your counsel, O people!’
Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, the celebrated Anṣār leader, sprang to his feet and said: ‘Perhaps we are the men you mean, O Messenger of God.’ ‘Yes,’ said the Prophet (peace be upon him). ‘We have faith in you, and we believe what you have told us is the truth, and we have testified to that; and we have given our firm pledge to hear and obey!’ So do what you will, and we will be with you. For by Him Who has sent you with the truth, if you were to plunge into that sea, we would do the same, not a single man amongst us would stay behind,” said Saʿd ibn Muʿādh.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) was indeed very pleased to hear the speech of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, the foremost chief of the Aws, and the most gallant amongst them.
The holding of this council, amidst the unusual atmosphere of the impending threat of war, is both a tribute to the Prophet’s resoluteness and keenness of purpose, and also a hallmark of that unmistakable prophetic genius and acumen in leadership and statesmanship. By this act of shūrā (consultation), the Prophet (peace be upon him) had both underwritten and strongly emphasized the principle of mutual consultation and shūrā and at the same time consolidated his home front vis-à-vis the advancing enemy from Makkah. By eliciting the Anṣār’s support for his military strategy of taking the offensive against the Quraysh, the Prophet (peace be upon him) managed to supersede the merely defensive pledge to which the Anṣārs had agreed in signing the Second ‘Aqabah Pledge’.
Thus, having consolidated the home front, the Prophet (peace be upon him) managed to achieve, from the outset, a tremendous tactical advantage over his enemy, which was divided and in discord, due to the heterogeneous nature of its supreme military command, vacillating between the hawkishness of Abū Jahl and dovishness of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah and Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb’. The Prophet’s leadership, in peace and war, was profoundly mindful of the need of the leader to accommodate and incorporate the best of his followers’ opinions, thoughts and aspirations. The mode of the Prophet’s leadership was decisively collective and pluralistic. The heterogeneous ideas and opinions of the community of the faithful were thus woven and integrated in the final outcome of a general shūrā or consultation.
3.1 Al-Ḥubāb’s Objection to the Stationing of the Troops
As soon as the Prophet (peace be upon him) moved forward, and stationed his troops in the valley of Badr, another occasion presented itself for more extended and more intensive practice of the shūrā. This time, the exchange of opinions was initiated, not by the Prophet (peace be upon him) as leader and commander-in-chief of the Muslim army, but by an ordinary soldier, by the name of Al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir: Al-Ḥubāb disapproved of the way the Prophet (peace be upon him) had stationed the Muslims’ army in the valley of Badr.
‘Is this a position which God has commanded you to take, or is it merely of your opinion and of the tactics and ruses of war?’ asked ibn al-Mundhir.
‘It is merely of my opinion and of the tactics and ruses of war.’ replied the Prophet (peace be upon him).
‘Then, this is not a good stationing of the troops! A better stationing will be further down the valley, around the nearest well to the enemy. We shall destroy all the wells behind us and station our troops around the nearest well to the enemy. This way, we drink while we deprive the enemy of any source of water,’ advised al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) immediately saw the soundness of al-Ḥubāb’s expert opinion and acted upon it. It proved a tremendous success. This incident validated the necessity of the shūrā, as a safeguard against the fallibility of human judgment albeit Muḥammad’s judgment, in his capacity as a human being.
Moreover, shūrā is also envisaged, within the Islamic scheme of policy and ideology, as a check against the tyranny and despotic tendencies of leaders and commanders. Shūrā is also commended because, in a community where it is practised, men come together as equals and brothers, and thus become united in mind and heart. The leaders behave with humility, and the rank and file become active participants in the whole affairs of the community. In this way everybody becomes part of the decision-making process of the community.
3.2 Shūrā and Equality
In one aspect of it, shūrā is a derivative rule that can be subsumed, under the more comprehensive Islamic principle of equality, of the faithful in the sight of God. The only legitimate criterion of discrimination is that of taqwā (piety). Prima facie all believers are equal in their right to voice their opinions, and are equally entitled to have them heard with respect, dignity and brotherly regard, all other things being equal. Of course, if a Muslim commits a crime, or in some way falls short of the Islamic moral standards, or is judged lacking in his commitment or obligations, then his right of equal opportunity to participate in the shūrā practice at any level could be jeopardised, at his own risk and responsibility.
Also illustrative of the general moral norm of equality in Islam is the Prophet’s insistence, en route to Badr, on being treated exactly as an ordinary soldier, as far as the facility of transportation was concerned. At the rather advanced age of fifty-four, he insisted on having an equal share in walking beside or riding the camel that he was sharing with two of his Companions:
‘You are not more capable of marching than I, and I am not less in need for other-worldly reward than you!’ insisted the Prophet (peace be upon him).
The fortitude, high spirit and fitness of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were indeed remarkable, comparable if not, surpassing those of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, at that time in his early twenties, and Marthad Ibn Abī Marthad al-Ghanawī, also a powerful young man of extraordinary physique, who worked as a blacksmith. But more important, and more significant than the Prophet’s physical fitness at fifty-four, was his keenness to put into practice the principles which were integral parts, central to his Prophetic teaching, the norms and values he ardently advocated. The hardship which the gracious Prophet (peace be upon him) took upon himself in his insistence on giving a practical example, could be grasped and appreciated, if we remember that the march towards Badr was started on the 8th of Ramaḍān, of the second year of the Hijrah. The distance between Madīnah and the valley of Badr, which is approximately 80 miles, took the Muslims about seven or eight days, since the battle took place on the 17th of Ramaḍān.
3.3 How did the Battle Take Place?
In attempting to answer this question, no elaborate details will be given, because they are available in most of the standard texts on the sīrah. However, for the sake of completeness in the present account, a sketchy account of the event will be attempted, while the main emphasis will continue to be on gaining better understanding and appreciation of the phenomenon of Badr and its significance in Islamic history.
When the Muslims learned of the escape of the caravan and the presence of a powerful the Quraysh force at the other end of the valley of Badr, some of them were obviously disappointed. They had been asked to come out in pursuit of a commercial caravan, with the prospects of booty and inflicting a loss on their adversaries, the Quraysh. Then, those prospects were replaced by the possibility of having to fight that powerful force: some of the Muslims were not yet psychologically prepared to engage so formidable an enemy, especially in view of the great discrepancy in the relative numerical strength of the two forces.
The Muslims’ army consisted altogether of three hundred and five men, seventy camels, and two horses. Of the men, eighty-three were Muhājirīn, sixty-one were of the Aws and the rest were of the Khazraj. The army of the Quraysh consisted of almost a thousand soldiers, well equipped, many of whom were on horseback. Most of the gallant leaders of the Quraysh were there.
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