The Companions Encircled the Messenger with their Bodies and Weapons

all those events happened in no time. if the prophet [pbuh]’s elite companions had realized the grave situation immediately, they would have rushed on the spot and would not have left him sustain these wounds. unfortunately, they got there after the messenger of allâh [pbuh] had been wounded and six of the helpers killed, the seventh was staggering under the brunt of wounds and desperately militating in defence of the prophet [pbuh]. however as soon as they arrived they encircled the messenger with their bodies and weapons and were alert enough to prevent the enemies from reaching him. the first one who returned to give help, was his cavemate abu bakr as-siddiq [r].

in a version by ‘aishah [r] recorded in ibn hibban’s sahih, she narrated that abu bakr had said:

"when it was uhud day and at the time that the prophet [pbuh] was left behind, i was the first to go back and see him. before him i saw a man fighting to shield him from the enemies. i said to myself: ‘i wish he were talha. let my father and mother be sacrificed for you. (o allâh) let him be talha! let my parents be sacrificed for you!’ on the way, i was overtaken by abu ‘ubaidah bin al-jarrah, who was then moving as swiftly as a bird. we both rushed to dress the prophet [pbuh]’s wounds. there we found talha suffering from serious wounds before the messenger of allâh [pbuh]. the prophet [pbuh] said: ‘see to your brother. his deed entitled him for an abode in paradise.’ i noticed that two rings of the iron-ringed helmet had penetrated his cheek. so i set out to take them out; but abu ‘ubaidah demanded: ‘by allâh, o abu bakr — i beseech you, let me do it myself.’ fearing to hurt the prophet [pbuh] he started pulling one of the two rings out very slowly and carefully with his mouth. then he pulled the arrow out by his mouth, too. consequently, his front tooth fell. then i proceeded to pull the second out; but abu ‘ubaidah besought me to leave it: ‘o, abu bakr, i adjure you by allâh to let me do it.’ he pulled the second ring very slowly and carefully with his mouth — till it came out. the messenger of allâh [pbuh] said: ‘see to your brother. he has proved to be worthy of being housed in paradise.’ we approached talha to cure him but found out that he had had some ten sword-strokes in his body. [za'd al-ma'ad 2/95] (this showed how efficiently talha had fought and struggled on that day)."

at those awkward moments of that day, a group of muslim heroes gathered around the prophet [pbuh] forming a shield to protect him from the idolaters. some of them were abu dujana, mus‘ab bin ‘umair, ‘ali bin abi talib, sahl bin haneef, malik bin — sinan the father of abu sa‘îd al-khudri, umm‘amara, nusaiba bint ka‘b al-mâziniya, qatada bin an-nu‘man, ‘umar bin al-khattab, hatib bin abi balta‘a and abu talha.