saying to one another, “You have achieved nothing: you struck the core of the people while they were alone, then left without annihilating them. Some of their leaders remain and will regroup against you.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore ordered his Companions—though they were grievously wounded—to pursue the enemy so that the enemy would hear of it. He announced, “No one may accompany me except those who fought yesterday.” ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubay asked, “Shall I ride with you?” The Prophet replied, “No.” In spite of their affliction they obeyed Allah and the Messenger, set out, and the Prophet ﷺ pursued the enemy until he reached Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad.
Ibn Isḥāq relates: ʿAbd Allah ibn Khārijah ibn Zayd ibn Thābit told me—on the authority of Abū al-Sāʾib, the freedman of ʿĀʾishah bint ʿUthmān—that a man from the Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal, one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, said: “I was at Uḥud with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ together with a brother of mine, and we both returned wounded. When the Prophet’s caller announced the march in pursuit of the enemy, I spoke to my brother and he replied, ‘Shall we let an expedition with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ pass us by? By Allah, we have no mount to ride and every one of us is injured.’ So we went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. My wounds were lighter than his, so whenever he became exhausted I carried him for a while and he walked for a while, until we reached the point where the rest of the Muslims had halted. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ advanced until he reached Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad, which is eight miles from Medina. He stayed there for three days and then returned.”
Hishām ibn ʿUrwah narrated—from his father, from ʿĀʾishah—who said: “Nephew, your parents—meaning al-Zubayr and Abū Bakr—were among those who responded to Allah and the Messenger after they had been wounded. When the idolaters withdrew from Uḥud, and the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions had suffered what they suffered, he feared they might come back. He therefore said, ‘Who will volunteer to follow in their tracks so that they may know we still possess strength?’ Abū Bakr and al-Zubayr volunteered, together with seventy others, set out in pursuit of the enemy, and when the enemy heard of them they withdrew; the Muslims returned home blessed by Allah.”