Download Battle of Badr: Islam at Its Best

Battle of Badr: Islam at Its Best
Written by Mumin Salih
Friday, 02 August 2013 06:08
On the 17th of Ramadan of every year, Muslims celebrate Islam’s most blessed and most
important day – the battle of Badr, which took place two years after Hijra. From the Muslims’
point of view, the battle symbolized the victory of what is the right (Haq) against what is wrong
(Batel), the oppressed against the oppressors, the Muslims against the Kuffar; in short it
symbolized the victory of Islam against the enemies of Allah. The Muslim army won the battle
and Mohammed emerged as a rising leader in Arabia that every tribe should fear and respector else.
In Badr, the Muslims demonstrated their best. They have never been that good before or after
that ‘glorious’ day. Since then, Badr has been a medal that honored those Muslims who were
lucky enough to join Mohammed and fight the battle. There is nothing more prestigious to any
sahaba (Mohammed’s companion) than to refer to him as a Muslims who ‘shahida badr’,
meaning fought in Badr. Being so blessed, the Muslims of today often use the name Badr in
military exercises /operations or prestigious organizations.
Our knowledge about that battle comes only from the Islamic sources because there are no
others. There are no accounts from the defeated party, the Kuffar, who were completely
annihilated and no accounts from other neutral parties. This is a typical example of the adage
“history is written by the victorious”. It is logical to assume that the Muslim historians did their
best to paint a picture that is biased towards Islam.
Mohammed’s immigration to Medina went well, but soon the inevitable happened and he ran
out of money. Normal people who find themselves in similar circumstances would look for work
or learn new skills to support themselves, but I don't think the idea crossed Mohammed’s mind.
Simply it was not in his culture. Mohammed opted for the easy money that comes through
raiding other tribes and stealing their properties.
That was the beginning of that form of jihad known as ‘gazwat’, which is a polished word for
raids. Mohammed and his followers carried out a number of those raids before the battle of
Badr, which was a continuation of those raids, only on a larger scale.
The Quraish was a tribe of trade. Their richest caravan was coming home from Syria heading to
Mecca under the leadership of Abu Sufyan. The rich caravan was protected by some thirty men.
The news of the arrival of the caravan reached Mohammed, who couldn't resist the temptation.
1/5
Battle of Badr: Islam at Its Best
Written by Mumin Salih
Friday, 02 August 2013 06:08
He called for the Muslims and said: “These are the camels of Quraish with their money, go for it
may Allah make it yours” (1). What a nice preaching!. He then organized a force of over three
hundreds of his followers to intercept the caravan and raid it before it arrives to Mecca.
Abu Sufyan was a careful leader. He knew what was on stake and how rich the caravan was.
His strategy was to send spies to explore the roads ahead and screen them for gangs who
might be tempted to raid the caravan. Indeed, the news came that there was a huge gang, an
army in fact, under the command of Mohammed, waiting to ambush the caravan at Badr. Abu
Sufyan diverted the caravan to an alternative route that went towards Yanbu, at the red sea
coast. At the same time, he sent to Mecca to alert them that Mohammed and his gang were
planning to ambush the caravan.
Nearly every Meccan family had a stake in that caravan, so the news generated a lot of anger.
About a thousand men gathered in haste and rushed to Badr to protect their caravan. Just as
they were about to reach Badr, The news came to them that their caravan has arrived safely to
Mecca. However, the two armies were destined for a confrontation and the Meccans decided to
teach Mohammed and his gang a lesson. Because they had time on their side, the Muslims
were better positioned as they already occupied the water sources. Mohammed was
encouraged by a dream he had the night before that the Meccan army was a small army, which
he interpreted as a good sign (2). Angel Gabriel, with three thousands of his angels, supported
the Muslims’ army (3). The battle lasted only a few hours and ended by the early afternoon as
many of the leaders of the Meccan army were killed.
The caravan was saved, but the Quraish lost some of its best men in that battle, including Omar
Ibn Hisham and Nadr Ibn Al Harith, who often exposed Mohammed’s ignorance when he was
still in Mecca. Both men often asked Mohammed questions to which he had no immediate
answers. After weeks of thinking, Mohammed used to come up with useless responses in the
form of Quranic verses like “they ask you about the spirit, say the spirit is something my god
understands!...” Omar Ibn Hisham was a respected man renowned of his knowledge about
religions and history. Mohammed was not comfortable with Omar Ibn Hisham’s status and
reputation and later changed his title to Abu Jahl (father of ignorance), which suggests that the
original title was ‘father of knowledge’, as Mohammed was known to reverse the titles he didn't
like. Ibn Al Harith was not killed in the battle but was taken as a prisoner but Mohammed did not
like to see him alive and gave his orders to Ali to kill him, to which Ali obliged by beheading him!
Of course, Mohammed released the necessary verses to justify his actions (4).
No matter how you read it, or from which angle you look at it, this what happened in Badr:
2/5
Battle of Badr: Islam at Its Best
Written by Mumin Salih
Friday, 02 August 2013 06:08
1. A trading caravan coming home from Syria to Mecca.
2. Armed gang waiting to ambush the caravan, kill its men and seize the caravan and the
merchandise for themselves.
