Eight Expeditions
before the Battle of Badr
After
consolidating his position in Medina the Prophet (SAW) started sending small
raiding parties as part of the stage of Active Resistance. Prior to Ghazwa-e-Badr
the Prophet (SAW) sent eight such missions out of which the Prophet (SAW) took
part in four and was not present in others. Hence, four of them are called
ghazwaat and the rest are called saraya. There was no offensive movement from
the side of the Makkans during this period. That is to say, whatever initiative
was taken during this period was taken by the Prophet (SAW). It is regretted
that just to hide this fact a lot of distortion in the biography of the Prophet
was done. This was so because just like today the Western media is spreading
propaganda that Islam was spread by the sword, Islam is a bloody religion,
Islam propagates terrorism; in a similar fashion when the colonial powers
conquered the Islamic world the Western writers started spreading vicious
propaganda. Impressed by their political power, most of our authors adopted an
apologetic stance to the effect that the Prophet (SAW) did not start these wars
himself rather these wars were fought in self-defense. This is a complete
travesty of truth. It was the Prophet (SAW) who stirred a commotion in the
placid pond of Makkah. Otherwise the people of Makkah were living contentedly.
Similarly, it was the Prophet (SAW) who initiated the measures of Active
Resistance eventually leading to Armed Conflict against the people of Makkah
after the Hijrah.
There
were apparently two reasons for the eight missions or raids conducted one year
prior to Ghazwa-e-Badr. In modern terminology the first objective was the
economic blockade of Makkah and the second aim was the political isolation or
containment of the Quraish. Through these raiding missions, the Prophet (SAW)
had made unsafe the route taken by the caravans of the Quraish thereby sending
the signal to the Quraish that we are here to check you and your caravans are
within our reach. The route from Makkah to Syria passed through Badar. Badar is
two hundred miles from Makkah whereas its distance from Madina is only 90 miles.
The Prophet (SAW) sent many missions there to check and monitor the trade
caravans of the Quraish. The Prophet (SAW) himself led a similar expedition and
pursued that big trade caravan that Abu Sufyan was taking to Syria but he
escaped. Similarly, the caravans moving from Makkah to Yemen had to pass
through Taif. The Prophet (SAW) sent a party there too. Apart from this
wherever the Prophet (SAW) went he entered into pacts with the tribes. These
tribes were either previously allies of the Quraish and now had allied
themselves with the Prophet (SAW) or had adopted a non-aligned stance, that is
neither to help the Muslims against Quraish nor to help the Quraish against
Muslims. The hegemony and power of the Quraish was curtailed by both types of
these pacts. In this manner the Prophet (SAW) realized both the above mentioned
objectives.
In
every nation there are two types of people. In contemporary political jargon
they are called hawks and doves. In Makkah too there were both types of people.
Prominent among the people who were hot blooded and temperamentally volatile
were Abu Jahal and Uqba bin Abi Muait whereas amongst the tender-minded, calm
and tolerant people, Utba bin Rabe'ah and Hakeem bin Hizam were prominent. It
was the opinion of the first group (the hawks) that they should attack Madina
forthwith and exterminate Muhammad (SAW) and his companions (RAA). Whereas the
latter group (the doves) was not in favour of these harsh measures. Utba bin
Rabe'ah was a very intelligent man. After the migration of the Prophet (SAW) he
said to the Quraish that Muhammad (SAW) and his companions had left Makkah
(thinking that their problem had been eliminated) but he will not sit at ease
and idle there and will propagate his religion. This will lead to the Arabs turning
against him and now the tussle will be with the rest of the Arabs. If Muhammad
(SAW) conquers the rest of Arabia do we loose? He is our brother, his victory
is our victory, with his victory we will establish power over Arabia. And if
the Arabs kill Muhammad (SAW) then you will achieve your objective without
staining your swords with the blood of your brothers. After all who is Abu
Bakr? Is he not our brother? Who is U'mr? And who is Othman? He is from amongst
the Bannu Umayyah. Who is Hamza? He is the son of Abdul Muttalib. And who is
Muhammad (SAW)? The grandson of Abdul Muttalib. So all of them are our kith and
kin. Will you cut their necks with your swords? Let the Arabs and Muhammad
(SAW) deal with each other. If Muhammad (SAW) is victorious then we will rule
the whole of Arabia. And as time went on, this was something that actually
happened. After the rightly-guided Caliphate again were the same Arabs ruling
over vast areas under Banu Umayyah or Banu Abbas dynasty. Utba bin Rabe'ah had
presented such a profound idea that even quite influential people of Makkah
were impressed.
These
tender-hearted and tolerant people had a lot of influence in Makkah but two
events occurred that tilted the balance in favour of the volatile and
hot-blooded Hawks and consequently Doves were totally silenced. For one thing
the caravan of Abu Sufyan which had been ambushed by the Prophet (SAW) but had
escaped was now returning laden with trading goods from Syria. Abu Sufyan sent
an SOS call to Makkah to the effect that I am apprehensive that Muhammad's men
will attack the caravan and plunder us. Therefore help may be sent immediately.
Taking Abu Sufyan's message, a man entered Makkah yelling and crying that your
tribe, your clan and your possessions are in danger, hence sends help
immediately. On the other hand another event occurred. The Prophet (SAW) had
sent a small party of twelve people to Nakhlah, which is a site located between
Taif and Makkah, and had instructed them to stay there and keep him informed of
the movement of the Makkans. At this place an armed clash took place
inadvertently between Muslims and Makkans, as a result of which one pagan was
killed by the Muslims, two were captured and one of them escaped. The Muslims
came to the Prophet (SAW) with camels laden with goods which had been taken as
booty. The Prophet (SAW) expressed his displeasure at this saying that he had
not commanded them to initiate a war. But now what had happened could not be
undone. The pagan who had succeeded in escaping tore his clothes and entered
Makkah crying and yelling, 'O people! Muhammad's men have killed one of our
men'. Both these reports reached Makkah simultaneously, one from the North and
the other from the South. After the Prophet's Hijrah none of the pagans had
killed any Muslim. Prior to the Hijrah they had martyred Hazrat Sum'aya (RAA)
and Hazrat Yasir (RAA) but after the Hijrah no steps or action for torturing
Muslims had been taken by the people of Makkah.
To be continued ....
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