Pre-Badr – Part 1

وَبَرَكَاتُهُ اللهِ وَرَحْمَةُ عَلَيْكُمْ السَّلاَمُ

Very soon after the changing of the qibla, the Battle of Badr would take place. However between that time there were a few events that occurred worth mentioning.

Now that the Muslims were their own independent state and political force, the prophet could implement some new policies for the Muslims that would further develop and solidify the status and position of Islam. And there were three main policies: economic, spiritual and military.

Economic – The first thing that the prophet did when entering Medina was visit the souks of the Jews, as they were the ones who did all the business of the city and so owned all of the markets. And the prophet disapproved of all of the dishonest practices and taxes, and so he told the Muslims that this was not a souk for them. And he returned to his mosque and marked out a border in the sand with his feet, and declared that this was to be the souk of the Muslims. And he also made it so that there was no tax to sell at this market, which was something that the Jews often charged the Muslims.

As well as this, another other major change that the prophet made was to link religion and business, and he praised honesty and good dealings and cursed dishonesty and cheating. And so practices such as hiding defects in goods were banned, and the prophet himself would often monitor the marketplace.

In addition, the prophet forbade anyone living in Medina to act as an agent for any Bedouin who came to the city’s souk. And this was because the local person would know the ins and outs of the market and would try to find the best price and essentially ‘play the game,’ and then take a big cut from the profits for himself. Meanwhile a Bedouin who was engaging in commerce himself would simply give a fair price and be done with it, and so the prophet forbade any Medani to be a middleman for any Bedouins.

Spiritual – Within a year of entering Medina, the majority of the major laws of worship had come down. And we spoke about the modification of the number of raka’aat of salah to what we know now, and the institution of azaan. But as well as this, the commandments for fasting were also revealed. Now in the Ramadan of the first year nothing happened, however in the next year the prophet made the fast on the 10^th of Muharram compulsory. And this was a sort of taster for the full month. Then in that year’s Ramadan the commandment came down to fast for the whole month, however at this stage it was not compulsory. It was only in the next year that is became made compulsory, and the fast of the 10^th of Muharram was then made sunnah.

As well as this, during the first Ramadan of fasting Zakat Al-Fitr was also revealed. And this is the easier of the two Zakat, and is only equivalent to one person’s meal. And so this was revealed first – similarly to the way the commandment for fasting was revealed – to ease the Muslims into the concept, before a few months later the greater Zakat Al-Maal was sent down.

Military – Whereas before in Mecca the Muslims were oppressed, tortured and wrongfully kicked out of their houses and yet could not fight back for fear of worse consequences, in Medina the Muslims were now powerful enough to retaliate. And the first verses concerning Jihad were revealed at the very end of the Meccan period in Surah Hajj, ayat 39 to 40:

And isn’t this such a justified reason? Allah allowed Jihad to the Muslims only against those who had oppressed them first – the Quraish – so that they may reclaim their land and enact justice onto those who had wronged them. And indeed, this was from the fairest of reasons, and Allah is the fairest of judges. And in these verses Allah also mentions that were it not for the fact that he allowed war between people so that they may check one another, the world would go to chaos.

And so in the beginning of the Madani period the prophet began a series of military expeditions. And there were two types of expeditions: Ghazwa and Sareeya. A Ghazwa was any military expedition that the prophet himself accompanied, and there were 19 of these of which there was only ever any actual fighting in 8 of them. And a Sareeya was an expedition that the prophet ordered the sahaba to go on but he did not go himself, and there were very many of these of which there is no certified number.

 

 

Dr.Yasir Qadhi’s Seerah of The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 035

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANWdhr6LBbQ