The Battle of Badr was the first Muslim resistance against the Arab pagans. It was March 624, Muslim army consisting of “Ansars, host from Medina� and the Meccan exiles, against the powerful and arrogant Quraish, the lord of Mecca. This daring was not for pride, glory or kingship, this unequal battle was fought for a simple but magnificent belief, to worship Allah alone, “La Ilaha Illallah�. All negotiations with Mecca had failed; some of Muhammad’s followers were tortured and killed. Even a bid to Muhammad’s life was made.The Meccans assembled that day in great numbers, well equipped with armed fighters and 300 horses, numbering close to 1000 warriors. The believers, with 300 fighters, 70 camels and 2 horses didn’t had much to bank on except belief in Allah, Prophet and standing up for the noble cause. The Muslims stood confidently in a straight battle formation, patiently and sturdily. The Meccan spy went back to his masters saying he saw the “Muslim camels carrying death�, was dismissed as a dreamer. Victory over Muslims was certain, the confidence of Meccans rode high.
To the Arabs, pagan to the core, then for them there was no resurrection, no heaven or hell. A man was known through the glory of his ancestors and the genealogy chain, the virtue and strength of his tribe, and yes, through poems, man would live forever, made famous for his generosity and acts of bravery. Mecca housed the ancient Kaaba, and every year people from all Arabia would gather in Mecca for HAJJ, circumambulates by Kaaba and offer sacrifices. Though the Arabs believed in Allah as the supreme lord, they also worshipped many other deities. The Kaaba housed more than 360 idols, representing different gods for each occasion. It was pride in pre Islamic Arabia to bury daughters alive, alcoholism, killing and pillage was considered a part of life. The arid and harsh landscape of Arabia worked very well for this temperament. Muhammad opposed such acts and invited them back to the religion of Abraham, to give charity, make no partners with Allah, rights for women, to live a noble and pious life, abstain from “riba�, looking after relatives, defending the weak in society, helping neighbors, no to adultery, gambling or alcohol. It was too much to ask for, and the Arabs had only been following their ancestors, and how possibly they could leave all this.
Just before the battle Muhammad prayed to Allah for Muslim victory, Saad ibn Muadh the representative from Medina, spoke his famous words to Muhammad, “ We believe in you, we declare your truth and we witness that what you have brought is the truth, and we have given you our word and agreement to hear and obey; so go where you wish and we are with you; and by God, if you were to ask us to cross this sea and you plunged into it, we would plunge into it with you; not a man would stay behind. We do not dislike the idea of meeting your enemy tomorrow. We are experienced in war, trustworthy in combat�. As per the battle tradition those days, one to one dual was fought before the final call of battle, from Muslims came Ali Bin Abu Talib, cousin of Prophet, Hamza Bin Abdul Muttalib, uncle of Prophet and Obeidah Bin Al Harith, cousin of Prophet. They faced the Meccan, “Sheibah, Al Waleed and Utbah, all 3 Meccans fell to Muslim warriors. The battle started and by mid day the once strong Meccan’s were routed, many killed and taken as prisoners of War, Prophet intervened and asked that prisoners be looked after well, with no disrespect or added injury to them. Later many of these prisoners accepted Islam, after experiencing its mercy and compassion from Prophet.
The battle of Badr was crucial to the new Muslims and Islam as an entity, had the Muslims lost this battle, the picture of Islam would have been very different. After suffering torture, humiliation and exile from the hands of Quraish, the day saved their existence, word spread fast among the tribes and desert Bedouins, that Muhammad and his Religion was to be taken seriously. The Arabs soon realized the truth in Muhammad’s voice and accepted Islam en mass, shunning their old beliefs and accepting the call of purity and accepting that “There is no God but Allah�, offering obligatory prayers, giving charity and living a pious life.From that day onwards the flag of Islam and followers of Muhammad never stopped growing, till day Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.
Muhammad the Prophet of Allah and Seal of Prophet hood, May Peace be upon Him.
Saifali:
Muslims have been growing only in numbers and I do not see any reason to rejoice in it. We will be forced to count muslims on fingers if we really go by our Prophet’s (PBUH) hidaaya:
“to give charity, make no partners with Allah, rights for women, to live a noble and pious life, abstain from “riba
The battle of Badr was the most important among the Islamic battles of Destiny. For the first time the followers of the new faith were put into a serious test. Had victory been the lot of the pagan army while the Islamic Forces were still at the beginning of their developments, the faith of Islam could have come to an end.
“Permission to fight is given to those (i.e. believers against those disbelievers), who are fighting them, (and) because they (believers) have been wronged, and surely Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory.” [(22): 39)]
Mohib mian many thanks for the corrections.
Hi Saifali,
I will like to read the complete history. I have been trying to find good resources regarding Muslim History on net. Appreciate if you can guide me. Does this story appear in Quran?
Also do the Quraishis, Ansaris etc derive their surnames from the middle east? I have read somewhere that the prophet also wanted to destroy the kaba stone as well but later left it…Can I read that story?
Regards,
Manoj George
Hi Manoj, the best reading i will recommend u is KAREN ARMSTRONG, MUHAMMED. its a very detailed yet well written work on Islam and Prophet Muhammeds life.
