Life-of-Muhammad

72Life of Muhammad sato Medina, he saw women and children who had comeout of Medina to receive him. The cord of his dromedarywas held by Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh ra , a chief of Medina. Sa‘d rawas leading the dromedary pompously. He seemed toproclaim to the world that Muslims had after allsucceeded in leading the Prophet sa back to Medina haleand hearty. As he was advancing he saw his own agedmother advancing to meet the returning party ofMuslims. This aged woman was very weak-sighted.Sa‘d ra recognized her and, turning to the Prophet sa , said,"Here, O Prophet sa , is my mother.""Let her come forward," replied the Prophet sa .The woman came forward and with a vacant looktried to spot the Prophet's sa face. At last she was able tospot it and was glad. The Prophet sa seeing her said,"Woman, I grieve over the loss of thy son.""But," replied the devoted woman, "after I have seenyou alive, I have swallowed all my misfortunes." TheArabic expression she used was "I have roasted mymisfortune and swallowed it" (Halbiyya, Vol. 2, p. 210).What depth of emotion does this expression indicate.Normally, grief eats up a human being, and here was anaged woman who had lost her son, a staff for her oldage. But she said that, instead of letting her grief eat herup, she had eaten up her grief. The fact that her sonhad died for the Prophet sa would sustain her during therest of her days.The Prophet sa reached Medina. In this battle, manyMuslims were killed and many wounded. Still the battlecannot be said to have ended in defeat for Muslims. Theincidents which we have related above prove the reverse.They prove that Uhud was as great a victory for Muslimsas any other. Muslims who turn to the pages of theirearly history can derive sustenance and inspiration fromUhud.Back in Medina, the Prophet sa returned to hismission. He engaged himself again in training andteaching his followers. But as before, his work did not goon uninterruptedly. After Uhud, the Jews became more