The battle of Hunayn occurred after the victory of Makkah, in the month of Shawwal
of the eighth year of Hijrah. After the Prophet conquered Makkah and things settled,
most of its people embraced Islam and he set them free. News came to the Messenger
of Allah that the tribe of Hawazin were gathering their forces to fight him, under
the command of Malik bin `Awf An-Nadri, as well as, the entire tribe of Thaqif,
the tribes of Banu Jusham, Banu Sa`d bin Bakr, a few people of Awza` from Banu Hilal
and some people from Bani `Amr bin `Amir and `Awf bin `Amir. They brought their
women, children, sheep and camels along, in addition to their armed forces and adequate
supplies. The Messenger of Allah marched to meet them with the army that he brought
to conquer Makkah, ten thousand from the Muhajirin, the Ansar and various Arab tribes.
Along with them came the Tulaqa' numbering two thousand men. The Messenger took
them along to meet the enemy. The two armies met in Humayn, a valley between Makkah
and At-Ta'if. The battle started in the early part of the morning, when the Huwazin
forces, who were lying in ambush, descended on the valley when the Muslims entered.
Muslims were suddenly struck by the ambush, the arrows descended on them and the
swords struck them. The Huwazin commander ordered them to descend and attack the
Muslims as one block, and when they did that, the Muslims retreated in haste, just
as Allah described them. The Messenger of Allah remained firm in his position while
riding his mule, Ash-Shahba'. He was leading his mule towards the enemy, while his
uncle Al-`Abbas was holding its right-hand rope and [his cousin] Abu Sufyan bin
Al-Harith bin `Abdul-Muttalib was holding the left rope. They tried to hold the
mule back so it would not run faster toward the enemy. Meanwhile, the Messenger
of Allah was declaring his name aloud and saying,
«إِلَيَّ عِبَادَ اللهِ إِلَيَ أَنَا رَسُولُ الله»
(O servants of Allah! Come back to me! I am the Messenger of Allah! He repeated
these words,
«أَنَا النَّبِيُّ لَاكَذِبْ. أَنَا ابْنُ عَبْدِالْمُطَّلِب»
(I am the Prophet, not lying! I am the son of Abdul-Muttalib!) There remained between
a hundred and eighty Companions with the Prophet . These included Abu Bakr, `Umar,
Al-`Abbas, `Ali, Al-Fadl bin `Abbas, Abu Sufyan bin Al-Harith, Ayman the son of
Umm Ayman and Usamah bin Zayd. There were many other Companions, may Allah be pleased
with them. The Prophet commanded his uncle Al-`Abbas, whose voice was rather loud,
to call at the top of his voice, "O Companions of the Samurah [tree]'' referring
to the Muhajirin and Ansar who gave their pledge under the tree during the pledge
of Ridwan, not to run away and retreat. He also called, "O Companions of Surat Al-Baqarah.''
Upon hearing that, those heralded started saying, "Here we are! Here we are!'' Muslims
started returning in the direction of the Messenger of Allah . If the camel of one
of them did not obey him (as the people were rushing to the other direction in flight)
he would wear his shield and descend from his camel and rush to the side of the
Messenger of Allah on foot. When a large crowd gathered around the Messenger of
Allah , he commanded them to fight in sincerity and took a handful of sand and threw
it in the faces of the disbelievers, after supplicating to Allah,
«أللّهُمَّ أَنْجِزْ لِي مَا وَعَدْتَنِي»
(O Allah! Fulfill Your promise to me!) Then he threw that handful of sand which
entered the eyes and mouth of all the disbelievers, thus distracting them from fighting,
and they retreated in defeat. The Muslims pursued the enemy, killing and capturing
them. The rest of the Muslim army (returning to battle gradually) rejoined their
positions and found many captured disbelieving soldiers kept tied before the Messenger
of Allah . In the Two Sahihs, it is recorded that Shu`bah said that Abu Ishaq said
that Al-Bara' bin `Azib said to a man who asked him, "O Abu `Amarah! Did you run
away during Hunayn and leave the Messenger of Allah '' Al-Bara' said, "But the Messenger
of Allah did not run away. Hawazin was a tribe proficient with their arrows. When
we met them we attacked their forces and they ran away in defeat. The Muslims started
to worry about collecting the spoils of war and the Hawazin started shooting arrows
at us, then the Muslims fled. I saw the Messenger of Allah proclaiming, -- while
Abu Sufyan was holding the bridle of his white mule,
«أَنَا النَّبِيُّ لَاكَذِبْ أَنَا ابْنُ عَبْدِالْمُطَّلِب»
(I am the Prophet, not lying, I am the son of `Abdul- Muttalib!) This shows the
great courage on behalf of the Prophet in the midst of confusion, when his army
ran away and left him behind. Yet, the Messenger remained on his mule, which is
a slow animal, not suitable for fast battle moves or even escape. Yet, the Messenger
of Allah was encouraging his mule to move forward towards the enemy announcing who
he was, so that those among them who did not know who he was came to know him. May
Allah's peace and blessings be on the Messenger until the Day of Resurrection. This
indicates the tremendous trust in Allah and reliance upon Him, as well as, sure
knowledge that He will give him victory, complete what He has sent him for and give
prominence to his religion above all other religions. Allah said,
(Then Allah did send down His Sakinah on His Messenger), He sent down tranquillity
and reassurance to His Messenger,(and on the believers), who remained with him,(and
sent down forces which you saw not, ) this refers to angels. Imam Abu Ja`far bin
Jarir [At-Tabari] said that Al-Qasim narrated to them, that Al-Hasan bin `Arafah
said that Al-Mu`tamir bin Sulayman said from `Awf bin Abi Jamilah Al-`Arabi who
said that he heard `Abdur-Rahman, the freed slave of Ibn Barthan saying, "A man
who participated in Hunayn with the idolators narrated to me, `When we met the Messenger
of Allah and his Companions on the day of Hunayn, they did not remain in battle
more than the time it takes to milk a sheep! When we defeated them, we pursued them
until we ended at the rider of the white mule, the Messenger of Allah . At that
time, men with white handsome faces intercepted us and said: `Disgraced be the faces!
Go back. So we ran away, but they followed us. That was the end for us.''' Allah
said,
(Then after that Allah will accept the repentance of whom He wills. And Allah is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) Allah forgave the rest of Huwazin when they embraced
Islam and went to the Prophet , before he arrived at Makkah in the Ji`ranah area.
This occurred twenty days after the battle of Hunayn. The Messenger gave them the
choice between taking those who were prisoner or the war spoils they lost, and they
chose the former. The Prophet released six thousand prisoners to them, but divided
the war spoils between the victors, such as some of the Tulaqa', so that their hearts
would be inclined towards Islam. He gave each of them a hundred camels, and the
same to Malik bin `Awf An-Nasri whom he appointed chief of his people (Huwazin)
as he was before. Malik bin `Awf said a poem in which he praised the Messenger of
Allah for his generosity and extraordinary courage.