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CHAPTER 2

The Great Epic of Badr: An Astounding Victory of Islam

1. BADR, THE FIRST TASTE OF DECISIVE VICTORY

Badr, was no ordinary historical incident, nor was it an isolated event in the Prophet’s career. In a sense, no Islamic struggle will be complete or manage to achieve its final goal of victory over the forces of evil and unbelief without finding its Badr. Thus viewed, Badr becomes a permanent feature of the Prophetic paradigm of jihād, or struggle, in the way of God Almighty. In other words, Badr, is an essential stage in any genuine and successful Islamic struggle.

In order to help the reader grasp and appreciate the importance of Badr in the Prophet’s career, we must try to answer the following questions:

a. What were the reasons and causes that led to the Battle of Badr?

b. How did Badr take place?

c. What were the striking features of that fateful encounter with the Quraysh at Badr?

d. Why did the Muslims emerge victorious, and the Quraysh and the unbelievers defeated and humiliated?

e. What were the most decisive consequences of that battle?

f. What lessons and morals can the student of history draw from it?

2. THE CAUSES OF BADR

As to the causes that made Badr inevitable, they are not difficult to seek. Badr was the logical culmination of the Islamic daʿwah and movement, initiated by the Prophet (peace be upon him) some fourteen hundred years ago in Makkah. Every event and development in the struggle that ensued between the Muslims and the Quraysh, because of the inception of Islam, was building in the direction of Badr: the challenge and provocation posed by the new Islamic world-view to the vested interests of the Quraysh, and to their vantage position in pre-Islamic Arabia; the conflict that ensued between the two parties; the eviction of the Muslims from Makkah; together with the appropriation of their wealth and homes; the hijrah to Madīnah; and last but not least, the Qur’ānic permission for the Muslims to fight back, revealed immediately after the hijrah to Madīnah; all these events were building up towards Badr. Before the granting of permission, the Muslims could not engage their adversaries in the battlefield. The permission to fight back was immediately followed by other Qur’ānic verses, exhorting Muslims to fight back in self defence and instituting jihād as a permanent major strategy of the Muslims’ struggle against evil and unbelief. These other Qur’ānic revelation verses made it clear, that evil and unbelief were not passing features of reality, but a permanent one. Moreover, the encounter with evil is inevitable, because evil forces are, by their very nature, aggressive, uncompromising and provocative. They seek to eradicate goodness and godliness from life by every possible means in their possession. The efforts to avoid a showdown with evil forces are futile, because they sooner or later will enforce such a showdown, unless the forces of righteousness surrender to them; God forbid.

The Prophet’s expeditions and sarāyā, which are discussed in the first chapter, perfectly prepared the ground for Badr. The trade routes of the Quraysh were effectively blocked or interrupted. With the Quraysh commerce disrupted, many Bedouin tribes, especially the powerful Khuzā‘ah, though still unbelievers, were won over to the side of the Prophet (peace be upon him), as allies against the Quraysh. Meanwhile, the Muslims’ exodus from Makkah was successfully completed and their nascent state in Madīnah was secured, not merely as a set of rules or laws, or even as a set of formal institutions and policies, but firmly established in the hearts and minds of the vast majority of the inhabitants of the city, notwithstanding the enmity of the Madīnan Jews and Hypocrites.

However, the immediate cause of the Battle of Badr was the Muslims’ pursuit of a Quraysh commercial caravan, coming from Syria, and led by none other than Abū Sufyān himself. Abū Sufyān, the head of the Quraysh opposition to Islam, managed to dodge his Muslim pursuers and arrived safely, with the caravan intact, in Makkah.

When he arrived in Makkah, Abū Sufyān found the Makkans fully alerted, and mobilized for war against the Muslims, having received news about the Muslim offensive against their caravan. He was there in time to join the army, in fact to assume its command.

3. HOW DID THE BATTLE TAKE PLACE?

The original pledge the Madīnans gave to the Prophet (peace be upon him) was just to defend him against any attack. The situation had changed. So, the Prophet (peace be upon him) called a Shūrā Council. He asked: ‘O People! Give me your counsel.’ One by one, the leaders of Muhājirīn spoke supporting the Prophet (peace be upon him), and assuring him of their ability to fight the Quraysh and defeat them. Abū Bakr, ʿUmar and al-Miqdād ibn ʿAmr, all of them spoke very enthusiastically in support of the proposal that they should engage their Quraysh adversaries. But the Prophet (peace be upon him) again repeated: ‘Give me your counsel, O people!’

Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, the celebrated Anṣār leader, sprang to his feet and said: ‘Perhaps we are the men you mean, O Messenger of God.’ ‘Yes,’ said the Prophet (peace be upon him). ‘We have faith in you, and we believe what you have told us is the truth, and we have testified to that; and we have given our firm pledge to hear and obey!’ So do what you will, and we will be with you. For by Him Who has sent you with the truth, if you were to plunge into that sea, we would do the same, not a single man amongst us would stay behind,” said Saʿd ibn Muʿādh.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) was indeed very pleased to hear the speech of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, the foremost chief of the Aws, and the most gallant amongst them.

The holding of this council, amidst the unusual atmosphere of the impending threat of war, is both a tribute to the Prophet’s resoluteness and keenness of purpose, and also a hallmark of that unmistakable prophetic genius and acumen in leadership and statesmanship. By this act of shūrā (consultation), the Prophet (peace be upon him) had both underwritten and strongly emphasized the principle of mutual consultation and shūrā and at the same time consolidated his home front vis-à-vis the advancing enemy from Makkah. By eliciting the Anṣār’s support for his military strategy of taking the offensive against the Quraysh, the Prophet (peace be upon him) managed to supersede the merely defensive pledge to which the Anṣārs had agreed in signing the Second ‘Aqabah Pledge’.

Thus, having consolidated the home front, the Prophet (peace be upon him) managed to achieve, from the outset, a tremendous tactical advantage over his enemy, which was divided and in discord, due to the heterogeneous nature of its supreme military command, vacillating between the hawkishness of Abū Jahl and dovishness of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah and Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb’. The Prophet’s leadership, in peace and war, was profoundly mindful of the need of the leader to accommodate and incorporate the best of his followers’ opinions, thoughts and aspirations. The mode of the Prophet’s leadership was decisively collective and pluralistic. The heterogeneous ideas and opinions of the community of the faithful were thus woven and integrated in the final outcome of a general shūrā or consultation.

3.1 Al-Ḥubāb’s Objection to the Stationing of the Troops

As soon as the Prophet (peace be upon him) moved forward, and stationed his troops in the valley of Badr, another occasion presented itself for more extended and more intensive practice of the shūrā. This time, the exchange of opinions was initiated, not by the Prophet (peace be upon him) as leader and commander-in-chief of the Muslim army, but by an ordinary soldier, by the name of Al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir: Al-Ḥubāb disapproved of the way the Prophet (peace be upon him) had stationed the Muslims’ army in the valley of Badr.

‘Is this a position which God has commanded you to take, or is it merely of your opinion and of the tactics and ruses of war?’ asked ibn al-Mundhir.

‘It is merely of my opinion and of the tactics and ruses of war.’ replied the Prophet (peace be upon him).

‘Then, this is not a good stationing of the troops! A better stationing will be further down the valley, around the nearest well to the enemy. We shall destroy all the wells behind us and station our troops around the nearest well to the enemy. This way, we drink while we deprive the enemy of any source of water,’ advised al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) immediately saw the soundness of al-Ḥubāb’s expert opinion and acted upon it. It proved a tremendous success. This incident validated the necessity of the shūrā, as a safeguard against the fallibility of human judgment albeit Muḥammad’s judgment, in his capacity as a human being.

Moreover, shūrā is also envisaged, within the Islamic scheme of policy and ideology, as a check against the tyranny and despotic tendencies of leaders and commanders. Shūrā is also commended because, in a community where it is practised, men come together as equals and brothers, and thus become united in mind and heart. The leaders behave with humility, and the rank and file become active participants in the whole affairs of the community. In this way everybody becomes part of the decision-making process of the community.

3.2 Shūrā and Equality

In one aspect of it, shūrā is a derivative rule that can be subsumed, under the more comprehensive Islamic principle of equality, of the faithful in the sight of God. The only legitimate criterion of discrimination is that of taqwā (piety). Prima facie all believers are equal in their right to voice their opinions, and are equally entitled to have them heard with respect, dignity and brotherly regard, all other things being equal. Of course, if a Muslim commits a crime, or in some way falls short of the Islamic moral standards, or is judged lacking in his commitment or obligations, then his right of equal opportunity to participate in the shūrā practice at any level could be jeopardised, at his own risk and responsibility.

Also illustrative of the general moral norm of equality in Islam is the Prophet’s insistence, en route to Badr, on being treated exactly as an ordinary soldier, as far as the facility of transportation was concerned. At the rather advanced age of fifty-four, he insisted on having an equal share in walking beside or riding the camel that he was sharing with two of his Companions:

‘You are not more capable of marching than I, and I am not less in need for other-worldly reward than you!’ insisted the Prophet (peace be upon him).

The fortitude, high spirit and fitness of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were indeed remarkable, comparable if not, surpassing those of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, at that time in his early twenties, and Marthad Ibn Abī Marthad al-Ghanawī, also a powerful young man of extraordinary physique, who worked as a blacksmith. But more important, and more significant than the Prophet’s physical fitness at fifty-four, was his keenness to put into practice the principles which were integral parts, central to his Prophetic teaching, the norms and values he ardently advocated. The hardship which the gracious Prophet (peace be upon him) took upon himself in his insistence on giving a practical example, could be grasped and appreciated, if we remember that the march towards Badr was started on the 8th of Ramaḍān, of the second year of the Hijrah. The distance between Madīnah and the valley of Badr, which is approximately 80 miles, took the Muslims about seven or eight days, since the battle took place on the 17th of Ramaḍān.

3.3 How did the Battle Take Place?

In attempting to answer this question, no elaborate details will be given, because they are available in most of the standard texts on the sīrah. However, for the sake of completeness in the present account, a sketchy account of the event will be attempted, while the main emphasis will continue to be on gaining better understanding and appreciation of the phenomenon of Badr and its significance in Islamic history.

When the Muslims learned of the escape of the caravan and the presence of a powerful the Quraysh force at the other end of the valley of Badr, some of them were obviously disappointed. They had been asked to come out in pursuit of a commercial caravan, with the prospects of booty and inflicting a loss on their adversaries, the Quraysh. Then, those prospects were replaced by the possibility of having to fight that powerful force: some of the Muslims were not yet psychologically prepared to engage so formidable an enemy, especially in view of the great discrepancy in the relative numerical strength of the two forces.

The Muslims’ army consisted altogether of three hundred and five men, seventy camels, and two horses. Of the men, eighty-three were Muhājirīn, sixty-one were of the Aws and the rest were of the Khazraj. The army of the Quraysh consisted of almost a thousand soldiers, well equipped, many of whom were on horseback. Most of the gallant leaders of the Quraysh were there.

At first, there was some hesitation and anxiety in the Muslims’ camp. But God and the gracious Prophet (peace be upon him) assured them of God’s backing and of the imminent victory over the enemy.

