Battle of Hunayn is one of the famous battles in Islamic history. The battle was led by the prophet Muhammad in 630 CE or during the month of Shawwal in the eight of Hijrah.
The battle was fought by the Muslim fight against the Badawi (Badiun) tribe of Hawazin and the tribe of Thaqif. The battle took place in the Hunayn valley which located about 18-20 km on the route from Mecca to Taif.
The Background of The Battle
When the first time for the prophet Muhammad decided to leave the town as the history of holy city Mecca in Islam perspective, he made an appointment to Mu’az bin Jabal.
The prophet guided and educate him to entrust the people and the government through the administration to lead the imamate prayer in the Mosque to Atab bin Usayd. After this, the information spread quickly and make the prophet proceeded the land of Hawazin tribe
The tribe of Hawazin and Thaqif were the last tribe that against the prophet Muhammad avoid through the message of Islam. The dreadful of the tribe was bordering Mecca.
They were possessed strongly with the polytheism and avoid to surrender to the Muslim without any resistance. They did not agree with the reason why Muslims celebrate Eid.
The Hawazin tribe was the one tribe that didn’t resist to accept the message of Islam by the prophet Muhammad. Their former leader, Malik ibn Awf Al-Nasri order his people which commonly all of the men to gather the women, children, and money to blast the prophet Muhammad during his mission spreading the message of Islam.
An Unequal Army
The battle of Hunayn was inevitable by Muslims so that the prophet Muhammad gather about 12,000 armies. They were coming from the Madina and had taken a part of conquering Mecca with ten thousand armies.
The two thousand more comings from were those who followed him by conquest the Quraysh. They already knew the importance of this battle as they knew the importance of reflection of Islam.
The prophet Muhammad and his armies thought that they have a big amount of armies for the first place. The prophet and everyone was the confidence with that large or armies in achieving the battle without any effort.
The lead former of the Hawazin was intimidated by the prophet Muhammad with the outnumber of the army he has. But, it did not make the prophet down. He decided to change his plan to win the battle.
The battle took the place in the Hunayn valley, a place between Mecca and Ta’if. Since the army of the prophet Muhammad goes down through the valley, they have been barely equipped with armor clothes.
They suddenly got arrows jumped into them. His armies began to panic then one by one left him from the valley. Only 9 from 12,000 who still stood in the valley against about 24,000 of Hawazin armies.
The Fortitude of The Prophet Muhammad
The prophet Muhammad realized that only 9 persons of 12,000 people still stood with him to fight the battle. By this amount of armies, the prophet was calm in his faith and wisdom.
He taught them how to develop self-control in Islam. He began to drag his horse towards the battlefield. His uncle, Abbas was on his right side, then Fadl, the son of Abbas, on his left side.
At the critical moment, Imam Ali has rallied himself towards the battlefield alone. Then the prophet Muhammad realized it so that he told Abbas to call him.
Abbas called him in a manner of Islam and shouted him so that he came back to the prophet. As Imam Ali came back, so the barrier of the prophet Muhammad was safe.
To calm his Muslim armies, he said that “ I am the Prophet of Allah and never tell a lie and Allah has promised me with a victory.” All of the men of his armies were noticed with his words immediately.
They were reminded of putting their trust only in Allah and how to avoid envy in Islam. So that they were ready to fight the Hawazin and the Thaqif armies.
Once the prophet started to fight the enemy becomes weak and afraid of him. The Hawazin and the Thaqif attacked the prophet with stones and arrows, and swords. They were in force and fully armed, but the prophet and his armies were terrified when they descended.
The prophet comes to them with faith in Allah. Ali was the one who succeeded to down the balance of the form leader of Hawazin fall from his camel.
And then he killed the leader with hand to hand fight. By the form leader from the Hawazin and the Thaqif killed, their armies were started to panic.
That made the army of the Hawazin and Thaqif run away from the battlefield. The prophet called them back but no one was heard him. They left their women, the child, horses, and their stock. So that how the prophet Muhammad won the battle.
The Lesson Learned of The Hunayn Battle
The power of the prophet Muhammad’s armies was amazed an overwhelmed the Hawazin and the Thaqif armies.
The lesson learned we can take from the battle of Hunayn is that the victory always comes from Allah to them who believed Him. This battle mentions in the Quran Surah At Tawbah verse 25.
لَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ اللّٰهُ فِيْ مَوَاطِنَ كَثِيْرَةٍۙ وَّيَوْمَ حُنَيْنٍۙ اِذْ اَعْجَبَتْكُمْ كَثْرَتُكُمْ فَلَمْ تُغْنِ عَنْكُمْ شَيْـًٔا وَّضَاقَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْاَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ ثُمَّ وَلَّيْتُمْ مُّدْبِرِيْنَۚ – ٢٥
“Indeed, Allah has helped you (believers) on many battlefields, and (remember) the Battle of Hunain, when your large numbers boast about you, but (that many) are completely useless to you, and the vast earth feels narrow to you , then you turn back and run helter-skelter.”