In the last lesson we had stopped at the incident of Safiyyah running on the battlefield as she heard of the news

of her blood brother, Hamza bin Abdul-Muttalib being martyred. The Prophet (s) saw a woman running in the distance and he did not recognize her but prohibited her from coming forth on the battle field, saying, "the lady, the lady" i.e. whoever she is should not be here as she will be traumatized. The one recognizing her first was her son, Zubayr ibn Awam. So Zubayr ran up to her and said, "oh mother" to try and stop her, butshe knew what Zubayr would do so she pushed aside by the chest and said, "I have no need of you right now" i.e. she was implying that she has bigger things to worry about at the moment or that she was asking him to not interfere. But as soon as Zubayr said, "the Prophet (s) said you should not go" she immediately stopped. She followed this command despite her emotions at the time in knowing that her brother is dead and worse that he had been mutilated. She handed the two white cloths of shrouds that she was carrying for Hamza to her son Zubayr, instructing him to use them for Hamza. Notice Safiyyah's obedience to her own nephew, the Prophet (s), even though she is agitated, tense and extremely emotional at the death of her full brother. Remember that she has also heard of his gruesome mutilation. Zubayr finds Hamza to wrap him in these garments but he narrates that right beside Hamza was an Ansari without a shroud, so he felt embarrassed to give Hamza two when the Ansari had no covering. So Zubayr and the sahaba decided to draw lots to see who got which shroud (as both shrouds were differently sized). This shows us firstly the poverty of the sahaba and there were plenty like this. but more importantly it shows us an usool-al-fiqh point; here we have specific property gifted for Hamza but the situation of the Ummah dictates that the gift be utilized other than what the donor intended, and it is not fair to say that Hamza get two shrouds when the other Muslim received none. It is wajib (required) if you have the means to give at least one shroud and mustahab (recommended) to give one. It is fardh kifaya (obligatory as a community) thus on the community that every dead Muslim gets at least one shroud so anything extra for any one dead Muslim would not be allowed. The donor did not intend for this to be mass sadaqah but at drastic times public welfare trumps the personal or private welfare. The only person allowed to make such a decision are the people in charge. So when they saw the dead Muslims in this state together they drew lots, giving each one that particular shroud that was casted. And the Prophet (s) surveyed all the dead, walking around the field after the Quraysh had left, he cried and especially so when he saw the mutilated body of his uncle, Hamza. There were reports of the nose, the finger digits and the toes being cut off (and remember that Hind had made a necklace out of these body parts) and the stomach being carved open with the liver chewed and spat out. Furthermore, the mutilation was so gruesome that there are some reports of even the privates being being cut off. Imagine how disgusting was and how hurt the Prophet (s) must be. They had mutilated Hamza like no one else and this out of nothing but personal vengeance, and this was when the Prophet (s) cried so much and he got so enraged that he said, "by Allah if I catch them I will show them what it is to seek revenge" and in another report he said that, "I will mutilate 30 of theirs in return" and Allah answered in Surah Nahl: 16:126 And if ye do catch them out, catch them out no worse than they catch you out: But if ye show patience, that is indeed the best (course) for those who are patient. Allah told the Prophet (s) that if he were going to take vengence than let it be to the same degree (not more), but if he were to forgive and show patience than this is even better. And after this verse the Prophet (s) forbade mutilation and thus mutilation is haraam in our Shari'ah, even to enemy bodies. The Muslims must give them a minimum burial at the very least. Multiple people were buried in the same grave - sometimes even up to 5 people were buried together depending on how big of a hole they could dig. The Prophet (s) commanded, "let the one who knows the most Qur'an be buried first". This shows us the blessings of knowing the Qur'an as it is a blessing in both life and in death. As the Prophet (s) said about the Qur'an, "verily Allah will raise people through this book and debase others through it". And as narrated in Sunan Dawud, the Prophet (s) said that, "it is a part of showing glory to Allah that we show honor to the one with white hair (the elderly) and the one who has memorized the Qur'an". The honor given to the one who memorizes the Qur'an is bestowed even in this traumatic time of the battle of Uhud. After the burials were complete, the Prophet (s) gathered the sahaba and gave them an encouraging lecture that is recorded in many books. He began by guaranteeing that he would testify for every single one of the shuhadah on the day of Judgemnet, and in Musnad Imam Ahmed it is narrated that he made a du'a (some medieval scholars said that he prayed Janazah over the dead of Uhud but rather the correct