3.4 The Qur’ān’s Depiction of the Situation

The Qur’ān depicted the condition of the Muslims army as follows:

Even as your lord caused you to go forth from your home, with the Truth, and surely a party of the believers were averse (to this). They argue with you of the truth, after it has been explained to them, as if they have been driven to death, with their eyes wide open. And when God promised you one of the two bands (of the enemy) that it would be yours, and you longed that other than the armed one might be yours. But God willed that the truth should triumph by His words and that He would eradicate the unbelievers. [al-Anfāl 8:5-7]

The Muslim Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were a superior band of men and women, yet they remained men of flesh and blood, because some of them, at some times, showed visible signs of human weakness and frailty. God had accepted their best offering, and had forgiven their weakness and failings. In the frank, honest and truthful style of the Qur’ān, nothing is concealed, no embarrassment is meant, only to display and take cognizance of all the facts of the situation. The above Qur’ānic verses of al-Anfāl make it very clear that the timing of the Battle of Badr was determined by God alone. Other Qur’ānic verses convey the same impression.

When you were in the near hill (of the valley) and they were on the farther and the caravan was below you (on the coast plain). And had you made an appointment to meet one another, you surely would have failed to keep the appointment, but (it happened, as it did, without the forethought of either of you), that Allah might conclude a thing that must be done; that he who perished (on that day) might perish by a clear sign, and he who lived, might live by a clear sign. Surely Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. When Allah showed you them, in your dream, as few, and had He shown them as many, you would have lost heart; and quarrelled about the matter but Allah saved (you). He is surely knowing of what is in the breasts (of man). And when He showed them, when you encountered, in your eyes (Muslims) as few and made you few in their eyes, that Allah may conclude a matter that must be done. Unto Allah all matters are returned. [al-Anfāl 8:42-44]

Thus, the impression is further confirmed that Badr had been exclusively conceived and meticulously executed by God alone; that the Prophet, the Muslims and the Quraysh unbelievers were all drawn into it by various devices of Divine making. Moreover, God prepared the stage for the battle, and eventually sent His soldiers of the angels, dressed like Arabs, with white turbans, and led by Gabriel himself (in yellow).

The Qur’ān gives minute details of God’s involvement and the help He rendered to the Muslims, and the defeat which He inflicted upon their enemy:

When you were crying and calling upon your Lord for help, and He answered you: I will reinforce you with a thousand angels, riding behind you… Allah wrought this not, save as good tidings, and that your hearts thereby might be at rest. Victory comes only from Allah. Surely Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. When He was causing slumber to fall upon you, as a reassurance from Him, and sent down water from the sky upon you, that thereby He might purify you, and remove from you the defilement of Satan, and to strengthen your heart, and to confirm your feet. When your Lord was revealing to the angels, ‘I am with you’, so confirm the believers, I shall cast into the hearts of the unbelievers terror; so smite upon the necks, and smite every finger of them. [al-Anfāl 8:9-12]

Notwithstanding all these demonstrations from the Qur’ān, that God was Himself commanding the Muslims’ side on the Battle of Badr, the Qur’ān, at the same time, makes it amply clear that God’s succour was not meted out arbitrarily. In some sense, it was succour well-deserved by the Muslims, because they had been severely tried, and they had withstood the trial for almost fifteen years, since the beginning of the call to Islam in Makkah. Badr itself was yet another such tremendous trial, and they had succeeded in it, when they were few in numbers and poorly armed, half-hungry, and with no previous experience in combat. They fought gallantly, and they successfully challenged the might of the Quraysh.

The Qur’ānic text went straight to emphasize this aspect of the matter:

Those only are the believers who, when God is mentioned, their hearts quake, and when His verses recited to them, it increases them in faith, and in their Lord they put their trust. Those who perform the prayer, and expend of what We have provided them, those are the true believers; for them are degrees (of honour) with their Lord, and forgiveness and generous provision. [al-Anfāl 8:2-4]

In order that God’s victory would be complete for them, the Qur’ān exhorted the Muslims of Badr to live up to what was expected of them, when they met their enemy on the battlefield. This was their role, which they had to fulfil, if they were to qualify, in the decisive last moments, for God’s victory, which was already close at hand:

O believers, when you encounter the unbelievers marching to battle, turn not your backs to them. Whoever turns his back to them on that day, unless manoeuvring for battle, or intent to join another host, he has truly incurred anger from Allah, and his abode will be Hell, and evil homecoming. [al-Anfāl 8:15-16]

The two armies met in the early morning of Friday, 17th Ramaḍān. Before they marched to the battleground, the army of the Quraysh was hidden from the eyes of the Muslims by the hill of ʿAqanqal’. That morning, the Quraysh army crossed that hill and came down its slope, into the valley of Badr to face the Muslims. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) caught sight of them, he prayed passionately:

O Lord! Here are Quraysh: they have come in their arrogance and their vanity, opposing You, and belying Your Messenger. Lord! Your victory which you have promised me! Lord! should this (Muslim) company perish today You will not be worshipped on this earth. O Lord! This morning destroy them!

When the two armies met, the Angels and other soldieries of God were already at work, setting the stage of the battleground in such a way that it would be advantageous to the Muslims, and disadvantageous to the unbelievers:

a. The sky rained heavily making the grounds transverse where the unbelievers stood, muddy and heavy and very difficult to walk upon. The nature of the soil where the Quraysh troops were stationed was such that rain had that kind of effect upon it. While the nature of soil where the Muslims stood was sandy and the rain had a very congenial effect upon it, making it firmer and easier to move upon.

b. The weather became cool, and a pleasant breeze swept across the Muslims’ faces. They became drowsy, as they stood there, to the extent that the swords fell out of the hands of some of them. They would pick them up to drop them once more. This strange state of affairs continued for a few minutes just before the melee took place! But it had a wonderful refreshing effect upon them. They became relaxed, their hearts relieved from fears and anxieties, their heads became cool and clear, and their energy and stamina revived.

c. Due to the fatigue, many of them experienced orgasm and rain water cleansed and purified them from janābah (i.e. the state of being unclean after experiencing orgasm). It also cleansed them from the dirt and dust they incurred, during the week-long journey from Madīnah.

