Battle of Badr

The Battle of Badr (Arabic: ‫)غزوة بدر‬, fought March 13, 624 AD (17 Ramadan 2 AH in the Islamic calendar)
Hejaz region of western Arabia (present-day Saudi Arabia), was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a
turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish[1] in Mecca. The battle has been
passed down in Islamic history as a decisive victory attributable to divine intervention, or by secular sources to
the genius of Muhammad. It is one of the few battles specifically mentioned in the Quran. Most contemporary
knowledge of the battle at Badr comes from traditional Islamic accounts, both hadiths and biographies of
Muhammad, some written after the battle.[2]

Prior to the battle, the Muslims and Meccans had fought several smaller skirmishes in late 623 and early 624, as
the Muslim ghazawāt had become more frequent. Badr, however was the first large-scale engagement between
the two forces. Advancing to a strong defensive position, Muhammad's well-disciplined force broke the Meccan
lines, killing several important Quraishi leaders including Muhammad's chief antagonist, 'Amr ibn Hishām. For
the early Muslims the battle was the first sign that they might eventually defeat their enemies in Mecca. Mecca
at that time was one of the richest and most powerful cities in Arabia fielding an army three times larger than
that of the Muslims. The Muslim victory also signalled other tribes that a new power had arisen in Arabia and
strengthened Muhammad’s position as leader of the often fractious community in Medina.

Background
Muhammad

At the time of the battle, Arabia was sparsely populated by a number of Arabic-speaking people. Some were
Bedouin; pastoral nomads organized in tribes; some were farmers living either in oases in the north or in the
more fertile and thickly settled areas to the south (now Yemen and Oman). The majority of Arabs were
adherents of numerous polytheistic religions. There were also tribes that followed Judaism, Christianity
(including Nestorianism),and Zoroastrianism.

Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 AD into the Banū Hāshim clan of the Quraish tribe. When he was
about forty years old, he is said to have experienced a divine revelation while he was meditating in a cave
outside Mecca. He began to preach to his kinfolk first privately and then publicly. Response to his preaching
both attracted followers and antagonized others. During this period Muhammad was protected by his uncle Abū
Tālib. When his uncle died in 619, the leadership of the Banū Hāshim passed to one of Muhammad's enemies,
'Amr ibn Hishām, who withdrew the protection and stepped up persecution of the Muslim community. The
hatred many Muslims have towards Hishām can be seen in his nickname, "Abū Jahl" (Father of Ignorance),
which is how the majority of Muslims know him today.

In 622, with open acts of violence being committed against Muslims by the Quraishi tribesmen, Muhammad
and many of his followers migrated to the neighboring city of Medina. This migration is called the Hijra and
marked the beginning of Muhammad's reign as both a political as well as a religious leader.

The battle
A map of the Badr campaign

In the spring of 624, Muhammad received word from his intelligence sources that a trade caravan, commanded
by Abu Sufyan and guarded by thirty to forty men, was traveling from Syria back to Mecca. Abu Sufyan sent a
message via Damdam, in fear of being attacked by Muslims, to warn Mecca and to get reinforcements. As the
trade caravan was carrying a lot of wealth, the Quraish responded well to the call, and an army of 900-1000 men
was sent for its protection.

The march to Badr

When Muhammad received the news of the Meccan army, he commanded his own army himself and brought
many of his top lieutenants, including Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali, Hamza, Mus`ab ibn `Umair, Az-Zubair bin
Al-‘Awwam, Ammar ibn Yasir, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari. The Muslims also brought seventy camels and two
horses, meaning that they either had to walk or fit three to four men per camel. [3] However, many early Muslim
sources indicate that no serious fighting was expected, [4] and the future Caliph Uthman stayed behind to care for
his sick wife Ruqayyah,the daughter of the Prophet.[5] Salman the Persian also couldn't join the battle, as he was
still not a free man.[6]

Many of the Quraishi nobles, including Amr ibn Hishām, Walid ibn Utba, Shaiba, and Umayah ibn Khalaf,
joined the Meccan army. Their reasons varied: some were out to protect their financial interests in the caravan;
others wanted to avenge Ibn al-Hadrami, the guard killed at Nakhlah; finally, a few must have wanted to take
part in what was expected to be an easy victory against the Muslims. [7] Amr ibn Hishām is described as shaming
at least one noble, Umayah ibn Khalaf, into joining the expedition. [8]

By this time Muhammad's army was approaching the wells where he planned to either waylay the caravan, or to
fight the meccan army at Badr, along the Syrian trade route where the caravan would be expected to stop or the
meccan army to come for its protection. However, several Muslim scouts were discovered by scouts from the
caravan[9] and Abu Sufyan made a hasty turn towards Yanbu.[10]

The Muslim plan

 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;

—Qur'an: Al-Anfal 8:7

When the word reached the Muslim army about the departure of the Meccan army, Muhammad immediately
called a council of war, since there was still time to retreat and because many of the fighters there were recent
converts (called Ansar or "Helpers" to distinguish them from the Quraishi Muslims), who had only pledged to
defend Medina. Under the terms of the Constitution of Medina, they would have been within their rights to
refuse to fight and leave the army. However, according to tradition, they pledged to fight as well, with Sa'd bin
'Ubada declaring, "If you [Muhammad] order us to plunge our horses into the sea, we would do so." [11]
However, the Muslims still hoped to avoid a pitched battle and continued to march towards Badr.

By March 11 both armies were about a day's march from Badr. Several Muslim warriors (including, according
to some sources, Ali) who had ridden ahead of the main column captured two Meccan water carriers at the Badr
wells. Expecting them to say they were with the caravan, the Muslims were horrified to hear them say they were
with the main Quraishi army.[11] Some traditions also say that, upon hearing the names of all the Quraishi nobles
accompanying the army, Muhammad exclaimed "Mecca hath thrown unto you the best morsels of her liver." [12]
The next day Muhammad ordered a forced march to Badr and arrived before the Meccans.

The Badr wells were located on the gentle slope of the eastern side of a valley called "Yalyal". The western side
of the valley was hemmed in by a large hill called 'Aqanqal. When the Muslim army arrived from the east,
Muhammad initially chose to form his army at the first well he encountered. Hubab ibn al-Muhdir, however,
asked him if this choice was divine instruction or Muhammad's own opinion. When Muhammad responded in
the latter, he suggests the Muslims occupy the well closest to the Quraishi army, and block off the other ones.
Muhammad accepted this decision and moved right away. According to Tariq Ramadan, this shows that
Muhammad was not an autocratic leader, and allowed his followers to contradict him without considering this
as a sign of disrespect.[13]

The Meccan plan

[The] Arabs will hear

“ how we marched forth

and of our mighty

”
gathering, and they will
stand in awe of us
forever.

—Abu Jahl

By contrast, while little is known about the progress of the Quraishi army from the time it left Mecca until its
arrival just outside Badr, several things are worth noting: although many Arab armies brought their women and
children along on campaigns both to motivate and care for the men, the Meccan army did not. Also, the Quraish
apparently made little or no effort to contact the many tribes allies they had scattered throughout the Hijaz. [14]
Both facts suggest the Quraish lacked the time to prepare for a proper campaign in their haste to protect the
caravan. Besides it is believed since they knew they had outnumbered the Muslims by three to one, they
expected an easy victory.

When the Quraishi reached Juhfah, just south of Badr, they received a message from Abu Sufyan telling them
the caravan was safely behind them, and that they could therefore return to Mecca. [15] At this point, according to
Karen Armstrong, a power struggle broke out in the Meccan army. Abu Jahl wanted to continue, but several of
the clans present, including Banu Zuhrah and Banu Adi, promptly went home. Armstrong suggests they may
have been concerned about the power that Abu Jahl would gain from crushing the Muslims. A contingent of
Banu Hashim, hesitant to fight their own clansmen, also left with them.[16] Despite these losses, Abu Jahl was
still determined to fight, boasting "We will not go back until we have been to Badr." During this period, Abu
Sufyan and several other men from the caravan joined the main army.[17]

The day of battle

Further information: Participants at the Battle of Badr

At midnight on March 13, the Quraish broke camp and marched into the valley of Badr. It had rained the
previous day and they struggled to move their horses and camels up the hill of 'Aqanqal. After they descended
from 'Aqanqal, the Meccans set up another camp inside the valley. While they rested, they sent out a scout,
Umayr ibn Wahb to reconnoitre the Muslim lines. Umayr reported that Muhammad's army was small, and that
there were no other Muslim reinforcements which might join the battle. [18] However, he also predicted
extremely heavy Quraishi casualties in the event of an attack (One hadith refers to him seeing "the camels of
[Medina] laden with certain death").[19] This further demoralized the Quraish, as Arab battles were traditionally
low-casualty affairs, and set off another round of bickering among the Quraishi leadership. However, according
to Arab traditions Amr ibn Hishām quashed the remaining dissent by appealing to the Quraishi's sense of honor
and demanding that they fulfill their blood vengeance.[20]

The battle began with champions from both armies emerging to engage in combat. Three of the Ansar emerged
from the Muslim ranks, only to be shouted back by the Meccans, who were nervous about starting any
unnecessary feuds and only wanted to fight the Quraishi Muslims. So Hamza approached forward and called on
Ubayda and Ali to join him. The Muslims dispatched the Meccan champions in a three-on-three melee. Hamza
killed his opponent Utba, Ali killed his opponent Walid ibn Utba, then after Ubayda was wounded by his
opponent Shayba, Ubayda then killed him. So this was a victorious traditional 3 on 3 combat for the Muslims.

Now both armies began striking arrows at each other. A few Muslims and an unknown number of Quraish
warriors were killed. Before the real attack began, Muhammad had given orders for the Muslims to attack with
their ranged weapons, and only engage the Quraish with melee weapons when they advanced.[21] Now he gave
the order to charge, throwing a handful of pebbles at the Meccans in what was probably a traditional Arabian
gesture while yelling "Defaced be those faces!" [22][23] The Muslim army yelled "Yā manṣūr amit!"[24] "O thou
whom God hath made victorious, slay!" and rushed the Quraishi lines. The Meccans, understrength and
unenthusiastic about fighting, promptly broke and ran. The battle itself only lasted a few hours and was over by
the early afternoon.[22] The Qur'an describes the force of the Muslim attack in many verses, which refer to
thousands of angels descending from Heaven at Badr to terrify the Quraish.[23][25] It should be noted that early
Muslim sources take this account literally, and there are several hadith where Muhammad discusses the Angel
Jibreel and the role he played in the battle.

Aftermath
Casualties and prisoners

Al-Bukhari lists Meccan losses as seventy dead and seventy captured. [26] This would be 15%-16% of the
Quraishi army, unless the actual number of Meccan troops present at Badr was significantly lower, in which
case the percentage of troops lost would have been higher. 'Ali alone accounted for 18 of the dead Meccans. [27]
Muslim losses are commonly listed at fourteen killed, about 4% of their engaged forces. [23] Sources do not
indicate the number of wounded on either side.

During the course of the fighting, the Muslims took a number of Meccan Quraish prisoner. Their fate sparked
an immediate controversy in the Muslim army. [28] The initial fear was that the Meccan army might rally and that
the Muslims couldn't spare any men to guard the prisoners. Sa'eed and Umar were in favor of killing the
prisoners, but Abu Bakr argued for clemency. Muhammad eventually sided with Abu Bakr, and most prisoners
were spared, either because of clan relations (one was Muhammad's son-in-law), desire for ransom, or the hope
that they would later convert to Islam (in fact, several later did).[29] At least two high-ranking Meccans, Amr ibn
Hishām and Umayyah, were executed after the battle, and two other Quraish who had dumped a bucket of sheep
excrement over Muhammad during his days at Mecca were also killed during the return to Medina. [30] In the
case of Umayyah, his former slave Bilal was so intent on killing him that his companions even stabbed one of
the Muslims guarding Umayyah.[31]

Shortly before he departed Badr, Muhammad also gave the order for over twenty of the dead Quraishis to be
buried in the well at Badr.[32] Multiple hadiths refer to this incident, which was apparently a major cause for
outrage among the Quraish of Mecca. Shortly thereafter, several Muslims who had been recently captured by
allies of the Meccans were brought into the city of Mecca and executed in revenge for the defeat.[33]

According to the traditional blood feud (similar to Blood Law) any Meccans related to those killed at Badr
would feel compelled to take vengeance against members of the tribe who had killed their relatives. On the
Muslim side, there was also a heavy desire for vengeance, as they had been persecuted and tortured by the
Quraishi Meccans for years. However, after the initial executions, the surviving prisoners were quartered with
Muslim families in Medina and treated well, as kin .

Implications

The Battle of Badr was extremely influential in the rise of two men who would determine the course of history
on the Arabian peninsula for the next century. The first was Muhammad, who was transformed overnight from
a Meccan outcast into a major leader. Marshall Hodgson adds that Badr forced the other Arabs to "regard the
Muslims as challengers and potential inheritors to the prestige and the political role of the [Quraish]." The
victory at Badr also allowed Muhammad to consolidate his own position at Medina. Shortly thereafter he
expelled the Banu Qaynuqa, one of the Jewish tribes at Medina that had been threatening his political position,
and who had assaulted a Muslim woman which led to their expulsion for breaking the peace treaty. At the same
time Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy, Muhammad's chief opponent in Medina, found his own position seriously
weakened. Henceforth, he would only be able to mount limited challenges to Muhammad.[34]

The other major beneficiary of the Battle of Badr was Abu Sufyan. The death of Amr ibn Hashim, as well as
many other Quraishi nobles[35] gave Abu Sufyan the opportunity, almost by default, to become chief of the
Quraish. As a result, when Muhammad marched into Mecca six years later, it was Abu Sufyan who helped
negotiate its peaceful surrender. Abu Sufyan subsequently became a high-ranking official in the Muslim
Empire, and his son Muawiya would later go on to found the Umayyad Caliphate.

In later days having fought at Badr became so significant that Ibn Ishaq included a complete name-by-name
roster of the Muslim army in his biography of Muhammad. In many hadiths, individuals who fought at Badr are
identified as such as a formality, and they may have even received a stipend in later years. [36] The death of the
last of the Badr veterans occurred during the First Islamic civil war.[37]

As Paul K. Davis sums up, "Mohammed’s victory confirmed his authority as leader of Islam; by impressing
local tribes that joined him, the expansion of Islam began."[38]

Historical sources
Badr in the Qur'an

The Battle of Badr is one of the few battles explicitly discussed in the Qur'an. It is even mentioned by name as
part of a comparison with the Battle of Uhud.

Qur'an: Al-i-Imran 3:123–125 (Yusuf Ali). “Allah had helped you at Badr, when ye were a contemptible little
force; then fear Allah; thus May ye show your gratitude.§ Remember thou saidst to the Faithful: "Is it not
enough for you that Allah should help you with three thousand angels (Specially) sent down?§ "Yea, - if ye
remain firm, and act aright, even if the enemy should rush here on you in hot haste, your Lord would help you
with five thousand angels Making a terrific onslaught.§”

According to Abdullah Yusuf Ali, the term "gratitude" may be a reference to discipline. At Badr, the Muslim
forces had allegedly maintained firm discipline, whereas at Uhud they broke ranks to pursue the Meccans,
allowing Meccan cavalry to flank and rout their army. The idea of Badr as a furqan, an Islamic miracle, is
mentioned again in the same surah.

Qur'an: Al-i-Imran 3:13 (Yusuf Ali). “There has already been for you a Sign in the two armies that met (in
combat): One was fighting in the cause of Allah, the other resisting Allah; these saw with their own eyes Twice
their number. But Allah doth support with His aid whom He pleaseth. In this is a warning for such as have eyes
to see.”

Badr is also the subject of Sura 8: Al-Anfal, which details military conduct and operations. "Al-Anfal" means
"the spoils" and is a reference to the post-battle discussion in the Muslim army over how to divide up the
plunder from the Quraishi army. Though the Sura does not name Badr, it describes the battle, and several of the
verses are commonly thought to have been from or shortly after the battle.

Traditional Muslim accounts

Main article: Historiography of early Islam

Most knowledge of the Battle of Badr comes either from the traditional Islamic accounts, Quran and Hadiths
(records of the life and times of Muhammad). In the English speaking world, it is not known if there are earlier
written records other than the traditional Islamic accounts since Arabic at that time in the Hijaz was primarily an
oral language. People relied mostly on oral traditions.

Muslim exegetes interpret the Book of Isaiah 21:13-17 as a prophecy of the Battle of Badr:(13) The oracle
concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites. (14) To the thirsty bring
water, meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. (15) For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle. (16) For thus the Lord said to me,
"Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end; (17) and the
remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel,
has spoken."
Events after Badr
Muhammad decided to return to Madina. While Muhammad was returning to Madinah, he reportedly received a
revelation regarding the distribution of war booty.

According to muslim scholar "Saifur Rahman al Mubarakpuri", a Quran verse was revealed ordering the
execution of Nadr bin Harith. After this revelation, Nadr bin Harith was subsequently beheaded by Ali. [39][40]

Later the command to kill Uqba bin Abu Muayt was given, and he was subsequently beheaded by Asim Bin
Thabit Ansari (some sources say Ali beheaded him). [41]

Modern references
Military

Because of its place in Muslim history and connotations of victory-against-all odds, the name "Badr" has
become popular among both Muslim armies and paramilitary organizations. "Operation Badr" was used to
describe Egypt's offensive in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and Pakistan's actions in the 1999 Kargil War.

The Message

The Battle of Badr was featured in the 1976 film The Message. Although the film was reasonably faithful to the
event, it made some notable changes. The Quraishi army was depicted as having women in tow, when the
women were noticeably absent. It also suffered no defections before the battle, though in the film Abu Sufyan
refused to take part. The champions' combat in front of the wells consisted of three one-on-one fights, instead of
a three-on-three melee. Also, since neither Muhammad nor Ali were shown (though Ali's sword was shown)
due to religious concerns, Hamza became the nominal commander of the army. Both Amr ibn Hishām and
Umayyah were killed in the battle, and their deaths marked the climax of the fighting.