indeed adroitly used this argument and said: 'How can Muhammad pretend to be
anything more than an aspirant to the kingly office? No true claimant of
the prophetic dignity hath ever been beaten on the field, or suffered
loss in his own person and that of his followers, as he hath.'1 It
required all the skill and address of the Prophet to meet the objections of the
Jews and to remove the latent doubt in the minds of some of his followers. This
he did by a very skillful production of revelations to explain that the defeat
at Uhud was due partly to their own dissensions, partly to disobedience to
orders and their desire for personal safety. Thus he says:
Already had God made good to you His promise, when by His permission ye
destroyed your foes, until your courage failed you and ye disputed about the
order2 and disobeyed, after that the Prophet had brought
you within view of that for which ye longed.
Some of you were for this world and some for the next.3 Then, in
order to make trial of you, He turned you to flight from them. Sura Al-'Imran
(iii) 145-6.
The defeat was said to have been sent as a test of their sincerity and of the
soundness of their belief. Thus:
If a wound hath befallen you, a wound like it hath already befallen others.4
We alternate these days