The Battle of Hunayn

A great battle fought in Shawwal 8 AH (January 630 CE) in Wadi Hunayn between Mecca and al-Ta'if, in which the Muslim army — twelve thousand fighters — faced the hosts of Hawazin and Thaqif under Malik ibn Awf al-Nasri ¹. The polytheists ambushed the Muslims and broke their cavalry early in the morning; then the Prophet stood firm with a few of his Companions, the Muslims wheeled back, and they won ².

Malik ibn Awf mustered Hawazin and Thaqif and drove the fighters' wealth, women and children with them so they would not flee ³. The veteran horseman Durayd ibn al-Simma reproached him for it at Awtas, saying: "does anything turn back the routed? If the day is yours, only a man with his sword avails you; and if it is against you, you are disgraced before your family" ⁴.

The Prophet learned of their gathering and sent Abdullah ibn Abi Hadrad al-Aslami as a scout to bring him word of them ⁵. The Prophet borrowed a hundred coats of mail with their arms from Safwan ibn Umayya as a guaranteed loan, and marched out with twelve thousand fighters, leaving Attab ibn Asid in charge of Mecca ⁶.

The Muslims descended into Wadi Hunayn in the darkness of dawn, and Hawazin's battalions surprised them with arrows and a fierce volley from the valley's gorges and narrows; horses and men turned back in flight ⁷.

The Prophet took the right side on his white mule with a small band — Ali, al-Abbas, Usama ibn Zayd and Ayman ibn Ubayd among them — calling out: "I am the Prophet, no lie; I am the son of Abd al-Muttalib" ⁸. He ordered al-Abbas to call in his powerful voice: "O Companions of the Tree! O companions of Sura al-Baqara!", and the Muslims came rushing back ⁹.

The two armies grappled and the fighting grew hot; the Prophet said: "now the oven blazes," then cast a handful of pebbles at the polytheists' faces saying: "may the faces be disfigured" — and Hawazin and Thaqif were routed ¹⁰. Thaqif fled to al-Ta'if under Qarib ibn al-Aswad, Hawazin took refuge at Awtas, and the Muslims took their wealth and captives ¹¹.

The Prophet left Mecca on Saturday 6 Shawwal 8 AH with twelve thousand — ten thousand of those who had conquered Mecca and two thousand of its people — having borrowed a hundred coats of mail with their gear from Safwan ibn Umayya ¹². On the road the army passed the tree Dhat Anwat and the famous incident of Dhat Anwat took place, and Anas ibn Abi Marthad al-Ghanawi volunteered for the watch that night ¹³.

Some of the army, looking to its size, said: we cannot be beaten today for want of numbers — and that grieved the Prophet ¹³. When the Muslims were first routed, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb — then new to Islam — said their defeat would not end before the sea, and Jabala or Kalda ibn al-Junayd cried: sorcery is void today ¹³.

Among the captives were six thousand souls, including al-Shayma bint al-Harith al-Sa'diyya, the Prophet's foster-sister; she made herself known to him, he honoured her, spread his cloak for her and sent her back to her people ¹⁴. The spoils were held at al-Ji'rana — twenty-four thousand camels, more than forty thousand sheep and four thousand uqiyya of silver among them — with Mas'ud ibn Amr al-Ghifari placed in charge ¹⁴.

The battle settled important matters: it broke the last armed pagan gathering in the Hijaz, and in it the Prophet forbade killing women, children and wage-labourers ¹⁵. Qur'anic guidance came down teaching the lesson of pride in numbers, in Sura al-Tawba 25–26.