Beginning
of War:
At last, on Ramadân 17, 2 AH, when
the two armies came face to face, the Prophet (صلى
الله عليه وآله وسلم) returned to his small hut and beseeched
Allâh for Divine help. He entreated the Lord:
"O Allâh! If you were to
exterminate this small group of Muslims, you will be worshipped on earth no
more."
He then offered two Rak'ah of
prayer. Following this, he dozed a little and then came out fresh and smiling
from his hut and said with utmost confidence:
"The enemy force is defeated.
They took to their heels."
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) had already issued an order not to
initiate the fighting. There were approximately eighty Muslims from the
Muhâjirin and the rest belonged to the Ansâr. Among the Ansâr, sixty-one were
from the Aus and one hundred and seventy from Khazraj. The ranks on both sides
were set in order. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله
وسلم) was setting the ranks with an arrow in his hand.
In the meantime, in accordance with
the Arabian fashion, Utbah and Shaibah-sons of Rabi'ah and Walid bin Utbah
stepped forward, and in response to their call, three of the Ansâr, Auf and
Mu'awwidh-the sons of Afra' and Abdullah bin Rawâhah came forward to give them
battle. Utbah asked, "Who are you?" "We are the Ansâr,"
they answered. "We need not fight with you," Utbah said in a tone
filled with arrogance. He then called out: "O Muhammad; send our peers,
men of our own tribe." The Prophet (صلى الله عليه
وآله وسلم) said, "Go ahead, O Hamzah bin Abdul-Muttalib to give
battle to Utbah, Ubaidain bin Al-Hârith to fight with Shaibah-the brother of
Utbah, and Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
bin Abu Tâlib to engage Walid-the son of Utbah." With the order, all the
three Companions rose from their spots and came face to face with their
respective rivals. Utbah wanted to know their names although he knew them very
well. Then hearing their names he said, "Yes, we will fight with
you." The confrontation began. Hamzah and Ali (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
put the father and the son Utbah and Walid to the sword. Ubaidah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) and Shaibah both
received injuries in the encounter. Ali (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) bin Abu Tâlib and Hamzah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ
عَنْهُ) did away with the enemy of Islam and brought Ubaidah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم).
Now the disbelievers launched a
full-scale attack and the Muslim troops also moved forward to face their
enemies. Both sides showed great valor. As the day of Badr drew towards its
close, the defeated disbelievers fled the battlefield leaving behind seventy
men slain and seventy as prisoners. When the fighting started, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) came out to have a
full view of the situation. He pointed out to the Muslims that Banu Hâshim did
not join the enemy force out of their own will and desire, it was due only to
compulsion and so they deserved special concessions. So Abbâs bin
Abdul-Muttalib must not be killed, and Abul-Bakhtari also deserves forgiveness.
Abu Hudhaifah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
(رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) said, "How can
it be that I kill my brother and leave Abbâs bin Abdul- Muttalib, I will not
let him go if Abbâs fights with me." Later on Hudhaifah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ
عَنْهُ) was deeply repentant for his words and expressed great regret.
Mujadhdhir bin Ziyad (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) happened to face
Abul-Bakhtari and said to him, "I have been ordered not to fight with you,
so keep away." But Abul-Bakhtari made an attempt to save a friend of his
and was killed. Umayyah bin Khalaf and his son Ali (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) bin Umayyah were in great distress to save their lives. During
the days of Ignorance Abdur-Rahmân bin Auf (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) and Umayyah were close friends, so he gave him protection. But
the moment Bilâl (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
noticed him, he called some Ansâr and they together fell on Umayyah and his son
and did away with them despite Abdur-Rahmân's efforts to save them. Umair bin
Al-Hamâm (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) came to the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) eating dates and
asked, "Shall I go to Paradise at once if I am killed fighting the
disbelievers?" He said, "Yes." He threw away the dates in his
hand and ran to the battlefield and fought with the enemy until he was honored
with martyrdom.
When the battle was in full swing,
the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
picked a handful of dust and threw it towards the disbelievers after reciting
something over it. It resulted in the enemy fighters fleeing for their lives.