There is nothing else to see in the story, as the Muslims told it, other than killing the prisoners,
which was (and still) against the prevailing ethics of war.
And that was Islam at its best!
That what Muslims celebrate on the 17th of Ramadan every year!
The battle of Badr was piracy on a large scale carried out by a gang of merciless and blood
thirsty murderers against innocent traders- plain and simple. It will remain a disgraceful piracy to
the end of time. When Mohammed and his companions left Medina to intercept that rich
caravan, they were not interested in preaching a religion or teaching ethics; they were only
interested robbery and murder.
But that all Mohammed had ever done. He and his companions were professional gangsters
who made a living from murders and theft.
Why Muslims do not see the reality of Badr?
When Muslims read the story of Badr, they do not sense any piracy or murder, which looks
bizarre to non Muslims. This is also true when Muslims read about Mohammed’s other raids.
Indeed, sensing any of Islam’s inanities is not as straightforward to Muslims as the non Muslims
think. I spent decades in Islam without feeling there was anything disgraceful in the battle of
Badr or any of Mohammed’s other raids, which were far worse. Some may wonder: How does
that happen? Is there something wrong with the Muslims’ intellectuality?
3/5
Battle of Badr: Islam at Its Best
Written by Mumin Salih
Friday, 02 August 2013 06:08
The fact that it happens emphasizes the concerns that Islam cripples the mind. The problem is
that we keep comparing Islam to other religions; the fact is that Muslims are brought up in a
completely different way than the followers of other religions. It may look as an overstatement,
but I do believe that professional research is required to understand the effects of Islam on the
mind. I do believe that Islam is dangerous to mental health and something must be done about
it. The fact that people who convert to Islam suddenly become dangerous to their relatives and
their societies says it all. We all know that people commit suicides or murders soon after
converting to Islam. If it is observed that people commit suicides after taking a drug, that drug
would be banned.
In my experience, Muslims’ inability to see the reality of Islam has to do with the extensive brain
washing the Muslim is subjected to since his/her birth (5). By the time a Muslim comes to read
about the battle of Badr, his/her mind is already conditioned to revere words like rasool, PBUH,
sahaba and their titles, Muslims ..etc. At the same time, his/her mind is conditioned to despise
and be repelled by words like Kuffar, enemies of Allah, Mushrikoon etc. The Muslim’s basic
facts are established at an early stage in life as absolute facts, and that becomes difficult to
change later in life. When the Muslims read the sira books, they are already prepared to accept,
even think highly, of anything “the prophet PBUH” might do or say.
A Muslim school book introduces the story by claiming that the Quraish had already confiscated
the properties of the “prophet of Allah PBUH, and the Muhajeroon, may ridwan of
Allah(acceptance) be upon them”, therefore, raiding a caravan was approved by “Allah SWT
and his prophet PBUH” as a justified action to make the ‘haq’ (right) victorious and the ‘batel’
(wrong) loser. The Muslims’ books actually put the blame on the Quraish and depict them as
war mongers and portray Mohammed and his gang as peace loving people! "The battle could
have been averted, as the caravan arrived safely to Mecca. The prophet PBUH and the sahaba,
may ridwan (acceptance) Allah be upon them, were preparing to leave, but the enemies of Allah
SWT seized the opportunity to fight the Muslims to extinguish the divine light of Islam, but Allah
SWT will protect his light to eternity."
The killing of the prisoners is also justified: “The prophet PBUH asked for the Sahaba’s (May
ridwan Allah be upon them) opinion. But Allah SWT, the all knowing, revealed verse Q.8:67,
which blamed the prophet PBUH for being soft and nice to the enemies of Allah SWT and
ordered him to apply Allah’s punishment on them, because SWT, the all knowing, knew that the
hearts of those prisoners were too black and filled with hatred to Allah SWT and his prophet
PBUH. Keeping them alive would be too dangerous to Islam. Allah SWT knew what was best
for his religion and his prophet
”.
4/5
Battle of Badr: Islam at Its Best
Written by Mumin Salih
Friday, 02 August 2013 06:08
It is worth mentioning that most of Mohammed’s companions in Badr were from the Ansar, who
lived in Medina, and had no properties at all in Mecca. The battle of Badr was not a one off
piracy; the Muslims raided many other tribes where Muslims, Muhajeroon and Ansar, had no
properties at all. Interestingly, the issue of properties never came up in any of the negotiations
Mohammed had with the Quraish after hijra, which means it never existed.
Criminals are never short of justifications, but a piracy is always a piracy and a murder is always
a murder.
That was the battle of Badr, when Muslims did their best and Islam appeared in its best form!
---
References
1. Sirat Ibn Hisham
2. Q. 8: l 43,44
3. Q. 3: 123,124
4. Q.8: 67
Please refer to my article: http://www.faithfreedom.org/the-making-of-a-muslim/
5/5