d. God caused their hearts to be reassured, their minds to be at rest, and the enemy was belittled in their eyes.

e. Terror was one of God’s formidable hosts and soldiers, one that was the Prophet’s privilege to always have at his side. He was supported by it ‘I have been helped and made victorious with Ru‘b’ (i.e. Terror), the Gracious Prophet (peace be upon him) used to say.

f. Last but not least, the angels were there, ready to join the battle at the right moment.

g. Moreover, the Prophet, while imploring his Lord passionately went into a trance and was actually shown the outcome of the Battle, with the Muslims achieving a clean and decisive victory over their Quraysh adversaries. The Prophet (peace be upon him) conveyed this to the Muslim troops, and their morale was boosted greatly. He told them he was shown who and where many of the Quraysh nobles would fall and be killed. This was an outstanding miracle of the Prophet (peace be upon him), because those whom he had said would be killed of the Quraysh nobles were indeed killed on that day, and fell precisely on the spots he had indicated for them.

4. STRIKING FEATURES OF BADR

As we have seen, Badr was accompanied by many phenomena that could be described as supernatural; such as we have referred to above. On the other hand, it was also marked by actions and events, which could be described, as superhuman. Some of what the Muslims did and said seemed truly superhuman.

a. First and foremost, we have seen the fortitude and stamina of the Prophet (peace be upon him), walking at the age of fifty-four, at least two-thirds of the distance between Madīnah and Badr, a distance of more than eighty miles, during Ramaḍān and the hot season. We have seen his humility and modesty, his compassion for his Companions, and his regard and respect for their opinions and wishes.

b. Then we must praise the high mindedness and the utter devotion and dedication of the Muhājirīn. They joined the campaign almost to a man, none opting to stay behind, despite the long struggle, the suffering and the hardships they had been through, since the inception of Islam.

c. We must also praise the high-mindedness of the Anṣār, who were not confused or deterred by the changing situation, and who were ready and willing to amend their contractual obligation to support and defend the Prophet (peace be upon him). We must also praise the Anṣār for honouring the commitment made on their behalf by their chief, Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, even though they had not been consulted on the matter.

d. There was the example of ʿUmayr of Banū Zahrah of the Muhājirīn, who was only fifteen years old, and who implored the Prophet (peace be upon him) to let him participate in the fight, and who had stood on his toe in order to appear taller than he was.

e. There was the case of Sawād ibn Ghazīyah of the Anṣār, who received a light pinch from the Prophet’s arrow in his belly, because he was standing outside the line. Sawād protested that he had been hurt and wanted to have retaliation from the person of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) immediately agreed and uncovered his gracious body so that Sawād could give him a prick, tit for tat. However, Sawād had something totally different in mind; for his real motive was to have a chance to kiss the body of the Prophet, lest he might fall a martyr. We also take note of the Prophet’s keen sense of justice, his humility, his compassion for his Companions and his disregard for his personal rights and privileges, his complete disinterestedness and absolute altruism.

f. There was the story of ʿUmayr ibn al-Humām, of Banū Salamah, who was eating some dates out of his hand when he heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) saying: ‘No man shall fight them today with forbearance and for God’s sake, going forward against them and get killed, save that he will be taken to Paradise.” ʿUmayr, hearing that, said: ‘Bakhin! Bakhin! Is it not the case that nothing stands between me and Paradise except those people killing me?’ Then he threw away those dates and fought until he was killed.

g. Another Muslim, by the name of ʿAwf ibn al-Ḥārith asked the Prophet (peace be upon him): ‘What is it that makes God quite pleased with his servant?’ (Literally: What makes God laugh out of pleasure with his servant). ‘For him to fight bare-bodied against the unbelievers,’ replied the Prophet (peace be upon him). ʿAwf ibn al-Ḥārith took off his armour and fought the enemy, bare-bodied until he was killed.

h. There was also the example of Abū Bakr, the most tender hearted of the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him). He fought his own son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān who chose to side with the Quraysh: ‘What happened to my money (in Makkah) evil-hearted man.’ ‘It has all gone! O old man,’ replied ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Later ʿAbd al-Raḥmān became a Muslim and once mentioned the battle of Badr. ‘You know, father, I could have killed you at Badr, because I had more than one chance of doing that but I spared you.’ Said ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. ‘By Him in whose hands is my soul, had I found one chance of killing you, I wouldn’t have spared you,’ reported Abū Bakr.

5. WHY WERE THE QURAYSH DEFEATED?

Despite their superior military strength, the Quraysh were defeated for the following reasons:

a. First of all, they had no just cause. If the Prophet (peace be upon him) took the offensive against them at Badr, attacking their commercial caravan, they had before that committed many acts of aggression against the interests of the Muslims, not least among these was the appropriation of the Muslim’s wealth and property at Makkah during the Hijrah.

b. The Quraysh lacked a unified command, and they had no unity of purpose. Actually they were divided on the issue of resorting to fighting, when their caravan reached Makkah safely. There were ʿhawks’ and ʿdoves’ among them.

c. God was against them, and so were the hosts of God and the angels. How could they win a war against God?

d. The Muslims were united, determined to uphold the banner of Islam, and settle scores with their foes. Moreover, there was the prospect of entering Paradise if they achieved martyrdom. They had a mission and a divine call, and they were eager to see the word of God rule supreme. The Quraysh had no such goals or ambitions.

6. WHAT WERE THE MAIN RESULTS OF BADR?

Badr represented the sweetest of the Muslims’ victories. It represented a turning point in the history of Islam, when the hard times experienced by the Muslims began to change for the better. It was a battle with the most far-reaching consequences.¹

a. Quraysh military might was largely destroyed!

b. Their image in Arabia, especially among the power-conscious Bedouins, was considerably tarnished.

c. The Muslims of Madīnah gained tremendously in recognition and prestige, and were put in a much stronger position to pursue further the task of building a community and Ummah dedicated to the worship of God alone, as well as the realization of the ideals of brotherhood, justice and equality.

d. Although Badr did not mark the end of the military power of the Quraysh, nor even the end of their capacity to start fresh military hostilities, yet it considerably weakened their resolve and morale. The weakening of their general military strength would become apparent in their coming offensives against the Muslims.

e. The loss of such prominent Quraysh leaders such as Abū Jahl and ʿUtbah would be keenly felt, when the Quraysh planned the next expedition against the Muslims. Abū Jahl represented the motive force for the Quraysh whereas ʿUtbah represented their brainpower.

f. Moreover, the life-line of Quraysh trade was cut by the battle of Badr. No caravan could, after Badr, venture outside of Makkah. Yet the trade with Syria and the Mediterranean ports constituted the bulk of the Quraysh trade, an eventuality which also meant that their economic power was considerably weakened in the wake of Badr.

g. One of the important lessons of Badr is that the sheer number of troops is not the decisive factor in achieving victory. The Quraysh troops were three times as many as the Muslim troops. They were by far the better equipped and the better trained in the arts of warfare.

h. Although supernatural phenomena attended Badr, and God and His hosts and His angels were clearly on the Muslims’ side, yet that divine help and succour was not arbitrarily given. It was, in some sense, a consequence of the total dedication and steadfastness of the Muslims. It was a contingent of their faith, trust and total dependence upon their Lord. Their offerings, obedience and the love of God and His Messengers were important reasons why God’s help and victory, promised in the Qur’ān, were quite at hand, once the Muslims managed to come forward to the battleground of jihād.

i. Last but not least, Badr provides an example of a situation when war, ugly as it is, becomes absolutely justifiable. It becomes the ultimate measure and ultimate escape for the oppressed and the downtrodden. It provides them with their last chance to emancipate themselves, and get rid of their enemies and oppressors. A justifiable war is both a natural² and decisive way to resolve a long drawn out struggle, when that struggle has reached an impasse and resists every attempt to resolve it peacefully.

7. THE AFTERMATH OF BADR

As the dust of the Battle of Badr settled, the astounding victory of the Muslims became clear, and the terrible defeat of the Quraysh was a material reality. The Muslims rejoiced, while the Quraysh wept profoundly over the demise of their best fighting force and the death of some of their most cherished leaders:

• ʿAmr ibn Hishām, leader of Banū Makhzūm.

• ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, leader of Banū ʿAbd al-Dār, the father of Hind and father-in-law of Abū Sufyān.

• Al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah, brother of Hind.

• Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, brother of ʿUtbah.

• Umayyah ibn Khalaf, an outstanding leader and elder statesman of the Quraysh.

• And many others.

The total number of those killed on the side of the Quraysh was seventy, according to Al-Wāqidī³ including the two men executed on the orders of the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself. Others fell captive to the Muslims, because they had committed the heinous crime of cursing the Messenger of God. The executed men were ʿUtbah ibn Abī Muʿādh and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith.

ʿUtbah ibn Abī Muʿādh was the immediate neighbour of the Prophet (peace be upon him) at Makkah, before the Hijrah. He was the source of constant harassment to the Prophet(peace be upon him), and his Muslim Companions. He even forced his sons to divorce the daughters of the Prophet. He used to put dirt on the threshold of the Prophet, and one day, finding the Prophet (peace be upon him) prostrating in prayer, he put the afterbirth from a sheep on his head. He was generally active in the campaign to persecute and oppress the Muslims at Makkah. Likewise, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith did a lot to hurt the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his Companions at Makkah, before the Hijrah. He was a poet-propagandist who composed vile and vicious verses about the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his Companions.

7.1 The Captives Well-Treated

Apart from these two cases, the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered the Muslims to treat the captives well, especially his uncle al-ʿAbbās. Al-ʿAbbās, a long time friend of the Muslims and chief of Banū Hāshim, the traditional protectors of the Muslims at Makkah, had been forced to join the army of the Quraysh, marching to Badr. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb asked the Prophet’s permission to break the front teeth of Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, another vicious propagandist, who had given the Muslims a very hard time at Makkah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) refused to give such permission, saying: ‘I shall not mutilate anyone under any circumstances, lest God should mutilate me, even though I am His Prophet.’

7.2 Controversy Over the Captives of Badr

What to do about the captives of Badr, numbering about seventy, developed in an open controversy. On the one hand, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq favoured the view that the captives should be spared and ransom money accepted for their release. On the other hand, ʿUmar advocated that they should be killed. They were combatants of considerable strength, and if they were set free, what was the guarantee that they would not take the field against the Muslims once more, argued ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. But the tender-hearted Prophet (peace be upon him), and his principal minister and friend Abū Bakr, being of a very similar disposition himself, both abhorred the possibility of bloodshed. Further, many of the captives were related to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his larger family Banū Hāshim. There were al-ʿAbbās, his uncle, and Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ his own son in-law, the husband of his beloved Zaynab. The Prophet’s compassion towards the Hashimites was not

primarily a matter of nepotism or favouritism, it was prompted and dictated by such factual considerations as:

a. The favour which the Muslims owed to Hashimites who had protected and sided with them during their difficult and prolonged ordeal at Makkah.

b. The Prophet (peace be upon him) knew very well and appreciated the potential of the Quraysh, both as a military and as a diplomatic force in Arabia. He hoped and prayed that one day he would be able to use that potential in the battlefield to pacify Arabia and defend it once it swung under the control of Islam. The Prophet (peace be upon him) prophesied that the emergence of the political power of Islam in Arabia would provoke the enmity and opposition of the two superpowers of the day, ‘The Romans and the Persians.’ When that happened, as it was destined to happen, he would be in need of the power and the human resources of the Arab elite of the Quraysh.

c. Moreover, the money that they would get as a ransom was much needed and could be put to some very useful purposes.

d. Kind treatment and sparing the captives of the Quraysh was more conducive to the pacification of the Quraysh than their slaughter.

e. Having decided to spare the captives, the Prophet (peace be upon him) put them to the useful purpose of teaching the Muslims how to read and write. He accepted money as ransom from some of them, but asked the Muslims’ permission to set his son-in-law free without ransom, because he had nothing to offer except a necklace, which his wife, Zaynab, managed to produce, but which originally belonged to Khadījah, the Prophet’s much beloved senior wife.

The whole affair of the captives was settled in accordance with the Prophet’s opinion, and they were all set free, eventually. But the matter was not let to rest, at that level. Qur’ānic verses were revealed later (see below) which, in effect, approved of ʿUmar’s position that all the combatants among the captives be killed, with the exception of the Hashimites relatives of the Prophet (peace be upon him), especially al-ʿAbbās, because of their earlier service to Muslims.

7.3 The Qur’ān Comments on the Issue of War Captives

The Qur’ānic comment on the captives’ question is as follows:

It does not behave a Prophet to hold war captives, until he makes wide slaughter in the land; you desire the passing goods of this world, and Allah desires (for you) the Hereafter, and Allah is All-Mighty, All-wise. [al-Anfāl 8:67]

This verse must have been severe for the Muslims, because it had in clear and unambiguous language exposed a typical human weakness in some of the Badr fighters, namely the love of the passing goods of this world. That some of the Badr referees suffered from this typical human weakness, was amply demonstrated in two occasions during the march to Badr.

a. Firstly, some of them strongly disliked the possibility of having to clash with the Quraysh in the battlefield, as if they are being driven to death, their eyes wide open.

b. Secondly, there was the wrangling over the question of how war spoils were to be distributed, a matter which gave a noble sūrah of the Qur’ān its name: namely Sūrah al-Anfāl, whose opening verses dealt with this verse.

c. The opening verse of Sūrah al-Anfāl should be noted for its frankness, not only criticising the Prophet (peace be upon him) and rebuking the Muslims’ wrangling over the war spoils, but also for its stern threat that such wrangling over material things of this world did not behove them, and might even lead to God’s severe chastisement against them!

d. The verse strongly hints to the Muslims that they should not, as indeed did the Jews, assume the favour of their Lord God. God does not favour the Muslims out of mere prejudice for them. They must ensure that their behaviour is righteous, and their dealings fair and straightforward, true to the ideals and norms of the Qur’ān.

The severe attitude of the Qur’ānic verse on the captives issue holds several important lessons:

a. Firstly, it opposes the opinion of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Abū Bakr, and is more in line with ʿUmar’s. The fact that it does so, together with the familiar Qur’ānic tendency to criticize, blame, rebuke or even threaten the Prophet (peace be upon him) at times, is a proof that Muḥammad could not have been the author of the Qur’ān.

b. Secondly, the concern over the material welfare of the Muslims as a community is not the overriding Qur’ānic concern. More important is the issue of the supremacy of God’s word and the salvation of the Muslims in the Hereafter.

c. The militant tone of this verse is justifiable by the need to vanquish and punish the mischief and aggression of the Quraysh, by destroying their manpower. The Quraysh not only disbelieved the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) and opposed God Himself, they forced the Muslims out of their homes.

d. However, this verse and the one that immediately came after it, display that characteristic pragmatism and tolerance of the Qur’ān: The Muslims, as ordinary human beings were expected at times to display aspects of the weakness and frailties of human nature. In other words, to love the world and its beautiful ornaments is a characteristic human weakness that cannot be totally eradicated. Yet the Muslims were exhorted to resist it to their utmost power. At the same time, the above Qur’ānic verse assured the Muslims of God’s forgiveness. It even called upon them to enjoy the victory achieved at Badr. The threatening tone of awful doom gave way to a more cheerful one of enjoy what you have won: Says God, in the Qur’ān:

Had it not been a prior ordinance of God, an awful doom could have come upon you, on account of what you have taken. Now, eat of what you have earned as booty is lawful and good and fear Allah, for surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. [al-Anfāl 8:68-69]

8. EPILOGUE ON BADR – A CONCLUDING NOTE: COLOURS AND SOUNDS

8.1 The Banners of Badr

The Muslims’ army carried three banners. The one carried by Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr, the renowned Dāʿiyah and first Muslim ambassador to Yathrib, was white in colour. The other two banners were black, and they were carried right in front of the Prophet (peace be upon him). One called ʿal-ʿUqāb’ carried by ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law and the second by one of the Anṣārs.

The war cry of the Muslims was Aḥad, Aḥad; One, One, God is One, and Yā Manṣūr amit; Allāhu Akbar, God Almighty is the Greatest.

8.2 The Colours of Angels

Angels appeared at Badr in white costumes, wearing white turbans, which extended behind their back, with Gabriel wearing a yellow turban. They were all on horseback. Gabriel was seen by some descending through the clouds, on that rainy day leading his horse, known as Ḥayzūm. Just before the two armies clashed, the Prophet (peace be upon him) filled his hand with pebbles and threw them at the enemy, saying:

‘Defamed are those faces.’ To this act of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Qur’ān refers: You did not throw, when you threw, but it was Allah who threw. [al-Anfāl 8: 17]

The descent of the angels from heaven was accompanied by a tremendous sound. One of the unbelievers heard a voice in the clouds saying: ‘Go forward, Ḥayzūm!’

8.3 Quraysh in Dispute

The Quraysh disputed hotly among themselves, just before the start of the war. There were two camps: The ‘doves’ represented by Ḥakīm ibn Hishām, and ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah. These wanted the Quraysh to return home and not engage the Muslims in battle. Their caravan had arrived safely in Makkah and, after all, Muḥammad (peace be upon him) and the Muslims, especially the Muhājirīn, were their own kith and kin. Should they engage them in war, the result would be the unpleasant one of killing each other, and the Quraysh side would become bitter and divided, as some of them would have killed their fathers and brothers. If Muḥammad (peace be upon him) became victorious, then his glory is the glory of the Quraysh and if the other Arabs prevailed over him, that was what they wanted. But the ‘hawks’, represented by ʿAmr ibn Hishām (Abū Jahl), accused ʿUtbah and Ḥakīm ibn Hishām of cowardice and vowed not to go back to Makkah until Muḥammad and the Muslims had been routed.

8.4 Bilāl Versus Umayyah ibn Khalaf

Bilāl, seeing his former master and oppressor Umayyah ibn Khalaf, shouted as they charged against him: ‘Umayyah ibn Khalaf the head of disbelief, I may not live if he lives!’ Bilāl dealt a fatal blow to Umayyah who, together with his son, was captured by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf. But Bilāl would not allow his old enemy to escape alive that day, while he was still on the battleground.

8.5 ‘Ukāshah going forward to Paradise

‘Ukāshah ibn Miḥsan lost his sword on the day of Badr, because it was broken into two halves during the fighting. He called to the Prophet (peace be upon him): ‘I have lost my sword!’ The Prophet (peace be upon him) gave him a long piece of wood. When ‘Ukāshah shook it in his hand, it became a real sword of steel, yet another miracle of the Prophet (peace be upon him) on that fateful day.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ‘Some men of my Ummah, fifty thousand of them, will enter paradise, their faces shining like the full moon,’ ‘Ukāshah said: ‘O Prophet of God, pray that I am one of them.’ ‘You are one of them, O ‘Ukāshah.’ Another man came forward and asked: ‘May I be of them?’ ‘No, ‘Ukāshah has preceded you in that,’ said the Prophet (peace be upon him).

8.6 O People of the Grave!

In the evening of the day of Badr, when the corpses of the unbelievers had been buried, the Prophet (peace be upon him) stood over the ditch, where they were collectively buried, and called out to them; ‘O people of the ditch, have you found what God has promised you to be true? For I have found what God has promised me to be true!’ The Muslims protested: ‘O Messenger of God, how do you address dead people?’ ‘You do not hear better than they! Only they can not reply!’ said the Prophet(peace be upon him).

8.7 ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd versus Abū Jahl

The killing of Umayyah ibn Khalaf by the former Abyssinian slave, Sayyidunā Bilāl signalled a major shift in the balance of power in Arabia. The Quraysh were no longer the dominant power. The Muslims had just come into that position. Umayyah ibn Khalaf represented the old, now vanquished power, of the aristocracy of the Quraysh, its prestige, arrogance, vanity and military and commercial strength. Now it was people like Bilāl and ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd, who was an ordinary Arab employed as a shepherd by Abū Jahl, who emerged as the new elite. On the day of Badr, ibn Musʿūd killed Abū Jahl. Later, he distinguished himself as a governor of Baṣrah, and was a renowned scholar of Qur’ānic exegesis, and renowned also for his melodious recitation of the Qur’ān. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to comment on Ibn Masʿūd’s manner of the recitation of the Qur’ān: ‘Whoever desires to hear the Qur’ān as it has been revealed to me, let him listen to the recitation of ibn ʿAbd,’ (meaning ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd).

ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd was the foremost among the Muslim activists in Makkah. Of a small, slight frame, he was to be seen everywhere in Makkah, during those early days. For this reason, he had borne a great deal of the wrath of the Quraysh, and their persecution. His employer, Abū Jahl, had been particularly severe upon him. On the day of Badr, the scores were set even. Having managed to kill Abū Jahl, who was of a great physical stature, and also had great marshal courage, ibn Masʿūd climbed on the top of the towering figure of his enemy. Abū Jahl, who was dying, opened his eyes and recognized ibn Masʿūd, sitting on his chest. He said: ‘Ibn Masʿūd, the little shepherd of our sheep, you have indeed climbed a difficult climb!’ Then he closed his eyes and died.

When the Prophet (peace be upon him) entered Madīnah, the next day, people met him at the outskirts to salute and congratulate him. One Muslim soldier boasted: ‘On what do you congratulate us! We met a group of old, hairless persons, and we easily cut them.’ ‘Wait a minute, son of my brother,’ protested the Prophet (peace be upon him),⁴ ‘those were the Mala’.’ Those were the Mala’, meaning that the people defeated at Badr were the notables and chiefs of Arabia, people of honour, prestige and wealth. That Muslim soldier who made the naïve comment about the power of the Quraysh, whom the Muslims had just vanquished, had clearly failed to see the significance of the events of that day. That is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) intervened to correct him.

8.8 The Full Significance of Badr

We have already said that Badr was not an isolated event in the history of Islam. Rather, it was the culmination of unusual events that were taking shape in Arabia, in rapid succession, and constituting a major process in which history was made and remade. Badr was the logical outcome of the struggle initiated by the Prophet’s call to pure monotheism. Moreover, Badr had its monumental consequences in the history of Islam, launching the new power of the Muslim state of al-Madīnah, and terminating the hegemony of the Quraysh.

But it is the significance of Badr as a permanent feature of the methodology of Islamic daʿwah that must be highlighted here. For Badr is a major sign-post in the way of bringing about an Islamic transformation, and the re-ordering of a particular setting of human reality, whereby this reality will submit and conform to the pattern ordained by God, to which the Qur’ān refers. No Islamic transformation can be effected without a Badr stage; because it is, in the very nature of things, that evil powers would attempt to obstruct the Islamic project. God has told us, in the Qur’ān, that the strife and struggle between belief and unbelief is inevitable. It is a matter divinely ordained to test the Muslims’ will, on the one hand, and to vanquish and destroy evil, on the other hand. Thus every successful Islamic movement, every true Muslim community, must find its Badr and win it. Thus Badr is part of God’s grand design for Muslims and any Islamic movement. The Qur’ān comments on the inevitability of Badr in the following way: Succour comes only from Allah, the All-Mighty, All-Wise and that He may cut off a part of those who disbelieve or overwhelm them, that they turn in their tracks unsuccessful. [Āl ʿImrān 3:126-127]

Moreover, verses 38-41 of Sūrah al-Ḥajj, make it very clear that the permission which God gave to the Muslims, to fight back in self-defence, was given with an eye to Badr in particular. If this reading is correct, then Badr must be seen as an idea, a device and a strategy which was God-ordained to achieve the objectives mentioned in those verses, namely to redress the injustices suffered, to destroy the enemies of Islam, to confirm the Muslims in their homes and land and to make them feel contented, peaceful, secure and well established in the land. That waging war (i.e. just war) was not merely seen as an exercise in vendetta, but much more substantially, it was seen as an effective tool and device by means of which the enemy was led to its destruction, so that it would no longer obstruct the road to supremacy of God’s word and grand design for humanity. But so long as there is good and evil, the conflict between them is inevitable, and the side of goodness must not shy away from doing whatever it takes to defeat evil and establish goodness and godliness on earth!

An Islamic movement which is presented with the opportunity to find its Badr, but hesitates and loses that chance, will not be successful in its endeavour. It will stagnate or be destroyed by its enemies, having missed its Badr. This type of Islamic movement would be a spent force which, having missed its Badr would not be able to transform from the Badr to post-Badr, stage. At most, its existence will be a kind of arrested growth, fossilized and senile. On the other hand, an Islamic movement which rushes its pre-Badr stage, and moves to a stage of confrontation too early, without fulfilling its prerequisites and before allowing conditions for a successful confrontation, will be destroyed, and its growth will be aborted, thus suffering defeat or annihilation prematurely. A third type of Islamic movement may fail to reach the Badr stage because its growth has been arrested or prevented, or because its membership do not possess the necessary energy or the know-how which would enable them to develop and progress. In so far as the Islamic process of social change, leading to a total Islamic transformation, is a dynamic process, a genuine Islamic movement that follows the true Prophetic model of daʿwah and jihād, in the wide sense of adopting the right resources and right methodology, will, by its very nature, move forward to its destined Badr stage in a reasonable time, most probably during the lifetime of its authentic leader, and its true and dedicated rank and file.

One sure indicator that an Islamic movement has matured, and reached its Badr stage, will be the readiness of its leader, as well as its rank and file, to take the calculated risk of challenging their adversaries on the battlefield, when they have become reasonably sure that they enjoy a clear advantage over them. The Qur’ān⁵ describes the Companions of the Prophet at Badr as possessing tremendous willpower, and physical as well as moral courage, to fight the enemy. The strength of one believer was the equal to that of the combined strength of ten unbelievers. When later, the Muslims became weakened by their desire for worldly things, their valour was reduced to just double that of the unbelievers. The Qur’ān also described the Muslims as God-fearing, patient and dedicated to the cause of upholding God’s word, and of loving God, and His Messenger more than they loved themselves. It was these characteristics which made them merit and deserve God’s help and succour, rendered to them by the sending of His angels to fight along their side. These characteristics were summed up in the opening verses of Sūrah al-Anfāl in which the story of the Battle of Badr is given in considerable detail:

Those only are the true believers who when God is mentioned, their hearts quake, and when His verses are recited to them, they increase them in faith, and in their Lord they put their trust, those who perform the prayer (Ṣalāt) expend of what we have provided of them. These are the true believers. They have high degrees with their Lord and forgiveness and generous provision. [al-Anfāl 8:2-4]

9. EPILOGUE

Our conclusion deals with the issue of religious persecution. The Qur’ān does not accept any excuse or justification from a Muslim for willingly allowing himself to suffer religious oppression. If a Muslim is not literally imprisoned or materially held down, then he is not to be reprieved or excused if he passively submits and bows down to oppression. This issue was high in the agenda, featuring in the discussions among Muslims, in the wake of Badr, when some of those killed fighting with the Quraysh were in fact Muslims who had failed to make the hijrah to Madīnah and were caught up in the hostilities between the Muslims and the Quraysh. This was the case of some Muslim members of Banū Hāshim, who had been forced to join the army of the Quraysh.⁶ A decisive Qur’ānic verse was revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him), and the matter was sealed, that one who fails to rise up against religious oppression does so at the risk of his own faith and life:

Lo: Surely for those whom the angels cause to die, while still they are wronging themselves, they (the angels) say ‘in what have you been engaged?’ They will say: ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ The angles will say: ‘But was not the earth of Allah wide enough, so that you might have emigrated in it?’ Such men, their abode will be Hell-an evil homecoming! Except the feeble among men, and the women, and the children, who are unable to devise a plan, and are not shown a way out. [al-Nisā’ 4:97-98]

Thus the Qur’ān⁷ consoled the Muslims that they were not responsible for the death of those Muslims, who, through their failure to act in earnest, to make the hijrah to Madīnah, found themselves compelled by their situation to fight alongside the unbelievers at Badr. The Muslims were not to blame for the sad and tragic fate of those negligent Muslims. The issues relating to the wider question of the Pax Islamica have been discussed in a preceding book.⁸ They are part and parcel of the wider issue of Muwālāt (allegiance to Muslims) which is a necessary condition for extending the Pax Islamica to Muslims, not living in the land of Islam. Thus a Muslim who lives permanently in a land which is not under Islamic rule, nor a land of Amān, i.e. a Land in treaty with a land under Islamic rule, does so at his own peril, risking both his life and quality of his faith.