This is a sub-article to Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca

Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca

The period of Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca started with the Conquest of Mecca in 630 and ended with his death in 632.-Conquest of Mecca:...

.

The Battle of Hunain was fought between Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 and his followers against the Bedouin

Bedouin

The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...

 tribe of Hawazin

Hawazin

Ha'wa zin was a sub-division from the Qais Ailan tribe, Hawazin is the mighty Pre-Islamic Arabian tribe concentrated in the area around Ta’if in the Arabian Peninsula. Its descendants are scattered across the Middle-East and North Africa as many of its members were dispatched after the Muslim...

 and its subsection the Thaqif in 630 in a valley on one of the roads leading from Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

 to al-Ta'if. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims, who captured enormous spoils. The Battle of Hunayn is one of only two battles mentioned in the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

 by name, in Sura

Sura

A sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...

 .

Background

The conquest of Makkah astounded both the Arabs and other tribes, who realized that they were doomed and had to submit. Some of the fierce, powerful proud tribes did not submit to Islam and favoured resistance. Ahead of these were the septs of Hawazin and Thaqif. Nasr, Jashm and Sa‘d bin Bakr and people of Bani Hilal. According to the Muslim scholar Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri "They thought that they were too mighty to admit or surrender to such a victory". So they met Malik bin ‘Awf An-Nasri and made up their mind to proceed fighting against the Muslims.

Spy

The Hawazin and their allies, the Thaqif, began mobilizing their forces when they learnt from their spies that Muhammad and his army had departed from Medina

Medina

Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

 to begin an assault on Mecca. The confederates apparently hoped to attack the Muslim army while it besieged Mecca. Muhammad, however, uncovered their intentions through his own spies in the camp of the Hawazin, and marched against the Hawazin just two weeks after the conquest of Mecca with a force of 12,000 men. Only four weeks had elapsed since quitting Medina.

The spies that Malik had already dispatched to spy Muslim forces, returned with their limbs cut off. "Woe unto you! What happened to you?" Said Malik. They said: "We have seen distinguished people on spotted horsebacks. What you see, would not have happened if we had been firmly together.", according to the Muslim scholar, Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakuprui.

Course of the battle

On Wednesday night the tenth of Shawwal, the Muslim army arrived at Hunain. Malik bin ‘Awf, who had previously entered the valley by night, gave orders to his army to hide inside the valley and lurk for the Muslims on roads, entrances, narrow hiding places. His orders to his men were to hurl stones at Muslims whenever they caught sight of them and then to make a one-man attack against them.

When Muslims started camping, arrows began showering intensively at them, whereas the enemy’s battalions started a fierce attack against the Muslims, who had to retreat in disorder and utter confusion.

It is reported that only a few soldiers stayed behind and fought that included Ali bin Abu Talib who was the standard bearer, Abbas, Fazal bin Abbas, Usamah and Abi Sufyan bin Hirith

"Come on, people! I am the Messenger of Allâh. I am Muhammad, the son of Abdullah." Then Muhammad said "O, Allâh, send down Your Help!", later Mulsims’ returned to the Battlefield. Muhammad, then Picking up a handful of earth, he hurled it at their faces while saying: "May your faces be shameful." Their eyes were thick with dust and the enemy began to retreat in utter confusion, according to the Muslim scholar Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

Enemy Flees, 70 killed

After the enemy was defeated. About seventy men of Thaqif alone were killed, and the Muslims captured all their riding camels, weapons and cattle.
The Quran verse 9:25 was also revealed in this event according to Muslim scholars:
Some of the enemies fled, and Muhammad chased after them. Similar battalions chased after other enemies, Rabi‘a bin Rafi‘ caught up with Duraid bin As-Simmah who was an old man, and killed him.
. This is mentioned by the Muslim jurist Tabari as follows:

Aftermath

Because Malik ibn Awf al-Nasri had brought the families and flocks of the Hawazin along, the Muslims were able to capture huge spoils, consisting of 6,000 women and children were taken prisoners and 24,000 camels were captured. Some Bedouins fled, and split into two groups.
. One group went back, resulting in the Battle of Autas

Battle of Autas

The Battle of Autas or Awtas was an early battle involving Muslim forces, fought in the year 630 in Awtas, Saudi Arabia, after the Battle of Hunayn, but prior to the Siege of Ta'if. Muhammad came with 12,000 fighters against a coalition of tribes...

, while the larger group found refuge at al-Ta'if, where Muhammad besieged them

Siege of Ta'if

The Siege of Taif took place in 630 CE, as the Muslims besieged the city of Taif after their victory in the Battle of Hunayn and Autas. However, the city did not succumb to the siege. One of their chieftains, Urwah ibn Mas'ud, was absent in Yemen during that siege...

.

Muslims so fiercely pursued the enemy, that some of the Muslim intentionally killed some little children. After Muhammad heard of this, he strictly forbade this act,according to the Non Muslim scholar Sir William Muir. .

Islamic Primary sources

The event is mentioned in the Sunni Hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

 collection Sahih Bukhari

Sahih Bukhari

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...

 as follows:
The event is also in Imam Maliks Al-Muwatta as follows:

External links

• http://islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=40434
• http://islamanswers.net/moreAbout/Hunayn.htm
• http://hizb-ut-tahrir.org/english/books/state/chapter_27.html