Rafed English
site.site_name : Rafed English

In the melee above referred to, Obba b. Khalf, a Meccan champion, rushed towards the Prophet aiming at him with his spear; but he was himiself killed with his own spear; the Prophet snatching it out of his hands and dealing him a blow, striking him dead. Another tradition 1 says that he had received a wound from the Prophet's own hand but died of the same wound on his return to Mecca. Soon after this, the Prophet was wounded by a stone from a sling aimed at him by Otba, brother of Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas, which strucck the Prophet on the mouth, cutting his lips and shatterring two of his front teeth. 2 He was wounded en the face also by an arrow, the iron head of which could not be extracted by himself, and he lay bleeding for some time on the ground. 3 Blessed the timely aid and friendly hand of Ali, who, repulsing the enemy, came back and finding the Prophet in this condition conveyed him to a place of safety, extracted the arrowhead, staunched his blood and tended him, aided by his wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. No doubt Ali proved himself now, as before and as hereafter, the defender or right-hand of thee Prophet on all occasions of danger, in confirrnity with Good's Decree which the Prophet had seen inscribed in Heave n on the night of his Me'raj.

The reader may also recall the way Ali risked his own life in defending the Prophet, on the occasion of his escape from Mecca, by laying himself upon the couch in place of the Prophet, covering himself with the Prophet's well-known green mantle, and thus misleading the Meccans for some hours in their search and pursuit of the Prophet, who succeeded during the interval to hide himself in a cave on mount Thaur a hill to the South of Mecca.

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1 Al Bedzawi

2 Ibn Athir; Tarik-a1Khamis.

3 Tarikh Islam by Zakir Hosaini (vol. ii. page 1000).

Adapted from: "Ali, The Magnificent" by: "Yousuf N. Lalljee"