In today’s episode, we will discuss the aftermath of the Battle of Badr. The issues that will be discussed are the law on the use of war resources, Provisions for prisoners of war and the lessons of the Battle of Badr.
We know that all the verses revealed during the life of Mecca were based on creed or belief. Because that time was the ideal foundation stone of Islam. When Islam was established in Medina, it became necessary to establish many laws. Therefore, many laws can be observed in the provisions of the Madani era. Our first topic of discussion is the law of spoils. Basically, we know the wealth obtained in war as spoils of war. But spoils are a type of wealth obtained in war. But not everything in Islam can be called wealth or spoils of war. Surah Anfal was revealed after the battle. Ubaid bin Sami (may Allah be pleased with him) said about the first verse of Surah Anfal: I went out on expeditions with him and participated in the Battle of Badr. Even though the two armies faced each other, Allah Almighty defeated the enemy army. One group was killing the Muslim enemies and another group was collecting the wealth left behind by the Muslim enemies. Another group was ensuring the safety of the Prophet (peace be upon him) so that another group could not come and attack him. When evening came, those who were collecting the wealth gained in the war said that we are the true heirs of this public wealth, no one else has the right to this wealth. On the other hand, those who were killing the enemies said, “You have more right to this wealth than we do.” Those who were protecting the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “We were protecting the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), so you have no more right to this wealth than we do.” These three groups are embroiled in a dispute over the division of wealth.
Then Allah revealed the first verse of Surah Anfal.
They ask you, [O Muhammad], about the bounties [of war]. Say, “The [decision concerning] bounties is for Allah and the Messenger.” So fear Allah and amend that which is between you and obey Allah and His Messenger, if you should be believers.
(Quran 8:1)
Through this verse, Allah declares that Allah and His Messenger will have the ultimate decision regarding the wealth obtained in war. All the wealth obtained in the Battle of Badr was given to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
There are three lessons to be learned from this incident: Takwa, patience, and obedience. The first lesson is to scare the Mujahideen about Allah. The second lesson is that Muslims must remain united. The third lesson is to obey Allah and His Messenger. To be a believer, one must obey Allah and His Messenger. In the next verse, Allah describes the character of those who are true believers.
The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts become fearful, and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and upon their Lord they rely. The ones who establish prayer, and from what We have provided them, they spend. Those are the believers, truly. For them are degrees [of high position] with their Lord and forgiveness and noble provision.
(Quran 8:2-4)
In these verses, Allah mentions several characteristics of believers. They fear Allah when Allah is mentioned before them. When the Quran is recited to them, their faith increases. They only praise Allah and pray according to the rules. They do every act of prayer with care.
After the Battle of Badr, Allah revealed the law of distributing the wealth gained in the war. In this regard, Allah Almighty says:
And know that anything you obtain of war booty – then indeed, for Allah is one fifth of it and for the Messenger and for [his] near relatives and the orphans, the needy, and the [stranded] traveler, if you have believed in Allah and in that which We sent down to Our Servant on the day of criterion – the day when the two armies met. And Allah, over all things, is competent.
(Quran 841)
That is, 80 percent of the wealth gained in war will be distributed among the soldiers. The infantry will get one share. And the remaining 20 will be divided into five equal to four percent. Of these five parts, one part is for Allah, two parts are for the Messenger of Allah. The third part is for the close relatives of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the fourth part is for orphans. The share of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) can be spent on any good cause, such as building a mosque.
And this decision will be determined by the Imam. This wealth is the wealth that enmity has left behind and which will be shared among all. If they gain wealth without fighting, that is a penalty. Also, if a Muslim kills an infidel on the battlefield, the Muslim will own the infidel’s weapons or wealth.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) gave a share of wealth to some Muslims who did not participate in the Battle of Badr. Some companions did not participate in the Battle of Badr but had other responsibilities. The next topic of discussion is the provisions for prisoners of war.
70 people were captured by Muslims during the Battle of Badr. The Prophet (peace be upon him) called a meeting to decide their affairs. In this regard, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “O Messenger of Allah, these are our relatives. Take a ransom from them and release them.” Whatever we get as ransom, we will use against the infidels. And it may be that Allah will guide them and they may one day become Muslims.
Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “O Messenger of Allah, they have thrown you out of your house, so kill them.” Omar pointed his finger at one of his relatives and said, “Leave him in my hands, I will kill him.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) remained silent and made a decision. He then went on to compare the characters of Hazrat Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) with the characters of various prophets. He said that the character of Hazrat Abu Bakr was like the character of Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), that is, he was kind to his tribe. Then he said that Omar’s character is like that of Prophet Moses who prayed, “O Allah, do not abandon them.”
Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to all the people gathered together: “Collect the ransom, and if you get it, release them, but if anyone refuses to pay the ransom, kill him.”
In the end, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave priority to Abu Bakr’s opinion.
The next day, Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) went to the house of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and saw that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them) were crying together.
When Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the reason for his weeping, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that Allah did not like the ransom as a model decision. Allah says in the Quran:
It is not for a prophet to have captives [of war] until he inflicts a massacre [upon Allah ‘s enemies] in the land. Some Muslims desire the commodities of this world, but Allah desires [for you] the Hereafter. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise. If not for a decree from Allah that preceded, you would have been touched for what you took by a great punishment.
(Quran 8:67-68)
Allah wanted the Prophet to kill the prisoners of war. If the prisoners of war had been killed then the infidels would have been very afraid. However, even though Allah did not like the decision, He did not punish the Muslims. He released them with a gentle rebuke because Allah had already made the liberated goods lawful.
In the last episode, we discussed that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ordered the immediate killing of two prisoners of war because they were extremely anti-Islamic. No other prisoners of war were killed. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ordered his companions to treat prisoners of war well.
Let’s find out how the companions treated prisoners of war. Brother of Ussa bin (may Allah be pleased with him) Abu Aziz, who was a prisoner of war. Let’s find out how the companions treated prisoners of war. When noon came, they treated us to bread, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had ordered. And they ate dates and gave us all the bread they had with them. We tried to give them back the bread but they wouldn’t touch it. Bread was a precious food at the time, but the Ansar did not eat it, but instead gave it to the prisoners.
This prisoner of war was carrying the flag in the Battle of Badr, and although he was a special soldier, the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered him to be treated well.
Some prisoners of war would return to their tribes and later return to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and convert to Islam. They wanted to show that they did not become Muslims out of fear of the sword but out of their own free will, just as happened in the case of Aziz.
Muslims should treat their enemies well. A Muslim should not be a cheat or a deceiver.
When Abbas, a prisoner of war, was asked for his ransom, he said that he had no money. Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “What will happen to the money you have left under the ground and told your wife that if you die, she should spend it?” In response, Abbas said, “I know that you are the Messenger of Allah. No one knows about this treasure except me and my wife.”
Then Abbas paid his ransom and Allah Almighty revealed a verse in this regard:
O Prophet, say to whoever is in your hands of the captives, “If Allah knows [any] good in your hearts, He will give you [something] better than what was taken from you, and He will forgive you; and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”
(Quran 8:70)
In this context, Allah Almighty says that those who have been freed by paying a ransom will be given more in return.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) told the prisoners of the Battle of Badr who were unable to pay their ransom that if you teach ten children, you will be set free.
Let’s find out what Islam says about prisoners of war. Imams will decide about prisoners of war. In this case, the Imam can sentence him to death if he wants. Second: to release them without ransom. Thirdly, the ransom is paid to free. Fourthly, women and children of prisoners of war could be enslaved. This practice was practiced with the Banu Quraysh tribe. The men of the Banu Quraysh tribe were killed and the women and children were enslaved.
It should be noted that Muslims have their own laws regarding prisoners of war and no human-made laws will apply in this regard.
Let’s find out the status of the companions who participated in the Battle of Badr. The status of the companions who participated in the Battle of Badr was very high. Once Gabriel asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) what he thought of the companions who participated in the Battle of Badr. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied that they were the best of the Muslims. Hearing this, Gabriel (peace be upon him) said that the angels who participated in the Battle of Badr had the same status.
After the Battle of Badr, the infidels of Mecca were defeated. They realized that they could not survive fighting the Muslims. After the war, a new class of people was invented, called hypocrites or traitors.
In this regard, Allah Almighty says in the Quran:
Wavering between them, [belonging] neither to the believers nor to the disbelievers. And whoever Allah leaves astray – never will you find for him a way.
(Quran 4:143)
In other words, those who did not like Islam a few days ago converted to Islam to save themselves. We have already said that there were Jewish and Christian polytheists in Mecca. After the Battle of Badr, almost all the polytheists converted to Islam. Many of them harbored hostility in their hearts but outwardly embraced Islam.
They prayed, fasted, and paid zakat, yet they were fiercely anti-Islamic. They wanted to hate Muslims so that the name of Islam would be wiped out from the world. But at that time, Islam was dominant, so they did not have the courage to express their thoughts.
The Quraysh became desperate for revenge after their defeat at the Battle of Badr. And this defeat began the Battle of Uhud.
On the other hand, the situation of the Jews also became deplorable because the Muslims had started spreading Islam outside Medina. This was frightening for the Jews because their power in Medina was diminishing. The Quraysh tried to kill the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in retaliation for the war.
Usually, after a war, a kind of pride arises among soldiers, but Allah did not express pride for this victory, as Allah says in the Quran:
And Allah made it not except as [a sign of] good tidings for you and to reassure your hearts thereby. And victory is not except from Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
(Quran 3:126)
In another verse, Allah Almighty says that:
And you did not kill them, but it was Allah who killed them. And you threw not, [O Muhammad], when you threw, but it was Allah who threw that He might test the believers with a good test. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.
(Quran 8:17)
So all credit goes to Allah, Allah makes even difficult tasks easy for Muslims. The Muslims did not win the Battle of Badr by their own efforts, but rather Allah Almighty gave them victory.
