Fight in the Way of God 77go out and meet the enemy, the more he wavers. Even his most
trusted advisers are divided about what to do. Finally, exasperated by
the debate and knowing a decision must be made, Muhammad stands
and orders his coat of mail to be brought to him. They will face the
Quraysh in the open desert.
With just a few hundred men and a handful of women—including
Aisha and Umm Salamah, who almost always accompany him into
battle—Muhammad sets off toward a plain situated a few miles north-
west of Yathrib called Uhud, where he has heard the Quraysh have
stopped to camp and plan their attack. At Uhud, he makes his way
down into a gorge and sets his own camp on the opposite side of a dry
riverbed, not far from the Meccan army. From here, he can make out
the Quraysh’s tents. He takes stock of their massive numbers and
superior weapons. His heart sinks when sees hundreds of their horses
and camels grazing in a nearby pasture. His men have managed to
round up only two horses; they have no camels.
Falling back, Muhammad orders his followers to make camp and
wait for daybreak. In the morning, as the sky begins to redden, he
leaps atop a horse and surveys his troops one final time. Among the
men, he sees children armed with swords, some on their tiptoes trying
to blend in. He angrily pulls them out of line and sends them home to
their families, though a few manage to escape detection and return to
fight. He then places his archers on top of a mountain near his flank,
ordering them to “hold firm to your position, so that we will not be
attacked from your direction.” To the rest of his men he shouts his
final instructions: “Let no one fight until I command him to fight!”
Then, as if sensing he has somehow violated the omens in his dream,
he puts on a second coat of mail and orders his army to attack.
Almost immediately, the Quraysh are put to flight. Muhammad’s
archers release a steady hail of arrows onto the battlefield, protecting
his meager troops and forcing the Meccan army to retreat from their
positions. But as the Quraysh pull back, the archers—in direct viola-
tion of Muhammad’s orders not to move from their position—run
down the mountain to claim the booty left behind by the retreating
army. It does not take long for the Quraysh to regroup, and with his
flank unguarded, the Prophet and his warriors are quickly sur-
rounded. The battle becomes a slaughter.