The first battle
In the second year after the Hijrah the Muslims of Madinah marched out to intercept a rich Quraysh caravan returning from Syria under Abu Sufyan. The caravan escaped along the coast, but Makkah had sent an army of nearly a thousand to protect it, and on 17 Ramadan the two forces met at the wells of Badr. The Muslims were about three hundred and thirteen, with two horses and seventy camels between them.
The fighting
The battle opened with single combats in which Ali (a), Hamza and Ubayda b. al-Harith killed the three Makkan champions; in the general engagement the Quraysh broke and fled, leaving some seventy dead, including Abu Jahl, and seventy prisoners. Ali (a), then in his twenties, is credited with the largest share of the enemy slain. The Qur'an describes the day as one of divine aid, with angels sent to strengthen the believers.
Why it matters
Badr established the new community as a power in Arabia and gave the Muslims the confidence of a victory against odds. Those who fought there held a special rank ever after, and the Prophet (s) called the day the Day of the Criterion, when truth was separated from falsehood.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