opinion is that he only made du'a - we know this also because with the shaheed we do not make Janazah upon them) and the du'a itself is also preserved. The summary of this du'a is as follows: he praised Allah and affirmed His Qadr, than made du'a for this world and the security of the Hereafter and made du'a that whoever dies, dies in a state of emaan and he prayed for Allah to extract vengence on the enemies that did what they did. All the ahadith that we know about the benefits of martrydrom were also mentioned here by the Prophet (s). An example of this is the popular hadith of the martyr being resurreected on the Day of Judgement with his wounds as fresh as when he died and the sight of his wounds being that of blood but the scent that of musk. And again the Prophet (s) gave this speech to raise the moral and spirit of the Muslims by telling them of the reality of those who died for the sake of Allah. So about how many died for each side? Ibn Ishaac narrates 65 while Ibn Hishaan narrates 70 and some reports say 70 Ansar died and there were also some Muhajiroon who died. But the bulk of the dead were definitely from amongst the Ansar. There is in fact a Quranic evidence for how many pople died, as mentioned in Surah Al-'Imran: 3:165 What! When a single disaster smites you, although ye smote (your enemies) with one twice as great, do ye say?- "Whence is this?" Say (to them): "It is from yourselves: For Allah hath power over all things." Allah says that when a calamity befalls the Muslims, even though they inflicted double that calamity on others - this is a reference of the number of deaths of the Pagans at Badr (the number being 140) versus the number of dead from the Muslims at Uhud (70) being exactly twice as much - than the Muslims will call outa and question why is this happening? Interestingly only one prisoner of war was taken. His story is remarkable in that of the 3,000 enemies the Muslims caught only one enemy scouring at the end of the battle. We do not know much about him but his name was Abu'l Uzzah and he was executed on the battle field for what he had done. When we study his story we understand why Allah had chosen to humilitiate him in this way. Abu'l Uzzah was one of those who participated at Badr and a ransom was put on his head for 4,000 dirhams. He was captured at Badr and begged the Prophet (s) to let him go as he pleaded, "oh Mohammed I have no sons and only daughters, I beg you to be generous and let me go" and as the Prophet (s) was soft he let him go on the condition that he would never be seen fighting the Muslims. And when the battle of Uhud was about to take place Abu Sufyaan came to him. As Abu'l Uzzah was a well known poet, Abu Sufyaan asked him to write poetry and he answered that he could not because of the promise he had made to the Prophet (s), and Abu Sufyaan asked him, "C'mon, we are 3,000! Do you really think we will lose? If he win you will be honored and if anything happens to you I promise I will take care of your daughters like I take care of my own." And so Abu'l Uzzah was tempted by this money; the money of the war booty if he wins or the money of Abu Sufyaan for his daughters if he is killed. And so he agreed to write poetry and participate in the battle of Uhud. And he was treacherous in that he broke his promise. This is never allowed in our religion, even in the battlefield. Khyana or betrayal is never permissible. As Allah says in the Qur'an in Surah Anfal, 8:58 If thou fearest treachery from any group, throw back (their covenant) to them, (so as to be) on equal terms: for Allah loveth not the treacherous. You are not allowed to response to Khyana with Khyana. It is allowed in Islam to respond to many things with the same response as we know, but thisis not the case with treachery even if the enemy has been treacherous. And this is why Abu'l Uzzah was humiliated by Allah such that he was the one and only of the 3,000 captured and executed on the battlefield. The Prophet (s) returned to Madinah and the people had lined up to see who had come back and who had died. This is when the wailing began. At this time it had not been forbidden in the shari'ah. Wailing is when women in particular cry out particular phrases such as, "how will we live," "who will take care of us," and "I can not live without you" and they would often beat themselves, pull their hair and tear their clothes and do other dramatic and excessive actions. This is a sign of extreme loss, as if they are going mad at the death of their loved ones. And so when the news of the 70 deaths spread, there was wailing all over Madinah. And when the Prophet (s) returned home he said, "alas Hamza has no women to wail for him."

