The Battle of Badr – Part 10

وَبَرَكَاتُهُ اللهِ وَرَحْمَةُ عَلَيْكُمْ السَّلاَمُ

What events took place in Medina after the Battle of Badr?

The Muslim army left the plains of Badr for Medina on the next Monday after the battle. By this time, rumours of the victory had already begun to reach those remaining in Medina as three days had passed since the battle itself, however no one knew anything for certain. That was, until the first crier from the Muslim army returned, and this was Zayd ibn Haritha (RA). And the prophet had sent him on his own camel – Al Qaswa’ – to show that he was telling the truth, and Zayd arrived so excited that he came into the city shouting, ‘Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!’ And then he began to list the names of all of the major Quraish figures who had been killed in the battle.

Of course, when the Muslims heard this news they became extremely happy; but when pagans of Medina heard this they could not believe it, and they began to say among themselves that Zayd must have gone crazy. And they began to make up outlandish stories, saying that it was Muhammad ﷺ who had been killed and that Zayd had gone mad and stolen his camel and that now he was spewing delirious fictions, because of how unbelievable the news that came to them was. But their mumblings were very soon put to a halt when a while a later the rest of the Muslim army appeared in Medina.

However before we talk about the rest of the army arriving, we must mention one more incident that took place just as Zayd was entering into the city, and this unfortunately was the burial of Ruqayyah (RA) – the daughter of the prophet. As we previously mentioned, Uthman ibn Affan (RA) was not present at Badr because the prophet had told him to look after his wife who was ill, however as Allah would have it her condition worsened and soon she passed away. And Uthman had just buried Ruqayyah when he heard the takbirs of Zayd as he rode excitedly into the city.  And so in this Allah matched a joyful news with a sad one, and thus the Muslims and the prophet were reminded that there would still be difficulties ahead and that not everything would always be victory.

The result of the Battle of Badr also had major political effects in Medina. More specifically in terms of the pagans of Medina, all of them now realised that maintaining paganism was no longer possible. None of them were forced to convert, however they all realised that they were such a minority in Medina and that the Muslims were now a major political force that soon paganism just simply disappeared. But with these conversions a new trend appeared, and that was the concept of nifaq (hypocrisy). Until Badr there were no hypocrites in Medina, however that would change on the very day Zayd returned with news of the Muslim victory. And the greatest enemy of Muhammad ﷺ inside of Medina, Abdullah ibn Ubay, who was the most senior chieftain of the Arab tribes of Medina and had hoped that Medina would choose him as their leader, would later become the leader of these hypocrites. And it is said that when he heard of the news of the Quraish’s defeat, he said sorrowfully, ‘It appears that the matter has now been settled. It appears that this man is here to stay. It appears that Islam is supreme.’ And he outwardly accepted Islam.

Now let us discuss what took place in Mecca.

The Quraish army had been so badly defeated that they were not able to regroup and they returned to Mecca in little groups. And the first person to arrive was Al-Haysalman ibn Al-Khuza’i, and when the people of Mecca saw him in his state they asked him what had happened. And he echoed the exact same thing that Zayd had declared, and began to list all of the leaders of the Quraish who had been killed in the battle.

And when the people heard this they also had the exact same response as the pagans of Medina, and thought that Al-Haysalman had gone mad. So when the news reached back to Safwan ibn Umayyah – the son of Umayyah ibn Khalaf – he told the people to ask Al-Haysalman where he himself was. Here he was trying to test Al-Haysalman to see if he really was just making things up and just listing names, or if he knew what he was saying. And so someone came up to Al-Haysalman and asked him, ‘O Haysalman, and what happened to Safwan ibn Umayyah?’

And Al-Haysalman responded, ‘Safwan is sitting right over there, and I saw with my own eyes how they killed his father and brother.’ And with this the people of Mecca realised that what he was saying was the truth, and this led to great depression all throughout the city.

