the quraishites, on their part, held a meeting during which they considered the whole situation and decided to resist the prophet’s mission at all costs. two hundred horsemen led by khalid bin al-waleed were despatched to take the muslims by surprise during zuhr (the afternoon) prayer. however, the rules of prayer of fear were revealed meanwhile and thus khalid and his men missed the chance. the muslims avoided marching on that way and decided to follow a rugged rocky one. here, khalid ran back to quraish to brief them on the latest situation.