Ansar in arabic means `helper`, ansar were the people of city Yatrib now known as Medina, the people of this city accepted Islam and the Prophets teaching and also gave hin shelter when Prophets own tribe was trying to assasinate him.
Quarish was the meccan tribe and prophet was from them.
In subcontinent u will find lots of surnames, people who claim to be from Prophets clan call themselves SYEDs, ( an arabic friend once told me that there are more syeds in India than in all arab region), its funny.
Aasalam alaykum. I was just going through the sites and wanted to know the hisotry and origin of Ansari clan also known as Ansars.
I have known about Ansars as told by my parents and my Hafiz. But would like to know more detailed verions abt Ansars
Hello Manoj
Muslim History starts with the Prophet’s life, so reading his biography will be most useful. There are many, a few that come to mind are ones by Haikal and Saif Mubarakpuri. Both are great in their own respects and the second one is available on the net (and is the shorter of the two), search revealed this link: http://comp.uark.edu/~muslim/publications/Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum.pdf
The Quran primarily narrates the stories of previous generations, stories of the Prophet’s time to whom the Quran was revealed are to be found in other sources. The incident in this blog, the battle of badr is referred to in the Quran (not the entire story) but the details are primarily from Hadith and other sources of history.
Many families in the sub continent trace their ancestory to Arabs. The main tribe of makkah was Quraish hence the Quraishis. Those who trace their ancestory to the Prophet or his immediate relatives are referred to as Syeds (the Prophet himself was from the Quraish tribe). Those who trace their ancestory to the first caliph of Islam, Abubakr Siddique are called Siddiquis, those who trace it to the second caliph Umar Farooq are called Farooquis, those who trace it to third caliph Usman are called Usmanis.
Those who trace their ancestory to Abu Ayyub the person in whose house the Prophet stayed initially when he migrated to Madinah are called Ansaris (ansar=helper).
All these are also collectively referred to as Sheikh (i.e. those of Arab origin). There are of course many more, hope this gets you started
Thanks Navaid for the link and valuable information. I have read some books on Islam. I respect Islam and like many facets about it. I have shown interest in Islam from an intellectual angle and in my own spiritual quest so I like certain things but am not emotional about all its aspects . I like the ideas of Zakat, Sawm and Salah. I like the sufism aspect and have read riddles by Jalal Rumi and have been dazed at their depth. I have equally been a great devout of Buddhism Meditation, Certain Books by Osho and Bhagwat Gita. I also like the core idea of Vedanta. I am a catholic but do like the protestant idea in christianity as well.
In my understanding I do not link fate of Islam to Battle of Badr. Because in the latter years there was a Battle of Uhud where the prophet had to retreat against the meccans. Linking fate of a religion to victory in battles is incorrect. Wars do not decimate ideas example the mongols who captured all the Islamic lands but yet later accepted Islam. So a victory in war does not essentially lead to religious propagation or destruction.
An idea of a humane world where a child is free to choose his own religion and not just because he was born in a certain family . The idea of personal quest of spirtualism needs to be inculcated rather than forming political groups like popedom or Khilafat . A quest to understand everything and not to be biased will probably encourage scientific questioning.
Manoj, Nice to know about your interests in other religions. I myself share some of that and like to read on other religions.
I agree that victory or defeat in wars cannot be linked to its fate as a rule. However, in some cases such as this it perhaps can be. If Muslims had suffered defeat of the kind they did in Uhud then perhaps it may not have mattered much. But if the senior companions and the Prophet had been martyred then Islam would, in all probability, would have been reduced to nothingness if not entirely eliminated. It certainly would not have expanded to the scale it did. So many Muslim countries that exist today may not have existed. IM blog may not have existed and we may not have been having this dialog. The world would have been definitely very different. The case of Mongols was very different, they did cause serious damage to the Muslims but not all Muslim lands. Islam had already been established then and followers were in large numbers. This is my view.
Navaid, I respect your view but may be I won’t digest in entirety and I guess that’s okay. Reason being Christianity survived even after execution of Jesus. Buddhism survived even after Buddha being poisoned. Hinduism still survives even after it was destroyed many times. Wars don’t destroy ideas. The idea of Islam was born when the first person accepted it. But yes may be not on the scale. But for me more than a Muslim name and a beard which signifies the world that you are a Muslim I believe if you are at peace that is what matters in name of Islam.
If you take war as the reason of fate of Muslims then Muslims will always feel that they need to fight someone to survive. Maybe Non Muslims or may be among themselves if thats the only option available. The love with the word Jehad in many Muslim countries may be because of this reason. So even at a remote place a Muslim will get hurt because someone pushed him it will be linked directly to what the early Muslims faced and a sense of unity will be easier if the push was by a non Muslim. Strangely Islam’s beauty is in its peace. Rumi says that you need to find God within your own heart and in love. So Maybe even if one knows the entire Quran he might not be a muslim because he is not at peace.
Walekum Salam, Sultana, Ansaars were poeple from medina or residents of medina city, Ansar means friend, its the title Prophet gave them for their loyalty and love towards Islam and Him.
When Prophet’s own clan i.e. Quraish were against him and were working on proscuting him, it were Ansar’s from medina who gave him the pledge and later gave him foothold in their land to promote Islam.
You can do a detailed study on them by reading the books on Arabian region or Hijaz before Islam and during his lifetime.