The Qur'an talks about the battle in what can be translated as, "As you were on the closer embankment, and they were on the remotest embankment" (TMQ, 8: 42). The Muslim army stood in Udwat duniya (the closer embankment) and the Quraysh army stood in Udwat al-Quswa (the farthest embankment). The two armies could not see each other, and the area between them would become the battlefield. The caravan of Abu-Sufyan was now far away from the battlefield."...and the cavalcade (of riders) was below you" (TMQ, 8: 42). 

"...and if you had made a mutual appointment, you would indeed have differed about the promised appointment, but that Allah might decree a Command that was to be performed" (TMQ, 8: 42). 

What is the significance of the places of the two armies? Look at this miracle! Allah is going to make it rain. The nature of the land of the farthest embankment is that when it rains it becomes muddy. Thus, the movement of the fighters would become hard leading the army to be exhausted; whereas the land in the closer embankment is solid, so it would become easier to walk on when it rains. All thanks be to Allah! Notice, the timing of this miracle! When the Muslims demonstrated their belief and strength, so they became worthy of the support of Allah. "Surely His Command, if He wills a thing, is only to say to it, "Be!" and it is" (TMQ, 36: 82). Isn't this nation humiliated nowadays? It could be tomorrow the greatest among nations. It's very easy and Allah is capable of that; but do we deserve it? Allah has His own enactment in the universe. He does not favor anyone. The idle one who does not have a message to carry to the world does not deserve Allah's help.

On the night of the battle, it began to rain, and Quraysh got soaked. Their great number turned out to be a disadvantage as they could not move freely; whereas the small number of the Muslims turned out to be an advantage as they were light and they moved easily.

The Muslims were afraid and felt apprehensive for the non-compatible battle. Allah says what can be translated as, "As also as your Lord brought you (The prophet) out of your home with the truth, and surely a group of the believers indeed are hating that. Disputing with you concerning the truth, after it had become evident, as though they were being driven to death while looking (at it)" (TMQ, 8: 5-6). It was Allah who decided the time and place of the battle. It was as if the battle of Badr was led by heaven; angels are even going to descend after a little while in order to help the Muslims.

Being anxious, the Muslims could not sleep at night. Allah sends another miracle and describes it in what can be translated as, "As He was making drowsiness to envelop you as secure (reassurance) from Him, and sending down on you water from the heaven to purify you thereby, and to put away from you the chastisement of Ash-Shaytan, (The all-vicious: one"; i.e., the Devil) and to brace your hearts, and to make firm (your) feet thereby (TMQ, 8: 11).

In the battlefield, the Muslim army stood behind water wells so that the wells were between them and Quraysh. One of the companions, Al-Hobab Ibn Al-Mundher, asked the Prophet (SAWS), "Has Allah ordered you to choose this place for the battle? Or is it a war plan?" The Prophet (SAWS) replied that it was a war plan. Al-Hobab then said, "The choice of this place is inappropriate." The Prophet (SAWS) asked him, "So, what do you suggest, Hobab?"" He replied, "I think we should fill up all the wells but one, and place our army in front of it. Thus, we can drink while they cannot. Being thirsty, they are going to fight us for water, while we are going to fight for our cause." The prophet liked his suggestion and implemented it. Have you seen anywhere where the individual's opinion is respected thus? One of the main causes of the passiveness of people is that they know that their opinion is not going to be heard or taken into consideration. How great is our Prophet in each and every aspect!

As the prophet (SAWS) prepared the army, he addressed them concerning Jihad and its virtues. Any country on the verge of war encourages its fighters to be brave and courageous. There is nothing to be ashamed of in relating the sayings of the Prophet (SAWS) concerning Jihad and martyrdom in its appropriate place. As long as it is not cited to encourage destruction in our land. This is the first Hadith talking about Jihad, "Vie swiftly for a garden whose breadth is the heavens and the earth." Meaning that whosoever dies today in the battle will be admitted to paradise. There comes the Ahadith of Jihad, in their due time. Thus, we conclude that the religious discourse should be in the appropriate time and place; not anything can be said at any time. We should not make use of the enthusiasm of youths by the Ahadith of Jihad when said in a wrong timing.

Umair Ibn-Al-Himam, one of the Prophet's companions, wondered, "How wonderful!" I wish I could be one of the inhabitants of paradise today." The Prophet (SAWS) told him, "You shall be one of its inhabitants." When Umair said these words, he was eating some dates before going to battle. He threw them immediately as to not waste any more time and went fighting until he died as a martyr. He was one of the very first martyrs of Badr.

Other martyrs included Haritha. He was an eighteen-year-old young man who was a devoted worshipper to Allah. He used to pray Qiyam (night prayer). Before the battle, he was mistakenly shot by an arrow. His mother came to the Prophet (SAWS) crying and asked him, "O, Prophet of Allah, is my son in paradise so that I can rejoice? Or is he elsewhere so that I have right to lament him?" The Prophet replied, "Mother of Haritha, it is not one paradise that your son got into but many; your son is in the highest level of paradise." An eighteen-year-old young man is in the highest level of paradise! This is because he frequently prayed Qiyam during Ramadan and prostrated himself to His Lord. Such people are the ones who deserve the highest level of paradise.

