30/12/2023
The Perfect Moment
All disagreed with him - not a single one supported his judgement in this critical situation.
Although seasoned over the years, proving their faith and nerve across countless trials and battles, the senior sahabah (ra) stood opposed to the newly appointed Khaleefah’s decision.
After twenty three years of toil and effort, particularly accelerated during the latter ten year period with the Islamic state’s founding in Medina, the Prophet (saw) had subdued or convinced the tribes across the Arabian Peninsula into submitting and living under the rule of Islam.
Almost instantly at the death of the Prophet (saw), however, almost all these tribes broke away from the Islamic state’s authority, with many renouncing Islam itself and refusing to fulfil their obligations to the state. But now numerous tribes, including some of the largest and most powerful, dared to go further and take up arms against Medina itself in a bid to overrun the Islamic state at this vulnerable point.
Caught between grieving the recent death of his beloved lifelong friend and guide amidst dissenting views from his trusted fellow companions (ra) on one hand and an alarming rebellion from unruly tribes on the other – Abu Bakr (ra), otherwise a meek and soft spoken man, stood resolute like a rock.
The sahabah (ra), comprising outstanding veterans the likes of Umar (ra) and Abu Ubaidah (ra), had tried to persuade Abu Bakr (ra) otherwise. They (ra) explained that by sending the main army of the Muslims many miles away from Medina and for so long, at this politically delicate time, would leave the Islamic state defenceless in the face of revolting tribes. On top of this many battle hardened commanders within the army were perplexed at the appointment of the young Usama Ibn Zayd (ra) as the Amir of such an expedition.
Abu Bakr (ra) listened patiently to their advice, but outright rejected it. He was instead determined to hear and obey one of the final commands issued by the Prophet (saw) to the letter, and put his complete trust in Allah (swt) in the process and send out the army under the command of Usama (ra). In the words of Lt Gen (Rtd) A.I. Akram of the Pakistan army, who documented and narrated in detail the early battles of Islam from a tactical perspective, this decision stood in complete contrast to military principles and thinking.
The army of Usama (ra) broke camp and marched out. On sight of this, it ultimately had the opposite effect on the apostate tribes opposing Medina and eager for confrontation. They came to the conclusion that if Medina could send out an army this size at such a perilous time, then what remained behind must be more formidable, and so attacking Medina would be a grave mistake. The few tribes that did attempt to attack, were driven off by gathering warriors from Banu Hashim, the tribe of the Prophet (saw), whose men remained behind to see to the burial of the Prophet (saw).
It was later considered that Abu Bakr’s (ra) short but instrumental two year period as Khaleefah, where he regained control of all of Arabia and positioned the Muslim armies for their conquests over the superpower empires of the time, Persia and Byzantine, can be traced to this one decision and the blessing it brought along with the confidence it inspired in the Muslim soldiers.
In fact such one sided odds were almost always the case with the battles Muslims fought. Never had they been adequately prepared for the often precarious circumstances they were thrown into.
The battle of Badr was the first example, where a Muslim force had set out to raid an enemy trade caravan, only learning en route that a much larger army had been sent out by the Quraish to confront them. The Muslims had only 300 odd men including only two cavalry. The Quraish army in contract was numerically much bigger and far better equipped. Yet the Muslims stepped out into the battlefield with their conviction as their main armour and weapon and earnt a famous victory.
Equally the last major battle fought in Sham by the Muslims with the Byzantine empire was of colossal scale. The Eastern Roman empire would draw together five huge armies comprised of professional soldiers into one vast army numbering around 200,000, a sea of men that dwarfed the 40,000 odd disparate Muslims when the two forces met on the plain of Al Yarmouk, with the battle front being several miles long. Despite this, after six days of battle, the Muslim army obliterated the Roman army and dealt a decisive blow that marked the end of the Eastern Roman Empire in the region.
So never was there a ‘perfect moment’ for the Muslims to confront the enemy. They were almost always on the back foot by lacking something physical in nature or with pivotal conditions aligned against them. But as Muslims they stepped forward with what means they had, improvised where they could, bound together like a solid wall with their faith as cohesion – and time and time again they defeated an enemy multitude in size. Without a doubt this has always been, and always will be, the formula for success for all Muslim armies.
Equally today, as Gaza cries out to the Muslim armies to mobilise and rescue it from the tyrannical genocide inflicted by the Zionist entity, the Muslim officers of the Ummah’s sizeable armies, who don the names of greats, Umar, Khalid, Abubakr, Saad, Ali and so on, must remember that there never will exist a ‘perfect moment’ for them to act. There will forever be something lacking of material nature or some political climate positioned against them. But nevertheless they must step in the footsteps of our great predecessors and make what preparation they can within the means they have and then place their entire trust in Allah (swt). This is the need of the hour, not only for the oppressed in the Ummah, but for their very own souls, as only this way will the Muslim officers avoid eternal punishment and instead earn victory in this life and everlasting reward in the next inshaAllah.
Mohamed Asif
