Obeida answered the charge, and in front of the opposing
ranks three Homeric conflicts raged.

Hamza, the lion of God, and Ali, the sword of the faith, quickly overcame
their opponents, but Obeida was wounded before he could spear his man.
The sight gave courage to the Kureisch, and now the main body of them
pressed on, seeking to overwhelm the Muslim by sheer weight. The heavy
ground impeded their movements, and they came on slowly with what anxious
expectation on the part of Mahomet's soldiers, whom their Prophet had
commanded to await his signal.

When the Kureisch were near enough Mahomet lifted his hand:

"Ya Mansur amit!" (Ye conquerors, strike!) he cried, pointing with
outstretched finger at the close ranks bearing down upon them; "Paradise
awaits him who lays down his life for Islam."

The Muslim with a wild cry dashed forward against their foe. But the
Kureisch were brave and they were numerous, and the Muslim were few and
almost untutored. The battle raged, surging like foam within the narrow
valley; its waves now roaring almost up to the Prophet's vantage ground,
now retreating in eddies towards the rear of the Kureisch, under a
lowering sky, whose wind-swept clouds seemed to reflect the strife in the
Heavens.

"Behold Gabriel with a thousand angels charging down upon the Infidels!"
cried Mahomet, as a blast of wind tore shrieking down the valley. "See
Muhail and Seraphil with their troops rush to the help of God's chosen."

Then as the Muslim seemed to waver, pressed back by the mass of their
enemies, he appeared in their midst, and, taking a handful of dust, cast
it in the face of the foe:

"Let their faces be confounded!"

The Muslim, caught by the magnetism of Mahomet's presence, seized by the
immortal energy which radiated from him, rallied their strength. With a
shout they bore down upon the Kureisch, who wavered and broke beneath
this inspired onrush, within whose vigour dwelt all Mahomet's surcharged
ambition and indomitable aims. He commanded the attack to be followed up
at once, and the Kureisch, hampered in their retreat by the marshy
ground, fell in confusion, their ranks shattered, their champions crushed
in the welter of spears and horsemen, swords, armour, sand, blood, and
the bodies of men.

The order went forth from Mahomet to spare as much as possible his own
house of Hashim, but otherwise the slaughter was as remorseless as the
temper of the Muslim ensured. Of the Prophet's army,