The 2nd part of comments of Professor Hossein Ansarian on the event of Badr adopted from his book, “ the land of lovers”.
And from there the Prophet(s) left Medina with a large army while two warriors were carrying two black flags. One flag was in Ali Ibn-e Abitalib's hand and the other was being carried by one of Ansars. On the way, they met a man and asked him about the Qoraishi caravan. He had no information to give to them. Now the army was next to safra. The Prophet(s) sent somebody to get information related to Abu Sofyan. They continued with their war-journey till they arrived at a desert next to the village of safra. The spies told the Prophet(s) that the Qoraishis had left Mecca to help out Abu Sofyan.
Now it was time for the Prophet(s) to consult with his followers. The Prophet(s) realized that he had to confront an army several times stronger than that of his own.
One of the Prophet's followers, Meqdad Ibn-e Amr rose, saying: O Prophet, take us to any place your God has ordered; we will not let you down for a moment. We will not give you the same answer that Bani-Israel gave to Musa(s) when he invited them to join his religion. The answer is stated in the following verse:
فَاذْهَبْ أَنْتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ [1]
“They said: O Musa! Go therefore you and your Lord, then fight you both, surely we will here sit down.”
Now, we will repeat what Bani-Israel told Musa(s) but will add that we will help you in your fight against them. We swear to Allah that we will accompany you even if you take us to far lands as far as Ethiopia.
Then the Prophet(s) encouraged and blessed him. Addressing people, the Prophet(s) told them: Tell me your decision. The prophet meant the people from the tribe of Ansar. One of the Ansar tribemen, called Sa'ad Ibn-e Maaz Stood up, saying: O Messenger of Allah, Did you mean us Ansars? The Prophet replied: Yes, Sa'ad. Sa'ad said: we have accepted your religion and have witnessed to the authenticity of what you have offered to us. We have vowed to obey you at all times. Then proceed with your decision, we will not let you down. If you order us to throw ourselves in the sea, we will immediately do so. None of us would oppose to what you order us to do. Do not worry about us. We will take part in any war you order us to. We are resolute and well-prepared to participate in this war. May God help us carry out our duties so that you would be happy with us. Please ask for God's mercy on us.
The Prophet(s) now became tremendously delighted with what he had heard. Then he said: let us go ahead and have confidence in Allah. God has given me the good news: we will definitely defeat both their army and caravan. I can even now anticipate their burial ground.
The Prophet(s) and his companions left that location and arrived at the vicinity of Badr. He then sent some of his men to the well in Badr to receive some information related to the Qoraishi army. The envoys met with two persons who were taking water for the Qoraishi army. The envoys asked them about their identity. They characterized themselves as the water-carriers for the Qoraish army.
The envoys did not believe those two men to be the water-carriers for the Qoraishi army. They assumed they were the water-carriers for the Qoraishi caravan. Then they started torturing those two men to squeeze invormation out of them. As a result, they confessed to be the members of Abu Sofyan's caravan. Then the Moslems stopped torturing those two.
During the time when torturing was going on, the Prophet(s) was praying. When he finished praying, he addressed his followers, asking them: do you hit them when they tell the truth? And will you let them go when they lie? I swear to God they were telling the truth: they belong to the Qoraishi army and not to their caravan.
Addressing those two, the Prophet(s) asked: Tell me where the Qoraishis are. They replied: we swear to God they are behind the hill which is seen in the distance. The Prophet(s) asked about their number. They replied: many. How many are they, the Prophet asked. They replied: we do not know. The Prophet(s) asked: How many camels do they use for food each day? They answered: One day nine camels and the next day ten. The Prophet(s) then told their associates: the number is between nine hundred and a thousand. Then addressing the Moslems, the Prophet(s) said: remember Mecca has put the lives of all its beloved ones at your disposal.
Now let us see what happened to Abu Sofyan. As soon as he became aware of the moslems' intentions, Abu Sofyan changed the direction of his caravan and he and his carvan went outside the sight of the Moslems altogether. Being certain of the safety of the caravan, he sent an envoy to the Qoraishis and asked them to return to Mecca.
Abu Jahl said: I swear to God we will not return until we have reached the well of Badr and have spent three days in merry-making and wine-drinking and letting the singers sing for us. In this way when the Arab nation saw our unity and coherence, they would never intend to attack us.
Akhnas Ibn Shariq opposed Abu Jahl's statements and told the Bani Zohre Tribe, who had concluded a contract with the Qoraishis to hilp them at the time of war: your merchandise and men are now safe. And this is what you wanted. Now return home and do not get involved in a journey in which there is no benefit for you. Do not listen to this proud guy. Since Akhnas enjoyed a unique position among the Banizohreh tribe, nobody disobeyed him and no one went to Badr.
The following morning, those Moslems who were after Abu Sofyan's caravan understood that Abu Sofyan had taken the merchandise home intact and had to confront with the Qoraishi's army which was close by. The Moslems became disillusioned and dischanted. Some of them insisted that the Prophet(s) return to Medina and not to come face to face with the Qoraishi's army.
Referring to these Moslem, God states:
وَإِذْ يَعِدُكُمْ اللَّهُ إِحْدَى الطَّائِفَتَيْنِ أَنَّهَا لَكُمْ وَتَوَدُّونَ أَنَّ غَيْرَ ذَاتِ الشَّوْكَةِ تَكُونُ لَكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُحِقَّ الْحَقَّ بِكَلِمَاتِهِ وَيَقْطَعَ دَابِرَ الْكَافِرِينَ [2]
And [remember the day] when Allah promised you one of the two parties [The caravan or the army] that it shall be yours and you loved that the one not armed should be yours, and Allah desired to manifest the truth of what was true by His words and to cut off the root of the unbelievers.
In a short while, the Moslems had decided to combat with the Qoraishis. For this reason they set out and captured the well. God sent a terribe storm so that the ground on which the Qoraishis were resting became muddy and slippery. In this way the Islam's army could reach the well before the rivals.
They then were prepared for the fight. Meanwhile, they stated consulting. Sa'ad Ibn-e Ma'az came forward asking the Prophet(s): O Prophet(s), would you let us make a shady place for you and let your palfreys stand by? If we did not succeed, you might get on the palfrey and reach Medina since those Moslems in Medina do not believe in you less than us. They would have not betrayed you if they had known you would get into trouble. And from now on if you are in trouble, they will defeat and suppress your enemy.
The Messenger of God admired him and prayed for him. Together with his companions, Sa'ad constructed a shady place so that in case of failure, the Prophet(s) would not fall prey to his adversaries. He believed that the Prophet(s) could spread his ideology among the tribes because Islam did not belong to one tribe only. He believed the Prophet(s) should stay alive even if all the population of Medina got killed.
The Qoraishis, too, were ready for the combat. They sent a spy to collect information regarding the Moslems. The spy reported that Mohammad(s) had only three hundred men and that they were far away from water. The spy had noticed that the Moslems rely on their swords and on their conviction.
This news filled the hearts of the Qoraishis with fear and sorrow. Their eilite thought that if they were killed by the Moslem army, the Mecca would lose its credential. One of them, called Atabe Ibn-e Rabi'eh, said: O Qoraishis, I swear by my god that you would not achieve anything through fighting with Mohammad and his men. This is because if you killed him you would always confront one of his relatives. Therefore, it is better for you to return and leave him to the Arabs. This is because if other Arab tribes killed him you could have your aims fulfilled and if he dominated the Arabs you would have lost nothing.
When Abu Jahl was informed of Atabeh's recommendation, he was infuriated and started reminding his audience of their tribal hatred they had against the Moslems and this provoked all to get ready to murder the Moslems.
Having looked at the immense size of the enemy's troop, the Prophet(s) came to his followers and stated encouraging them. He got busy arranging their rank and file and ordered them not to attack until the time when he ordered them to do so. He advised them in the following manner:
If you besiged the enemy attack them with your arrows. Then he turned to his shady position, heing concerned with the security of his men. There, he started his prayer, saying:
O God! This tribe of Qoraishis is prejudiced and arrogant. They have always opposed and wronged you and have denounced your messenger. Now, they are ready to fight with your Apostle. O God! Send us the victory you have promised. If my followers are killed today there will be no one else to worship you.
The Prophet(s) of God continued with his prayers to the extent that his robe fell off his shoulders. He fell asleep. During his sleep the following verse was revealed to him:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَرِّضْ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى الْقِتَالِ إِنْ يَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ عِشْرُونَ صَابِرُونَ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَيْنِ وَإِنْ يَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ مِائَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفًا مِنْ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ [3]
O Prophet(s)! urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people who do not understand.
Upon receiving this revelation, the Messenger of God came in front of his troop and started enticing them to kill the infidels. He declared: I swear by God that anyone of you who patiently and diligently combats with the infidels shall enter the paradise. Then he received a fistful of dirt from Imam Ali(s) and threw it towards the infidels, saying: شاهَتِ الْوُجُوهُ Let your countenances stay ugly and nasty. Then addressing the Moslems, he said: stay firm and undaunted. Hearing this, the Moslems became resolute and shouted in chorus: God is one, God is one. Then God sent them His angels to encourage them for the combat. The God's Messenger(s), too, stood in the middle of the troop, exciting them for the struggle, giving them the good news of victory.
Both the presence of the Prophet(s) in the troop and the angels' assistance had a tremendous effect over the morale of the Moslems. For this reason they murdered a large number of the infidels and took a lot of them as prisoners. The Moslems' sacrifice and courage were unique in the history of Islam. In this group the Badriuns excelled others in courage.
Dust covered the corpses and the Meccans fled the battle-field in an infamous manner. The army of Islam returned to Medina with enormous amount of booties, feeling delighted from the assistance God had made them enjoy.[4]
In the glorious adventure of Badr, Allah provided the means of victory such as the pouring rain, the Prophet's prayer, the encouragement offered by the Prophet(s), the descent of the angels, and the fear the spiritual glory of the Islamic army inflicted upon the hearts of the enemy.
source : land of lovers
