Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr ( ghazwat Badr /غزوة بدر / ġazwatu Badr ) took place on March 17th, 624 (17th Ramadan 2 AH ) in the Hejaz in the west of the Arabian Peninsula . The battle is considered a key event in the early history of Islam . It represents a turning point in Muhammad's struggle against the Quraish , the ruling tribe in his hometown of Mecca . Badr is one of the few battles mentioned in the Koran . Furthermore, in Islamic historiography , the battle is attributed as a decisive victory to either divine intervention or the leadership of Muhammad. The descriptions of this battle come from traditional Islamic sources , namely the Sira and Maghazi literature as well as the hadith collections .
Before the battle, the Muslims and Meccans had met in several smaller clashes. In the years 623 and 624 the Muslims had also made some forays into the Quraysh. Badr was the first major clash between the two rival groups. Mohammed was leading a raid against a Meccan caravan when he was surprised by a much larger force. Despite the small number of troops, he could win the battle. Several important Quraysh leaders were also killed in the battle, including Muhammad's main opponent ʿAmr ibn Hishām . For the early Muslims, Badr was the first sign of a possible victory against their persecutors from Mecca, from whom they had fled to Medina in the hijra . Mecca, the hometown of Muhammad, was the richest and most powerful city in Arabia at the time and was of outstanding importance as a place of pilgrimage due to the Kaaba .
The battle
The victory of the clearly outnumbered Muslim army is justified in the Koran by the intervention of Allah :
“God already helped you to victory at Badr when you were inferior and despised. Fear God and be grateful to God! You said to the believers at that time: "Is it not enough for you that your Lord supports you with three thousand angels sent down?" Indeed, if you exercise patience and are God-fearing and the enemy suddenly attacks you, your Lord will support you with five thousand rushing angels. "
The Koran also names divine influence which is said to have weakened the fighting spirit of the Meccans:
"You had a mark on two multitudes who met (in battle): a multitude who fought for God's sake, and another, unbeliever, who looked at them (i.e. the believers) for twice as much as they (themselves when in reality they were even stronger in number). With his help God strengthens whom he wants. This is cause for reflection for those who have insight. "
Furthermore, the traditional historiography of Islam describes other circumstances that can provide an explanation for the victory of the Muslims. On the one hand, Mohammed had set up his troops in front of a water point and had all the others poured in. Furthermore, the fighting spirit of the Meccans was bad and their leadership inconsistent and divided. The Muslim armed forces would also have fought in a disciplined manner. The Quraish, on the other hand, would have expected a short, less intense battle, which would be decided by duels of individual fighters, rather than a clash of the two armies.
Victims and prisoners
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In al-Bukhari , the losses of the Meccans are estimated at seventy dead and seventy prisoners. This makes about 15% of the Quraysh army. The losses of the Muslims are given as 14 deaths, which corresponds to 4% of their strength. Figures regarding the wounded are not available. The total number of casualties suggests that the battle itself was brief and the majority of the Quraysh fallen died during their retreat.
The fate of the prisoners caused a controversy among Muslims that the Koran in Sura 8 comes, verse 67 for language: "It is a prophet not to have prisoners until he has strongly raged on earth." (Translation Adel Theodor Khoury ) The later caliph ʿUmar ibn al-Chattāb wanted to have the prisoners killed, as he feared that the Meccans would have to guard them if the Meccans returned. Abū Bakr , first caliph after the death of Muhammad, spoke out against it. The motives for this were on the one hand the entanglement with the Quraish through family ties, the prospect of ransom or the hope that the prisoners would convert to Islam. For some, this also happened later. Mohammad finally sided with Abu Bakr. Most of the prisoners were spared. However, two high-ranking Meccans, ʿAmr ibn Hishām and Umayya, were executed after the battle. Mohammed let the prisoners at-Nadr ibn al-Hārith , who had excelled himself by insulting him, together with ʿUqba b. Execute abī Muʿaiṭ on the train to Medina.
Before the Muslims left Badr, Mohammed ordered the bodies of more than twenty Quraish to be thrown into the dried up wells. However, this statement is poorly substantiated. The Meccans, for their part, had Muslim allies captured in Mecca executed in revenge for their defeat in battle. In general, however, the Muslim sources speak of a better treatment of the prisoners by the Muslims. Numerous Quraysh were housed with Muslim families in Medina and cared for by them.
consequences
For the Muslims, Badr's victory was a win in several ways. On the one hand, the stolen equipment and the ransom for the prisoners brought great material benefits to the group who had been driven from their homeland. By defeating an outnumbered army, its reputation within and outside of Medina was also strengthened. They were now strong enough to drive the Banu Qainuqa , a Jewish tribe who had threatened their political position, from Medina. The opposition to Mohammed in Medina, led by Ibn Ubayy, was further weakened.
But there was also a beneficiary of the battle on the Meccan side. Through the death of many well-known Quraish nobles, Abū Sufyān ibn Harb was able to rise to become the undisputed leader of the city. Likewise, although he had lost the battle, the caravan, the ultimate goal of the Muslims, had safely returned to Mecca. After converting to Islam, he himself became a high-ranking man in the new Muslim state. His son Muʿāwiya founded the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus.
literature
- Ibn Ishāq : The Prophet's Life . Spohr, 2004, ISBN 3-927606-40-5 .
- Martin Lings : Muhammad - His Life According to the Earliest Sources . Spohr, 2004, ISBN 3-927606-42-1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sahih al-Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 52, number 276
- ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Brill, suffering. Volume 7, p. 872 ( al- Naḍr b. Al-Ḥārit̲h̲ )
- ^ Tilman Nagel: Mohammed. Life and legend. Munich 2008, p. 313
- ↑ Al Muslim: Book 040, number 6870 ( Memento of the original dated November 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Sahih al-Bukhari: Volume 5, Book 59, Number 325 ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 23 ° 44 ′ 0 ″ N , 38 ° 46 ′ 0 ″ E