MuhammadProphetof War
This was a momen tou s reve lati on, forit led to an Isla mic prin cipl ethat
has had repercussions throughout the ages. Good became identified with
anything that redounded to the benefit of Muslims, regardless of if it violated
moral or other laws, The moral absolutes enshrinedin the Ten
Comm andment s, and oth er tea chi ngs of the grea t rel igio nsthat prece ded
Islam, were swept aside in favor of an overa rchin g princ iple of expediency.
The Battle of Badr
So onaft erNa khl aca me the fi rs tmaj or bat tl e th e Mu sl ims fo ugh t.
Muha mmad hear d thatalarg e Qurays h cara van, lade n with mone y and
goods.was comingfrom Syria. "This is the Quraysh caravan containing
theirprope rty,"hetold hisfollo wers. "Goout toattac k it, perha ps
God
willgive itasa prey."' He set out toward Mecca to leadtheraid, But this
time the Quraysh were readyforhim, coming out to meet Muhammad's
threehundred menwith a force nearly a thousand strong. Muhammad
seemsnotto have expectedthese numbers andcried outtoAllah in anx-
iety. "0 God,if thisband perish todayThouwiltbe worshippedno more
Despit etheir superi or numbers , the Qurays h were routed. Some
Muslim traditions say that Muhammad himself participated in the
fighting. others that heexhort ed his follow ers fromthesideli nes. In
any event,it wasanocc asi on for himtosee yea rsof fru str ati on,
res ent men t, and moved towar d his own peopl e, whohad reject ed
him. avenge d, One of hisfollowers later recalled a curse Muhammad had
pronounced on the leadersof theQuraysh:''TheProphet said, '0Allah!
Destroy the chiefso f Qu r ay sh , 0 Al l ah! De st ro y Ab u J ah l bi n
Hi sh am , 'U t ba bi n Ra bi 'a ,S ua ibabinRabi'a, 'UqbabinAbi Mu'ait,
'Umaiyabin Khalaf (or Ubai bin Kadaf)"'