The Battle of Badr took place in the blessed month of Ramadaan in the 2nd year after the Hijrah.
The Battle of Badr has been referred to in the Qur'aan as the "Day of Furqaan". Furqaan in Arabic means to separate and to distinguish because on that day, Allah سبحانه وتعالى clearly distinguished truth from falsehood. On that day, He gave the believers a sound victory and vanquished the hopes and aspirations of the disbelievers who were attempting to bring an end to the growing Islamic Movement.
The Messenger of Allah
marched from Madeenah on a Wednesday evening, 8 days after the beginning of Ramadaan, with a small band of men numbering between 313 and 319. From this number, there were roughly 80 to 100 Muhaajiroon. And the rest of the men were Ansar.
The initial purpose for this expedition was to capture the caravan of Abu Sufyan رضي الله عنه as it was carrying all of the possessions and belongings of the Muhaajiroon when they had left Makkah for Madeenah, to Shaam, where they were now going to be sold by the chiefs of Quraysh for a great profit of money.
Their intention was one thing, but yet Allah سبحانه وتعالى planned for them a much greater event as He alone knows where the good lies for the believers. The Muslims were materially unprepared for any large scale battle and they did not even intend to engage in a battle. As a result, they were first unaware of the war preparations made by the Quraysh, who wanted to defend Abu Sufyaan's caravan and inflict a heavy blow to the Muslims. The disbelievers came out of Makkah with 1,000 men, 100 horses, and 700 camels, greatly outnumbering the poorer Muslim army. The Muslims had only 2 horses, but some say that it was actually 3: the horse upon which Az-Zubair رضي الله عنه sat, Al-Miqdaad's رضي الله عنه horse, and the horse upon which Abu Murthad Al-Ghinawi رضي الله عنه sat. In any case, three horses against one hundred was very disproportionate indeed!
As they were marching out of Makkah with these huge numbers and camels and horses, their attitude must have been one of great arrogance, pride, and contempt.
This is the exact manner that Allah سبحانه وتعالى described them with in the Qur'aan, in Surah Al-Haafizh Ibn Katheer rh.a said: "Allah commanded the believers to fight sincerely and to always be mindful of Him. In this Ayah, Allah سبحانه وتعالى commanded them not to imitate those pagans, who marched out of their homes "boastfully, looking down upon everyone else" "and to be seen of men" (showing off)."
Now, Abu Sufyan's caravan was able to escape, so it seemed that there may be no armed conflict. However, Allah سبحانه وتعالى had destined this great event to occur, and so, when Abu Jahl, the leader of the Quraysh, was told that the caravan escaped safely and that the army should return to Makkah, he commented, "No, by Allah! We will not go back until we proceed to the Wells of Badr, slaughter camels there, drink alcohol, and female singers dance and sing to us. In this way, all the Arabs will always talk about us and what we did on that day."
Thus, Abu Jahl refused to return to Makkah without first camping three days at Badr in such a way that all the Arabs would hear about their greatness. On the other hand, at this point, the Muslims had to decide what they should do. They could have returned to Madeenah and avoided any bloodshed but had they done so, they may have looked cowardly in the eyes of the Arab tribes, who were all closely observing the struggle between the Quraysh and the new Prophet
.
They had to make a crucial decision.
The Prophet Muhammad
consulted with his followers, telling them that Allah سبحانه وتعالى had promised them one of the two parties (either the caravan or the army):.............
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