The day of Badr: the lines, the duels and the victory

On the night of Friday, the seventeenth of Ramadan in the second year of the Hijra, the Muslims camped at the water, and they set up a bower for the Prophet overlooking the battlefield. ¹ In the morning the two armies stood facing each other. The duel came first, then the polytheists charged, then God routed them with the angels. ^{2 3}

Sa'd ibn Mu'adh said to the Prophet that if God gave the Muslims victory, that was well, and if it went the other way he would sit on his mounts and join those behind them. The Prophet praised him and prayed for him. ¹ The Prophet then walked over the ground pointing: this is where so-and-so will fall tomorrow. He spent the night praying toward the trunk of a tree, and the Muslims spent the night quietly, and God sent down drowsiness upon them as a reassurance. ¹

In the Quraysh camp some men came to the Muslims' water-source, and the Prophet said: "Leave them." None of them who drank that day was spared, except Hakim ibn Hizam, who was not killed and afterwards became a Muslim. ⁴ Quraysh sent Umayr ibn Wahb to estimate their number. He said: "Three hundred, a little more or less," and advised them to turn back. Hakim went to Utba and offered that he would return with the people and bear the blood-money of his ally Amr ibn al-Hadrami. Utba said he would be responsible for it, and then he addressed Quraysh, saying there was no good in killing a cousin or a maternal cousin. Hakim went to Abu Jahl and told him that Utba wanted to turn back. Abu Jahl said that Utba had seen Muhammad and his companions as men who feast on camel meat. Then he roused Amir ibn al-Hadrami, who uncovered his backside and cried out: "Woe to our honour!" The people were stirred up, and the opposition collapsed. ^{4 5}

When the two hosts came in sight of each other, the Prophet said: "O God, here is Quraysh come with its pride, opposing You and calling Your messenger a liar; give us victory." He said that if there was good among the people it was in the man on the red camel. ⁵ He straightened the ranks. Sawad ibn Ghaziyya (may God be pleased with him) was poked with an arrow-shaft, and asked for retaliation, so the Prophet uncovered his belly. Sawad embraced him and kissed his belly, saying he wanted his last contact with the Prophet to be his skin touching his. The Prophet prayed good for him. ⁵ He ordered them not to start fighting until he gave the command; when the enemy came close they were to shoot and save their arrows, and not draw their swords until the enemy surrounded them. He then returned to the bower with Abu Bakr, and Sa'd ibn Mu'adh stayed at the entrance of the bower. ^{5 2}

The first to come forward was al-Aswad ibn Abd al-Asad al-Makhzumi. Hamza struck his leg and cut it off, and he crawled toward the pool to fulfil his oath, and Hamza struck him until he was killed inside the pool. ² Then Utba, Shayba and al-Walid came out. Awf and Mu'awwidh, sons of Afra', and Abd Allah ibn Rawaha (may God be pleased with him) came out to meet them, but they said they wanted their cousins. Ubayda, Hamza and Ali rose, and each one had his opponent. Hamza and Ali killed Utba and al-Walid, and Ubayda and Shayba each wounded the other, then they killed him. They carried Ubayda, whose leg had been cut off, and he died at al-Safra some days later. ^{2 6} Ali used to swear that God's words about the two disputants came down about them. ⁶

From the lining up of the ranks, the Prophet had been pleading with his Lord for victory. When the fighting grew fierce, he said: "O God, if this band perishes today, You will not be worshipped." His cloak slipped from his shoulders, and Abu Bakr put it back and said: "That is enough, O Messenger of God; you have pressed your Lord." ⁶ God revealed to the angels that they should make the believers firm, and revealed to the Prophet that he was being aided by a thousand angels. ^{6 3} He said to the Righteous (Abu Bakr): "Rejoice; this is Gabriel holding the bridle of his horse, dust on his front teeth." Then he came out of the bower and recited that the host would be routed, took a handful of pebbles and threw them at the faces of the polytheists, saying: "May their faces be disfigured." Not one of them was struck without it entering his eyes, his nostrils and his mouth. ³

The Prophet ordered his army to counterattack, and said that whoever fought patiently, seeking reward, facing forward and not turning back, would be admitted by God to Paradise. Umayr ibn al-Humam said: "Bakh, bakh!" Then he ate some dates he had with him, and fought until he was killed. ³ Awf ibn al-Harith said to the Prophet that the Lord is pleased with His servant when he plunges his hand into the enemy unarmoured. He took off his armour and fought until he was killed. ³

When Iblis saw the angels acting against the polytheists, he fled and turned back. al-Harith ibn Hisham grabbed hold of him, thinking he was Suraqa, and he pushed him and threw him down. Iblis said that he saw what they did not see, and then threw himself into the sea. ⁷

A man of the Ansar brought in al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib as a captive. al-Abbas said that the man who had captured him was a bald man on a piebald horse whom he had not seen among the people. The Ansari said that it was he. The Prophet said: "Be quiet; God has supported you with a noble angel." ⁷

• The book notes the disagreement over identifying the duellists. It says that the report of Ahmad and Abu Dawud differs from the order given by Ibn Ishaq in the duel. ⁶
• The book establishes that the captive whom the man took was al-Abbas, and relates that the Ansari said so. ⁷