126A Defcat. a Prim..:iph::The t\'fuslims had gone back to Medina, wounded, disappointed, and
deeply distressed by the turn of events: their dead were many, their defeat
was due to cisobediencc motivated by the lust for profit, the Prophet was
wounded, and the Q uraysh were o f course going to regain their dignity
and th eir starus in the Peninsula. Arriving in j'vledina, the P rophet lost no
time asking all the men w ho had taken part in the Battle o f Uhud............evcn
the wounded soldiers-to prepare for another expedition. He refused
AbduUah ibn Ubayy's offer to join them, for he had deserted the army lust
before the butle. But the Prophet had informed nooody of Ius real in ten-
tions. H e went to Hamra, camped there, and asked each of his men to
prepare ten fires and light them during the night. From a distance, those
fires gave the impression that a huge army was on the move.
Muhammad had staged that maneuver to lead the Quraysh to believe
that he was preparing immediate retaliation and that it would be danger-
ous to attack :Medina. He SCnt an envoy (again a pagan) to Abu Sufyan to
inform him of th is extraordinary deployment o f 1 1uslim troops. Abu
Sufyan was impressed; th o ugh he had initially planned to take advantage
of the i'"luslims' weakness and deal them a final blow at th e very heart of
i.·!edina, he changed his mind and decided not to attack the city. T hings
went no further: Muhammad's expedition left H amra three days later, and
life resumed its course.
During tr.e days that followed, the Prophet received a Revelation dmt
returned to the subject of the Battle of Uhud, and in particular the (lis-
agreements about strategic choices, the disobedience, the defeat, and then
the Prophec~ attitude. The Prophet had remained composed and under-
stand ing toward the Companions who had been earned away by their
d esire fo r wealth and had disobeyed him. Revelation relates the evem and
confirms what we said at the beginning of the present chapter, abom the
constant blending of respect for principles and the strength o f gentleness
in th e Prophet's personality:
It was by the mercy of God that you wert lenient [gentle] \\~th them, for
if you had lxen ~veTe or harsh-hearted, [hey wouJd have broken away
from about you. So pardon chern and ask for God's forgiveness for them;
and consult them upon the conduct of affairs. Then, when rou have taken