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lifeofresulullah · 1 year

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The Life of The Prophet Muhammad: The Treaty of Hudaybiyah and Calling the Great States of the World to Islam

The Battle of Muta: Part 2

Accounting Starts

It was the 8th month of the Migration, the month of Jumadal-Ula.

They were in the battlefield of Muta.

The conceited and orderly Christian Byzantine army with more than one hundred thousand soldiers was facing the Islamic army, which seemingly had fewer soldiers and weapons and which was commanded by Zayd. The former had everything but one thing; the latter had almost nothing but belief: Belief in God, the owner of the religion, and reliance on His help; belief made them act with the feeling of sacrificing everything.

When judging by appearance, the situation was very strange. A great amount of soldiers was facing a very little amount of soldiers that could not be compared. As a matter of fact, when Heraklius, the Byzantine Emperor, saw a handful of people against him, he found it meaningless to give so much importance to it and could not help laughing loudly. Then, he reprimanded Shurahbil for putting him to so much trouble unnecessarily.

However, the Kaiser did not know the difference between two things: the appearance and the reality. In appearance, the Byzantine army had a dazzling magnificence but there was a weak and dim spirit under this dazzling magnificence. In appearance, the Islamic army was very few in number and weak in terms of weapons but there was magnificence, spirit, meaning, excitement and love under this littleness. In history, triumphs and victories did not originate from magnificent appearances but from lofty belief, great spirit and magnificent meaning.

Both parties saw each other and laid their eyes on each other; it was meaningless to wait any longer.

Zayd b. Haritha, the commander of the Islamic army, held the white standard given to him by the Messenger of God. The fight started very fast like lightning. All of a sudden, the ground was full of blood. The sounds of takbir, clashing swords, neighing horses, the screams of the wounded soldiers and cries intermingled.

Martyrdom of Zayd

Zayd, the great commander, who was fighting the enemy very closely and bravely, received some spear blows from the Byzantines and his body was riddled. His blood sprang around. This great person, who lost his strength to stand, fell down with the spiritual pleasure and peace of sacrificing himself for his sacred aim and became a martyr.

The standard was waiting for its bearer. When Jafar saw that Zayd was martyred, he dashed forward like an arrow and held the sacred white standard as the Messenger of God had said. He ignored the crowd of enemy and their atrocious aggression, attacking their ranks bravely holding the standard. He went on swinging his sword though he knew that he would have the same honorable fate as Zayd. He did not mind the crowd of enemy or their strength. As a brave person, he was fulfilling his duty. Besides, bravery necessitated fulfilling the assigned duty fully. What would he lose if he became a martyr? The World? No problem! There was eternal life. Is it something unimportant to attain enviable ranks in the eternal life by sacrificing the worldly life?

Jafar is Martyred, too

Jafar, the commander, was attacking the enemy army with the same feeling, excitement and sacred aim as the other mujahids. The Islamic army was as brave as an eagle and the enemy army was as cowardly as a crow. No matter what the result would be, the Islamic army would be beneficial. If they won, they would be victorious both materially and spiritually; if they lost and were martyred, they would attain a spiritual victory and have an honorable epopee. Therefore, they had no fear, panic, worry or hesitation.

The eyes of both the friends and the enemy were on the new commander. Those timid and hesitant eyes were watching the heroic attack of this commander and his killing and wounding anybody that faced him in an amazed and astonished way.

However, the destined end of Jafar was approaching. A malicious sword cut his right hand off his wrist. Thereupon, he held the standard with his left hand. However, after a while, his left hand was cut off, too. If you can, imagine the situation and watch admiringly the effort and patriotism that this great hero showed in the way of elevating the word of God. This unique hero held the sacred standard, which represented the honor of the army and which was given to him by the Messenger of God, with his arms, whose hands had been cut off. He could no longer resist the attack of the enemy. His only aim at that time was to surrender the standard to somebody without letting it fall to the ground. O my Lord! What a magnificent belief, a sacred goal, a lofty effort and patriotism. Jafar was personally experiencing the incident that we cannot imagine.