The Battle of Badr had killed all of the major enemies of the prophet, and all of the worst and most degenerate of those who had tried to torture and persecute the Muslims. That was, except for one – Abu Lahab. And Allah had saved the death of the uncle of the prophet till the end. When the news of the battle returned, Abu Lahab went into a state of disbelief and depression. And he declared, ‘I’m going to ask Abu Sufyan directly; I don’t believe any of these deserters. I’m going to wait for my friend Abu Sufyan.’

When Abu Sufyan returned, he and Abu Lahab met in the house of Abbas (RA). And Abu Lahab demanded, ‘Tell me, face to face, exactly what happened.’ Now Abu Sufyan wasn’t actually present at the battle as he had been leading the caravan, yet still he knew of the news.

So Abu Sufyan narrated, ‘By Allah, as soon as we met the Muslims, it was as if they overpowered us without us doing anything. It was beyond our power to fight them. They took prisoners as they pleased and they killed as they pleased. And despite all that happened I cannot criticise my own side, because, by Allah, I saw a group of men with white faces riding horses which were black and white (the best type of horses), hovering between the heavens and the earth – none of us could overpower them.’

Now also in the room was the slave of Abbas who was a Muslim, and when he heard this news he was so happy that he jumped up and blurted, ‘Ay wallah! Those were the angels helping the Muslims.’ Of course, this was a huge insult to Abu Lahab, him being a lowly slave and rejoicing at the news of the defeat of the Quraish right in front of him. And so when Abu Lahab saw this, he became so angry that he completely snapped and grabbed the slave and threw him onto the ground. And then he began to beat him, again and again almost to death, when Umme Fadl (RA) – the wife of Abbas – ran in and tried to pull Abu Lahab off her slave. And so Abu Lahab turned to her and began to beat her instead.

And when he began to hit her, she screamed back at him in anger, ‘So when the head of the house is gone, this is what you do to his household?’ On hearing this Abu Lahab stopped, and he became so ashamed that he fled the house humiliated and guilty. And he would not be seen again, because he became afflicted with a type of disease and so within a few days he died a miserable death.

After hearing the outcome of Badr, the city of Mecca was plunged into a period of mourning. And from every single house there were some women wailing in grief, which was something the Arabs used to do in order to express their grief and feel better. And this wailing could be heard across the city.

And when Abu Sufyan heard this entire city in grief, he convened a meeting and decided that – for the first time in the history of the Arabs – no women would be allowed to wail over their dead. And the purpose of this was so that they would not cause any more happiness to the Muslims when they heard this, however this ruling was in fact another form of suffering to the people of Mecca. Because wailing was a way to allow the people to express their grief and thus feel better, and so now they would bottle their sadness and suffer in silence, and so this ruling was in fact another way that Allah used to punish the Quraish.

Now before we finish off the incidents of Badr, we must mention a final footnote incident that took place while the actual battle happened. And this was the fulfilment of the prophecy in Surah Rum, which had been revealed in the sixth or seventh year of the dawah – so the middle of the Meccan period. At the time when it had been revealed, the Romans had been significantly weaker than the Persians and had just lost a battle to them. And yet the Surah went like this:

 

 So there were two predictions in this Surah – the Romans would win over the Persians, and that on that day the Muslims would be rejoicing with the help of Allah. And indeed, on the same day as the Battle of Badr, a battle was taking place between the Byzantine Romans and the Sassanid Persians. And extremely unexpectedly, for the first time in many, many years, the Persians were actually defeated by the Romans. And so the day of Badr was the clear completion to this prophecy, and this was an undisputable miracle as for the Arabs it was impossible to believe that the Romans would win over the Persians when the Surah was first revealed. However, with the help of Allah, it did indeed happen.

 

 

Dr.Yasir Qadhi’s Seerah of The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 041

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxhVPZYC20g

Dr.Yasir Qadhi’s Seerah of The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 042

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4oCwMagirM