First Person to Shoot an Arrow in the Cause of Allah - Battle of Hazrat Ubaidah (ra) bin Harith
Hazrat Sa‘d (ra) was the first person who shed blood in the way of Allah. He was also the first person to shoot an arrow in the cause of Allah. This incident is from the Battle of Hazrat Ubaidah bin Harith.
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Kitab-ul-Sunnah, Hadith no. 131), (Al-Isti‘ab, Vol. 2, p. 607, Dar-ul-Jeel, Beirut) (Usdul Ghaba, Vol. 2, p. 453, Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, 2003)
Its details are as follows:
An expedition took place during Rabi-ul-Awwal of 2 AH, which is called the Battle of Hazrat Ubaidah bin Harith. Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Sahib (ra) has written in Sirat Khatamun-Nabiyyin:
“In the beginning of the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal, the Holy Prophet (sa) dispatched a company of the Muhajireen, comprising of 60 men mounted on horses or camels, in the leadership of a close relative, Ubaidah bin al-Harith Muttalibi. The objective of this campaign was to forestall the attacks of the Quraish of Mecca. As such, when Ubaidah bin al-Harith and his companions covered some ground and arrived close to Thaniyyatul-Murrah (Thaniyyatul-Murrah is the name of a place situated between Mecca and Medina which the Holy Prophet (sa) passed through during his migration), they suddenly noticed that 200 armed young men had set up camp in the command of Ikramah bin Abi Jahl. The two parties encountered one another and a few arrows were exchanged in a confrontation. However, this group of idolaters then stood down from further conflict due to the fear that the Muslims probably had hidden reinforcements at their disposal and consequently, the Muslims did not pursue them. Although, two individuals from the army of the idolaters named Miqdad bin Amr (ra) and Utbah bin Ghazwan (ra) fled from the command of Ikramah bin Abi Jahl and joined the Muslims. It is written that they set out with the Quraish for this very purpose, so that they could find an opportunity to join the Muslims. The reason being that they were Muslims at heart, but could not migrate out of fear of the Quraish due to their weakness.”
(Sirat Khatamun-Nabiyyin, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra), p. 328), (Mu‘jamul Buldan, Vol. 2, pp. 99-100, Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut)