Steadfastness & Sacrifice
On the day of the Battle of Uhud, Khalid bin Waleed took the Muslims by surprise and launched a sudden attack on them, causing them to disperse. Based on various narrations, Hazrat Musleh Maud (ra) has related these aforementioned incidents in further detail. His narration illustrates an astonishing account of the level of steadfastness and sacrifice of Hazrat Talha (ra). Even though this was evident in the earlier accounts, but nonetheless the details of this account he has related are as follows:
“A few companions rushed to the Holy Prophet (sa) and formed a ring around him. They could not have been more than thirty in total. The Meccan army attacked this ring fiercely, where the Holy Prophet (sa) was standing. One by one, the Muslims in the ring fell under the blows of Meccan swordsmen. Aside from the Meccans who were with swords, from the hill, the archers sent volleys of arrows towards the Holy Prophet (sa). Upon witnessing that the enemy was relentlessly firing arrows, at that time, Talha, one of the Quraysh and the Muhajirin (Meccan Muslims who had taken refuge in Medina), saw that the enemy arrows were all directed to the face of the Prophet (sa). He stretched out his hand and held it up against the Prophet’s (sa) face. Arrow after arrow struck Talha’s (ra) hand, yet this brave and valiant warrior did not allow his hand to move. With each shot, Talha’s hand was pierced through. Ultimately it was completely mutilated and Talha (ra) lost his hand.
“Many years later, during the time of the Fourth Khalifa of Islam, when internal dissensions had raised their head, Talha (ra) was tauntingly described by an enemy as the handless Talha. One companion replied, ‘Handless, yes, but do you know where he lost his hand? At the Battle of Uhud, in which he raised his hand to shield the Prophet’s (sa) face from the enemy’s arrows.’ Long after the Battle of Uhud someone asked Talha (ra), ‘Did not your hand hurt under the arrow shots and the pain make you cry in anguish?’ Talha (ra) replied, ‘Indeed it hurt me, and it almost made me cry in anguish, but I resisted both because I knew that if my hand shook even slightly, it would expose the Prophet’s (sa) face to the volley of enemy arrows.’”
(Dibacha Tafsir-ul-Quran, Anwarul Ulum, Vol. 20, p. 250)