The Wounding of the Prophet and the Revelation of 'Laysa Laka Minal-Amri Shay'

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

It is agreed the Prophet (ﷺ) was wounded at Uḥud; how many times and by whom is a matter of differing reports, but piecing them together suggests at least three separate wounds:

1. ʿUtbah ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, the pagan brother of the Companion Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, two blood brothers fighting on opposite sides, threw a stone that struck the Prophet's face and injured his lip.

2. ʿUtbah ibn Abī Waqqāṣ also (or in some reports, in the same exchange) fired an arrow that entered through a chink in the Prophet's armor, pierced his cheek, and dislodged one of his teeth, considered the most severe of the wounds, since it was piercing rather than blunt.

3. ʿAbdullāh ibn Qamiʾah charged on horseback and swung his sword at the Prophet (ﷺ); Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydillāh partially deflected the blow with his shield, but the impact drove a link of the Prophet's own armor into the other side of his face.

Both cheeks were wounded. The Prophet (ﷺ) bled heavily, continually wiping the blood from his face and beard. In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, he is recorded saying in that moment: "Kayfa yufliḥu qawmun faʿalū hādhā bi-nabīyihim, How can a people succeed who have done this to their Prophet?" In another version: "How can they expect Allah's mercy when they do this to me while I call them to Jannah?"

Allah (subḥānahu wa taʿālā) subsequently revealed a verse in Sūrah Āl-i ʿImrān (3:128) correcting this statement: "Laysa laka minal-amri shayʾun aw yuʿadhhibahum aw yatūba ʿalayhim fa-innahum ẓālimūn, You have no share in the matter, whether Allah punishes them or forgives them, for indeed they are wrongdoers." Even a statement as understandable as "they will never be forgiven" was not the Prophet's (ﷺ) place to make, judgment belongs to Allah alone. The Shaykh notes this is one of the most powerful demonstrations of Tawḥīd in the entire Sīrah: if even the Prophet (ﷺ), the most beloved of creation, cannot decide who is forgiven or punished, no other created being can either. Understanding this single incident, properly, would eliminate all forms of shirk from the Ummah.

It is reported that after this correction, the Prophet (ﷺ) reversed his position and made duʿāʾ: "O Allah, forgive my people, for they do not know." Many of those present that day, including Khālid ibn al-Walīd himself, were later forgiven and became among the greatest defenders of Islam.

A further question arises: was the Prophet (ﷺ) not divinely protected? In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ narrated: "I saw the Prophet (ﷺ) on the day of Uḥud with two men dressed in the whitest of white fighting in front of him with a ferocity I had never witnessed before or since, I never saw them before Uḥud, and I never saw them after." These were angels, protecting him. The wounds he did sustain were therefore not a failure of that protection but a matter of Allah's decree (qadar), carrying wisdoms and lessons for the Ummah, while never being debilitating or fatal.