He had not been married and had no women to wail for him. When the news spread the women of the ansar gathered outside the house of the Prophet (s) and they began wailing for Hamza. And when the Prophet (s) came out and saw them he initially praised them, but than he issued a general decree of this being haraam, that from now on this was not allowed. Therefore wailing became haram in the aftermath of the battle of Uhud. In Mustadrak al-Haakim it is reported that shortly after an Ansari woman gave birth and so the father came and asked the Prophet (s) what to name this child, and he said, "name this child the name most beloved to me and this is Hamza" and so we can see the pain that our Prophet (s) was in, in that he was missing Hamza so much that they named this boy after him. Later on though the Prophet (s) said, "the most beloved names to Allah are Abdullah and Abdur-Rahman." This shows us that it is good to name our young ones in the memory of one who has gone by to retain their memory and their legacy. And it is also narrated that the Prophet (s) personally visited some families to break the news of the dead to. And we can assume that he chose to visit those who did not have extended family and did not have any other consolation. Hamana bint Jahsh (sister of Fatimah bint Jahsh) was one such lady. She was Mus'ab's wife and they were both extremely poor. He visited Hamanah to break the news to her and this immediately shows the status of Musa'ab. There were few Muhajir that died at Uhud, the two main being Hamza and Mus'ab. So the Prophet (s) visited Mus'ab's house, saying to Hamanah, " expect your reward from Allah" and at the time this phrase meant that the news following would not be easy and very hard on the person. And she asked who and the Prophet (s) replied for her brother who had also died. He was trying to slowly break the news to her of her husband. And to this she said, "to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return" and she began making du'a for him and for Allah to accept his shahadah. And than the Prophet (s) again said, "expect your reward from Allah" for a second time and when she asked who he said, "Mus'ab ibn Umayr" and she let out a scream and cry and began wailing. And the Prophet (s) later commented, "truly the husband has a maqam (stature) with the wife that no one else has ." Here we an example that Hamanah was sad after learning of her brother's death but after her husband's death she could not handle this. And this is so true that the wife grows up with her brother in her father's house, and no doubt she has a special attachment to her parents and siblings, but the love that Allah places for the husband is a special miracle from Allah. This is why the 'iddah for the husband is so much comparatively (3 months and 10 days compared to 3 days for the parents). And the Prophet (s) said in ibn Majah, "verily the husband has a high status in the eyes of the wife." And it is said that somewhere along this time an anonymous lady (her name has not been documented) also lost her father, brother and her husband in the battle of Uhud. Along with this she had also heard the news that the Prophet (s) has died. It is narrated that when the messenger came to her to break the news of the deaths in her family she started getting extremely agitated at the news of each death - first her father - but all she could do was ask of the Prophet (s) and how he was, and she repeats this question of the well-being of the Prophet (s) at the news of the daeth of her brother and than at the news of the death of her husband. But she says, "Until I see him" and she was one of those people in the crowd that were waiting for the Prophet (s) to return from Uhud. And when she saw the Prophet (s) alive she uttered that famous phrase, "verily, every hardship after you is trivial (and bearable)." So we learn that the Quraysh were confused at the return of the battle and slowly but surely they decided to leave even though at the end with the conversation with Abu Sufyaan (when Ummar abruptly answered his questions) they realized that the Prophet (s), Abu Bakr and Ummar were all still alive. Regardless, they decided to re-group and return to Makkah. But on the way back to Makkah they began debating if they should return to Madinah and finish off the Muslims or not. And during this time the Prophet (s) was also worried of exactly this. So as soon they return to Madinah he made an announcement that they need another contingent to go and ensure that the Makkans do not return. And he announces that only those that participated in Uhud are allowed to volunteer (i.e. he did not want from the 300 hypocrites). 70 of the Muslims volunteered and at the head of them was Ali ibn Talib. This was on Sunday, 16th of Shawwal. Ali was put in charge and asked to camp at Hamra al-Asad (and this expedition was called the expedition of Hamra al-Asad) and that the next day after recuperating the Prophet (s) and others would meet Ali at this location. But Ali was sent to be the immediate vanguard to ensure that they do not return. And the Prophet (s) advised Ali to see what the enemies were riding in the distance. If they were riding horses and had left their camels this means they would return to Madinah but if they were riding their camels (they were used for the longer journeys) and have left their horses this means they are returning to Makkah. This is common sense and the Prophet (s) knew this because Allah taught him. And Allah praises the 70 that died at Uhud in the Qur'an in Surah Al-'Imran;

