of Uḥud, on the near side of the valley facing the mountain, placing his back and camp against Uḥud. He then declared:

“Let no one fight until we give the order to fight.”

Meanwhile Quraysh had turned loose their camels and horses among some croplands that belonged to the Muslims at al-Ṣamghah of Qanāh. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade fighting, a man from the Anṣār exclaimed, “Shall the fields of Banū Qaylah be pastured upon while we have not yet exchanged blows?!”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ arranged his forces for battle; they were seven hundred men. He placed the archers under the command of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jubayr, the brother of Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf, who that day was distinguished by white garments. The archers numbered fifty, and he instructed them:

“Turn the enemy cavalry back from us with your arrows; do not let them come upon us from the rear. Whether victory is ours or theirs, stay where you are—let us not be attacked from your direction.”

A corroborating report for this will appear in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, God willing.

Ibn Isḥāq (1) says: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ wore two coats of mail—that is, one over the other—and entrusted the banner to Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr of Banū ʿAbd al-Dār.

I say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned back a number of youths on the Day of Uḥud and did not allow them to take part in the fighting because of their age. Among them was ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar. As authentically related in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, he said, “I was presented to the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Uḥud and he did not accept me; I was presented to him on the Day of the Trench when I was fifteen, and he accepted me.” He likewise turned back that day Usāmah ibn Zayd, Zayd ibn Thābit, al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, Usayd ibn Zuhayr, and ʿArābah ibn Aws ibn Qayẓī, as mentioned by Ibn Qutaybah in al-Maʿārif (2) and cited by al-Suhaylī (3).

Al-Suhaylī said that it is about ʿArābah that al-Shammākh composed:

Whenever a banner is raised for glory,
ʿArābah seizes it with his right hand.

Among those youths was also Saʿd ibn Ḥabtah, noted by al-Suhaylī as well. At the Battle of the Trench the Prophet allowed all of them to fight. On the Day of Uḥud he had turned back Samurah ibn Jundub and Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj, both fifteen years old. People said, “Messenger of Allah, Rāfiʿ is an archer,” so he permitted him. They then said, “Messenger of Allah, Samurah wrestles Rāfiʿ and throws him,” so he permitted Samurah as well.

Ibn Isḥāq, may Allah have mercy on him (5), continues: Quraysh drew up their forces, three thousand strong, with two hundred horses held to the side. They placed Khālid ibn al-Walīd over the right wing of the cavalry and ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl ibn Hishām over the left.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then asked:

“Who will take this sword and give it its due?”

Several men stood up, but he withheld it from them until Abū Dujānah—Simāk ibn Kharashah of Banū Sāʿidah—rose and said, “What is its due, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “That you strike the enemy with it until it bends.” “I will take it and give it its due, O Messenger of Allah,” Abū Dujānah said, and he was given the sword.

Ibn Isḥāq reports this with a broken chain of transmission.