He cried out, “You liar—where will you flee?” Then he charged forward and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ thrust his spear into the aperture of Ubayy’s mail coat, giving him only a slight wound, yet he toppled over, bellowing like a bull. His men lifted him up, saying, “It is just a scratch—why are you in such anguish?” He retorted, “Did he not say, ‘I will surely kill you’? Had this blow struck the whole of Rabīʿah and Muḍar, it would have slain them.” He lingered no more than a day—or part of a day—before dying from that wound.
A rumor then spread that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had been killed. Some of the men who were sheltering on the rock said, “If only someone would go to ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy and procure for us a pledge of safety from Abū Sufyān. People, Muhammad has been killed—go back to your tribes before they come and slaughter you.”
Anas ibn al-Naḍr replied, “My people, if Muhammad has been killed, the Lord of Muhammad has not been killed. Fight on for what Muhammad ﷺ fought for! O Allah, I disclaim before You what these men are saying, and I disavow what they propose.” He then drew his sword, fought relentlessly, and was himself killed.
Meanwhile the Messenger of Allah ﷺ moved about calling the people to him until he reached those on the rock. When they saw him, one of them fitted an arrow to his bow, intending to shoot, but the Prophet cried, “I am the Messenger of Allah!” At that they rejoiced to find him alive, and he too rejoiced on seeing that some of his Companions still stood firm around him. Once they had gathered with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in their midst, their sorrow left them. They began to talk of the victory they had hoped for and of their fallen brethren. Concerning those who had said, “Muhammad has been killed—go back to your people,” Allah Most High revealed: “Muhammad is only a messenger; messengers passed away before him. If he were to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels?” (Āl ʿImrān 3:144).
Abū Sufyān then advanced until he looked down upon them. When they saw him, all their thoughts turned to him alone. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “They must not gain the high ground over us. O Allah, if this small band is killed, You will no longer be worshipped on earth.” He urged his Companions, who pelted the enemy with stones until they drove them back down.
On that day Abū Sufyān shouted, “Exalt Hubal! A life for a life—and the Day of Uḥud for the Day of Badr!” (He went on to relate the rest of the incident.) This report is exceedingly odd, and parts of it are objectionable; Allah knows best.
Ibn Hishām relates: Rabiḥ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Saʿīd, on the authority of his father from Abū Saʿīd, claimed that ʿUtbah ibn Abī Waqqāṣ hurled a stone at the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, breaking his lower right incisor and wounding his lower lip; that ʿAbdullāh ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī gashed his forehead; and that ʿAbdullāh ibn Qumayʿah struck his cheek so that two rings of his helmet’s mail became embedded in it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then fell into one of the pits dug by Abū ʿĀmir to ensnare the Muslims unawares. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib grasped his hand ﷺ, while Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydullāh lifted him until he stood upright. Mālik ibn Sinān, the father of Abū Saʿīd, sucked the blood from the Prophet’s face ﷺ and swallowed it, whereupon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever’s blood mixes with mine, the Fire shall never touch him.”