 3:172 Of those who answered the call of Allah and the Messenger, even after being wounded, those who do right and refrain from wrong have a great reward;And Aisha (ra) recited this verse to her student Urwah ibn Zubayr many years later and said, "oh my nephew, both of your fathers responded and both are mentioned about in this verse." The two fathers of Urwah that she is referring to here are Zubayr ibn Awan and Abu Bakr. Remember Urwah's mother is Asma bint Abu Bakr. Urwah being the blood nephew and thus mahram of Aisha narrated this hadith and many other ahadith from her. Urwah was also not a sahabi and lived a much longer life. So they went to Hamrah and the Prophet (s) joined Ali and Abu Bakr the next day. The Muslim army camped there for 3 days to make sure the Quraysh did not return to Madinah. Al-Waqidi mentioned in his book that in fact the Quraysh were just about to come back when Allah sent a plan against them. Everyone had joined together and the Quraysh were ready to leave, and many were lementing the fact that they did not do what they went to do in the first place. And at the most insistent amongst them was Ikrimah bin Abi Jahl. He said, "we need to go back and get rid of this menace forever" but Sufwaan ibn Ummayah, one of the noblemen, was against the idea. He said, "oh my people, do not do this for verily they are going to be fuming in anger (especially because of what was done to Hamza) and we don't know maybe their groups of the Khazraj and Aws will participate because of the number of killings we have done to their people." They did not know about the 300 hypocrites and the Madinan politics, rather all they could think of was that many of Madinans did not participate in the battle of Uhud. Ikrimah though continued to insist and was about to win over, saying, "neither did we kill Mohammed (s) and neither have we pleased our young ladies (i.e. been valiant in battle or did anything to be proud about)" and they were about to be convinced by his rhetoric and anger until Allah sent a tactic against them in the form of Ma'bad al-Khuza'i. Ma'bad was a noble elder from Khuza'a and he was not yet a Muslim (we do not know if he eventually converted or not). Though he was not upon Islam his heart was sympathetic to the Muslims, especially considering the vulgarity and treachery shown by the Quraysh at the battle. So Ma'bad happened to be in the area of Madinah so he visited the Prophet (s) to give his condolences. He went to Madinah and told the Prophet (s) that he had heard about what happened and that he was not pleased by the outcome and that rather he would have the Quraysh be defeated. It just so happened that after he left this conversation and Madinah he crossed paths with Abu Sufyaan and the Makkan contingency ready to attack Madinah again. Abu Sufyaan sees and recognizes Ma'bad and becomes happy that he will now finally find out about the true status of Madinah. And he trusts him as they are both pagans. And so Abu Sufyaan asks him, "tell me how you left Mohammed and his companions?" And Ma'bad sees his opportunity to deter the Pagans even though he had no reason to - he was not a Muslim - and so he began painting an entire picture of anger and revenge of the Muslims. Without knowing what Sufwaan had said earlier Ma'bad repeated the exact thing, that the muslims were fuming with anger and that those who had not fought were now ready to fight. A picture of vengence and anger was painted by Ma'bad: that the Muslims were lighting the fires of war, beating the drums of vengence and have promised themselves that they will not enjoy peace until they extract vengeance on what was done to them. So Abu Sufyaan asked for advice and he replied, "flee as fast as your horses will take you." And when someone as noble as Ma'bad communicated such terror, this sealed the fate of the Quraysh. And as Allah says that He helps from places that one would not expect to help from. In this case a Pagan elder, Ma'bad, was so enraged at Qurayshi vulgarity that he turned against them. The Prophet (s) did not know this and he remained at Hamrah al-Asad for three days and only after the scouts informed him that the Quraysh had returned to Makkah, this