The battle began when three fighters from Quraysh stepped forward for man-to-man combat: Otba Ibn-Rabi'a, Shaiba Ibn-Rabi'a and Al-Walid Ibn-Otba. Three Muslims from al-Ansaar stepped forward to fight them, but they refused and demanded to fight their peers (from the migrants). The Prophet (SAWS) chose the following three: Ali Ibn-Abu-Talib, Hamza Ibn-Abd-Al-Muttalib and Abu-Ubaida Ibn-Al-Harith Ibn-Abd-Al-Muttalib. Note that whenever sacrifice was required, the Prophet (SAWS) sacrificed his own family, not strangers. Are you convinced now that there is no one in the whole world who is great in every aspect except our Prophet (SAWS)? The result of the fight was the death of Al-Walid and Shaiba by the hands of Ali and Hamza, respectively. However, Otba and Abu-Ubaida kept fighting until Abu-Ubaida's leg was cut. When he was in his last breath, he looked at the Prophet (SAWS) asking him, "Have I done my duty, Prophet of Allah?" Do you see the extent of love and loyalty? The Prophet (SAWS) then said, "O, Allah. I call You to witness that Abu-Ubaida has done his duty." Have you done your duty towards the Prophet? All this sacrifice happened so that Islam, truth, and reform are spread; have we done our duty towards him?

Then a full-fledge battle began, and the leaders of Quraysh fell one after another. A great surprise happened from two boys. The right wing of the Muslims, was led by Abdul-Rahman Ibn-Awf (RA), and consisted of only 15-20 people. He saw among his soldiers a fifteen-year-old boy called Mu'adh and his cousin, a fourteen-year-old boy, called Mu'awwedh. One of the two boys tugged at his clothes and asked him, "O Uncle, where is Abu-Jahl?" Abdul-Rahman Ibn-Awf was surprised and asked him about the reason for his question. He told him that his mother told him not to return home unless he killed Abu-Jahl. Then the other boy asked him the same question and told him the reason he was looking for Abu-Jahl, "I heard that he abused the Prophet (SAWS), which is something I cannot bear. I swear that I am going to take revenge for the Prophet (SAWS)." Abdul-Rahman Ibn-Awf said, "They lifted my spirits. I have never experienced such a feeling of admiration as I felt towards these two young men".

The Sunnah of the Prophet (SAWS) is forsaken nowadays. Who is going to defend the Prophet nowadays? This is not a call for murder or committing suicide; it is a call for reforming our country for the sake of the Prophet, so that we deserve to be part of his nation.

On a side note, the prophet did not allow children to participate in wars, in respect for the children's rights. However, he allowed these two boys after their insistence and after they proved to him that they can handle being in the battlefield. The two boys ran like two swift arrows. They tied the swords around their arms as they could not carry them in the normal way, being very young. They agreed on a plan. Mu'adh told Mu'awwedh, "You stab the horse so that the man falls and I am going to stab him." They implemented their plan as they intended it.

However, Ikrima Ibn-Abu-Jahl ran after them and cut the arm of Mu'adh so that it was left barely hanging from his shoulder. Mu'adh said, "I found that my cousin was going to reach the Prophet before me; I wanted to deliver the good news to the Prophet before him. I put my arm under my leg and I took it off so that it would not be an obstacle in my way to the Prophet. Then, I ran to the Prophet telling him the good news of the death of Abu-Jahl." Abdullah Ibn-Mas'oud, the weakest among the companions of the Prophet, went to verify the truth of this piece of news. He found Abu-Jahl in his last breath, so he killed him. The irony is that the death of Abu-Jahl took place at the hands of two teenagers and the weakest man from the companions of the Prophet.

The Prophet announced to the army not to kill Abul-Bukhturi Ibn-Hisham, as a sign of gratitude to him for his attitude with the Muslims on the days of the siege. Note the military ethics of the Prophet (SAWS), these ethics which the world has only known after World War Two. When one of the companions of the Prophet saw the man, he avoided him instead of fighting with him. The man was amazed, and he asked the companion of the Prophet, "Why don't you fight me?" The companion replied, "The Prophet ordered us not to fight you." The man was amazed and he wondered why. The companion replied, "In order to show our gratitude for what you did with us on the days of the siege." However, he ruthlessly asked him, "What if I started the fight with you?" The companion answered, "I'm going to flee from you, in obedience to the Prophet's order." The man kept chasing him until the companion was forced to kill him to defend his life. He went to the Prophet afterwards crying and apologized that he was forced to do so in order to defend himself. The Prophet (SAWS) replied, "Take it easy. I just wanted to show them that we have gratitude."

Angels descend at the end, not in the beginning, of the battle. This is because the Prophet (SAWS) in the beginning of the battle prayed and supplicated to Allah for a very long time. "O, Allah; if this group of believers are defeated, You shall not be worshipped on earth anymore." It was not a matter of victory for the Prophet (SAWS); his main concern was the message, and he was crying. This is the meaning of "...indeed Allah readily granted you victory at Badr, and you were humble" (TMQ, 3: 123). You should be humbled to Allah in Ramadan so that He grants you victory after Ramadan. