Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
6. The Path of the Prophet
~ 127 ~
As news of the advance of Usamah’s army spread
around Arabia, opponents saw in it a sign of the
Muslims’ confidence. They presumed that the
Prophet’s followers must have considerable
reserves of strength to be able to send an army so
far from Madinah at such a critical time. They
decided to await the outcome of the Syrian
campaign before attacking the city: if the Muslims
met defeat, then they would be sufficiently
weakened for an offensive against their capital to be
feasible.
Usamah ibn Zayd’s army was eminently successful
against the Romans. The campaign, which lasted
forty days, also proved that Usamah was the most
suitable person for this expedition for, his father
having been martyred fighting the Roman army at
Muta, he was keen for revenge. A large number of
captives and great quantities of booty went back
with the Muslims to Madinah. The rebels lost heart
on seeing this, and their revolt was quelled with
comparative ease. So it was that the Muslims
achieved success on both fronts, simply by having
done as the Prophet said.