was effectively the end of the battle. The question arises: is Uhud a genuine loss or not? It is common perception that it was a defeat and this is true when looking at the number of people that died. The Quraysh lost 22 lives and the Muslims lost at least 70, perhaps 75. However there are many other ways to look at victory and loss beyond the number of deaths and this is by looking at the goal of both sides. The goal of the Muslims was to defend Madinah and they were successful. The goal of the Quraysh was to kill the Prophet (s) and obliterate the Muslims but they were not successful at this. They failed in every manner, first that they thought they would surprise the Muslims and remember that they got to Madinah very quickly - in only 7 days - but they did not (and it is narrated that after this Abu Sufyaan began to suspect a spy within their ranks, and of course Al-Abbass was the spy). In terms of the beginning portion of the battle the Muslims here were also victorius. Another way to look at the battlefield is who leaves and who remains, in fact the Muslims

remained and the Quraysh retreated. Another way to look at the battle is prisoners of war, and the Muslims had 1 and the Quraysh had zero. Yet another way to judge the outcome of a battle is that the Mushrikoon did not pursue rather they were pursued by the Muslims the next day. This shows us that the Muslims had the upper hand in this regard. Another way to see this is that the Muslims remained at 3 days at Hamrah al-Asad and the Quraysh were the ones travelling back. Further that the issue of the trade route was still the same. The Quraysh still could not send their caravans to and from Syria. Finally, Ibn-al Qayyum mentions in his book Zaad al-Ma'ad, from the very testimony of Ikrimah - that they have done worthy of honor yet - clearly demonstrates that Uhud is not a pure victory but it is also not a loss. It was somewhat of an imbalanced war in that the Muslims did not gain what they wanted but the Quraysh definitely did not gain what they wanted. No doubt more died for the Muslims but as Ummar told Abu Sufyaan that the two are not equal, the Muslim dead are in Jannah while the Pagan dead are in Hellfire. From all other angles Uhud is a victory for the Muslims. The only sense of loss is when we look at the number that died. So what are the wisdoms of Uhud? First off we compare it to Badr and we do this by comparing the verses of Surah Al-'Imran (which mention the battle of Uhud) to the verses of Surah Anfal (which mention the battle of Badr). In the Qur'an Allah says regarding Badr in Surah Anfal: 8:37 In order that Allah may separate the impure from the pure, put the impure, one on another, heap them together, and cast them into Hell. They will be the ones to have lost. So that Allah can seperate the filthy from the pure and to put all the filthy together. Thus one of the wisdoms of Badr is to separate the filthy from the pure. The filthy are the Mushriks and the pure the Muslims. In Surah Al-'Imran Allah mentions something similar: 3:179 Allah will not leave the believers in the state in which ye are now, until He separates what is evil from what is good nor will He disclose to you the secrets of the Unseen. But He chooses of His Messenger. (For the purpose) whom He pleases. So believe in Allah. And His apostles: And if ye believe and do right, ye have a reward without measure. Allah is not going to allow the believers to remain as they are until He shows them and separates for them the filthy from the pure. Uhud thus has the same wisdom as Badr and the Tayyib or pure people are the same - the Muslims. The Khabeeth or filth in Badr are the Pagans and in Uhud are the hypocrites. So we learn immediately from the Qur'an that one of the biggest benefits from Uhud is so that we understand the real nature of hypocrisy. There is always a notion of giving your brother the benefit of the doubt - the Muslims were probably thinking before Uhud, "c'mon they can't be that bad, they'll definitely help us out" - and when push came to shove the hypocrites turned their backs and returned home. And the Muslims needed to see this to get across in their own minds how evil the hypocrites were. And Allah says that indeed he will not leave the Muslims alone till they see this. And there is Tameez or seperation as mentioned by Allah in both battles. In Badr the separation was for Emaan or faith versus Kufr or disbelief and in Uhud the seperation was for Emaan or faith versus Nifaaq or hypocrisy. With regards to Badr Allah says: 8:7 Behold! Allah promised you one of the two (enemy) parties, that it should be yours: Ye wished that the one unarmed should be yours, but Allah willed to justify the Truth according to His words and to cut off the roots of the Unbelievers;Allah wants to affirm the truth with his word, and he wants to cut off any root of the disbelievers.

