The emigration of Prophet Muhammad (saw) to Madina had turned the
enemies from Makkah more hostile and they constantly kept on
thinkinghow they could overthrow him, and put an end to Islam. The
Makkans and their allies started to bring their raids to the very
outskirts of Madina, destroying the fruit trees ofthe Muslims and
carrying away their flocks.
Hence, the Battle of Badr is one of the greatest and most famous
battles of Islam. For the first time thefollowers of the new faith
were put into a serious test. This was a key battle in the early days
of Islam and proved to be a turning point in Islam's struggle with its
oppressive opponents, amongst them the Quraysh in Makkah. And those
who participated in it enjoyed a special distinction amongstthe
Muslims. The word 'Badri' is used in the biographies of the companions
of Prophet Muhammad (saw) for thosepersons who participated in the
Battle of Badr.
In the middle of Jamadi-ul-Awwal of the second year of migration a
report was received in Madina that a caravan was going from Makkah to
Syria under the leadership of Abu Sufyan and Prophet Muhammad (saw)
went up to Zatul Ashirah to pursue the caravan and stayed there till
the beginning of the following month, but could not lay hands on it.
One of the praiseworthy policies adopted by Prophet Muhammad (saw) in
all the battles was that he used to collect information about the
strength of the enemy and his location. The information received was
as under:
1. It is a big caravan and all Makkans have shares in its merchandise.
2. The leader of the caravanis Abu Sufyan and there are about forty
persons who guard it.
3. The merchandise is loaded on one thousand camels and its value is
about fifty thousand dinars.
As Quraysh had confiscatedthe property of Muslim Muhajirs residing in
Madina, it was only appropriate that the Muslims should also
confiscate their merchandise and if they persisted in withholding the
property of the MuhajirMuslims on account of theirenmity and
obstinacy, the Muslims should, as a retaliatory measure, divide their
merchandise amongstthemselves as war booty.
Prophet Muhammad (saw) stood up and said: "What isyour view in the matter?"
Miqdad stood up and said:"O Prophet of Allah! Our hearts are with you
and you should act according tothe orders given to you by Allah (SWT).
By Allah! We shall not tell you what BaniIsrael told Musa (as). When
Musa (as) asked them to perform Jihad they said to him: 'O Musa! You
and yourLord should go and perform Jihad and we shall sit here'. We,
however, tell you quite the reverse of it and say: Perform Jihad under
the auspices of the blessings of Allah (SWT) and we are also with you
and shall fight".
Prophet Muhammad (saw) was very much pleased to hear Miqdad's words
and prayed for him.
Prophet Muhammad (saw) left Madina with 313 men in the month of
Ramadan of the second year of migration to confiscate the property of
Quraysh encamped by the side of the well of Badr.
While going to Syria Abu Sufyan had realized that Prophet Muhammad
(saw) was pursuing his caravan. He was, therefore, careful at the time
of his return and enquired from other caravans whether Prophet
Muhammad (saw) had occupied the trade routes. It was reported to him
thatProphet Muhammad (saw) had left Madina along with his companions
and might be pursuing the caravan of Quraysh.
Abu Sufyan refrained from proceeding further. He did not see any
alternative except to inform Quraysh about the impending danger to the
caravan. In the mean time Abu Sufyan, changed the course of the
caravan and covering two stages of the journey at a time, took it out
of the zone of influence of Islam. He also appointed a man togo and
inform Quraysh that the caravan had been saved from attack by the
Muslims and they should, therefore, return to Makkahand leave it to
the Arabs tosettle the affairs with Prophet Muhammad (saw).
The news of the escape of Abu Sufyan's caravan circulated amongst the
Muslims. Those who had greedily kept an eye on themerchandise were
very much disturbed by this development. Allah (SWT) revealed the
following verse to strengthen their hearts:
Allah has promised to grant your victory over oneof the two bands (the
caravan and those who had come to defend it), butyou wished to fight
the one that was unarmed. He sought to fulfill His promiseand to
annihilate the unbelievers, so that truth should triumph and falsehood
be uprooted, though the wrongdoers wished otherwise. (Surah al-Anfal,
8:7)
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