Story of Mohammed Islam Unveiled

8 The Battle of Badr
A large caravan was on its way back to Mecca, loaded with goods and treasure. Mohammed
heard of this, and decided to attack the caravan and steal the treasure. Some of his men were
reluctant to get involved, as the Quraysh were their relatives and tribal kin. Killing them had
always been forbidden before the time of Islam, but now was made lawful by Mohammed.
Mohammed set out with a small army to attack the caravan, but the Meccan caravan heard about
this. They sent a fast rider to Mecca to call for assistance. The Meccans quickly put together an
army, which marched north to defend the caravan. The caravan however, managed to avoid
Mohammed's army, and sneak through to the safety of Mecca. Although the caravan was safely out
of the way, the Meccan army still decided to take on the Muslims at a place called Badr.
Until now Mohammed's fighters had never fought a real battle. So far most of their targets had
been small trading caravans. The Muslims were heavily outnumbered, but before the battle began,
Mohammed had a revelation which is recorded in The Sira:
I445 Some arrows flew and one Muslim was killed. Mohammed addressed his army. “By Allah,
every man who is slain this day by fighting with courage and advancing, not retreating will enter
Paradise.” One of his men who had been eating dates said, “You mean there is nothing between
me and Paradise except being killed by the Quraysh?” He flung the dates to the side, picked up his
sword, and set out to fight. He got his wish and was later killed.
I445 One of Mohammed’s men asked what made Allah laugh. Mohammed answered, “When a
warrior plunges into the midst of the enemy without armour.” The man removed his coat of mail,
picked up his sword, and made ready to attack [and he was killed].
The Muslims gained great courage from Mohammed's revelation. Not only were they not afraid
of death any more, but they actually welcomed it. Should they win the fight, the spoils of war
would be theirs, but if they lost they would attain Paradise.
The battle went well for the Muslims, and as luck would have it, a dust storm blew up at the
decisive moment, straight into the eyes of the Meccans. According to Mohammed, this was the
angels blowing sand in the face of their enemies. The Muslims were victorious in their first ever
battle against great odds. Whilst Mohammed was a very capable military tactician, it was his
ability to motivate his followers to suicidal bravery which was his real genius.
From The Sira:
I455 As the bodies were dragged to the well, one of the Muslims saw the body of his father thrown
in. He said, “My father was a virtuous, wise, kind, and cultured man. I had hoped he would
become a Muslim, but he died a Kaffir. His abode is Hell-fire forever.” Before Islam, killing of kin
and tribal brothers had been forbidden since the dawn of time. After Islam, brother would kill
brother and sons would kill fathers fighting in Allah’s cause: Jihad.
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