122was a model in the light of the love shown [ 0 her by the Prophet; it was
in her apanmem that the Pro phet wanted to breathe his last, and there he
was buried.
Uhud
Beyond his private affairs and his spiritual and social tcaching, rhe
Prophe t remained watchful o f the Medina Muslims' security, and he knew
that the Q u raysh were prep aring their revenge. He received a letter from
his uncle Abbas informing him that an army of morc than three thousand
men had set out toward :Medina. Muhammad had only abo u t a week [0
think up his strategy and organize the resistance. He vcry quickly decided
to organize a consultation meeting (!hura) to get his Companions' opin-
ions about the matter. They could choose between remaining inside the
city and waiting for the enemy to enter, so as to ambush them, and march-
ing o ut o f the cit}' and directly facing the enemy in a nearby plain. The
Prophet, like many of his Companio ns, including the unreliablc Abdullah
ibn Uba),),. felt that me)' should wait for the enem)' inside the city.
Neverthcless, during tile debates, his opinion was d e feated, particularly
through the opposition of the younger Companions and those who had
not taken part in the Battle of Baclr: they hoped to acquire merit similar
to that o f the Badr fighters in the impending batde.
The majority had voted in favor of marching out of th e city and con-
fronting the enemy face-to-face. Muhammad accepted the decisio n and
promptly went home to pm on his battle gear, for they had no time [Q
waste. Feeling guilty and thinking that perhaps it would be better for them
to obey th e Prophet, some Companio ns came to him as he was walking
Out of his h o me and suggested the d ecision should be reconsidered and
they should act according to his opinion. He refused categorically: the
decision had been taken collectively, he had d ressed for battle, and turn-
ing back was out of the question.
They set out toward Uhud. The army was a thousand strong, about to
face an enemy of three thousand. As they were marching on, Abdullah
ibn Ubayy d ecided to desert. followed by three hundred of his men. Ibn
Uba)'y reproached me Prophet fo r having allO\ved young, inexperienced
people to influence him, instead of taking the decision-which had been