Now we will move on to the Big Battle of Badr. Recall Badr was a person's name who dug a well at a particular place — the well is then named after him, and the place was then called after the well. We mentioned Abu Sufyan detected the presence of the Prophet PBUH and thus he took an alternate route closer to the Red Sea, and he sent a crier to the people of Quraysh to rally them up. Also, we mentioned the dream of Atikah — what happened after? :
The Quraysh convened a council and they debated what must be done. Almost unanimously, they agreed to send an army to protect the caravan. The exaggerated reports of Damdam made them very worried that their livestock was in danger. Therefore, the largest and quickest gathering ever in the history of Makkah took place, in that, they gathered together the largest quantity of people in the smallest amount of time. Literally within a day, they prepared and left Makkah.
A number of incidents occurred during this time. Ibn Ishaq mentions not a single family in Makkah was left behind except that someone from that family was sent. (And indeed, this is in line with Atikah's dream, that a rock will strike every household in Makkah.) And if they could not send somebody from within the household, they hired another person to go in his place.
Abu Lahab (أبو لهب) himself, who was the uncle of the Prophet PBUH and the chieftain of the Banu Hashim, decided not to go, and instead, found someone to go in his place. Al-As ibn Wa'il had an outstanding loan of 4,000 dirhams with Abu Lahab — so Abu Lahab said to him, "Go in my place and I will forgive this loan and wipe it out." So this person went, and Abu Lahab did not go. It is not mentioned why he did not go. Perhaps along with the natural fear and cowardice of meeting an enemy and of being killed, Allah knows best, there was also probably a sense of personal conflict that at the end of the day, it is his subtribe he will be fighting, and it is his own nephew. He ultimately could not meet his own tribe in battle, as this goes against all that the jahili Arab stood for. Even though Abu Lahab is not worthy of any praise, nonetheless, sometimes, we find that he did some things of nobility (noble according to his custom, not according to Islam) — e.g., when the Prophet PBUH was born, he was so happy he freed a slave. Also, after the death of Abu Talib, he initially protected the Prophet PBUH — despite all that happened, he said, "At the end of the day, he (the Prophet PBUH) is my tribe, my nephew — I must protect him." So there seems to be that deep down inside, he had some sense of karam (كرم - nobility) that stopped him from fighting the Prophet PBUH in battle. But again, this is Sh. YQ's theory. The classical books don't mention anything about why Abu Lahab would not go out and fight.
A number of incidents occurred during this time. Ibn Ishaq mentions not a single family in Makkah was left behind except that someone from that family was sent. (And indeed, this is in line with Atikah's dream, that a rock will strike every household in Makkah.) And if they could not send somebody from within the household, they hired another person to go in his place.
To Participate or Not to Participate: Abu Lahab
Abu Lahab (أبو لهب) himself, who was the uncle of the Prophet PBUH and the chieftain of the Banu Hashim, decided not to go, and instead, found someone to go in his place. Al-As ibn Wa'il had an outstanding loan of 4,000 dirhams with Abu Lahab — so Abu Lahab said to him, "Go in my place and I will forgive this loan and wipe it out." So this person went, and Abu Lahab did not go. It is not mentioned why he did not go. Perhaps along with the natural fear and cowardice of meeting an enemy and of being killed, Allah knows best, there was also probably a sense of personal conflict that at the end of the day, it is his subtribe he will be fighting, and it is his own nephew. He ultimately could not meet his own tribe in battle, as this goes against all that the jahili Arab stood for. Even though Abu Lahab is not worthy of any praise, nonetheless, sometimes, we find that he did some things of nobility (noble according to his custom, not according to Islam) — e.g., when the Prophet PBUH was born, he was so happy he freed a slave. Also, after the death of Abu Talib, he initially protected the Prophet PBUH — despite all that happened, he said, "At the end of the day, he (the Prophet PBUH) is my tribe, my nephew — I must protect him." So there seems to be that deep down inside, he had some sense of karam (كرم - nobility) that stopped him from fighting the Prophet PBUH in battle. But again, this is Sh. YQ's theory. The classical books don't mention anything about why Abu Lahab would not go out and fight.
Also note, even though Abu Lahab is of the worst, there are people much worse than him, e.g., Abu Jahal and Umayya.
Utbah and Abu Lahab, perhaps their reasons for not wanting to go were somewhat noble by jahili standards. But Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt's reason was out of pure cowardice. Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt (عقبة بن أبي معيط) was perhaps the lowest of the low of the enemies of the Prophet PBUH. As we said, those who opposed Islam in Makkah were of spectrum. Some of them, even though they were pagans, had some nobility — they didn't do that which was undignified. And the best example of this is Abu Sufyan — despite his Jahiliyyah, paganism, etc., he had a sense of nobility in him. Thus, he never did anything vulgar or crude or demeaning to his own dignity. And generally speaking (and of course, there are always exceptions), those who were noble enemies, Allah SWT eventually guided them. And those who were crude, vulgar, had no manners, etc., were not guided. Uqba was perhaps the worst of the worst; filthiest of the filthy. This is perhaps why Allah SWT didn't even mention him in the Quran. He is so filthy he is not even worthy of being mentioned.
Uqba was that one who snuck up behind the Prophet PBUH and choked him while he PBUH was praying in front of the Ka'bah; and Abu Bakr came running up and said, "Will you kill a man just because he says Allah is his Lord?!" Then Abu Bakr was beaten, bloodied and bruised, until he was in bed for a week. Uqba was one of those who approved the assassination of the Prophet PBUH in the secret meeting. And Uqba was that person who when Abu Jahal said, "Who amongst you will pick up the carcass/intestines of the animal and throw it on Muhammad when he is doing sajdah?", he stood up and did the deed. Ibn Ishaq said, "The worst of the people stood up and rushed to get it" — and that is Uqba. (Note 1: The sajdah is an Islamic routine — this posture thus was being mocked by the Quraysh.) (Note 2: Uqba was a rich nobleman, yet he picked up this filthy carcass. He would *never* do this for any other cause — but the filthiness inside of him was worse than the filthiness of this carcass — for him to pick up this filth and rush back happy to throw it on the Prophet PBUH — can you imagine his mentality?) And then, they were all laughing when the Prophet PBUH was stuck under the carcass. Ibn Mas'ud RA said, "I was standing at the distance looking, but I could not do anything" — because Ibn Mas'ud RA did not have protection [see episode 15].
Umayya ibn Khalaf (أمية بن خلف), the master of Bilal RA, was the stereotypical coward — an overly fed huge man wearing fancy garments. He has a lot of money and slaves, but no skills of war. When Umayya heard of the battle, he found someone to represent him, paid him a small fortune, and said, "This man will represent me" — and he was happy that he managed to get out. But Umayya was ultimately one of the seniors/leaders of the Quraysh —his presence would bring great morale to the troops— so Abu Jahal said, "If you do not go, this will demoralize many people. You are the sayyid of this whole valley! [So you must go!]" Still, Umayya was hesitant.
Abu Jahal then went to Uqba and they devised a tactic to make sure Umayya went out. When Umayya was sitting in the public space on a fancy carpet with his entourage, Uqba came to him with a perfume burner and coal underneath it —of the type that women use— and said, "This is your gift, O Umayya! Perfume yourself as you are worthy of being perfumed!" i.e., "You are no man." Umayya understood what was going on — so he stood up and cursed Uqba and whoever sent Uqba (because he knew Uqba was not smart enough to do this himself). Umayya was so insulted he finally changed his mind. But even then, his cowardice shows: Ibn Ishaq says when Umayya goes back home, he tells his wife, "Go purchase for me the best camel that money can buy." (Why? So he can run away whenever the need arises.) His wife begged him, "Don't go! You never know, you might die!" etc. — and Umayya did not intend to fight in the first place, so he calmed her down, "Don't worry, I don't really intend to fight. I'm just going to make a show of it and just quietly sneak back." But ultimately, everyone whom Allah has destined to die will die. As Allah SWT said, "Still it transpired so Allah may establish what He had destined — that those who were to perish and those who were to survive might do so after the Truth had been made clear to both" [Quran, 8:42].
It's mentioned in the Tafsir of al-Suddi (تفسير السدي) that before the army of Quraysh left Makkah, they made a du'a. They gathered around the Ka'bah, held on to the rings and the cloth of the Ka'bah, and said: "O Allah, whichever of the two armies is more noble in Your Eyes, help them! O Allah, whichever of the two groups is more honorable, give them victory! And O Allah, send Your aid upon the better of the two tribes!" Little did they realize they were making du'a against themselves. And Allah SWT references this in Surah al-Anfal, a surah that deals with the Incident of Badr. Verse 19 says:
Allah is saying, 'Victory has already come not to you (not to the Quraysh), but rather, to the other side (the Muslims). But if you stop what you are doing, it is better for you. And if you return to war, We shall return to war. And all of your numbers won't benefit, because Allah is with the Muslims.'
The Quraysh marched outside of Makkah, and their numbers were around 1,300 — the largest ever gathered in the Quraysh's history. And this number will increase exponentially in future battles — in Uhud [3 AH], it will become 3,000, and Ahzab [5 AH] 5,000+. Because clearly, Allah SWT is intending, in a very expedited way, the conversion of the entire Arabian Peninsula.
In Musnad Imam Ahmad, Ibn Ishaq, etc., it is said that there were 1,300 people, Abu Jahal was their undisputed main leader, they had over 100 horses, over 600 suits of armor, [and probably around] 500 camels not only to ride on but also to use as food (and it is said that every day, they slaughtered 10 camels); they even brought along their qaynat (قينات - singing girls) to boost their morale (like a type of cheerleaders). Allah mentions this in the Quran [8:47], "Don't be like those [pagans] who exited their homes arrogantly, only to show off to the people, and to block others from the Path of Allah. And Allah is Fully Aware of what they do." So Allah describes their psychological frame of mind: When they were walking out, they were feeling puffed up; they wanted people to hear that they were 1,300 strong, the largest army that the Arabs had ever seen up until that time. They wanted to block others from the Path of Allah, but rather, Allah had surrounded all of them — they thought they were blocking Allah's Path; little did they realize Allah had blocked them.
There are three things going on now: (1) Abu Sufyan and his caravan; (2) the Quraysh army; and (3) the Muslim army.
Back to the Muslim side now. When they left Madinah, they had *no* clue they would meet an army. They just thought it was going to be an easy and quick raid where they were 315 against only ~40 armed guards. They thought it would be a clear victory. However, rumors began to come that there was an army that had left Makkah intending to fight the Muslims.
The Muslims make their way to Badr, and they are still not sure which groups they will meet. The 1,000 or the 40. The Prophet PBUH himself then acted as a scout with Abu Bakr RA to find out whether it was the 1,000 or the 40 — this shows the sensitivity of the situation that the Prophet PBUH himself is now acting as a scout and a fact finder. And this is the only time he does so in the entire seerah. He and Abu Bakr find information, until they come across an old Bedouin somewhere outside of Badr. And Bedouins are neutral people — they side neither with the Quraysh nor the people of Madinah; so it's a good place to get information from. The Bedouin obviously does not recognize who these two people are, so the Prophet PBUH asks him, "Do you have any information about the Quraysh, and about Muhammad and his army?" He is asking about himself as well so that suspicion doesn't fall on him — to give the impression that he himself is also neutral. If he only asks about the Quraysh, then obviously people might infer that he is on the side of the Muslims. But the Bedouin was also smart, he asked, "Who are you?" i.e., "I can't tell you until I know which side you are on." Of course, the Prophet PBUH is not going to reveal that he is in fact the leader of the Muslim army, so rather, he said, "I promise to tell you *where* we are from as long as you tell us any information that you have." With this, the Bedouin got the impression that, "Okay, if they are going to tell me, then clearly, they are not on one of the two sides; or else they wouldn't want to tell me." So the Bedouin says, "Okay, if you want to know, then this is the information I have: It has reached us that Muhammad has left Yathrib on such-and-such a date, and if this is true, then they are camped right outside of Badr" — and this information is dead on; such is the accuracy of the information of the Bedouins (as they needed this information to survive themselves). The Bedouin continued, "And it has reached me that the army of the Quraysh has left Makkah on such-and-such a date, and if this is accurate, then they must be at such-and-such a location now" — and we know that this bit is also accurate. Then the Bedouin asked, "So where are you from?" The Prophet PBUH said, "We are from water." And he and Abu Bakr left the scene. Now what did the Prophet PBUH mean when he said, "We are from water"? This is called tawriya (تورية - double meaning/double entendre) — you hide a truth with another truth, not with a lie. So tawriya is not lying. Islam does not allow lying. So tawriya is allowed. But our shariah also tells us that whoever uses tawriya excessively, it is only going to be a matter of time before he gets accused of lying — i.e., it is not encouraged even though it is allowed. So what does it mean "we are from water"? Allah says in the Quran [21:30], "We created from water every living thing" — so yes, we are from water.
The Prophet PBUH comes back and does not tell the army anything yet. He first and foremost goes and stands in salah asking Allah for help. As he was praying, a commotion began. The sahaba had captured two of the slaves from the Quraysh — and they asked, "Where are you from?" The slaves said, "We are from the army of the Quraysh." So the sahaba began beating up the slaves, saying, "No! You are lying! You are not from the army! You are from the caravan of Abu Sufyan!" Notice the sahaba themselves are so eager that what they are going to meet up is not the army but the caravan, so they are throwing their own projections onto these slaves. They continued beating until finally, the slaves said, "Yes, from the caravan! From the caravan!" Then after a while, the sahaba asked again, and the slaves said, "We are from the army" — so the sahaba beat them again until they said, "No, no! From the caravan! From the caravan!"
This happened for a while until the Prophet PBUH finished his salah and said to the sahaba, "When they tell you the truth, you beat them; and when they lie, you let them go," i.e., how foolish is that? You torture them just to make them say what you want to believe; and under torture, of course, people will say anything. So what's the point? Then the Prophet PBUH came up to the slaves and asked, "Tell me, how many people are in the army?" They said, "We are just slaves; we don't know these things" — and indeed, most slaves are illiterate and uneducated — they cannot count to 1,000 or even 100. So then the Prophet PBUH changed the question and asked —and again here we see his wisdom PBUH—: "Tell me, how many camels do the Quraysh kill every day?" — a question they would know, as this is their job to slaughter, cook, etc. So they replied, "9 or 10." And the Prophet PBUH immediately said, "They [the army] are between 900 to 1,000 people." He then asked, "Who is present amongst them from their noblemen?" (And thus began a who's who of the Quraysh. This is the whole point and beauty of Badr, that *every single* major henchman of the Quraysh will be eliminated. It was a victory upon victory.) The slaves began mentioning: Umayyah ibn Khalaf, Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, Shaybah ibn Rabi'ah, Abu Jahal, et al.
______________
To Fight or Not to Fight: Utbah ibn Rabi'ah
Utbah ibn Rabi'ah (عتبة بن ربيعة) is the person who gifted the grapes to the Prophet PBUH after the incident of Ta'if (with the Christian slave). Again, this person Utbah, who was a distant uncle of the Prophet PBUH, had some noble traits. He also hesitated, and initially, refused to go. He decided not to fight because the Muslims were his blood relatives. However, his brother Shaybah (شيبة) said, "If we abandon our people at a time such as this crucial time, then for the rest of our lives we will have to suffer mockery and humiliation." So the both of them prepared to go out — little did they know they were preparing for their own deaths. What we now call "blind nationalism," this is what caused them to basically support the cause of their people. And they both will die in the mubaraza (مبارزة - a duel to the death that precedes the war).
We are jumping the gun (and we will repeat this story in the next episode), but Utbah clearly demonstrates some common sense and values — he is the one who will try to prevent the battle until the very last second. When the two armies lined up, Utbah was so disgusted that cousins and uncles would fight each other, so he jumped on his red camel and told the Quraysh, "Do not fight! Even if you win you will be the losers (because you will have killed your own brothers and sons)! Blame it on me and my cowardice! Go ahead and tell the Arabs that *I* became scared and *I* was the one who stopped you! Let the blame come to me!" — that is truly a sense of nobility. But ultimately, the battle went on.
Note this mentality that you blindly follow your people even though they do wrong, is not of Islam. Only Prophet Muhammad PBUH is the human being that we support unconditionally. As for other human beings, we look at their cause, methodology, etc. — we need to see what is right and what is wrong. We as Muslims are told to follow the truth even if it is against ourselves, or against our father and mother. Utbah was a wise man at the end of the day. In fact (again, we are jumping the gun) the Prophet PBUH himself said, "If anyone in that gathering (i.e., the army of the Quraysh) has any wisdom/good, it is the man on the red camel." So the Prophet PBUH is testifying Utbah to be good. But Abu Jahal won over — he accused Utbah of something; and in his anger, Utbah became the first person to go and fight in the mubaraza and die.
Note this mentality that you blindly follow your people even though they do wrong, is not of Islam. Only Prophet Muhammad PBUH is the human being that we support unconditionally. As for other human beings, we look at their cause, methodology, etc. — we need to see what is right and what is wrong. We as Muslims are told to follow the truth even if it is against ourselves, or against our father and mother. Utbah was a wise man at the end of the day. In fact (again, we are jumping the gun) the Prophet PBUH himself said, "If anyone in that gathering (i.e., the army of the Quraysh) has any wisdom/good, it is the man on the red camel." So the Prophet PBUH is testifying Utbah to be good. But Abu Jahal won over — he accused Utbah of something; and in his anger, Utbah became the first person to go and fight in the mubaraza and die.
______________
To Participate or Not to Participate: Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt
Utbah and Abu Lahab, perhaps their reasons for not wanting to go were somewhat noble by jahili standards. But Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt's reason was out of pure cowardice. Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt (عقبة بن أبي معيط) was perhaps the lowest of the low of the enemies of the Prophet PBUH. As we said, those who opposed Islam in Makkah were of spectrum. Some of them, even though they were pagans, had some nobility — they didn't do that which was undignified. And the best example of this is Abu Sufyan — despite his Jahiliyyah, paganism, etc., he had a sense of nobility in him. Thus, he never did anything vulgar or crude or demeaning to his own dignity. And generally speaking (and of course, there are always exceptions), those who were noble enemies, Allah SWT eventually guided them. And those who were crude, vulgar, had no manners, etc., were not guided. Uqba was perhaps the worst of the worst; filthiest of the filthy. This is perhaps why Allah SWT didn't even mention him in the Quran. He is so filthy he is not even worthy of being mentioned.
Uqba was that one who snuck up behind the Prophet PBUH and choked him while he PBUH was praying in front of the Ka'bah; and Abu Bakr came running up and said, "Will you kill a man just because he says Allah is his Lord?!" Then Abu Bakr was beaten, bloodied and bruised, until he was in bed for a week. Uqba was one of those who approved the assassination of the Prophet PBUH in the secret meeting. And Uqba was that person who when Abu Jahal said, "Who amongst you will pick up the carcass/intestines of the animal and throw it on Muhammad when he is doing sajdah?", he stood up and did the deed. Ibn Ishaq said, "The worst of the people stood up and rushed to get it" — and that is Uqba. (Note 1: The sajdah is an Islamic routine — this posture thus was being mocked by the Quraysh.) (Note 2: Uqba was a rich nobleman, yet he picked up this filthy carcass. He would *never* do this for any other cause — but the filthiness inside of him was worse than the filthiness of this carcass — for him to pick up this filth and rush back happy to throw it on the Prophet PBUH — can you imagine his mentality?) And then, they were all laughing when the Prophet PBUH was stuck under the carcass. Ibn Mas'ud RA said, "I was standing at the distance looking, but I could not do anything" — because Ibn Mas'ud RA did not have protection [see episode 15].
It is narrated that Uqba once sarcastically invited the Prophet PBUH to a meal. And the Prophet PBUH said, "I will never eat with you until you testify 'la ilaha illaLlah Muhammadur RasuluLlah.'" In his anger, Uqba spat on the face of the Prophet PBUH. And the Prophet PBUH calmly wiped the spit away, and prophesied, "O Uqba, when I meet you outside of the valleys of Makkah, I shall kill/execute you while you are tied up." Subhan'Allah. And because of this, Uqba was frightened when he heard of the Battle of Badr; he said, "This man has promised to kill me, so I cannot go out of Makkah now." (Look at the irony here — deep down inside, he knew the prophecy was true, and that is why he did not want to leave Makkah.) But one of his family said, "Don't worry, I have the fastest camel — I will give it to you; so even if the army flees, your camel will take you back to Makkah safe" — and the others were also castigating and making fun of him — so to prove his manhood, Uqba decided to go ahead and accompany. But of course, even if you have the fastest camel, you cannot outwit the makr (مكر - plan) of Allah AWJ. As we will see in one of the upcoming episodes, when the army of Quraysh fled, Uqba's camel was the first to flee. So he was left in the middle of an empty plain with no protection — and he was captured and executed (one of only two who were executed in the Battle of Badr).
______________
To Participate or Not to Participate: Umayya ibn Khalaf
Umayya ibn Khalaf (أمية بن خلف), the master of Bilal RA, was the stereotypical coward — an overly fed huge man wearing fancy garments. He has a lot of money and slaves, but no skills of war. When Umayya heard of the battle, he found someone to represent him, paid him a small fortune, and said, "This man will represent me" — and he was happy that he managed to get out. But Umayya was ultimately one of the seniors/leaders of the Quraysh —his presence would bring great morale to the troops— so Abu Jahal said, "If you do not go, this will demoralize many people. You are the sayyid of this whole valley! [So you must go!]" Still, Umayya was hesitant.
Abu Jahal then went to Uqba and they devised a tactic to make sure Umayya went out. When Umayya was sitting in the public space on a fancy carpet with his entourage, Uqba came to him with a perfume burner and coal underneath it —of the type that women use— and said, "This is your gift, O Umayya! Perfume yourself as you are worthy of being perfumed!" i.e., "You are no man." Umayya understood what was going on — so he stood up and cursed Uqba and whoever sent Uqba (because he knew Uqba was not smart enough to do this himself). Umayya was so insulted he finally changed his mind. But even then, his cowardice shows: Ibn Ishaq says when Umayya goes back home, he tells his wife, "Go purchase for me the best camel that money can buy." (Why? So he can run away whenever the need arises.) His wife begged him, "Don't go! You never know, you might die!" etc. — and Umayya did not intend to fight in the first place, so he calmed her down, "Don't worry, I don't really intend to fight. I'm just going to make a show of it and just quietly sneak back." But ultimately, everyone whom Allah has destined to die will die. As Allah SWT said, "Still it transpired so Allah may establish what He had destined — that those who were to perish and those who were to survive might do so after the Truth had been made clear to both" [Quran, 8:42].
Recall when the incident of the intestines happened, the Prophet PBUH stood up and made du'a to Allah, "O Allah, I leave you to deal with... [and he mentioned all of the 7 or 8 people by name (i.e., Umayya, Abu Jahal, Uqba, et al.)]." And every single one whom he mentioned will be among the first people to die in the Battle of Badr. And Umayya is one of them. He is one of the people destined to die in the Battle of Badr. So Umayya as well began to make preparations to 'join' the army — little did he know he was preparing for his own death.
______________
Refreshing Memory: The Prophet's PBUH Du'a Against the Leaders of the Quraysh
Bukhari Volume 1, Book 9, Number 499:
Narrated Amr ibn Maymun (عمرو بن ميمون):
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said, "While Rasulullah PBUH was praying beside the Ka'bah, there were some Quraysh people sitting in a gathering. One of them said, 'Don't you see this (who does deeds just to show off)? Who amongst you can go and bring the dung, blood, and the abdominal contents (intestines, etc.) of the slaughtered camels of the family of so-and-so and then wait till he prostrates and put that in between his shoulders?' The worst amongst them (Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt) went (and brought them) and when Rasulullah PBUH prostrated, he put them between his shoulders. The Prophet PBUH remained in prostration and they laughed so much so that they fell on each other. A passerby went to Fatima who was a young girl in those days. She came running and the Prophet PBUH was still in prostration. She removed them and cursed upon the Quraysh on their faces. When Rasulullah PBUH completed his prayer, he said, 'O Allah! Take revenge on Quraysh.' He said so thrice and added, 'O Allah! take revenge on Amr ibn Hisham (Abu Jahal), Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, Shaybah ibn Rabi'ah, al-Walid ibn Utbah, Umayya ibn Khalaf, Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt, and Umara ibn al-Walid.'" Abdullah ibn Mas'ud added, "By Allah! I saw all of them dead in the battlefield on the Day of Badr and they were dragged and thrown in the Qalib (القليب) (a well) at Badr. Rasulullah PBUH then said, 'Allah's curse has descended upon the people of the Qalib.'"
Narrated Amr ibn Maymun (عمرو بن ميمون):
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said, "While Rasulullah PBUH was praying beside the Ka'bah, there were some Quraysh people sitting in a gathering. One of them said, 'Don't you see this (who does deeds just to show off)? Who amongst you can go and bring the dung, blood, and the abdominal contents (intestines, etc.) of the slaughtered camels of the family of so-and-so and then wait till he prostrates and put that in between his shoulders?' The worst amongst them (Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt) went (and brought them) and when Rasulullah PBUH prostrated, he put them between his shoulders. The Prophet PBUH remained in prostration and they laughed so much so that they fell on each other. A passerby went to Fatima who was a young girl in those days. She came running and the Prophet PBUH was still in prostration. She removed them and cursed upon the Quraysh on their faces. When Rasulullah PBUH completed his prayer, he said, 'O Allah! Take revenge on Quraysh.' He said so thrice and added, 'O Allah! take revenge on Amr ibn Hisham (Abu Jahal), Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, Shaybah ibn Rabi'ah, al-Walid ibn Utbah, Umayya ibn Khalaf, Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt, and Umara ibn al-Walid.'" Abdullah ibn Mas'ud added, "By Allah! I saw all of them dead in the battlefield on the Day of Badr and they were dragged and thrown in the Qalib (القليب) (a well) at Badr. Rasulullah PBUH then said, 'Allah's curse has descended upon the people of the Qalib.'"
________________
The Du'a of the Quraysh
It's mentioned in the Tafsir of al-Suddi (تفسير السدي) that before the army of Quraysh left Makkah, they made a du'a. They gathered around the Ka'bah, held on to the rings and the cloth of the Ka'bah, and said: "O Allah, whichever of the two armies is more noble in Your Eyes, help them! O Allah, whichever of the two groups is more honorable, give them victory! And O Allah, send Your aid upon the better of the two tribes!" Little did they realize they were making du'a against themselves. And Allah SWT references this in Surah al-Anfal, a surah that deals with the Incident of Badr. Verse 19 says:
إِن تَسْتَفْتِحُوا فَقَدْ جَاءَكُمُ الْفَتْحُ ۖ وَإِن تَنتَهُوا فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ وَإِن تَعُودُوا نَعُدْ وَلَن تُغْنِيَ عَنكُمْ فِئَتُكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَوْ كَثُرَتْ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
"If you [pagans of Makkah] sought judgment, now it has come to you. And if you cease, it will be for your own good. But if you persist, We will persist. And your forces —no matter how numerous they might be— will not benefit you whatsoever. For Allah is certainly with the believers" [Quran, 8:19].Allah is saying, 'Victory has already come not to you (not to the Quraysh), but rather, to the other side (the Muslims). But if you stop what you are doing, it is better for you. And if you return to war, We shall return to war. And all of your numbers won't benefit, because Allah is with the Muslims.'
______________
Iblis Appearing in the Form of Suraqa ibn Malik
The Quraysh marched outside of Makkah, and their numbers were around 1,300 — the largest ever gathered in the Quraysh's history. And this number will increase exponentially in future battles — in Uhud [3 AH], it will become 3,000, and Ahzab [5 AH] 5,000+. Because clearly, Allah SWT is intending, in a very expedited way, the conversion of the entire Arabian Peninsula.
So the Quraysh had 1,300 people as they were exiting. And from the beginning, we notice that they were not united — there was always bickering. Allah says in the Quran, "You think they are one group, but in reality, their hearts are disunited" [see Quran, 59:14]. And as they exited Makkah, this disunity showed itself. One group began debating among themselves, "All of the men of fighting age are marching outside of Makkah; are we going to leave the city unprotected?!" — and then they brought up an old rivalry that existed before the coming of Islam. What had happened in the past? The Quraysh and the Banu Bakr (بنو بكر) had started a small tension/war:
To make a long story short: One of the Qureshi youth, who was a future leader of the Quraysh, wandered into the land of the Banu Bakr —and Ibn Ishaq mentions he was a tall and handsome man— and when the leader of the Banu Bakr saw him, he felt jealous, so he told someone from their tribe to assassinate him. Before this, by many years or decades, there was a blood feud between the two tribes where one member of the Quraysh had killed someone from the Banu Bakr. So the chief of Banu Bakr used that as an excuse and said, "I am going to make up for that one for one by killing this young man." When the Quraysh sent a representative and asked about the reason for the killing, the chieftain of Banu Bakr said, "A man for a man. Remember that guy you killed long ago? I killed this young man for that young man that was killed — so let's call it quits." So the Quraysh said, "Fine, we won't go to war. A man for a man. We did owe them blood money we never paid up." However, the brother of this killed man decided to go and kill the chieftain of the Banu Bakr. Not just any average guy. The very man who ordered the assassination. And the brother was successful; he cut up the chieftain in pieces in a gruesome fashion and brought the pieces back to Makkah, and put them on the door of the Ka'bah. So the news spread that the Quraysh had killed the chieftain of Banu Bakr. This is now war. — But before any war could take place, the Message of Islam became stronger and stronger, and the both tribes had to basically deal with the Muslims; so they paused their animosity for a while. So the situation was now in limbo — unresolved.
And now when the Quraysh is leaving Makkah for Badr, they are getting paranoid: "Maybe *now* the Banu Bakr are going to come and attack Makkah when it is empty — they will take our women, kill our children," etc. So there was a huge commotion in the army. And as it is, generally, people don't want to go to war — they want an excuse to get back. So a large segment of the army was about to return. But what happened? Shaytan became desperate — Iblis himself physically came to them in the form of Suraqa ibn Malik (the same person who tried to capture the Prophet PBUH during the Hijrah. Note at this point in time, Suraqa isn't a Muslim yet. He will embrace Islam later in 8 AH). Iblis chose to appear in the form of Suraqa because Suraqa was from the Banu Kinana — and the Banu Kinana is the larger tribe of the Banu Bakr (just like Quraysh is the larger tribe of the Banu Hashim) — i.e., Banu Kinana rivals the Quraysh, and Banu Bakr is one of the tribes of the Banu Kinana. And Suraqa was a chieftain of another subtribe of the Banu Kinana. So Iblis comes in his form and says, "Don't worry, I have heard of your fear, and I will make sure that the Banu Bakr won't attack you. I will be your protector. You can count on my word." (And of course, shaytan never spoke truth — this is all lie.) And he even said, "I will accompany you as well [to the war, and fight along with you], so that you know I am serious." So the Quraysh were so happy that one of the chieftains of the Banu Kinana was coming and promised them this.
(But as we all know, later on, when shaytan saw the angels coming down on the morning of Badr, he turned around and started running away. And the Quraysh were like, "Suraqa, why are you running away?!" — because the Quraysh could not see the angels. Someone tried to stop him, but he pushed that person and revealed his true identity, as recorded in the Quran: "And [remember] when Satan made their deeds pleasing to them and said, 'No one can defeat you today from amongst the people; and indeed, I am your protector!' But when the two armies faced each other, he turned his back around and said, 'Indeed, I am disassociated from you. Indeed, I see what you do not see; indeed, I fear Allah. And Allah is severe in punishment'" [8:48].)
______________
The Size of the Quraysh Army
In Musnad Imam Ahmad, Ibn Ishaq, etc., it is said that there were 1,300 people, Abu Jahal was their undisputed main leader, they had over 100 horses, over 600 suits of armor, [and probably around] 500 camels not only to ride on but also to use as food (and it is said that every day, they slaughtered 10 camels); they even brought along their qaynat (قينات - singing girls) to boost their morale (like a type of cheerleaders). Allah mentions this in the Quran [8:47], "Don't be like those [pagans] who exited their homes arrogantly, only to show off to the people, and to block others from the Path of Allah. And Allah is Fully Aware of what they do." So Allah describes their psychological frame of mind: When they were walking out, they were feeling puffed up; they wanted people to hear that they were 1,300 strong, the largest army that the Arabs had ever seen up until that time. They wanted to block others from the Path of Allah, but rather, Allah had surrounded all of them — they thought they were blocking Allah's Path; little did they realize Allah had blocked them.
