Medina, Lift, and War^101
:Muhammad set off at the head of 309 (or 313, according to some
accounts) of hi s Companions, including both Muhajirun, the exiles from
Mecca, and Ansar, the Muslims from J\kdina. They were carrying with
them substantial weapons----£onsiciering the importance of the caravan
they planned to attack---even though they were not really fitted out for
war. The Prophet had asked Uthman ibn Affan, one of the Meccan exiles
who would normally have been a pan of the expedition, to stay behind to
look after his wife Ruqayyah, the P rophet's daughter, who was seriously mJ
T he Prophet intended to intercept the caravan at Badr, b ut Abu Sufyan
had been warned of the impending attack by his own spies; he sent an
envoy to the Meccan leaders to inform them of the danger he was in and
ask for help. He immediately changed his route as well, and once he \vas
sure that he had managed to avoid the attack, he sent a new envoy to the
Quraysh leaders to tell them that the danger was over and that he no longer
needed help. However, by this time the Quraysh leaders had already set off
with more than a thousand men, and they decided, at Abu Jahl's insistence,
that the expedition must go on in spite of the apparent lack of danger.
Even though the confrontation might be avoided, they in their turn intend-
ed to stage a s how of strength against their enemy. The Prophet and his
Companions, who had set up their camp ncar Badr, heard that a mighty
army had set off from Mecca. This meant a total change of plans: they had
left Medina intending to lay their hands on a caravan of goods (which they
had failed to do), and now an army three times the size o f their own force
was marching toward them, with its leaders seemingly intent on fighting it
out. This was war, and the Muslims were not really ready for it.
Con sultationsMuhammad was wondering whether he should move forward and try to
catch up with the caravan or stop and go back to Medina in order to avoid
risking a clash with the mighty Quraysh army. He decided to consult his
Companions and find out what they thought about the matter. Abu Bakr
and Umar spoke first and confirmed their readiness to move fot\",ard and
fisk a full-scale confrontation. Another exile, al-Miqdad ibn Amr, spoke
next: "Go ahead, you and your Lord, and fight; and with you we shall also
fight, to the right and to the left, in front of you and behind you."s