The Expedition of Hamra al-Asad

The pursuit of the retreating Quraysh the day after Uhud (Sunday 16 Shawwal 3 AH), by which the Prophet ﷺ deterred a second Quraysh attack and demonstrated that — for all its losses — Uhud had not broken the Muslims.

Background

Withdrawing from Uhud, the Quraysh began debating whether to turn back and finish the Muslims off. Ikrimah pressed hardest (“we have done nothing worthy of honour”); Safwan urged caution. Anticipating exactly this, the Prophet ﷺ ordered an immediate follow-up — “only those who fought at Uhud may come” (barring the 300 hypocrites) — and ~70 wounded Companions volunteered, led first by Ali and then the Prophet ﷺ himself, camping at Hamra al-Asad for three days.

Ma’bad’s ruse

Ma’bad al-Khuza’i — not a Muslim but sympathetic — visited the Prophet ﷺ with condolences, then met Abu Sufyan on the road. Asked about the Muslims, he painted them as “fuming for vengeance, an army lit for war” — unknowingly echoing Safwan’s own fear — and advised Abu Sufyan to “flee as fast as your horses will carry you.” Seeing so noble a man terrified sealed the Quraysh decision to return to Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ never learned of it at the time.

Significance

Allah praised the 70 in Q 3:172 — “those who responded to Allah and the Messenger after being wounded.” Aisha told her nephew Urwah ibn al-Zubayr: “both your fathers responded” (Zubayr and Abu Bakr). Hamra al-Asad is a key exhibit that Uhud was no rout: it was the Muslims who kept the field and pursued, while the Quraysh hurried home having gained none of their aims.

Cross-references

The Battle of Uhud · Muhammad ﷺ · Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) · Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (ra) · Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (ra) · Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl (ra) · Safwan ibn Umayya · Abu Sufyan ibn Harb (ra) · Nifaq (Hypocrisy) · Madinah (Yathrib) · Seerah Timeline

Sources

• S007 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 050. Draws on al-Waqidi’s Maghazi, Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham, and the tafsir of Surah Ali-Imran (Q 3:172–174).