This magnificent situation did not continue very long. The sword blows of the enemy martyred Jafar just like Zayd. When the mujahids looked at the body of this hero, they saw more than ninety wounds caused by spears, arrows and swords.

Abdullah b. Rawaha Receives the Standard

It was Abdullah b. Rawaha’s turn to become the commander.

He proceeded toward the enemy on his horse carrying the white standard. The evil-commanding soul wanted to deceive him through delusions and hesitation. Abdullah was between two enemies. One of them was the Byzantine army and the other was his own soul. However, he was struggling against both enemies as it was necessary. While he was attacking the enemy, he was addressing his soul as follows:

“O my soul! I swore that I was going to make you surrender to me. You will either accept it willingly or I will force you to do it. Muslims have gathered and are crying. Some of them are crying saying, ‘Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun’ (To God we belong and to Him is our return). As I understand it, you do not like Paradise very much. You have not attained peace for years. O my soul! If you are not killed now, will you not ever be killed? The time of death has come even if you do not want it. If you do what those two people did, that is, if you prefer martyrdom, you will do the best thing. If you become late, you will be sorry.”

Hazrat Abdullah, who defeated his soul, was fighting bravely. Meanwhile, one of his fingers which was cut started to swing. This great man, whose heart was pounding with the love of God and His Messenger, dismounted from his horse, stepped on the finger that was swinging and broke it off; then, he mounted his horse and rushed toward the enemy ranks like a lion. The belief, prosperity and courage that filled his heart eliminated all of the pains, aches and agonies in his body.

After fighting heroically, Abdullah returned and dismounted from his horse. He had not eaten anything for three days. Meanwhile, somebody gave him a piece of bone with some meat on it. It was going to be the first morsel he was going to eat for three days. Unfortunately, no sooner had he bitten a small piece than he heard a sudden noise from the part where Muslims were. Abdullah threw away the bone he had and said to himself, “You are still busy with filling your stomach!”; he drew his sword and continued fighting.

As a result of this fight, Abdullah attained the high rank he desired.

The Islamic Army Scatters

The Islamic army, three of whose commanders were martyred, and which was left leaderless, scattered. The mujahids hesitated whether to go on fighting or to withdraw. Meanwhile, a few mujahids were martyred.

However, the lofty standard of the Messenger of God did not fall to the ground. When Abdullah b. Rawaha was martyred, Abu’l-Yasar Ka’b b. Umayr took the standard and gave it to Thabit b. Aqram. As soon as Thabit took the standard, he rushed to the front of the army, planted the standard on the ground and called the Muslims to come together. Holding the standard in his hand,Thabit b. Aqram shouted to the mujahids, “O mujahids! Choose someone among you as the commander and gather around him.”

The mujahids said, “We have chosen you as the commander; we are pleased with you.”

However, Thabit wanted somebody else to be the commander. It was Khalid b. Walid, who was a new Muslim and who had joined the army to show his loyalty and sincerity to Islam. Thabit said, “I cannot do it” and called out to Khalid, “O Abu Sulayman! Come and take this standard.”

However, Khalid, who was a respectful and emotional hero, wanted Thabit, who was a respectable old man, to hold the standard. He said,

“I cannot take the standard from you. You deserve it more than me. You are older than me and you took part in the Battle of Badr.”

Yes, what Khalid said was true but, at that moment, he did not want the honor of being old or the honor of having been taken part in a battle. The situation necessitated a person who could save the army of Islam from this dangerous situation. Thabit b. Aqram, who was aware of this fact, repeated his call to Khalid. “Take this standard of Messenger of God! I took it in order to give it to you. You are better than me at fighting and war.”

Then, without letting Khalid answer, he turned to Muslims and said, “Do you agree unanimously to choose Khalid as the commander?”

The mujahids, who could not keep their eyes off this heroic Companion, said, “Yes!” in unison. Thereupon, Khalid took the standard of the Messenger of God and kissed it with respect; then, he mounted his horse and turned toward the enemy. From then on, Khalid was the commander.

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