UMAR BN ALKHATTAB 29: A Surprise for Umair ibn Wahb The Quraysh followed Abu Jahal’s order and incarcerated many of their relatives who had become Muslims to deny them going to Madinah, However, many others maneuvered their ways to Madinah. Seeing this, the Quraysh seized their properties. In the long run, Abu Sufyan decided to include those properties to his caravan and sought to sell them out to Syria. When the Muslims in Madinah learnt this, they decided to intercept them on the way. The Quraysh, heard of this plan and they gathered an army of 1,000 soldiers with 100 horses and 700 camels, matched towards Madinah and eventually stayed at Badr. It was at Badr that the Quraysh eventually made up their minds to attack the Muslims, against Utbah’s advice that they should return home. The Muslims were able to gather just 313 soldiers with 3 camels. On the 8th day of Ramadan, 2nd year of Hejirah, the two armies met at the Badr. It was a fierce battle but the Quraysh, in spite of their number, were defeated woefully. They lost quite a number of prominent people, including the sworn enemy of the Holy Prophet (SAW), Abu Jahal bn Khalaf, Abu Sufyan’s father-in-law, Utbah, Hind’s uncle and brother, and many others were also taken as prisoners of war. Makkah was indeed in the mood of grief when, one sunny day, Umair ibn Wahb thought of a well planned scheme to travel to Madinah, with the pretext of securing the release of his son, who was in captivity in the hands of the Muslims, and thus, have the chance of being alone with the Holy Prophet (SAW). He confided in his ally, Safwan ibn Umayyah, who encouraged him not to hesitate in carrying out his plans. On a very hot afternoon, Umair rode on his camel to Madinah and told the Muslims that he wanted to see the Holy Prophet, one-on-one, over his son. Umar bn AlKhattab was suspicious, so he denied his entrance, interrogating him of his true mission. Then Bilal came and said the Holy Prophet had granted him the permission to see him. When Umair ibn Wahab came back to Makkah, he headed straight to Safwan ibn Umayyah’s house. Safwan was very happy to see him, and asked him if he had accomplished his mission. But Umair said, gently “Safwan, I’ve embraced Islam. I am now a Muslim.” Safwan’s face changed immediately, he could not believe his ears. “It would have been better you were dead, Umair”, he said. Umair answered quietly, “Abu Umayyah, my friend, I swear, the man is a Prophet and his faith is the true faith. And I swear. He told me in detail what the two of us had planned. And you know that no one was party to our secrete, except God who informed His Prophet.” Safwan looked at his friend with contempt, and said, “Muhammad has, indeed, bewitched you, as he has bewitched others.”
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:08:54 +0000
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