Life-of-Muhammad

170Life of Muhammad sato kill and be killed. The tribe was renowned for its skillin archery, and the base they had selected afforded avery great advantage to them. The Prophet sa approachedSafwan ra , a prosperous chief of Mecca for the loan ofsuits of armour and weapons. Safwan ra replied, "Youseem to put pressure on me and think I will be overawedby your growing power and make over to you whateveryou ask?"The Prophet sa replied, "We wish to seize nothing. Weonly want a loan of these things, and are ready to give asuitable surety."Safwan ra was satisfied and agreed to lend thematerial. Altogether he supplied one hundred suits ofarmour and a suitable number of weapons. TheProphet sa borrowed three thousand lances from hiscousin, Naufal bin Harith ra and about thirty thousanddirhams from ‘Abdullah bin Rabi‘a (Mu’atta’, Musnadand Halbiyya). When the Muslim army set out towardsthe Hawazin, the Meccans expressed a wish to join theMuslim side. They were not Muslims, but they hadagreed to live under a Muslim regime. Accordingly, twothousand Meccans joined the Muslims. On the way, theycame to the noted Arab shrine, Dhat Anwat. Here wasan old jujube tree, sacred to the Arabs. When Arabsbought arms they first went to Dhat Anwat and hungthem in the shrine to receive its blessings for their arms.When the Muslim army passed by this shrine some ofthe soldiers said, "Prophet sa of God, there should be aDhat Anwat for us also."The Prophet sa disapproved and said, "You talk likethe followers of Moses as . When Moses as was going toCanaan, his followers saw on the way peopleworshipping idols, and said to Moses as , 'O Moses as , makefor us a god just as they have gods'" (Qur’an 7: 139).