Blog

The first battle of Islam at BADR

(200 Miles from Mecca and 80 Miles from Medina) The emigration of the Holy Prophet to Medina had turned the enemies from Mecca more hostile, and they constantly kept on thinking how they could overthrow him, and put an end to Islam. The Meccans and their allies started to bring their raids to the very outskirts of Medina, destroying the fruit trees of the Muslims and Carrying away their flocks.

The winter of 624 A. D. saw the invasion of Medina by a strong force of Meccans led by Abu Jahl (an uncle of the Prophet) consisting of an army of 1000 strong with 700. camels and 100 horses.

Receiving information about this force, the Prophet decided to meet the enemy outside Medina. He set out with three hundred and thirteen of his followers. This small force was marshalled out of Medina with the youthful Ali holding the Banner of the Prophet.

Warfare in those days followed a different pattern. Before the general battle began, a number of duels were fought between the leading warriors on each side. When the Muslims reached the fertile vale of Badr, a favourite watering place and camping ground on the caravan route, three stations northwards from Mecca, the Prophet ordered a halt, taking up a suitable position near a stream of fresh water, to await the arrival of the infidel army. It was on the next day, Friday, 17th Ramazan 2 A.H. or January 13th 624 A.D., that the enemy, blowing their trumpets. approached the Muslims, and both forces were arrayed in battle.

Three of the infidel warriors, Utba, the father-in-law of Abu Sufyan, his brother Shaiba, and Al-Walid came out of the ranks and arrogantly challenged the Muslims. Three Ansars of Medina stepped forward to meet this challenge. This greatly enraged the Meccans who refused. to combat with the Ansars saying, “We have not come all this way to cross arms with the Medinites, against whom we bear no grudge. We challenge the people of Mecca who have the courage to defy us.” Upon this Ali and Ubaydah, cousins of the Prophet, and Hamza his uncle, responded. to the challenge. In the words of Col. Bodley, “At the taunt of the Quriashite, Ali dashed out of the Muslim ranks. glitering in breast-plate and helmet. He was soon followed by Ubaydah bin al-Harith, a paternal cousin of Muhammad and Hamza who wore an ostrich feather in his cuirass. The three companions were thus closely related to Mu- hammad and fulfilled the Quraish for Hashimite blood!””

1 Tabari; Kamil; Ibn Athir; Ahmad Hanbal; Durr Manthur.

“The three duels were as rapid as they were murderous. Hamza killed Shaiba, while Ali killed Al-Walid. Ubaydah was mortally wounded, but before he fell, Ali and Hamza were able to come to his rescue. Hamza hurled himself at Utba, and with a sweep of his sword cut off his head. In a few minutes three of Mecca’s most important warriors had been sent to find out the truth about the hell which Muhammad had promised them!”

“With a cry of rage three more Meccans darted from under Abu Jahl’s banner and assailed the Muslim champions (Ali and Hamza). They too went down before the sword of Islam. A further three were dealt with the same fate. There was a moment of hesitancy among the Quraishites. Muhammad did not miss his advantage. With a sharp order he sent his soldiers charging into a general attack.”

The line of the Quraish wavered and a number of their bravest and noblest fell; they took to flight ignominously, and in their haste to escape they threw away their armour and abandoned their transport animals with all their camp and equipage. Seventy of the bravest Quraish were slain and forty-five taken prisoners, and their commander, Abu Jahl, was amongst the slain.

Though it was the first engagement of the youthful Ali, he showed surprising results and was praised by one and all. He killed no less than sixteen-though some historians give him credit for thirty-six of the bravest and the most prominent of the Quraish army.

Jamal ud Deen al Barlasi

From amongst Jamal ud Deens miracles were that he would ride lions, beckon the birds and they would come to him from the skies. When he called for the fish they would present themselves before him so that he could take from them whatever he pleased. (Jame’ Karamaat ul Auliya)

Ubbay Ibn Ka’ab

Hadhrat Ibn Abbas reported that Hadhrat Umar said, “Take us to the land of our people” Hence we all headed out. Ubbay Ibn Ka’ab and I were behind all the people, when a cloud came up very quickly. Hadhrat Ubbay said “Oh Allah remove this inconvenience of this cloud from us”. When we met up with our parties we found that they had been soaked by the rain. Hadhrat Umar asked us, “Didn’t the rain effect you that affected us?” I said “Abu Munzir prayed to Allah to turn it away from us”. Hadhrat Umar said, “why didn’t you include us also in your prayer?” (Hayatus Sahabah)

ADAM

Creation of Adam

The most widely held belief about the origin of Adam has been that God created him from non-existence by His Will, using the earth materials. This did not involve the biological processes of evolution or reproduction. God created Man and Woman from clay in the form and shape, the way they are today. Any belief or controversy to the contrary is only speculation.

Different peoples in the world have stories concerning the origin of Man, which point towards the spontaneous arrival of the patriarch with his family.

The Hindus believe that man’s original parents were Mahadev and Parwati and that they looked like human beings but were the image of Parmishwar (God Himself). The Jews and the Christians also believe that God created Adam in His own image.

