Insurrection at Tayef
The occupation of Mecca by Muhammad ﷺ (may peace be upon him) did not bring the rest of Arabia under his sway. Foremost of the cities that held out against him was the city of Tayef, which was inhabited by the powerful tribe of Hawazin people with whom Muhammad ﷺ (may peace be upon him) had sought to take refuge some two years before the “Hijra” when he was persecuted by the Meccan Qureish. They had rejected him and turned him out of their territory, and had pelted him with stones. Ever jealous of their liberty, they defied Muhammad ﷺ authority. Calling all the tribes of the Bedouines, the Thakif and others who pastured their flocks on their territory, they formed a formidable league, and decided to overwhelm the rising Muslim power before it had had time to challenge their authority. They mobilised levies to offer armed resistance to the Muslims. The Muslim intelligence, ever vigilant, informed the Holy Prophet of these nefarious intentions.
The Battle of Huniyan
In February 630 A.D. Muhammad ﷺ accompanied by Ali and other companions, led an army of 12,000 strong against them. In order to reach the fertile valley of Tayef, they had to pass through a narrow defile called Huniyan, situated some ten miles from the north east of Mecca. It was a narrow and dismal place, leaving little room for an army to pass through, except in single file. Nor could camels and horses be manoeuvred within its narrow walls. Concealing themselves under the precipitous side of the rocky galley, the tribesmen from the hills showered avalanches of rocks and arrows on the Muslims. Like the narrow track (about twelve yards wide) of Thermopylae in Greece, where the Spartan king, Leonidas, with a force of three hundred soldiers defied for many hours the mighty Persian army of Xerxes, Huniyan prevented all attempts by the Muslim cavalry to organise a charge. Panic began to spread amongst the Muslim troops and another defeat like that of Uhud seemed inevitable.
Ali Rallies the Muslim Forces
At this critical moment Ali is said to have rallied the disorganised forces around him, inspiring them to fight with fresh fury. Riding at their head and flourishing his sword, Ali pressed back the enemy by the sheer weight of numbers, driving them out of the defile and into the open valley, where he inflicted a crushing defeat on them. The defeat turned into a rout, the rout into as bloody massacre and Ali who had killed the commander of the enemy in a hand to hand fight, soon. became aware that the enemy was anxious! to surrender.
As a result of this victory enormous booty fell into Muslim hands. The battle of Huniyan, one of the most famous episodes in the history of Islam, was notable not only for the valour of the Muslim troops but also for the clemency, with which, after the battle was over, the prisoners were treated. Six hundred of the enemy were freed without having to pay ransom.
2. Iba Hisham-Sirat. Vol. II. p.
Huniyan is commemorated in Chapter IX of the Qur’an where we read:
“25. God did surely help you in many battlefields and on the day of Huniyan, when you prided yourself on your numbers, it availed you nothing. The earth with all its breadth be- came too strait for you. backs in flight. So you turned your
26. Then God sent down His tranquility upon His Apostle and upon the believers and sent down hosts which you did not sec, and chas- tised those who disbelieved, and that is the reward of the unbelievers.”
(Qur’an 9:25-26)
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 