In contrast to this Allah mentions a wisdom of Uhud: 3:167 And the Hypocrites also. These were told: "Come, fight in the way of Allah, or (at least) drive (The foe from your city)." They said: "Had we known how to fight, we should certainly have followed you." They were that day nearer to Unbelief than to Faith, saying with their lips what was not in their hearts but Allah hath full knowledge of all they conceal. When it was said to the hypocrites, "come and fight or atleast help us defend", they answered, "if we only knew how to fight we would fight, or if we knew we would be fighting truly we would fight" . Remember this is exactly what Abdullah ibn Ubayy said. Another comparison between Badr and Uhud is that in Badr Allah showed a dream to the Prophet (s) in which the number of people he saw was few, and Allah mentioned the wisdom behind this in Surah Anfal; 8:43 Remember in thy dream Allah showed them to thee as few: if He had shown them to thee as many, ye would surely have been discouraged, and ye would surely have disputed in (your) decision; but Allah saved (you): for He knoweth well the (secrets) of (all) hearts. At as for the equivalent verses regarding Uhud, Allah says: 3:152 Allah did indeed fulfil His promise to you when ye with His permission Were about to annihilate your enemy,-until ye flinched and fell to disputing about the order, and disobeyed it after He brought you in sight (of the booty) which ye covet. Among you are some that hanker after this world and some that desire the Hereafter. Then did He divert you from your foes in order to test you but He forgave you: For Allah is full of grace to those who believe. Allah mentions that when they began faltering and when they began fighting amongst themselves, things that were avoided in Badr were done by them in Uhud. And they disobeyed the Prophet (s) when they say what they loved. And so because they obeyed Allah at Badr, Allah protected them from bickering and fighting and because they disobeyed Allah at Uhud they argued and fell into dispute and they lost their ambition. At Badr Allah protected them because of their sincerity. And Allah initially gave them victory at Uhud, as He says in this same verse that He promised and fulfilled His promise, but than He tested them through their disobedience. A very important mention in this verse is that Allah than forgave all of them. This is very important. Allah explicitly says in the Qur'an that he has forgiven those who made the mitsake at Uhud. Many years later when the instigators who killed Uthman challenged him one of the things they mentioned was his running away at Uhud - and from the narrations we see that he was not able to catch up with the Muslims to the Prophet (s) and thus he fled - and he replied that Allah has mentioned that He has forgiven them in the Qur'an and than he quoted this verse that indeed he had made a mistake but because he was unprotected and alone, he fled at Uhud. Another ayah that Allah revealed regarding being sincere: 47:7 O ye who believe! If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly. That if the Muslims are sincere to Allah and help in the cause of Allah than Allah will help them and keep them firm. And therefore through sincerity and unity, Allah's help descends. And through disunity and insincerity and arguing will Allah take this help away. Contrast what the sahaba say at the battle of Badr versus the battle of Uhud. At Badr, Sa'ad bin Mu'adh said, "by Allah if you take us to Barakal Ghimad (the end of the world) or take us to the ocean we will charge behind you" and compare this to Uhud where Abdullah bin Ubayy said, "why should we listen to him when he did not listen to me?" and 300 of them broke away.

