Quraysh Preparations for the Battle of Uhud

❧The Four Reasons for Uhud

Dr. Yasir Qadhi opens by distinguishing Uḥud from Badr: Badr was a reconnaissance mission that escalated; Uḥud was the first deliberate, fully-armed offensive launched by the Quraysh against the Muslims. Four categories of motivation drove it:

1. Religious: By now, the Quraysh had developed deep religious animosity to Islam, to monotheism, to the Prophet ﷺ, to everything Islam stood for.

2. Social: Revenge. The Battle of Badr had killed the flower of Qurayshi leadership. ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl had lost his father Abū Jahl. Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah had lost his father Umayyah ibn Khalaf. Abu Sufyān himself was humiliated. The social wound of Badr demanded blood.

3. Economic: The Qurayshi trade pipeline, the lifeline between Syria and Yemen, ran directly through Madinah's territory. Muslim interdiction had made it unusable. Even the alternative eastern route they tried (through Qarada) was intercepted and the entire caravan captured. With no functioning trade route, the Qurayshi economy was collapsing. Q 8:36, revealed in Sūrah al-Anfāl right after Badr, foretold this: "Those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn people away from Allah's path. They will spend it, then regret it, then be defeated." Allah was referring to the Quraysh raising money for Uḥud.

4. Political: The Prophet ﷺ was increasingly becoming a political force, building alliances with tribes across Arabia. The Muslim community was growing in size and influence. The Quraysh recognized an existential political threat.

❧Funding the War

Ibn Isḥāq tells us that Abu Sufyān made up his mind about Uḥud the moment he returned from the Badr caravan. An entire year of planning followed.

Abu Sufyān enlisted ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl and Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah, the sons of the two greatest Qurayshi leaders killed at Badr, as his co-organizers. He then went door-to-door to every Makkān who had invested in the Badr caravan (which had come back safely with its profits). He reclaimed the profits: "Hand it back, we are going to war."

Allah referenced this fundraising in Q 8:36 (within Sūrah al-Anfāl, revealed right after Badr): predicting that they will spend the money, regret spending it, and ultimately be defeated.

❧Allied Forces: Kinānah and Tihāmah

The Quraysh realized they did not have enough manpower to fight the Muslims alone. They reached out to the two great confederate tribal groups of the Ḥijāz:

- Kinānah, one of the largest tribal confederations, with shared economic interests in the Syria trade route

- Tihāmah, the coastal tribes, also invested in the caravan economy

Dr. Qadhi notes that neither tribe contributed primarily manpower; their main contribution was logistics and armory, lending their unused suits of armor, weapons, and saddles to the Qurayshi force. This was the first time the conflict was truly expanding beyond Quraysh alone into a broader Islam-vs-Kufr confrontation.

The final Qurayshi-led force: approximately 3,000 men, 200 horses, and 700 suits of armor (for which they had to seek outside help, given how expensive armor was). They departed Makkah on the 7th of Shawwāl, 3rd year of Hijrah, and in their eagerness covered the normally 10–14 day journey in seven days.

❧The Leadership Structure

- Overall Commander: Abu Sufyān ibn Ḥarb

- Right Flank: Khālid ibn al-Walīd (still a pagan at this point; the most gifted military mind in the Qurayshi force)

- Left Flank: ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl

- Women (motivation force): Up to two dozen Qurayshi noblewomen accompanied the army, led by Hind bint ʿUtbah (wife of Abu Sufyān). They chanted sensual war poetry encouraging the men forward, a combination of cheerleaders and psychological pressure ensuring the men could not retreat without shame.

❧Al-ʿAbbās's Intelligence Report

Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet's uncle, most likely a secret Muslim after the Battle of Badr, was still living in Makkah. As soon as the Qurayshi army departed, he sent a trusted servant with a detailed written report: the number of men, horses, armor, and the entire layout of the army.

Two possible reasons for his delay until the army's departure: either the Quraysh themselves didn't fully trust al-ʿAbbās and only informed him at the last moment, or he wisely waited until the city was empty before sending anyone, since sending a messenger earlier would have made his espionage obvious.

The servant traveled the Makkah–Madinah route in three days, the fastest humanly possible, and found the Prophet ﷺ at Qubāʾ. Since the Prophet ﷺ was the Nabī al-Ummī (unlettered), he told Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, who was present, to read the letter aloud. Ubayy read out all the details of the Qurayshi army. The Prophet ﷺ then instructed Ubayy: "Do not tell anyone until I inform you."

The Prophet immediately returned to Madinah and consulted privately with some Anṣārī leaders, in particular Saʿd ibn ar-Rabīʿ, one of the senior commanders of Khazraj, before calling a general assembly the following day (Friday).

❧Then he sent 2–3 independent spies to verify the report

Dr. Qadhi highlights this: "The Prophet ﷺ completely trusted his uncle al-ʿAbbās. Yet still, the intelligence was so consequential that you cannot act on even a genuine honest mistake. So he verified independently." The spies came back confirming: the Qurayshi army was grazing at a pasture a day or two from Madinah. The clock was ticking.

❧Qurʾānic Reference: Sūrah al-Anfāl 8:36

"Inna lladhīna kafarū yunfiqūna amwālahum liyaṣuddū ʿan sabīlillāh. Fasayunfiqūnahā thumma takūnu ʿalayhim ḥasratan thumma yughlabūn."

"Those who disbelieve spend their wealth to block the way of Allah. They will spend it, then regret it, then be defeated."

Dr. Qadhi points out: Sūrah al-Anfāl was revealed right after Badr, and yet within it Allah is already predicting Uḥud, predicting that the money they are raising right now (to fund Uḥud) will be spent, regretted, and wasted in defeat.

❧A Note on Women and Battle

The Qurayshi women who accompanied the army to Uḥud (Hind bint ʿUtbah and up to two dozen others) were an exception even by the standards of the time, most Qurayshi battles were fought without women present at all. On the Muslim side, women generally did not accompany military expeditions either. When a woman once asked the Prophet ﷺ to let her perform jihād, he replied: "Jihādukunna al-Ḥajj", "Your jihād is the Ḥajj." Uḥud, being within walking distance of Madīnah itself, would later become one of the rare exceptions where a handful of Anṣārī women came to the battlefield in a supporting role, but this was still not the same as combat participation, and remained the exception rather than the rule.