Chapter: The Battle of Hunain

I was in the company of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) on the Day of Hunain. I and Abd Sufyan b. Harith b. 'Abd al-Muttalib stuck to the Messenaer of Allah (ﷺ) and we did not separate from him. And the Messenger of Allah (may place be upon him) was riding on his white mule which had been presented to him by Farwa b. Nufitha al-Judhami. When the Muslims had an encounter with the disbelievers, the Muslims fled, falling back, but the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) began to spur his mule towards the disbelievers. I was holding the bridle of the mule of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) checking it from going very fast, and Abu Sufyan was holding the stirrup of the (mule of the) Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), who said: Abbas, call out to the people of al-Samura. Abbas (who was a man with a loud voice) called out at the top of the voice: Where are the people of Samura? (Abbas said: ) And by God, when they heard my voice, they came back (to us) as cows come back to their calves, and said: We are present, we are present! 'Abbas said: They began to fight the infidels. Then there was a call to The Ansar. Those (who called out to them) shouted: O ye party of the Ansar! O party of the Ansar! Banu al-Harith b. al-Khazraj were the last to be called. Those (who called out to them) shouted: O Banu Al-Harith b. al-Khazraj! O BanU Harith b. al-Khazraj! And the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who was riding on his mule looked at their fight with his neck stretched forward and he said: This is the time when the fight is raging hot. Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took (some) pebbles and threw them in the face of the infidels. Then he said: By the Lord of Muhammad, the infidels are defeated. 'Abbas said: I went round and saw that the battle was in the same condition in which I had seen it. By Allah, it remained in the same condition until he threw the pebbles. I continued to watch until I found that their force had been spent out and they began to retreat.

" By the Lord of the Ka'ba, they have been defeated." And there is at the end the addition of the words:" Until Allah defeated them" (and I imagine) as if I saw the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) chasing them on his mule.

I was with Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) on the Day of Hunain. The rest of the hadith is the same but with this variation that the hadith transmitted by Yonus and Ma'mar is more detailed and complete.

A man asked Bara' (b. 'Azib): Did you run away on the Day of Hunain. O, Abu Umira? He said: No, by Allah, The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not turn his back; (what actually happened was that) some young men from among his companions, who were hasty and who were either without any arms or did not have abundant arms, advanced and met a party of archers (who were so good shots) that their arrows never missed the mark. This party (of archers) belonged to Banu Hawazin and Banu Nadir. They shot at the advancing young men and their arrows were not likely to miss their targets. So these young men turned to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) while he was riding on his white mule and Abu Sufyan b. al-Harith b. 'Abd al-Muttalib was leading him. (At this) he got down from his mule, invoked God's help, and called out: I am the Prophet. This is no untruth. I am the son of 'Abd al-Muttalib. Then he deployed his men into battle array.

Abu Umara, did you flee on the Day of Hunain? He replied: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not retreat. (What actually happened was that some hasty young men who were either inadequately armed or were unarmed met a group of men from Banu Hawazin and Banu Nadir who happened to be (excellent) archers. The latter shot at them a volley of arrows that did not miss. The people turned to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Abu Sufyan b. Harith was leading his mule. So he got down, prayed and invoked God's help. He said: I am the Prophet. This is no untruth. I am the son of Abd al-Muttalib. O God, descend Thy help. Bara' continued: When the battle grew fierce. we, by God. would seek protection by his side, and the bravest among us was he who confronted the onslaught and it was the Prophet (ﷺ).

I heard from Bara' who was asked by a man from the Qais tribe: Did you run away from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) on the Day of Hunain? Bara' said: But the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not run away. On that day Banu Hawzzin took part in the battle as archers (on the side of the disbelievers). When we attacked them, they retreated and we fell upon the booty; (they rallied) and advanced towards us with arrows. (At that time) I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) riding on his white mule and Abu Sufyan b. al-Harith was holding its bridle. He (the Messenger of Allah was saying: I am the Prophet. This is no untruth. I am a descendant of 'Abd al-Muttalib.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Bara' with another chain of transmitters, but this hadith is short as compared with other ahadith which are more detailed.

We fought by the side of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) at Hunain. When we encountered the enemy, I advanced and ascended a hillock. A man from the enemy side turned towards me and I shot him with an arrow. He (ducked and) hid himself from me. I could not understand what he did, but (all of a sudden) I saw that a group of people appeared from the other hillock. They and the Companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) met in combat, but the Companions of the Prophet turned back and I too turned back defeated. I had two mantles, one of which I was wrapping round the waist (covering the lower part of my body) and the other I was putting around my shoulders. My waist-wrapper got loose and I held the two mantles together. (In this downcast condition) I passed by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who was riding on his white mule. He said: The son of Akwa' finds himself to be utterly perplexed. Wher. the Companions gathered round him from all sides. the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) got down from his mule. picked up a handful of dust from the ground, threw it into their (enemy) faces and said: May these faces be deformed 1 There was no one among the enemy whose eyes were not filled with the dust from this handful. So they turned back fleeing. and Allah the Exalted and Glorious defeated them, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) distributed their booty among the Muslims.