______________
There are three things going on now: (1) Abu Sufyan and his caravan; (2) the Quraysh army; and (3) the Muslim army.
______________
Updates on Abu Sufyan's Caravan and the Quraysh Army
Once Abu Sufyan felt that the caravan was safe and beyond the reach of the Muslims, he sent someone to tell the Quraysh that his caravan is now safe and that they can go back. Notice even Abu Sufyan didn't want war. He said, "Go tell the army to return." Once the person met the army, they reconvened to decide what to do. Utbah said, "Let's go back; the caravan is safe." But Abu Jahal said, "No. We will go to Badr and we will stay there for three days —drink our wine, have our women sing for us— and let the news spread in all of Arabia that we are a nation to be feared." Notice here there is still no talk of war — the whole purpose of the army was to protect the caravan. So even though Abu Jahal said to carry on, around 300-350 people, consisting of Banu Zuhrah and other smaller tribes, returned back to Makkah. So around ¼ of the army went back, and this was obviously demoralizing. So the Quraysh was differing among themselves; and as we will come to, we will see that the Muslims as well was differing among themselves. So both parties didn't want to go. But Allah has already decreed Badr will take place, and no one can escape from the qadr of Allah AWJ. Allah mentions this in Surah al-Anfal:
"Even if the two armies had made an appointment [to meet], both would have certainly missed it. Still, it transpired so Allah may establish what He had destined — that those who were to perish and those who were to survive might do so after the Truth had been made clear to both" [Quran, 8:42].
When the Quraysh army reached Juhfa (جحفة) —most likely before the envoy of Abu Sufyan reached them— one of the youngest men from the Banu Hashim (a son of the cousin of the Prophet PBUH) who was in the Quraysh army, saw a dream. He saw in his dream that a crier, who had a camel with him, riding towards them and announced, "Utbah ibn Rabi'ah has been killed, Shaybah ibn Rabi'ah has been killed, Abu al-Hakam ibn Hisham (Abu Jahal) has been killed, Umayyah ibn Khalaf has been killed..." and he kept on mentioning every single famous name of the Quraysh, and said they all have been killed. And then the young man said the crier cut the hump of the camel and sent the camel forward, and the camel went into their encampment, and its blood splattered on every single tent. The interpretation of the dream is very obvious: Not only are the mentioned people going to be killed, but every single tent will have casualties. But the army ignored this dream and considered it to be a meaningless dream — little did they realize it was a true dream.
"Even if the two armies had made an appointment [to meet], both would have certainly missed it. Still, it transpired so Allah may establish what He had destined — that those who were to perish and those who were to survive might do so after the Truth had been made clear to both" [Quran, 8:42].
When the Quraysh army reached Juhfa (جحفة) —most likely before the envoy of Abu Sufyan reached them— one of the youngest men from the Banu Hashim (a son of the cousin of the Prophet PBUH) who was in the Quraysh army, saw a dream. He saw in his dream that a crier, who had a camel with him, riding towards them and announced, "Utbah ibn Rabi'ah has been killed, Shaybah ibn Rabi'ah has been killed, Abu al-Hakam ibn Hisham (Abu Jahal) has been killed, Umayyah ibn Khalaf has been killed..." and he kept on mentioning every single famous name of the Quraysh, and said they all have been killed. And then the young man said the crier cut the hump of the camel and sent the camel forward, and the camel went into their encampment, and its blood splattered on every single tent. The interpretation of the dream is very obvious: Not only are the mentioned people going to be killed, but every single tent will have casualties. But the army ignored this dream and considered it to be a meaningless dream — little did they realize it was a true dream.
______________
Updates on the Muslim Army
Back to the Muslim side now. When they left Madinah, they had *no* clue they would meet an army. They just thought it was going to be an easy and quick raid where they were 315 against only ~40 armed guards. They thought it would be a clear victory. However, rumors began to come that there was an army that had left Makkah intending to fight the Muslims.
We don't know when, but the Prophet PBUH was shown a dream that he would be fighting an army. He PBUH was hoping that this dream would manifest at a later date —maybe not on this particular expedition— but then when the rumor began to reach, the Prophet PBUH began to think maybe it would manifest in this expedition. He asked the Muslims, "What do you think if instead [of Abu Sufyan's caravan,] we met a group from Makkah that has been already informed of your departure (i.e., a group that is prepared to fight you)?" Some of the sahaba began to question this — they said, "Ya Rasulullah, we do not have any preparations to fight an army. We came to attack the caravan."
The next day, the Prophet PBUH repeated the same question, and the sahaba's response was even more firm that they were not ready to face an army. Allah SWT mentions this in the Quran:
كَمَا أَخْرَجَكَ رَبُّكَ مِن بَيْتِكَ بِالْحَقِّ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِّنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ لَكَارِهُونَ
يُجَادِلُونَكَ فِي الْحَقِّ بَعْدَمَا تَبَيَّنَ كَأَنَّمَا يُسَاقُونَ إِلَى الْمَوْتِ وَهُمْ يَنظُرُونَ
"...when your Lord brought you [O Prophet] out of your home for a just cause, a group of believers was totally against it. They disputed with you about the truth after it had been made clear, as if they were being driven to death with their eyes wide open" [Quran, 8:5-6].Further:
At this stage, the Prophet PBUH himself was unsure; but he told them, "Even if we meet the other group (the army), Allah has promised us victory," i.e., "Don't worry." But still, the human soul is weak; they said, "We are not ready. We cannot fight an army — we don't have armor, we don't have food, we don't have supplies, we don't have anything. We literally were expecting [an easy] expedition and come back within 2 days." As Allah said in the Quran, they continued arguing even after the Prophet PBUH had explained to them [see Quran, 8:5-6]. But Allah wanted His decree to go forth. Further, He SWT said, 'You wanted the one with no weapons to be yours, but Allah had a far bigger thing in store — [and that is] to show who was upon the Truth' [see Quran, 8:7]. Remember, the Day of Badr is also called Yawm al-Furqan (يوم الفرقان - the Day of Criterion). So Allah is saying, 'Today, I want to show who is true, and destroy the false, even if the disbelievers do not like it' [see Quran, 8:7-8].
