The Battle of Uhud (3 AH)

Part oneThe Quraysh return

Makkah did not forget Badr. The Quraysh had lost many of their leaders and they wanted revenge. Abu Sufyan, now their commander, gathered an army of about 3,000 men with some 200 horses, and they marched on Madinah in Shawwal of 3 AH. They paid for the campaign with the profits of the caravan that had escaped at Badr, and allied tribes of Kinanah and Tihamah joined them. Some of the Quraysh leaders brought their wives along to urge the men on and to shame anyone who thought of running.

Before the battle, the Prophet ﷺ saw a dream. He saw cows being slaughtered and his sword damaged, which he later understood as the believers who would fall at Uhud, and he saw his hand inside strong armour, which he took to mean the city of Madinah. Then he held a council. His own view, and that of many older Companions, was to stay inside Madinah and defend its streets and fortified houses. Younger men who had missed Badr were eager to meet the enemy outside the city. The Prophet ﷺ went with the majority, and he put on his armour. When some then felt uncertain, he said that a prophet who has put on his armour does not take it off until Allah decides between him and the enemy.

About a thousand men left Madinah. Boys of fourteen who wanted to fight were sent home, though some pleaded to stay. Rafi' ibn Khadij was allowed in because he was a good archer. Samurah ibn Jundub said he could beat Rafi' in wrestling, so the two wrestled. Samurah won, and he was allowed in too. On the way, Abdullah ibn Ubayy turned back with some 300 followers, saying that his advice to stay in the city had not been taken. That left roughly 700. The army camped at the foot of Mount Uhud, with the mountain behind them. On a small hill beside their position the Prophet ﷺ placed fifty archers under Abdullah ibn Jubayr (may Allah be pleased with him), to guard the one gap through which cavalry could come around. He told them to hold their place whatever happened, whether the Muslims were winning or losing. Even if they saw birds snatching at the fallen, they were not to leave until he sent for them.

Part twoThe day at Uhud

Mus'ab ibn Umayr (may Allah be pleased with him) carried the standard, and Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him) fought in the front. Before the fighting began, the Prophet ﷺ held up a sword and asked who would take it and use it as it deserved. Abu Dujanah (may Allah be pleased with him) stepped forward. He tied on a red headband and walked proudly between the lines, and the Prophet ﷺ said that this was a walk Allah dislikes, except in a place like this. Women of Madinah came out with water skins for the thirsty and to tend the wounded. Aishah and Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with them) were among them.

Early in the battle, the Muslims pushed the Quraysh back. The Makkan line broke, and the camp behind them lay open. At this point, most of the archers believed the fight was won and came down from the hill to join the others. Their commander and a few men reminded them of the order and stayed.

Khalid ibn al-Walid, then commanding the Makkan horsemen and not yet a Muslim, saw the gap and led his cavalry around the hill. He struck the Muslim rear. The ranks were thrown into confusion. Many Muslims were cut off, and some fled up the mountain. A rumour spread that the Prophet ﷺ had been killed. He had been wounded in the face, and one of his teeth was broken. The Quran later reminded those who had fled up the mountain that the Messenger had been calling them from behind them. One of those who attacked him was Ubayy ibn Khalaf, who had threatened in Makkah to kill him. The Prophet ﷺ took a spear and struck him with it, and Ubayy died of the wound on the way home. He was the only man the Prophet ﷺ ever killed with his own hand. Companions formed a ring around him, among them Talhah ibn Ubaydullah (may Allah be pleased with him) and Abu Dujanah, and Nusaybah bint Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with her) fought near him. Mus'ab fell with the standard. Hamzah was killed. Anas ibn an-Nadr (may Allah be pleased with him), who had missed Badr and felt it keenly, went forward into the thick of the fight and was among those who died. Hanzalah ibn Abi Amir (may Allah be pleased with him), newly married, had answered the call to battle without first taking the bath that his wedding night required. He was killed, and the Prophet ﷺ said that the angels had washed him.

Then Ka'b ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) recognised the Prophet ﷺ and called out that he was alive. The Companions gathered to him on the slope of the mountain. The Quraysh were not able to break this position. The Quran describes how, after the fear, Allah sent a calm sleep over a group of the believers. Abu Sufyan called up to the mountain, asking whether Muhammad ﷺ, Abu Bakr and Umar were among them. The Prophet ﷺ told them not to answer. Abu Sufyan then cried out in praise of his idol Hubal, and the Prophet ﷺ told them to reply that Allah is the Most High and the Most Majestic. When he boasted that the Quraysh had al-Uzza and the Muslims had none, they replied that Allah was their protector and the Quraysh had none. Abu Sufyan called it a day for the day of Badr, and then the army turned for Makkah. About seventy Muslims had died. The Quraysh had lost far fewer, but they did not take Madinah.

