THE BATTLE OF BADR THE FIRST DECISIVE BATTLE IN THE HISTORY OF ISLAM REASON OF
THE BATTLE:
We have already spoken about Al-‘Ushairah Invasion when a caravan belonging to Quraish had  escaped  an imminent military encounter with the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and his men. When their return  from Syria approached, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) despatched Talhah bin ‘Ubaidullâh and Sa‘id  bin Zaid northward to scout around for any movements of this sort. The two scouts stayed at
Al-Hawra’  for some days until Abu Sufyan, the leader of the caravan, passed by them. The two men hurried back  to Madinah and reported to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) their findings. Great wealth amounting  to
50 thousand gold Dinars guarded by 40 men moving relatively close to Madinah constituted a  tempting  target for the Muslim military, and provided a potentially heavy economic, political and military strike  that was bound to shake the entire structure of the Makkan polytheists.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) immediately exhorted the Muslims to rush out and waylay the  caravan to make up for their property and wealth they were forced to give up in Makkah. He did not  give orders binding to everyone, but rather gave them full liberty to go out or stay back, thinking that  it  would be just an errand on a small scale.
The Muslim army was made up of 300-317 men, 82-86 Emigrants, 61 from Aws and 170 from
Khazraj.
They were not well-equipped nor adequately prepared. They had only two horses belonging to Az-
Zubair bin Al-‘Awwam and Al-Miqdad bin Al-Aswad Al-Kindi, 70 camels, one for two or three men to  ride alternatively. The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) himself, ‘Ali and Murthid bin Abi
Murthid
Al-Ghanawi had only one camel. Disposition of the affairs of Madinah was entrusted to Ibn Umm
Maktum but later to Abu Lubabah bin ‘Abdul Mundhir. The general leadership was given to Mus‘ab bin
‘Umair Al-Qurashi Al-‘Abdari, and their standard was white in colour. The little army was divided into  two battalions, the Emigrants with a standard raised by ‘Ali bin Abi Talib, and the Helpers whose  standard was in the hand of Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh. Az-Zubair bin Al-‘Awwam was appointed to the  leadership  of the right flank, Al-Miqdad bin ‘Amr to lead the left flank, and the rear of the army was at the  command of Qais bin Abi Sa‘sa‘ah. The General Commander-in-Chief was the Prophet (Peace be upon  him), of course.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him), at the head of his army, marched out along the main road leading  to
Makkah. He then turned left towards Badr and when he reached As-Safrâ’, he despatched two men to  scout about for the camels of Quraish.
Abu Sufyan, on the other hand, was on the utmost alert. He had already been aware that the route he  was following was attended with dangers. He was also anxious to know about the movements of
Muhammad (Peace be upon him). His scouting men submitted to him reports to the effect that the
Muslims were lying in ambush for his caravan. To be on the safe side, he hired Damdam bin ‘Amr Al-
Ghifari to communicate a message asking for help from the Quraishites. The messenger rode fast and  reached Makkah in frenzy. Felling himself from his camel, he stood dramatically before Al-Ka‘bah, cut  off the nose and the ears of the camel, turned its saddle upside down, tore off his own shirt from front  and behind, and cried: “O Quraish! Your merchandise! It is with Abu Sufyan. The caravan is being  intercepted by Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and his companions. I cannot say what would have  happened to them. Help! Help!”
The effect of this hue and cry was instantaneous and the news stunned Quraish and they immediately  remembered their pride that was wounded when the Muslims had intercepted Al-Hadrami caravan.
They therefore swiftly mustered almost all of their forces and none stayed behind except Abu Lahab,  who delegated someone who owed him some money. They also mobilized some Arab tribes to  contribute to the war against the Prophet (Peace be upon him). All the clans of Quraish gave their  consent except Banu ‘Adi. Soon an excited throng of 1300 soldiers including 100 horsemen and 600  mailed soldiers with a large number of camels, was clamouring to proceed to fight the Muslims. For  food supplies, they used to slaughter an alternate number of camels of ten and nine every day. They  were however afraid that Banu Bakr, on account of old long deep-seated animosity, would attack their  rear. At that critical moment, Iblis (Satan) appeared to them in the guise of Suraqa bin Malik bin