وَإِذْ يَعِدُكُمُ اللَّهُ إِحْدَى الطَّائِفَتَيْنِ أَنَّهَا لَكُمْ وَتَوَدُّونَ أَنَّ غَيْرَ ذَاتِ الشَّوْكَةِ تَكُونُ لَكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُحِقَّ الْحَقَّ بِكَلِمَاتِهِ وَيَقْطَعَ دَابِرَ الْكَافِرِينَ
"[Remember, O believers,] when Allah promised [to give] you the upper hand over either target, you wished to capture the unarmed party. But it was Allah's Will to establish the Truth by His Words and uproot the disbelievers" [Quran, 8:7].At this stage, the Prophet PBUH himself was unsure; but he told them, "Even if we meet the other group (the army), Allah has promised us victory," i.e., "Don't worry." But still, the human soul is weak; they said, "We are not ready. We cannot fight an army — we don't have armor, we don't have food, we don't have supplies, we don't have anything. We literally were expecting [an easy] expedition and come back within 2 days." As Allah said in the Quran, they continued arguing even after the Prophet PBUH had explained to them [see Quran, 8:5-6]. But Allah wanted His decree to go forth. Further, He SWT said, 'You wanted the one with no weapons to be yours, but Allah had a far bigger thing in store — [and that is] to show who was upon the Truth' [see Quran, 8:7]. Remember, the Day of Badr is also called Yawm al-Furqan (يوم الفرقان - the Day of Criterion). So Allah is saying, 'Today, I want to show who is true, and destroy the false, even if the disbelievers do not like it' [see Quran, 8:7-8].
We can derive a benefit from the above verses: It is not nifaq to sometimes feel hesitant (out of fear etc.) to do a positive deed, as long as your Iman eventually wins over. Even though the sahaba are as perfect a generation as possible, they are humans after all; and humans can't be perfect. Thus, they were arguing, "We can't do this. No way we can fight the Quraysh," etc. But this arguing doesn't make them any less of a believer — as we see in verse [8:5], Allah calls them "believers" even though they tried to persuade the Prophet PBUH not to go. Still, they are not munafiqs. And this is a big sigh of relief for us. Because it shows that even the believer can have some fear and hesitation. Yes Allah SWT mildly reproached them, but He still called them Mu'minin. So to be a bit hesitant to do a positive deed in itself is not nifaq (hypocrisy), as long as your Iman eventually wins over. Another example is, Allah says in the Quran [2:216], "Qital has been made obligatory upon you though you hate it" — Allah SWT said, "You HATE it," but did their hate of the qital make them munafiq? No. So in our times for example, occasionally to feel a slight hesitation to wake up for Fajr, that in itself is not nifaq, as long as we get out of our bed and pray our Fajr.
The Muslims make their way to Badr, and they are still not sure which groups they will meet. The 1,000 or the 40. The Prophet PBUH himself then acted as a scout with Abu Bakr RA to find out whether it was the 1,000 or the 40 — this shows the sensitivity of the situation that the Prophet PBUH himself is now acting as a scout and a fact finder. And this is the only time he does so in the entire seerah. He and Abu Bakr find information, until they come across an old Bedouin somewhere outside of Badr. And Bedouins are neutral people — they side neither with the Quraysh nor the people of Madinah; so it's a good place to get information from. The Bedouin obviously does not recognize who these two people are, so the Prophet PBUH asks him, "Do you have any information about the Quraysh, and about Muhammad and his army?" He is asking about himself as well so that suspicion doesn't fall on him — to give the impression that he himself is also neutral. If he only asks about the Quraysh, then obviously people might infer that he is on the side of the Muslims. But the Bedouin was also smart, he asked, "Who are you?" i.e., "I can't tell you until I know which side you are on." Of course, the Prophet PBUH is not going to reveal that he is in fact the leader of the Muslim army, so rather, he said, "I promise to tell you *where* we are from as long as you tell us any information that you have." With this, the Bedouin got the impression that, "Okay, if they are going to tell me, then clearly, they are not on one of the two sides; or else they wouldn't want to tell me." So the Bedouin says, "Okay, if you want to know, then this is the information I have: It has reached us that Muhammad has left Yathrib on such-and-such a date, and if this is true, then they are camped right outside of Badr" — and this information is dead on; such is the accuracy of the information of the Bedouins (as they needed this information to survive themselves). The Bedouin continued, "And it has reached me that the army of the Quraysh has left Makkah on such-and-such a date, and if this is accurate, then they must be at such-and-such a location now" — and we know that this bit is also accurate. Then the Bedouin asked, "So where are you from?" The Prophet PBUH said, "We are from water." And he and Abu Bakr left the scene. Now what did the Prophet PBUH mean when he said, "We are from water"? This is called tawriya (تورية - double meaning/double entendre) — you hide a truth with another truth, not with a lie. So tawriya is not lying. Islam does not allow lying. So tawriya is allowed. But our shariah also tells us that whoever uses tawriya excessively, it is only going to be a matter of time before he gets accused of lying — i.e., it is not encouraged even though it is allowed. So what does it mean "we are from water"? Allah says in the Quran [21:30], "We created from water every living thing" — so yes, we are from water.
The Prophet PBUH comes back and does not tell the army anything yet. He first and foremost goes and stands in salah asking Allah for help. As he was praying, a commotion began. The sahaba had captured two of the slaves from the Quraysh — and they asked, "Where are you from?" The slaves said, "We are from the army of the Quraysh." So the sahaba began beating up the slaves, saying, "No! You are lying! You are not from the army! You are from the caravan of Abu Sufyan!" Notice the sahaba themselves are so eager that what they are going to meet up is not the army but the caravan, so they are throwing their own projections onto these slaves. They continued beating until finally, the slaves said, "Yes, from the caravan! From the caravan!" Then after a while, the sahaba asked again, and the slaves said, "We are from the army" — so the sahaba beat them again until they said, "No, no! From the caravan! From the caravan!"
This happened for a while until the Prophet PBUH finished his salah and said to the sahaba, "When they tell you the truth, you beat them; and when they lie, you let them go," i.e., how foolish is that? You torture them just to make them say what you want to believe; and under torture, of course, people will say anything. So what's the point? Then the Prophet PBUH came up to the slaves and asked, "Tell me, how many people are in the army?" They said, "We are just slaves; we don't know these things" — and indeed, most slaves are illiterate and uneducated — they cannot count to 1,000 or even 100. So then the Prophet PBUH changed the question and asked —and again here we see his wisdom PBUH—: "Tell me, how many camels do the Quraysh kill every day?" — a question they would know, as this is their job to slaughter, cook, etc. So they replied, "9 or 10." And the Prophet PBUH immediately said, "They [the army] are between 900 to 1,000 people." He then asked, "Who is present amongst them from their noblemen?" (And thus began a who's who of the Quraysh. This is the whole point and beauty of Badr, that *every single* major henchman of the Quraysh will be eliminated. It was a victory upon victory.) The slaves began mentioning: Umayyah ibn Khalaf, Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, Shaybah ibn Rabi'ah, Abu Jahal, et al.