From the Quran

وَلَا تَهِنُوا۟ وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟ وَأَنتُمُ ٱلْأَعْلَوْنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ ۝١٣٩ إِن يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌ فَقَدْ مَسَّ ٱلْقَوْمَ قَرْحٌ مِّثْلُهُۥ ۚ وَتِلْكَ ٱلْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنكُمْ شُهَدَآءَ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ ۝١٤٠

¹³⁹Do not falter or grieve, for you will have the upper hand, if you are ˹true˺ believers. ¹⁴⁰If you have suffered injuries ˹at Uḥud˺, they suffered similarly ˹at Badr˺. We alternate these days ˹of victory and defeat˺ among people so that Allah may reveal the ˹true˺ believers, choose martyrs from among you—and Allah does not like the wrongdoers—

Part threeAfter Uhud

The next morning, the Prophet ﷺ called on those who had fought to follow the Quraysh as far as Hamra al-Asad, a short march south of Madinah. The wounded went too. The Muslims stayed there for three nights and lit many fires in the evening. Their purpose was to show that they had not been broken. On the road the Quraysh had in fact talked of turning back to finish the Muslims off. It is reported that Ma'bad al-Khuza'i, whose tribe was friendly to the Prophet ﷺ though he was not yet a Muslim, met Abu Sufyan and described the Muslim force behind him in such terms that the Quraysh lost heart and kept going home. At Hamra al-Asad the Muslims captured Abu Izzah, a poet who had been freed without ransom after Badr on his promise never to fight them again, and who had come to Uhud anyway. He begged to be freed a second time. The Prophet ﷺ refused, saying that a believer is not stung from the same hole twice.

Madinah mourned. The Prophet ﷺ prayed over the fallen and buried them near the mountain. Hamzah, his uncle and a champion of the early community, was among them. He had been killed by a spear thrown from hiding by Wahshi, a slave promised his freedom for it. Years later Wahshi accepted Islam, and the Prophet ﷺ accepted it from him, though he asked Wahshi to keep out of his sight. Mus'ab ibn Umayr, who had once been the best-dressed young man in Makkah, was buried in a single small cloth. When they covered his head with it, his feet showed, and when they covered his feet, his head showed, so the Prophet ﷺ told them to cover his head and lay fragrant grass over his feet. He had carried the standard until he was killed, and because he resembled the Prophet ﷺ, his killer had run back shouting that he had killed Muhammad. The hypocrites said that the fallen would still be alive if they had stayed at home. The Quran answered them: those killed in the way of Allah are not dead, but alive with their Lord.

From the Quran

وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ أَمْوَٰتًۢا ۚ بَلْ أَحْيَآءٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ ۝١٦٩

Never think of those martyred in the cause of Allah as dead. In fact, they are alive with their Lord, well provided for—

The Quran speaks to the believers directly about Uhud, in Surah Al Imran. It names the causes: the weakness of some, the dispute over the order and the pull of worldly gain. It also tells them not to lose heart. It says that days of victory and defeat are passed around among people and that the believers will rise again if they are steadfast. It states that Allah forgave those who had left their posts, and it tells the Prophet ﷺ to pardon them, to ask forgiveness for them and to keep consulting them in the affairs of the community. He did, and the archers who had made the mistake stood firm in the battles that followed. Other verses remind them that Muhammad ﷺ was only a messenger, and that the faith does not depend on any one man's life.

The setback was real, but it was not the end of the story. Khalid ibn al-Walid, who led the charge that turned the day, would himself accept Islam within a few years and become one of its great commanders. The wider community also saw how the Prophet ﷺ handled defeat. He did not blame or shame anyone. He kept the believers together and set them to work.

The Companions took the lessons to heart. They learned that discipline matters most when things seem easy. They learned that the believers could suffer a hard blow and not give up. Later, the Prophet ﷺ spoke of Mount Uhud with affection, and Muslims have long visited the graves there.

From the hadith

Narrated Anas:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "This is a mountain that loves us and is loved by us."

They learned that discipline matters most when things seem easy.

More on How to Muslim

• quran.howtomuslim.orgSurah Aal Imran, mappedThe surah whose verses speak about Uhud.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Towards EternityO Messenger, Ep. 7: Uhud (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Madinah
• Mount Uhud
• the hill of the archers
• Hamra al-Asad

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter