Dirār; he had already rallied his tribe and everyone he could muster, bought horses and weapons, and prepared to march against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Al-Wāqidī relates: Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Abyad told me—through his father from his grandmother, the freedwoman of Juwayriya—that she heard Juwayriya say: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came upon us while we were at al-Muraysiʿ, and I heard my father exclaim, ‘Something has come upon us against which we have no power!’ I could see people, horses, and equipment in numbers beyond description. When I later embraced Islam, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ married me, and we set out with him, I kept looking at the Muslims and they were nothing like what I had first seen; I realised then that it had been a terror cast by Allah. One of the men who afterwards accepted Islam would say, ‘We used to see white-robed men on piebald horses—men we had never seen before, nor ever saw again.’”

Al-Wāqidī continues: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached the watering place and a leather pavilion was pitched for him; with him were ʿĀʾisha and Umm Salama. He drew up his Companions in ranks, then instructed ʿUmar to call out among them, “Say: Lā ilāha illā Allah—there is no god but Allah—and thereby protect your lives and your property.” ʿUmar made the proclamation, but they refused. One of them then discharged the first arrow, so the Muslims exchanged arrows for a while. After that, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered his Companions to charge,