ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Message Chapter 49: The Battle of Hunayn It was the usual practice with the Prophet that whenever he conquered a region, he personally looked after its political problems and the religious matters of its inhabitants, so long as he stayed there, and as and when he left that place he appointed there suitable persons on different posts.

Its reason was that the people of these regions, who were acquainted with the old and wound-up systems, did not possess information about the system which had replaced it.

Islam is a social, moral, political and religious system, its laws emanate from revelation, and acquainting people with these laws and their enforcement amongst them needs distinguished, mature and learned persons, who should teach them correct principles of Islam intelligently and should also enforce Islamic system amongst them.

When the Prophet decided to leave Makkah for the territories of the tribes of Hawazin and Saqif, he appointed Mu'az bin Jabal as a guide to educate and instruct the people and entrusted the government and administration of the city and imamate (leading prayers) in the mosque to 'Atab bin Usayd, who was a capable person.

After staying in Makkah for fifteen days the Prophet proceeded to the land of Hawazin tribe.[^1] An Unmatched Army On that day the Prophet had twelve thousand armed soldiers under his standard. Out of them ten thousand were those, who had accompanied him from Madina and had taken part in the conquest of Makkah, and the other two thousand were from amongst Quraysh, who had embraced Islam recently. The command of this group rested with Abu Sufyan.

In those days such an army was hardly found anywhere and this numerical strength of theirs became the cause of their initial defeat. It was because, contrary to the past, they prided themselves on the large number of their soldiers and ignored the military tactics and principles of war.

When Abu Bakr's eyes fell on the large number of men he said: "We shan't at all be defeated, because our soldiers far outnumber those of the enemy''.[^2] He did not, however, pay attention to this reality that numerical superiority is not the only factor for victory and in fact this factor is of little importance. The Holy Qur'an itself mentions this fact and says: Allah has helped you on many occasions including the day of Hunayn.