Mu'âdh bin Amr (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ),
a young Ansâr came across Abu Jahl who was armor clad. Mu'âdh bin Amr (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) struck at his
uncovered leg with his sword so forcefully that it was cut off from the shin.
When Ikrimah bin Abu Jahl found his father fatally injured, he fell upon Mu'âdh
bin Amr (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) and struck him with
his sword so violently that his left arm was nearly separated from the shoulder
but he kept fighting the whole day with the hanging arm. But when it gave him
more trouble, he put the hanging part under his foot and pulled apart by a
violent force. At the same moment Mu'awwidh bin Afra (رَضِيَ
ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ), another young man from the Ansâr drew near Abu Jahl and put
him to the sword.
When the disbelievers fled the
battlefield and the believers were victorious in this historic event, Allâh's
Messenger (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
asked for a search of the dead body of Abu Jahl. Abdullah bin Mas'ud (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) searched through the
dead bodies and found Abu Jahl lying half-dead. Abdullah bin Mas'ud (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) got on his chest and
said, 'Behold, O enemy of Allâh, what a disgrace you have been put to by
Allâh." Abu Jahl said, "What's the outcome of battle?" Abdullah
bin Mas'ud (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
replied, "It ended in victory for the believers and defeat for the
disbelievers." When he was about to cut his head off he said, "Cut
off my head from near the shoulders so that it looks bigger than the heads of
all others and it is seen as the head of a chief." Abdullah bin Mas'ud (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ) chopped his head off
and laid it down at the feet of the Prophet (صلى الله
عليه وآله وسلم). Having noticed it, Allâh's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) thanked Allâh. This battle martyred
fourteen believers, six from the Muhâjirin and eight from the Ansâr. The battle
being over, Allâh's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
buried the believers and ordered that the dead among the infidels should be
thrown into a pit or well and let them be covered with dust.
The disbelievers were so frightened
when they fled the field that they even lost track of their Commander, Abu Jahl
and left him behind fatally injured and dying. Harth bin Zam'ah, Abu Qais bin
Al-Fâkihah, Ali (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ)
bin Umayyah and Âs bin Utbah were young men and had deep sympathy with the
Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) in Makkah; or they
had secretly accepted Islam. After the migration of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) and his Companions,
they were flayed and decried by their clansmen and relatives and pressed to
return to their former faith. So they openly disobeyed Allâh's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) and joined the
battle against Islam. They were all killed in the battle along with all the
notable chieftains from the Quraish. The soul-shattering news of the
disbelievers' ignominious defeat in the battlefield of Badr left the Makkans
struck with grief.
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) entrusted the booty to Abdullah bin Ka'b
who belonged to Banu Najjâr, and sent Abdullah bin Rawâhah and Zaid bin
Hârithah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْھَا) with the glad
tidings of victory to the upper and lower settlements of Al-Madinah. Usâmah bin
Zaid who was left in Al-Madinah as the deputy of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), remarks, "The glad tidings of the
victory were received by us at a time when we were burying Ruqayyah (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْھَا),
the daughter of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
and the wife of Uthmân bin Affân. The news of victory had arrived in Al-Madinah
on 18 Ramadân."
Being free from his engagement in
the battlefield of Badr, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه
وآله وسلم) proceeded to Al-Madinah. On reaching Safra', he with the
Command of Allâh the Almighty, distributed the booty equally among the Muslims,
and ordered Nadr bin Al-Hârith bin Kildah (from Banu Abdud-Dâr) to be beheaded.
Similarly, arriving at Irq-uz-Zabyah, he issued the same order for Uqbah bin
Abu Mu'ait bin Abu Amr bin Linah. These two among the prisoners of the battle
of Badr were hard-core and ruthless enemies of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) and Islam and equal to Abu Jahl in
enmity. Thereafter the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله
وسلم), along with his Companions, speedily left for Al-Madinah
leaving the prisoners and their guards behind who joined them in Al-Madinah the
next day.
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