The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 120
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 120 there is no reason for us to disregard the historical account, because not only does it concur with the Holy Qur’ān, rather, by rejecting it, the Qur’ānic stance must also be rejected. This is a place for contemplation. What does the historical account state except that the Muslim army set out with the caravan in mind, but was suddenly confronted by the army of the Quraish? Does the Holy Qur’ān not also state the same; in that the Muslims desired the caravan, but Allāh had the Muslims suddenly encounter the army of the Quraish instead? Furthermore, the Holy Qur’ān states the reason for this as well, in that Allāh the Almighty did this under His power, so that the leaders among the disbelievers may be destroyed as a divine sign and the prophecy of their destruction may be fulfilled. In these circumstances, an attempt to establish that the Muslims set out from Madīnah itself with the intention of fighting the army of the Quraish, is equivalent to not only completely discarding numerous sound and authentic narrations of history and Aḥādīth , but also to declare the Qur’ānic statement, which has been given a central position by God the Exalted in the story of Badr, as being incorrect. Hence, the truth is that the Muslims left with the objective of intercepting the caravan, but when they reached close to Badr, they suddenly or without a prior specification of time, encountered the army of the Quraish. Moreover, as we have already proven above, to set out in order to intercept the caravan is not at all objectionable. The reason being that firstly, this particular caravan which the Muslims had set out to pursue was not an ordinary caravan. Every man and woman from among the Quraish held shares in it. 1 This demonstrates that with regards to this caravan, the intention of the chieftains of the Quraish was that this profit would be used in order to wage war against the Muslims; history proves that this very profit was used to prepare for the Battle of Uḥud. 2 As such, the interception of this caravan was a necessary part of the tactics of war. Secondly, it was also necessary in general to intercept these caravans of the Quraish because they were armed and would pass by very close to Madīnah. The Muslims remained in constant danger of them and it was necessary to put an end to this. Thirdly, wherever these caravans would travel, they would heavily incite the tribes of Arabia against the Muslims, due to which the state of the Muslims was becoming more and more vulnerable; 1 Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 2, p. 255, Ghazwatu Badr, Dāru Iḥyā’it- Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2 Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 2, p. 267, Ghazwatu Rasūlillāhi sa Uḥudan, Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)