Battle of Hunayn and the Pride in Numbers
Fought in 630 CE between Muslims and the non-Muslim Bedouin tribe of Hawazin in the outskirts of Mecca, the Battle of Hunayn is an important battle that has somehow not found a place in everyday Muslim discourse if compared to the battles of Badr, Uhud, or Trench.
Battle of Hunayn, among other battles, is one good example that tells us numbers don’t matter. In the earlier battles such as those of Badr, Uhud, or Trench the Muslims were vastly outnumbered, however in this one which took place after the Treaty of Hudaybiah and the Fall of Mecca, the number of Muslims was huge. It was the largest ever Muslim army at the time. The Muslims were sure that they would not lose the battle because of numbers. The Prophet did not approve of such an attitude. In fact, some reports in Sunan Ad Darimi and Musnad Ahmed report to us the example of a Prophet upon whose flock God had sent death for they had felt proud of their numbers.
When the battle of Hunayn had just started the Hawazin welcomed the Muslims with an array of arrows. Such was the scale of the first Hawazin offensive that the Muslim army began to flee in the very first volley. The place, as if, became narrow for them and they fled. These were the people who had trusted numbers, in contrast, there were a few who trusted God irrespective of numbers. What happened to them, did they flee as well?
Muhammad (saw) did not fall back, with a handful of companions he started moving towards the enemies. Single-handedly kept on fighting, asking God alone for help. His words like “I am a Prophet. This is no lie” or “Where are the people. Come back to me. I am the Messenger of God. I am Muhammad”, would have stricken terror in the hearts of enemies. Within minutes the tables had turned and Muslims won the battle (I am not going into details).
Quran has immortalized the incident through the following verses of Tawbah:
“And remember the day of Hunayn when your numbers pleased you. But it was of no avail to you whatsoever. The earth became narrow to you, despite its vastness and then you fled backwards.”
The next aayah immortalizes the Prophet’s endeavor:
“Then God send down peace on his Messenger and the believers. He sent down forces which you did not see and punished the unbelievers.”
Today, we often feel proud of our numbers (the Naik type evangelists), the same numbers that have brought our deen to shame. Today the numbers are like that of Hunain (figuratively) but there is no Prophet amongst us who could win us the battle. We should stop this number of pride and rise up from this slumber, make peace and love, make the world a better place to live in.
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