Life-of-Muhammad

172Life of Muhammad saanimals so as almost to make them touch their tails.But when they spurred the animals towards thebattlefield, they would not go. Instead, they moved backall the more. "Our hearts beat in fear—fear for the safetyof the Prophet sa ," says this Companion, "but there wasnothing we could do." This was how the Companionswere placed. The Prophet sa himself stood with a handfulof men, exposed on three sides to volleys of arrows.There was only one narrow pass behind them throughwhich only a few men could pass at a time. At thatmoment Abu Bakr ra dismounted and holding the reins ofthe Prophet's sa mule said, "Prophet sa of God, let uswithdraw for a while and let the Muslim army collectitself.""Release the reins of my mule, Abu Bakr ra ," said theProphet sa . Saying, this, he spurred the animal forwardinto the gorge on both sides of which were enemyambuscades from where the archers were shooting. Asthe Prophet sa spurred his mount, he said, "I am aProphet sa . I am no pretender. I am a son of ‘AbdulMuttalib" (Bukhari ). These words spoken at a time ofextreme danger to his person are full of significance.They stressed the fact that the Prophet sa was really aProphet sa , a true Messenger of God. By stressing this, hemeant that he was not afraid of death or of the failure ofhis cause. But if, in spite of being overwhelmed byarchers he remained safe, Muslims should not attributeany divine qualities to him. For he was but a humanbeing, a son of ‘Abdul Muttalib. How careful was theProphet sa ever to impress upon his followers thedifference between faith and superstition. After utteringthese memorable words, the Prophet sa called for‘Abbas ra . ‘Abbas ra had a powerful voice. The Prophet sasaid to him, " ‘Abbas ra , raise your voice and remind theMuslims of the oath they took under the tree atHudaibiya, and of what they were taught at the time ofthe revelation of the Surah Baqara. Tell them, theProphet sa of God calls them." ‘Abbas ra raised hispowerful voice. The message of the Prophet sa fell like