17 Ramadan: Remembering The Battle of Badr

Fought on the 17th of Ramadan in 624 AD, the Battle of Badr is one of the few battles fought by the first Muslim generation which is mentioned in the Holy Quran.

After 2 years of Hijrah, the battle was the first major encounter of Muslims with Non-Muslims in which 313 Muslims opposed well-equipped and heavily armed artillery of 1,000 Non-Muslims.

Circumstances That Led To The Battle

Even after the migration of Muslims from Makkah to Madinah, the people of Makkah hadn’t stopped strategizing to damage the Muslim community in any terms as they seem to them a threat to their authority in the region both politically and financially.

Abu Sufyan was coming from a voyage from Syria holding a lot of wealth and weapons which was reported to be used against Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H, in an attempt to intercept the attack, gathered 313 Muslims and went to Badr—70 miles from Madina.

On the other hand, Abu Sufyan had already sent a message to Makkah in reply to which Abu Jahl gathered an army to fight against the Muslims.

How Muslims Won?

The battle started fiercely between 1,000 non-believers and 313 believers who were far fewer in numbers than the non-believers in terms of weapons but they were armed with their faith and piety. During the battle, the companions of Holy Prophet P.B.U.H witnessed many such incidents which proved that Allah sent His help during the battle through angels.

Allah Almighty said in the Qur’an: “Indeed Allah assisted you at Badr when you were weak, so be careful (do your duty) to Allah so that you may be of the thankful ones. When you said to the believers ‘Does it not suffice you that your Lord should assist you with three thousand angels sent down.” (Qur’an, 3:123)

The Non-believers and the enemies of Muslims got a setback in this battle with 70 casualties and 70 captives on the side of disbelievers. Whereas 14 of the Muslims were martyred during the battle.

Lessons That We Learn From Badr

The biggest lesson that we learn from the Battle of Badr is that Allah helps those who fight to defend his religion and the greatest strength of the Muslims is not the number of weapons but the intensity of their faith. Furthermore, we learn that Muslims should be prepared to intercept the threats from Non-believers.

The battle was proved to be an important milestone for the Muslims which paved their way towards prosperity and spread the divine message in other parts of the Arab.