The Quraysh marched to Madinah with a thousand strong army. They camped at Badr, about eighty miles from Madinah. It was the month of Ramadan, 2 A.H. On hearing the news of the enemy camping at Badr, the Prophet marched out of Madinah at the head of an army of 313 Muslims. There were few horses and the Muslims had no armours. The Makkans, on the other hand, were well armed and had 300 horses and 700 camels.
The battle, in which the Makkans were seriously outnumbered, began on Friday the 17th of Ramadan. The fighting lasted only a few hours, during which the Prophet prayed continuously for divine succour. God then sent angels to help the Muslims who emerged victorious. The Quraysh suffered a total rout.
The defeat, however, did not teach the Quraysh a lesson, but further enraged them. Determined to wipe out the blot of this humiliation, they now began preparations for a second attack, on a much bigger scale. They raised an army of more than 3000 warriors and mad with revenge, marched to Madinah led by Abu Sufyan.
The Battle of Uhud took place in 624 A.D. The enemy numbered 3000 while the Prophet’s men numbered only 700. But with God on their side, the Muslims successfully repulsed the attack. The enemy started retreating, leaving behind large quantities of booty. Victory was eminent for the Muslims, when forty archers whom the Prophet had assigned to the hillside to guard the pass, saw the retreating army and thought that if they remained on the hill, they would lose their share of the booty.
Therefore most of them abandoned their posts. This left the way open for a counter attack.
When Khalid bin Walid, still a non-Muslim, saw the pass undefended, he led his men behind the hill and killed the few archers who still stood guard. Then he fell upon the Muslims from the back. Seeing this, the fleeing Quraysh leaders turned back. The Muslims were thrown into utter confusion. The Prophet himself was wounded. But the Muslims stood like a solid wall of stone around the Prophet, and managed to repulse all attacks with superhuman courage. Many fell dead and several wounded. They had gone to the extent of sacrificing their lives to save the Prophet from the enemy onslaught. Slowly the enemy was beaten back.
The Quraysh lost 14 men, while the Muslims lost 70. Among the dead was Hamzah, the Prophet’s uncle. The Prophet grieved over the loss of this brave soul. With deep sorrow the martyrs were
buried and the Muslims came back to Madinah.
The Quraysh knew at heart that the Muslims would have emerged victorious, had not the fateful mistake of a few Muslims had turned their victory into defeat. So for two years they made no attempt to invade Makkah.
