying he ordered them to wrestle. They did. Samura won so he was also admitted.
PASSING THE NIGHT BETWEEN UHUD AND MADINAH:
As night fell upon them there, they performed both the sunset and the evening prayers and spent the night there as well. Fifty people were chosen to guard the camp and go round it. Muhammad bin
Maslama Al-Ansari, the hero of the brigade of Ka‘b bin Al-Ashraf, was in charge of the guards.
Whereas
Dhakwan bin ‘Abd Qais undertook the responsibility of guarding the Prophet (Peace be upon him), in particular.
THE REBELLION OF 'ABDALLAH BIN UBAI AND HIS FOLLOWERS:
At the end of the night and just before it was daybreak, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) moved and when he got to Ash-Shawt he observed the dawn prayer. There he was close enough to the enemy that they could see one another. It was there that ‘Abdullah bin Ubai — the hypocrite — rebelled against the
Muslims. One-third of the army withdrew with him — that is to say three hundred fighters. He said,
“We do not know why we shall kill ourselves.” He claimed that his withdrawal was no more than showing protest against the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) who had already refused his opinion and accepted that of the others.
Undoubtedly that was not the real cause of his detachment. If it had been the refusal of his opinion — as the hypocrite claimed — there would have no sense whatsoever for his joining the Prophetic army.
If it had been so, he would have refused to go out with the army from the very beginning of the march.
As a matter of fact the real purpose of this rebellion, withdrawal and detachment — at this delicate and awkward position and time — was to produce bewilderment, confusion of mind, and disorder in the
Muslims army who were within the sight and hear range of the enemy who were also looking forward to seeing more and more dissension on the side of the Muslims, like themselves. They also aimed at breaking the high morale of the believers. That would accelerate — in their opinion — the breakdown and consequently the death of Muhammad, his faithful Companions and Islam as a whole. The way would then be clear for the reclaim of presidency, which that hypocrite had lost on the advent of Islam into Madinah.
Short of Allâh’s Care, the hypocrite’s plot would have been successful. Banu Haritha of Al-Aws and