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Battle of Badr

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Pre 1900 Military

   Battle of Badr
   Part of the Muslim- Quraish Wars
   Scene from the film The Message depicting the Muslim army at the Battle
   of Badr.

     Date   March 17, 624 CE/17 Ramadan, 2 AH
   Location Badr, just outside Medina
    Result  Muslim victory
   Combatants
   Muslims of Medina Quraish of Mecca
   Commanders
   Muhammad
   Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib
   Ali 'Amr ibn Hishām (aka "Abū Jahl")
   Abu Sufyan
   Strength
   305-350 <900-1000
   Casualties
   14 killed 50-70 killed
   43-70 captured
   Campaigns of Muhammad
   Badr – Banu Qaynuqa – Uhud – Banu Nadir – The Trench – Banu Qurayza –
   Hudaybiyyah – Khaybar – Mu'tah – Mecca – Hunayn – Autas – Ta'if –
   Tabouk

   The Battle of Badr (Arabic: غزوة بدر‎), fought March 17, 624 CE (17
   Ramadan 2 AH in the Islamic calendar) in the Hejaz of western Arabia
   (present-day Saudi Arabia), was a key battle in the early days of Islam
   and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with the Meccan Quraish. The
   battle has been passed down in Islamic history as a decisive victory
   attributable to divine intervention or the genius of Muhammad. Although
   it is one of the few battles specifically mentioned in the Muslim holy
   book, the Qur'ān, virtually all contemporary knowledge of the battle at
   Badr comes from traditional Islamic accounts, both hadiths and
   biographies of Muhammad, written decades after the battle.

   Prior to the battle, the Muslims and Meccans had been engaging in
   several smaller skirmishes and by late 623 and early 624 the Muslim
   ghazawāt had become more frequent. Badr, however was the first
   large-scale engagement between the two forces. Muhammad was leading a
   raiding party against a Quraish caravan when he was surprised by a much
   larger Quraishi army, however some Islamic scholars have questioned
   raiding the caravan, both opinions are discussed in the article.
   Advancing to a strong defensive position, Muhammad's well-disciplined
   men managed to shatter the Meccan lines, killing several important
   Quraishi leaders including Muhammad's chief antagonist, 'Amr ibn
   Hishām. For the early Muslims the battle was extremely significant
   because it was the first sign that they might eventually overcome their
   persecutors in Mecca. Mecca at this time was one of the richest and
   most powerful pagan cities in Arabia, fielding an army three times
   larger than that of the Muslims.

Background

   Part of a series of articles on

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   See also

   Vocabulary of Islam

Muhammad

   At the time of the battle, Arabia was sparsely populated by a number of
   Arabic-speaking peoples. Some were Bedouin; pastoral nomads organized
   in tribes; some were agriculturalists living either in oases in the
   north or in the more fertile and thickly settled areas to the south
   (now Yemen and Oman). The majority of Arabs were adherents of numerous
   polytheistic religions. There were also tribes that followed Judaism,
   Christianity (including Nestorianism), and Zoroastrianism.

   Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 CE into the Banū Hāshim clan of
   the Quraish tribe. When he was about forty years old, he is said to
   have experienced a divine revelation while he was meditating in a cave
   outside Mecca. He began to preach to his kinfolk first privately and
   then publicly. Response to his preaching both attracted followers and
   antagonized others. During this period Muhammad was protected by his
   uncle Abū Tālib. When he died in 619 and the leadership of the Banū
   Hāshim passed to one of Muhammad's enemies, 'Amr ibn Hishām, who
   withdrew the protection and stepped up persecution of the Muslim
   community.

   In 622, with open acts of violence being committed against the Muslims
   by their fellow Quraishi tribesmen, Muhammad and many of his followers
   fled to the neighboring city of Medina. This migration is called the
   Hijra and marked the beginning of Muhammad's reign as both a temporal
   as well as a religious leader.

The Ghazawāt

   Following the hijra, tensions between Mecca and Medina escalated and
   hostilities broke out in 623 when the Muslims began a series of raids
   (called ghazawāt in Arabic) on Quraishi caravans. Ghazawāt (s. ghazw)
   were plundering raids organized by nomadic Bedouin warriors against
   either rival tribes or wealthier, sedentary neighbors. In late 623 and
   early 624, the Muslim ghazawāt grew increasingly brazen and
   commonplace. In September 623, Muhammad himself led a force of 200 in
   an unsuccessful raid against a large caravan. Shortly thereafter, the
   Meccans launched their own "raid" against Medina, although its purpose
   was just to steal some Muslim livestock.

   Since Medina was located just off Mecca's main trade route, the Muslims
   were in an ideal position to do this. Even though many Muslims were
   Quraish themselves, they believed that they were entitled to steal from
   them because the Meccans had expelled them from their homes and tribes,
   a serious offense in hospitality-oriented Arabia. Also, there was a
   tradition in Arabia of poor tribes raiding richer tribes. It also
   provided a means for the Muslim community to carve out an independent
   economic position at Medina, where their political position was far
   from secure. The Meccans obviously took a different view, seeing the
   Muslim raids as banditry at best, as well as a potential threat to
   their livelihood and prestige.

   In January 624, the Muslims ambushed a Meccan caravan near Nakhlah,
   only forty kilometers outside of Mecca, killing one of the guards and
   formally inaugurating a blood feud with the Meccans. Worse, from a
   Meccan standpoint, the raid occurred in the month of Rajab, a truce
   month sacred to the Meccans in which fighting was prohibited and a
   clear affront to their pagan traditions. It was in this context that
   the Battle of Badr took place.

   However, some Islamic scholars question narratives regarding raid
   against the caravan as they argue that these narratives contradict the
   Qur'anic version of the account. They argue that the caravan was one of
   the two targets which weak believers wanted to attack ( 8:5-8), but
   then eventually Muslims fought against Meccan army, as looting a
   defenceless caravan wouldn't require preparations which Qur'an talks
   about( 8:43).

The battle

The march to Badr

   Muhammad commanded the army himself and brought many of his top
   lieutenants, including Hamzah and future Caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, and
   Ali. The Muslims also brought seventy camels and three horses, meaning
   that they either had to walk or fit three to four men per camel.
   However, many early Muslim sources, including the Qur'an, indicate that
   no serious fighting was expected, and the future Caliph Uthman stayed
   behind to care for his sick wife.

   The Quraish assembled an army of 900-1000 men to rescue the caravan.
   Many of the Quraishi nobles, including Amr ibn Hishām, Walid ibn Utba,
   Shaiba, and Umayah ibn Khalaf, joined the army. Their reasons varied:
   some were out to protect their financial interests in the caravan;
   others wanted to avenge Ibn al-Hadrami, the guard killed at Nakhlah;
   finally, a few must have wanted to take part in what was expected to be
   an easy victory against the Muslims. Amr ibn Hishām is described as
   shaming at least one noble, Umayah ibn Khalaf, into joining the
   expedition.

   By this time Muhammad's army was approaching the wells where he planned
   to waylay the caravan, at Badr, along the Syrian trade route where the
   caravan would be expected to stop. However, several Muslim scouts were
   discovered by scouts from the caravan and Abu Sufyan made a hasty turn
   towards Yanbu.

   Around this time word reached the Muslims about the departure of the
   Meccan army. Muhammad immediately called a council, "If you [Muhammad]
   order us to plunge our horses into the sea, we would do so." However,
   the Muslims still hoped to avoid a pitched battle and continued to
   march towards Badr.

   After few days, both armies were about a day's march from Badr. Several
   Muslim warriors who had ridden ahead of the main column captured two
   Meccan water carriers at the Badr wells. Expecting them to say they
   were with the caravan, the Muslims were horrified to hear them say they
   were with the main Quraishi army. The next day Muhammad ordered a
   forced march to Badr and arrived before the Meccans.

   The Badr wells were located on the gentle slope on the eastern side of
   a valley called "Yalyal". The western side of the valley was hemmed in
   by a large hill called 'Aqanqal. When the Muslim army arrived from the
   east, Muhammad initially chose to form his army at the first well he
   encountered, but he was apparently persuaded by one of his soldiers to
   move his army westwards and occupy the well closest to the Quraishi
   army. Muhammad then gave the order to fill in the remaining wells, so
   that the Meccans would have to fight the Muslims for the sole remaining
   water source.

The Meccan plan

     "[The] Arabs will hear how we marched forth and of our mighty
     gathering, and they will stand in awe of us forever." - Amr ibn
     Hishām

   By contrast, while little is known about the progress of the Quraishi
   army from the time it left Mecca until its arrival just outside Badr,
   several things are worth noting: although many Arab armies brought
   their women and children along on campaigns both to motivate and care
   for the men, the Meccan army did not. Also, the Quraish apparently made
   little or no effort to contact the many Bedouin allies they had
   scattered throughout the Hijaz. Both facts suggest the Quraish lacked
   the time to prepare for a proper campaign in their haste to protect the
   caravan.

   When the Quraishi reached Juhfah, just south of Badr, they received a
   message from Abu Sufyan telling them the caravan was safely behind
   them, and that they could therefore return to Mecca. At this point,
   according to Karen Armstrong, a power struggle broke out in the Meccan
   army. Amr ibn Hishām wanted to continue, but several of the clans
   present, including Banu Zuhrah and Banu Adi, promptly went home.
   Armstrong suggests they may have been concerned about the power that
   Hishām would gain from crushing the Muslims. A contingent of Banu
   Hashim, hesitant to fight their own clansmen, also left with them.
   Despite these losses, Hishām was still determined to fight, boasting
   "We will not go back until we have been to Badr." During this period,
   Abu Sufyan and several other men from the caravan joined the main army.

The day of battle

   Different map of the battle
   Enlarge
   Different map of the battle

   At dawn on March 17, the Quraish broke camp and marched into the valley
   of Badr. It had rained the previous day and they struggled to move
   their horses and camels up the hill of 'Aqanqal (sources say the sun
   was already up by the time they reached the summit). After they
   descended from 'Aqanqal, the Meccans set up another camp inside the
   valley. While they rested, they sent out a scout, Umayr ibn Wahb to
   reconnoiter the Muslim lines. Umayr reported that Muhammad's army was
   small, and that there were no other Muslim reinforcements which might
   join the battle. However, he also predicted extremely heavy Quraishi
   casualties in the event of an attack (One hadith refers to him seeing
   "the camels of [Medina] laden with certain death"). This further
   demoralized the Quraish, as Arab battles were traditionally
   low-casualty affairs, and set off another round of bickering among the
   Quraishi leadership. However, according to Muslim traditions Amr ibn
   Hishām quashed the remaining dissent by appealing to the Quraishi's
   sense of honour and demanding that they fulfill their blood vengeance.

   The battle started with champions from both armies emerging to engage
   in combat. Three of the Ansar emerged from the Muslim ranks, only to be
   shouted back by the Meccans, who were nervous about starting any
   unnecessary feuds and only wanted to fight the Quraishi Muslims. So the
   Muslims sent out Hamzah, Ubaydah, and Ali. The Muslims dispatched the
   Meccan champions in a three-on-three melee, although Ubaydah was
   mortally wounded.

   Now both armies began firing arrows at each other. Two Muslims and an
   unknown number of Quraish were killed. Before the battle started,
   Muhammad had given orders for the Muslims to attack with their ranged
   weapons, and only engage the Quraish with melee weapons when they
   advanced. Now he gave the order to charge, throwing a handful of
   pebbles at the Meccans in what was probably a traditional Arabian
   gesture while yelling "Defaced be those faces!" The Muslim army yelled
   "Yā manṣūr amit!" and rushed the Quraishi lines. The sheer force of the
   Muslim attack can be seen in several Qur'anic verses, which refer to
   thousands of angels descending from Heaven at Badr to slaughter the
   Quraish. It should be noted that early Muslim sources take this account
   literally, and there are several hadith where Muhammad discusses the
   Angel Jibreel and the role he played in the battle. In any case the
   Meccans, understrength and unenthusiastic about fighting, promptly
   broke and ran. The battle itself only lasted a few hours and was over
   by the early afternoon.

Important participants

Meccans

     * Amr ibn Hishām (Meccan commander, killed)
     * Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
     * As ibn Sa'id (killed)
     * Safwan ibn Umayah
     * Umayah ibn Khalaf (killed)
     * Umayr ibn Wahb
     * Uqbah ibn Abu Mu'ayt (killed)
     * Utba ibn Rabi'ah (killed)
     * Walid ibn Mughira (killed)
     * Walid ibn Utba (killed)
     * Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid
     * Wahb ibn Umayr (prisoner)

Muslims

   + Indicates Ansar
     * Muhammad (Muslim commander, Islamic prophet)

   Names in alphabetic order
     * Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf
     * Abu Bakr (future caliph)
     * Abu Hudaifah ibn Utbah
     * Ammar ibn Yasir
     * Ali ibn Abu Talib (future caliph)
     * Bashir ibn Sa'ad+
     * Bilal ibn Ribah
     * Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib
     * Khabbab ibn al-Aratt
     * Khunais ibn Hudhaifa
     * Muaaz ibn Amr+ (killed)
     * Muawwaz ibn Amr+ (killed)
     * Mu‘awwadh bin Al-‘Afrâ (died)
     * Obaidah ibn al-Harith (killed)
     * Umar (future caliph)

Aftermath

   An Iranian depiction from 1314 of the Muslim pursuit following the
   battle.
   Enlarge
   An Iranian depiction from 1314 of the Muslim pursuit following the
   battle.