Additionally every sahaba was defenceless and unarmed at Badr and were still willing to fight, but at Uhud they were armed and had a defensive strategy but they were swayed by the war booty that they saw. Therefore we clearly see what happens when one is sincere to Allah and obeys Him and His Messenger versus when one is not sincere or obedient to Allah and His Messenger. Another lesson that we learn that is the difference between Badr and Uhud is that at Badr amazingly all the senior leaders were killed of the Pagans and this was a great miracle. Amazingly, every senior leader at Uhud was eventually guided to Islam, including Abu Sufyaan, Khalid bin Waleed and Ikrimah bin Abi Jahl. Allah knows who He will guide and who He will not. And this shows us the lesson of Tauheed and we return to mention when the Prophet (s) said when the people wounded him, "how can Allah ever forgive them?" and Allah replied in a very blunt statement: 3:128 Not for thee, (but for Allah., is the decision: Whether He turn in mercy to them, or punish them; for they are indeed wrong-doers. Because no one has the right to interfere with Allah's Qadr, not even Rasool Allah (s). He is the seal of the Prophets, the mercy to the worlds but he is not a god and he will not interfere in Allah's rububiyyah, and therefore this phrase from the Prophet (s) that came in anger is understandable. But Allah rejects this. The Prophet (s) indeed did not have the right to forgive or to guide and we see again that most of the leaders at Uhud were guided to Islam, including the one who himself led the attack (Khalid bin Waleed) would eventually be honored by the Prophet (s) himself as he called him, "the sword amongst the swords of Allah." And we learn that victory is nor granted nor guaranteed just because you are a Muslim or a good Muslim or even if you are the best Muslim on Earth i.e. the Prophet (s). Victory does not come just like that, it has to be struggled for. Everyone must go through struggle including the Prophet (s) and this is why even he needs to be wounded to demonstrate not just to him but to us that no one's rank is raised in this world or the next except through ibtilah or tests and through patience, pain and suffering. It is done to show that every single human no matter how perfect they are must go through trials and tribulations. Another simple wisdom of this is that we see that the Prophet (s) is human and he bleeds like we bleed and is wounded just like a human would be. His daughter Fatimah, despite her efforts, can not control the bleeding and must resort to burnt leaves to make a paste that will seal the wounds. And this shows us that we can not gain victory except through struggle and sacrifice. The primary benefit of Uhud is that the cause of humiliation and defeat is to disobey Allah and His Messenger (s) and to turn to this world above the Hereafter. This was the moral of Uhud demonstrated in a very clear manner. The highest respect occurs through sincerity to Allah, even if you are few, unarmed and so on as they were at Badr, and humilitation comes through turning away from Allah and His Messenger (s) and preferring this duniya over the next and this is exactly what Allah says in the same ayah mentioned earlier (1:152) about the sahaba, that they disobeyed, and some of them wanted the duniya while some wanted the akhira and this (wanting the duniya) was the cause of defeat. Ukbah ibn Aamir, an Ansari, as narrated in Sahih Bokhari, said, "8 years after Uhud, the Prophet (s) made a special du'a for the dead of Uhud as if he was bidding them farewell." Meaning this was a very emotional du'a as if the Prophet (s) is saying his final goodbye to them. Ukbah narrates that the last khutbah that the Prophet (s) ever gave was when stands and reminds the sahaba and the Muslims of the Hawd - the water fountain - where he will wait in the Hereafter for his Ummah. And he reminds the Muslims that this is their meeting place in the Hereafter. And we must remember that he was very sick at the time and only a few days from his death. And what was his biggest concern for the Ummah? Not of shirk or worshipping a diety other than Allah but rather that the world would open up for them after his death and they will compete with one another to get the most of it. And than he makes du'a for the martyers of Uhud. See how he relates Uhud with duniya and competition and this is his last khutbah? He is still thinking of the shuhada of Uhud and he prays for them and than he worries about the primary lesson of Uhud; that the Ummah will fall in love with duniya and wanting more.