A man from Mecca arrived before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and asked him about Abū Sufyān and his companions. He replied, “I encamped near them and heard them reproaching one another, each saying to the other, ‘You accomplished nothing. You struck the people at their spear-point and sharp edge, then left them without finishing them off. Some of their leaders remain who will regroup against you.’”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ therefore ordered his Companions—though their wounds were at their severest—to pursue the enemy so that the news would reach them. He said:
“Let no one set out with me except those who fought yesterday.”
ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy said, “I shall ride with you.” He replied, “No.” Yet they responded to Allah and His Messenger despite the calamity that had befallen them and set off. Concerning them Allah said in His Mighty Book:
“Those who answered Allah and the Messenger after injury had befallen them—for such of them as did good and were mindful of Allah there is a magnificent reward.” (Āl ʿImrān 3:172)
He (the narrator) added: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted permission to Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah when he explained that his father had instructed him to remain in Madinah to care for his sisters.
He continued: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ pursued the enemy until he reached Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad.
Ibn Luhayʿah transmitted the same report through Abū al-Aswad, from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr.
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq stated in his Maghāzī: The day of Uḥud fell on Saturday, the middle of Shawwāl. On the following day, Sunday, the sixteenth of Shawwāl, the caller of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ announced the pursuit of the enemy, proclaiming that no one should go out except those who had been present the previous day. Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah spoke with him, and he granted him leave.
Ibn Isḥāq (1) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out merely to intimidate the enemy and to let them know that he had come after them, so that they would think him still strong and that what had transpired had not weakened him against them.
Ibn Isḥāq, may Allah have mercy on him, (2) related: 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 Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal said: “I and a brother of mine were present at Uḥud and returned wounded. When the Prophet’s herald called us to pursue the enemy, I said to my brother—and he said to me—‘Shall we miss an expedition with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? By Allah, we have no mount to ride, and every one of us is heavily wounded.’ Nevertheless, we set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. My wounds were lighter than his, so whenever he became exhausted I would take turns carrying him until we reached the point where the Muslims had halted.”
Ibn Isḥāq said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ marched until he reached Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad, eight miles from Madinah, where he remained Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then returned to the city.
Ibn Hishām added: He had appointed Ibn Umm Maktūm in charge of Madinah.
Ibn Isḥāq (3) said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī Bakr related to me that Maʿbad ibn Abī Maʿbad al-Khuzaʿī—Khuzāʿah, both their Muslims and idolaters, were a repository of loyalty for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in Tihāmah, standing with him and concealing nothing from him that occurred there—and Maʿbad