dies. Fight in defence of your Faith. Allâh will help you and so you will be victorious.” A group of
Helpers  joined him and all set out and attacked a battalion of Khalid’s horsemen. He kept on fighting till he  and  his friends were killed.
An Emigrant passed by a Helper who was besmeared by blood. He said: “O fellow! Have you heard of
Muhammad ’s murder?” The Helper answered: “If Muhammad (Peace be upon him) were killed, then  he  must have completed the delivery of the Message. So fight in defence of your religion!”
With such boldness and encouragement, the Muslims soon recovered their spirits, came round to  senses and desisted the idea of surrender or contacting the hypocrite ‘Abdullah bin Ubai. They took up  arms and resumed the fight attempting to make way to the headquarters, particularly after the news  of  the Prophet ’s death had been falsified. The glad tidings nerved them, and helped them to manage  quite successfully the break of the military blockade, and concentrate their forces in an immune place  to resume a relentless and fierce fight against the polytheists.
The third group of Muslims were those who cared for nothing except the Prophet (Peace be upon him).
At the head of them were notable Companions like Abu Bakr, ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab, ‘Ali bin Abi Talib  and others (May Allah be pleased with them), who hastened to protect the Prophet (Peace be upon  him) through unrivalled devotion.
As those groups of Muslims were receiving the blows of the idolaters and resisting instantly, the fight  flared up around the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him), who had only nine people around him.
We have already mentioned that when the idolaters started their encompassment there were only  nine  persons around the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him); and that as soon as he called out unto  the
Muslims: “Come on! I am the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him),” the idolaters heard his voice  and recognized him. So they turned back and attacked him with all their power before any of his
Companions ran to his aid.
A violent raging struggle broke out between the nine Muslims and the idolaters during which peerless  sort of love, self-sacrifice, bravery and heroism were revealed.
Muslim, on the authority of Anas bin Malik narrated that the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him)  along with seven Helpers and two Emigrants, was confined to a trap when the idolaters attacked him.
The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) then said: “ He who pushes back those idolaters, will be  housed in Paradise.” or “He will be my Companion in Paradise.” One of the Helpers stepped forward  and  fought the idolaters in defence of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) till he was killed. Then they  attacked  the Messenger (Peace be upon him) again. The same process was repeated again and again till all the  seven Helpers were killed. Then the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) said to his two Quraishite
Companions: “We have not done justice to our Companions.”
The last of those seven Helpers was ‘Amara bin Yazeed bin As-Sakan, who kept on fighting till his  wounds neutralized him and he fell dead.
THE MOST AWKWARD HOUR IN THE MESSENGER'S LIFE:
After the fall of Ibn Sakan, the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) remained alone with only  those  two Quraishites. In a version by Abu ‘Uthman — authorized in As-Sahihain— he said: “At that time,  there were none with the Prophet (Peace be upon him) except Talha bin ‘Ubaidullâh and Sa‘d bin Abi
Waqqas. That was the most awkward and dangerous hour for the Prophet (Peace be upon him), but it  was a golden opportunity for the idolaters who promptly took advantage of it. They concentrated their  attack on the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and looked forward to killing him.
‘Utbah bin Abi Waqqas pelted him with stones. One of the stones fell on his face. His lower right  incisor
Ruba‘iya (i.e. the tooth that is between a canine and a front tooth) was injured. His lower lip was  wounded. He was also attacked by ‘Abdullah bin Shihab Az-Zuhri who cleaved his forehead. ‘Abdullah  bin Qami’a (Qami’a means ‘a humiliated woman’), who was an obstinate strong horseman, struck him  violently on his shoulder with his sword; and that stroke hurt the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon  him) for over a month — though it was not strong enough to break his two armours. He dealt a heavy  blow on his cheek. It was so strong that two rings of his iron-ringed helmet penetrated into his holy