THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD صلى الله عليه وسلم – Part 3

1. What did Allah’s Messenger do when the news came that the army was approaching? Where did he pitch his tents?
When Allah’s Messenger got the news that the army was approaching, he came out with his followers, about three thousand in all, and encamped on the chosen site. His tent was pitched at the fort of Mount Sal’.

2. Where did the army of the enemy pitch their tents?
The army of the enemy pitch their tents at a little distance from Uhud.

3. Why were the Quraysh gripped with fear?
Quraysh were gripped with fear to find that the crops of the oasis had long been harvested. There was nothing for the forces of the army except the fodder they had brought with them.

4. What mischief did Bani Qurayzah make at this stage?
They broke the pact of alliance which they had with the Muslims and openly joined the enemy camp.

5. How does the Qur’an refer to the strain of those days?
The Qur’an refers to the strain of those days telling that ‘the believers were tried, and shaken with a mighty shock’.

6. What word did the hypocrites pass round?
The hypocrites were passing round the word that ‘it was impossible to continue to resist such an enemy with only a trench between them’.

7. Why did Allah’s Messenger offer a third of the date harvest to the chiefs of Ghatafan?
Allah’s Messenger offer a third of the date harvest to the chiefs of Ghatafan because he wanted them to withdraw from the field in return.

8. What was the reaction of the two Sa’ds to this suggestion?
They did not agree to this suggestion; they were prepared to face the enemy even in the most difficult times.

9. Describe the combat between Ali and Amr.
Ali accepted the challenge from Amr and said, ‘Amr, you swore by God that if any man of Quraysh offered you two alternatives you would accept one of them’. ‘Yes, I would,’ he said. Ali answered him: Then I invite you to Allah and His Messenger and to Islam.
‘I have no use of them’, Amr said. Ali, then, said,’Then I call you to dismount’.
‘I do not want to kill the like of you,’ he replied.
Ali said: But I want to kill you.
So Amr dismounted and both men advanced. A cloud of dust rose and they heard Ali’s voice crying ‘Allahu Akbar’. Amr was slain.

10. Why did Nu’aym bin Masud come to the Prophet?
Nu’aym bin Masud came to the Prophet to declare his belief in Islam and become a Muslim.

11. How did Nu’aym spread distrust throughout the invading army?
Nu’aym spread distrust throughout the invading army by giving conflicting reports.

12. What judgement did Sa’d ibn Mu’adh pass upon Bani Qurayzah?
The judgement of Sa’d ibn Mu’adh upon Bani Qurayzah was that ‘the men shall be slain, the property divided, and the women and the children made captives’.