Casualties and prisoners

   Al-Bukhari lists Meccan losses as seventy dead and seventy captured,
   which would be 15%-16% of the Quraishi army, unless the actual number
   of Meccan troops present at Badr was significantly lower, in which case
   the perecentage of troops lost would have been higher. Muslim losses
   are commonly listed at fourteen killed, about 4% of their engaged
   forces. Sources do not indicate the number of wounded on either side,
   and the major discrepancies between the casualty totals on each side
   suggests that the fighting was extremely brief and that most of the
   Meccans were killed during the retreat.

   During the course of the fighting, the Muslims took a number of Meccan
   Quraish prisoner. Their fate sparked an immediate controversy in the
   Muslim army. The initial fear was that the Meccan army might rally and
   that the Muslims couldn't spare any men to guard the prisoners. Sad and
   Umar were in favour of killing the prisoners, but Abu Bakr argued for
   clemency. Muhammad eventually sided with Abu Bakr, and most prisoners
   were spared, either because of clan relations (One was Muhammad's
   son-in-law), desire for ransom, or the hope that they would later
   convert to Islam (in fact, several later would). At least two
   high-ranking Meccans, Amr ibn Hishām and Umayyah, were executed after
   the battle, and two other Quraish who had dumped a bucket of sheep
   excrement over Muhammad during his days at Mecca were also killed
   during the return to Medina. In the case of Umayyah, his former slave
   Bilal was so intent on killing him that his companions even stabbed one
   of the Muslims guarding Umayyah.

   Shortly before he departed Badr, Muhammad also gave the order for over
   twenty of the dead Quraishis to be thrown into the well at Badr.
   Multiple hadiths refer to this incident, which was apparently a major
   cause for outrage among the Quraish of Mecca. Shortly thereafter,
   several Muslims who had been recently captured by allies of the Meccans
   were brought into the city of Mecca and executed in revenge for the
   defeat.

   According to the traditional blood feud (similar to Blood Law) any
   Meccans related to those killed at Badr would feel compelled to take
   vengeance against members of the tribe who had killed their relatives.
   On the Muslim side, there was also a heavy desire for vengeance, as
   they had been persecuted and tortured by the Quraishi Meccans for
   years. However, as a general rule, the Muslims took better care of
   their prisoners, even going so far as to house them with Muslim
   families in Medina.

Implications

   The Battle of Badr was extremely influential in the rise of two men who
   would determine the course of history on the Arabian peninsula for the
   next century. The first was Muhammad, who was transformed overnight
   from a Meccan outcast into a major leader. According to Karen
   Armstrong, "for years Muhammad had been the butt of scorn and insults,
   but after this spectacular and unsought success everybody in Arabia
   would have to take him seriously." Marshall Hodgson adds that Badr
   forced the other Arabs to "regard the Muslims as challengers and
   potential inheritors to the prestige and the political role of the
   [Quraish]." The victory at Badr also allowed Muhammad to consolidate
   his own position at Medina. Shortly thereafter he expelled the Banu
   Qaynuqa, one of the Jewish tribes at Medina that had been threatening
   his political position. At the same time Ibn Ubayy, Muhammad's chief
   Muslim opponent in Medina, found his own position seriously weakened.
   Henceforth, he would only be able to mount limited challenges to
   Muhammad.

   The other major beneficiary of the Battle of Badr was Abu Sufyan. The
   death of Amr ibn Hashim, as well as many other Quraishi nobles gave Abu
   Sufyan the opportunity, almost by default, to become chief of the
   Quraish. As a result, when Muhammad marched into Mecca six years later,
   it was Abu Sufyan who helped negotiate its peaceful surrender. Abu
   Sufyan subsequently became a high-ranking official in the Muslim
   Empire, and his son Muawiya would later defeat Muhammad's son-in-law
   Ali and go on to found the Umayyad Caliphate.

   In later days having fought Badr became so significant that Ibn Ishaq
   included a complete name-by-name roster of the Muslim army in his
   biography of Muhammad. In many hadiths, individuals who fought at Badr
   are identified as such as a formality, and they may have even received
   a stipend in later years. The death of the last of the Badr veterans
   occurred during the First Islamic civil war. According to Karen
   Armstrong, one of the most lasting impacts of Badr may be the fasting
   during Ramadan, which she argues the Muslims initially began as a way
   of commemorating the victory at Badr. This view is disputed, however,
   due to traditional claims that the Muslim army was fasting while it
   marched out to the battle.

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