Battle of Badr

It could be said that the global expansion of Islam began with the Battle of Badr. The town of Badr, or Badr al-hunayn, lies southwest of Yathrib, later named Madīna, in the Arabian Peninsula (presently, the town, or its surviving environs, is situated in the province of al-Madīna al-Munawwara in Saudi Arabia). It was here that the Battle of Badr was fought on 17 (or 19 or 21) Ramadān in 2 AH/13 (or 15 or 17) March, 623 CE. This battle was the first great triumph of Muhammad and his new followers against his hometown enemies in Mecca; that is, those members of the Quraysh tribe, Muhammad's own super tribe, and the elite of Mecca, who rejected his claims to prophecy and revelation, culminating in his emigration (hijra) to Yathrib in 622.

While the medieval Muslim sources are rife with hagiographical accounts of the Battle of Badr and its heroes, the best attested traditional account is reported by the historian al-Tabarī (d. 923) in a purported letter from ‘Urwa ibn al-Zubayr (d. 713) to the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd-al-Malik ibn Marwān (r. 683–705). Having received reports of a loaded Meccan caravan returning from Syria, headed by Abū-Sufyān ibn Harb, a progenitor of the later Umayyad Caliphate (r. 661–749), Muhammad gathered a force of about 300 followers whom he marched to Badr to intercept and raid it; the raiding of caravans, while central to tribalism in Arabia, provided for the economic survival of Muhammad's nascent polity (umma) in Madīna. Apparently aware of Muhammad's machinations to attack his caravan, Abū-Sufyān messaged Mecca to provide him with reinforcements as the caravan was passing near Madīna. The Meccan reinforcements, led by Abū-Jahl (literally “Father of Paganism or Ignorance,” so nicknamed by Muhammad), the head of the Makhzūm clan, numbered some 1,000 men, nearly all of whom were from Muhammad's super tribe, the Quraysh. Before reaching Badr, Abū-Jahl was informed that the caravan, by taking a route closer to the coast of Arabia, had safely eluded Muhammad and his followers. Nevertheless, in a show of power, Abū-Jahl went forward to Badr, thinking that Muhammad, given his small contingent, would not attack them or, better, that they would defeat him.

Muhammad apparently did not know of Abū-Jahl's expedition until the night before the battle. The Meccans were camped behind a hill, not far from Muhammad's followers. The notion that fleeing would be dishonorable appears to have persuaded Muhammad's followers to remain and fight the Meccans on the next morning. After seizing all of the surrounding water wells and filling them, except for one, with sand, Muhammad forced his Meccan rivals to fight for the only remaining water source. Details of the Battle of Badr are sparse. What is reported is that there were a number of duels followed by a mělée. The Meccans, despite the superiority of their numbers, were defeated, with nearly 70 of them killed, including their leader Abū-Jahl, and another 70 taken as war prisoners later to be ransomed. As for the Muslims, who proved victorious, it is reported that only 15 were killed or martyred. Symbolically, this battle was a huge blow to the Meccans’ prestige and honor. For Muhammad and his followers, it was a vindication of God's providence for this emerging polity and of God's foretold punishment of the unbelievers, as evinced in the Qur'ān

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