Battle of Badr: The Most Decisive Battle between Belief and Disbelief

 

The Battle of Badr was a crucial step toward Islam's victory in the Arabian Peninsula. The fight was between Islam's followers, led by Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), and the pagans, led by Quraish leaders.

One can envisage the symbolic importance of this battle, given that the Holy Quran only mentions a few other battles in Islam's early history. The Holy Quran, on the other hand, goes into great detail about the Battles of Badr and Uhud, because these battles contain very important messages for the Ummah's future (Muslim nation). The crucial points in the Battle of Badr are so important that the progress and success of the Islamic movement is heavily reliant on them.

The night before the battle, the prophet prayed to Allah for assistance, and Allah revealed the following verses:

And recall when you implored your Lord for help and He responded to you: ‘I will indeed reinforce you with a thousand angels, coming host after host. Allah meant this as glad tidings and that your hearts may be set at rest. For every help comes from Allah alone. Surely Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. Quran (8: 9-10)

Then he managed to turn to his companions and requested about their thoughts. Miqdad bin Aswad gave a blazing speech that history would remember:

“O Messenger of Allah! go ahead with what you were ordered to. We are with you. I swear by Allah we will never do as Bani Israel did to Moses and say, ‘Go with your God and fight. We will stay here’.  No, we will tell you, ‘Go with Allah and fight. we are with you!’ I swear by Allah, the One who sent you as Prophet on the right path; even if you lead us to Bark al-Ghimad, we will fight you until you reach it“

The Battle of Badr was solely a battle between Imaan (faith) and Kufr (disbelief), or the faithful versus the unfaithful. It's a fight between a committed, sincere group of people and a group that was ready to kill and destroy the Islamic movement in its infancy, when its foundations were being laid. There are numerous aspects of this great battle to investigate, including leadership, commitment to leadership, trust in leadership, courage, taking positions, consultation, respect for others' opinions, human rights, order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, and etc...

Badr is a field 70 kilometres from Medina. The leader of the non-believers would be Abu Jahl. He swore that he would exact bloody revenge on the Muslims because they had forced to abandon their homeland and old gods in favour of Allah. "We have come here to put an end to the story of Muhammad once and for all," he would proudly proclaim to his army.

According to legend, there were 315 Muslim soldiers in battle, with 2 horses and 70 camels, compared to 950 Quraish infantry, with 100 horses and 170 camels. As a result, by Allah's grace and support, He sent down his angels to assist in combat, ensuring victory for Islam. The Islamic army and the Muslims were declared triumphant over the Quraish armies. They were successful in defeating approximately 70 hostile army soldiers. Unfortunately, the conflict resulted in the deaths of 15 Muslims. The names of these men were carved into stone and are now on display at the battleground (in Badr).

With the victory of Badr, Islam was transformed from a man on an objective to a philosophy within a movement. The world had now seen a new ray of hope and a pinnacle of humanity's hope shine forth. A new religion had emerged, one that preached and practiced equality and justice for all, and it was on its way to eradicating the world's darkness. This was the Prophet Muhammad's first military victory. It severely harmed Mecca's reputation while bolstering Muslims' political position in Medina and instituting Islam as a feasible power in the Arab world.

Through poetry, art, and literature, the Battle of Badr would live on in the minds of Islamic civilizations. Throughout the next 1400 years, the legacy of this fight would inspire other military victories by empires and nations.