And unlike us, the sahaba of course didn't know the outcome of the battle, so this news caused them to be very disheartened. Because if all of the noblemen are coming, this means the Quraysh must have the best armor, the best weapon, the best riding animal, etc. So this demoralized them. This is now the test of their Iman. The Prophet PBUH on the other hand smiled in happiness, because he knew Allah's promise is true. As Allah SWT said in the Quran, "Whichever of the two you meet, they will be yours. You wanted the unarmed one, but Allah intended to establish the Truth by His Words and to eliminate the disbelievers" [see Quran, 8:7]. The Prophet PBUH told the Muslims, "Look, Makkah has presented to you the cream of the crop!" And when he saw the look of dejection in the faces of the sahaba, he PBUH showed to them and said, "By Allah, Umayyah will be killed over here; Shaybah will be killed over here; Utbah will be killed over here; Abu Jahal will be killed over here," and so on — he prophesied to them every single location where the leaders of the Quraysh would meet their death.
______________
The Famous Statement of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh RA
Now that the Muslims realized they were facing an army, the Prophet PBUH knew he had to rile up the troops. (This shows us, no doubt, the sahaba felt the fear, but when push came to shove, they passed the test, i.e., they fought. And this is the difference between Iman [إيمان - Faith] and nifaq [نفاق - hypocrisy]. No doubt Iman might feel hesitant, but in the end, it will overcome it.)
The Prophet PBUH called a gathering of the sahaba and asked them, "What should we do now?" (Obviously, there is really no choice — running away now would be a humiliation. The army has come — you have to meet them in battle.) And this is not the first time nor will it be the last that we will see shura (شورى - consultation) in action. يد الله على الجماعة (Allah's Hand is upon the congregation) — meaning consultation is a praiseworthy element of Islam. Even though the Prophet PBUH had no need of shura (because he receives Divine Revelation directly), he demonstrated to the sahaba (and to all of us) what a leader should do. Also, to have the troops involved in the decision-making is the best way to motivate them. So he asked, "What do you think we should do?"
The Prophet PBUH called a gathering of the sahaba and asked them, "What should we do now?" (Obviously, there is really no choice — running away now would be a humiliation. The army has come — you have to meet them in battle.) And this is not the first time nor will it be the last that we will see shura (شورى - consultation) in action. يد الله على الجماعة (Allah's Hand is upon the congregation) — meaning consultation is a praiseworthy element of Islam. Even though the Prophet PBUH had no need of shura (because he receives Divine Revelation directly), he demonstrated to the sahaba (and to all of us) what a leader should do. Also, to have the troops involved in the decision-making is the best way to motivate them. So he asked, "What do you think we should do?"
Abu Bakr stands, praises Allah SWT, sends peace and blessings upon the Prophet PBUH, and says, "Ya Rasulullah! Do as you please! We are behind you!" And he sits down. The Prophet PBUH thanked and praised him, and asked them again, "What do you think we should do?" Silence. And then Umar RA stands up and repeats what Abu Bakr has said, with more emphasis, "Ya Rasulullah! Do as you please! For verily, we will do anything you want us to do!" And he sits down. The Prophet PBUH thanked and praised him, and asked them the same question, "What do you think we should do?" Silence again — what does he want? Now another Muhajir, al-Miqdad ibn Amr (المقداد بن عمرو) stands up. He probably thought maybe Abu Bakr and Umar weren't forceful enough, so he said with fiery language, "Ya Rasulullah! Do as Allah has commanded you to do! We are right behind you! Ya Rasulullah! We will not say to you as the Bani Israel said to Musa ('You and your God, go and fight! We are staying right here!' [see Quran, 5:24]); rather, we will say, 'You and your Lord, go and fight! And we are right behind you!' Ya Rasulullah! Take us to the corner of the world — we will follow you until we meet Allah's decree!" — Subhan'Allah, you can't get more eloquent than this. The Prophet PBUH thanked him and praised him, *but* for the fourth time, he asked, "What do you think we should do?" What is going on? What does the Prophet PBUH want?
He PBUH wanted to hear from the Ansar. As of now, all of those who stood up, Abu Bakr, Umar, and al-Miqdad, are all Muhajirun. Recall in the Covenant of Aqaba, the Ansar only promised the Prophet PBUH that they would *protect the Prophet PBUH as they would protect their own families.* And Badr is not *protection*; it is *offensive.* The Ansar had not signed up for this. So now, for the first time, the Ansar are being asked in a very gentle manner — and notice the Prophet PBUH didn't even put them on the spot.
When the Prophet PBUH asked the same question for the fourth time, the great leader of the Ansar, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh stood up and asked, "Perhaps you are waiting for us, ya Rasulullah?" The Prophet PBUH said, "Yes." So Sa'd gave that famous eloquent speech, "Ya Rasulullah! After all, we believed in you, trusted you, and testified that what you have come with is the Truth! And we have given you our promises and oaths that we will listen-and-obey you!" Notice the beauty of Sa'd's response. He didn't go back to the bare minimum and say, "The promise was only to *protect* you," rather, he mentioned the other phrase in their oath, "We will *obey* you." Look at his Iman. He is going to the *spirit* of the law instead of the *letter* of the law. Then he said, "Ya Rasulullah! Go forth and do as you see fit! We are with you! I swear by the One who has sent you with the Truth — were you to charge us galloping into the ocean, we will go right behind you! We are not scared of meeting the enemy tomorrow! We will show you our patience during battle. And la'allaLlah (لعل الله - basically 'insha'Allah'), Allah will show you through us that which will comfort you. So go forth upon the blessings of Allah! We are right behind you!" When Sa'd said this, the Prophet PBUH was so happy his face lit up like the moon; Sa'd's response really reinvigorated him. And he PBUH told them again, "By Allah, Allah has promised me one of the two — and it is this one (i.e., the army we are facing tomorrow). And every one of them (Abu Jahal, Umayya ibn Khalaf, et al.) will die tomorrow." He then began the actual preparations for war.
[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, January 2024]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, January 2024]
