A Consultation Assembly for a Defence Plan

the scouting party of madinah conveyed the news of the makkan army step by step. then the messenger of allâh [pbuh] held a head military consultation assembly to exchange views about the situation. he told them about a dream he had. he said: "by allâh, i have dreamt of — i implore allâh to be a dream of bounty — cows slaughtered and that there was a groove at the pointed top of my sword, and that i had inserted my hand into an immune armour."

the interpretation of ‘the cows’ was that some of his men were killed, and ‘the groove at the pointed top of his sword’ was that a member of his house would be hurt. as for ‘the armour’ it was madinah. then he offered a suggestion that his companions should not go out of madinah and that they should encamp themselves within the city. he was of the opinion that the enemies should be left in the open to exhaust themselves and thus the muslims would not risk a battle. but if they thought of attacking madinah, muslim men would be ready to fight them at the mouths of lanes; whereas muslim-women would help from over the house roofs." ‘abdullah bin ubai bin salul — the head of the hypocrites; who attended the meeting as a chief of al-khazraj — supported the prophet [pbuh]’s plan.

as a matter of fact his agreement was not based on the righteousness of the plan but rather on personal benefit. he did not want to fight. on the contrary he secretly aimed at being far away from fight. however it was allâh’s will that he should be disclosed and disgraced in public — for the first time. it was his will that the curtain which concealed their disbelief behind should be uncovered and pulled down. allâh’s will enabled the muslims to recognize the reality of those snakes that were creeping within their garments and inside the sleeves of their clothes. thanks to allâh they recognized them in one of the most critical times of their lives.

some of the best honourable companions, who had missed al-jihâd in badr invasion, suggested that the prophet [pbuh] should go out of madinah and urged him to accept their point of view. one of them said: "o, messenger of allâh [pbuh], for long time we have been looking forward to this day; and we have implored allâh to make such a day draw near. thanks to allâh it is time to fight. so let us go out and fight our enemies lest they should think that we have lost heart and do not dare to fight them." hamza bin abdul muttalib the paternal uncle of the prophet [pbuh], who had already covered the ornaments of his sword with idolaters’ blood in badr battle, was ahead of those enthusiastics who urged him to go out and meet the disbelievers. he said to the prophet [pbuh]: "by allâh, who has sent the book down unto you, i will not taste food till i fight them with my sword outside madinah."[as-seerah al-halabiyah 2/14]

after weighing carefull the pros and cons of the issue, it was decided that the enemy should be resisted outside the city at uhud.