Most people believe that God has no physical form. Consequently then how could He create Man in His own image? This riddle was solved by the last Prophet of Islam when he said, “God had created Adam with His quality, not His form.” God can be recognised by His qualities alone. So the saying of the Prophet makes it clear that the image of God refers to His qualities.

The Prophet further said, “Adopt the qualities of God.” This becomes clear from the Qur’an where God says that He created Adam on this earth as His representative. A representative follows orders. Only the one who can execute the orders properly can be a true representative or vicegerent; otherwise there would be errors. Thus, according to the Prophet, assuming the responsibilities of a worthy representative requires the acquisition of the conduct of the master. This, then is what is meant by “God created Man in His image.”

Adam, the caliph of God

When God desired to create Adam, He addressed the angels and said that He was going to create Man and appoint him as His representative on earth. As soon as the creation was accomplished and He had bestowed Adam with His spirit. He told them to bow down in obedience to Adam. The angels, who considered themselves to be superior to Adam on account of their closeness to the Creator Himself, were surprised at this instruction to bow down in obedience to a creature that was moulded from earth materials. They said to God. “You are appointing a being as your vicegerent who would bring unrest and bloodshed on earth, whereas we, who have been immersed in your worship are more deserving to receive this honour”. God said to them that what was known to Him could not

be in their knowledge and that Adam was specifically suited the position according to which He had designed the earth. He offered them a chance to compete in an open contest of knowledge and wisdom with Adam. The angels failed in the contest and Adam emerged superior to them in knowledge and wisdom. All of them except Satan (Iblees) obeyed God’s commandment and bowed down in obedience to Adam.

Satan (Iblis) & Adam

It is said that before the creation of Adam, the earth was inhabited by wizards (Jinns), a creation from the elements of fire. They were mutually disruptive and indulged in senseless. bloodshed. The angels had referred to their mischief. Satan was also a wizard (Jinn). He was knowledgeable about matters of the earth. By virtue of his devotion and service to God, he had secured a high position in the Celestial existence. Satan had started living with the angels. When God ordered all of them to prostrate before Adam, he refused. When asked why he had refused the divine order, he said that he was superior to Adam on several counts. Firstly, his creation came from finer elements. Secondly, he had been in proximity to the Creator in direct. servitude. He had vast work experience on the earth where the
novice Adam was being sent as a representative. He contended that this was his coveted position and should have been given to him instead of an undeserving novice.

God rebuked and down graded Satan for his disobedience and told him to immediately remove himself from His divine presence and his eternal abode would be reserved in hell inferno. Satan said that Man was a poor choice for such an important position. He said that he would take every opportunity to haul all mankinds with him to hell. He would like to be granted eternal opportunity to test and tempt this representative and prove that Man may not be such a worthy caliph (khaleepha).

God said that only He commands eternity, but He would give him his desired opportunity to the Time known only to Himself. He said that His obedient servants would remain steadfast in all his tough tests and temptations throughout Time and prove that He created a wise and knowledgeable caliph on earth.

God warned Adam about the evil designs of Satan against him and his progeny throughout Time. But He also assured that those who remain firm in their faith on Truth shall be victorious and will return to Him on the Day of Judgement for a Life of Contentment in close proximity to the Creator.

The Garden of Eden

God brought Adam to the Garden of Eden and gave him education towards carrying out the intended functions of caliph on Earth. God created Eve from the substance of Adam as his partner in life and gave them total freedom to enjoy the benevolence of the Provider and Sustainer of Life with prohibition only for a particular tree. The two were not even to go near the tree, let alone to taste its fruit.

Satan saw his opportunity to tempt Adam and Eve and provoke their curiosity to get closer to the prohibited tree and taste its fruit. As soon as they had done what had been prohibited by the Lord, the Innocence of the Garden of Eden changed to the reality of Life. They heard me voice of their Lord calling. He
reminded them of the prohibition He had imposed, which they had clearly transgressed. He reminded them of the open animosity of Satan towards them. They were to leave the Garden of Eden and make their abode on the Earth till the end of a period of Time known only to Him. The Almighty said,” There you will procreate of your kind in numbers and will colonise the land provided and eat and drink from what you will procure from the bounties of your Lord. This is where you will spend your lives and die and be raised on the Day of Judgement after your conduct on the Earth. Beware of the damaging evil counsel of Satan who will continue to attempt rift between brethren, disrupt your lives, cause death and destruction on Earth through those who will listen to him.” Both Adam and Eve felt sorry for what they had done and begged for their forgiveness. God reminded them of their role in Life and said that they will return to Him once again to enjoy His bounties in paradise after successfully completing the mission on the earth. Thus Adam descended to the earth as a representative of God.

The Life and Progeny of Adam

At the beginning, Adam had two sons from Eve named Abel (Habeel) and Cane (Qabeel) followed by Sheeth and many others. It is said that Adam lived for almost 930 years.

References: The Qur’an: Surah Baqarah, Maidah, A’araf, Hajj, Bani Israel, Kahaf, Taha, Saba’a, Yaseen, Jinn and Hajrat.