The Battle of Uhud (5)

With human efforts faltering, Allah sent down supernatural allies to the rescue of His Prophet. Jibreel (Gabriel) and Mikaeel (Michael) descended and fought on his behalf. More Muslims rushed to the Prophet , and they too defended him fiercely. The first to come to his aid was Abu Bakr along with Abu Ubaydah bin Jarrah. Abu Bakr saw the helmet rings embedded in the Prophet’s face and tried to extract them, but it was Abu Ubaydah who succeeded in pulling out the metal rings with his teeth, losing two of them in the process. Then they advanced together to sustain the severely wounded Talha bin Ubaydullah.

Friend and foe alike gravitated toward the Prophet , who quite naturally was the focal point of the whole scene. Among the Muslims Abu Dujana, Mus’ab bin Umayr, Umar bin Khattab and Ali bin Abi Talib, flanked the Prophet even as the pagan soldiers continued to swarm around him, their attacks penetrating deeper and deeper. The Muslims took all possible measures to beat them back. Some of them were shooting arrows, others putting up defences, some fighting on fiercely while others resorted to deflecting arrows with their hands.

The enemy targeted the Muslims’ standard bearer Mus’ab bin Umayr. Countless swords hacked at his right hand severing it. Mus’ab transferred the standard to his left hand, and he upheld the standard on his knee supported by his breast and neck until his last breath. Since Mus’ab resembled the Prophet to a great extent, his killer, Abdullah bin Qam’a, thought that he had slain the Prophet and jubilantly shouted out that he had killed Muhammad . The news flew around the pagans who, in a surge of complacence, immediately eased the pressure on the Muslims.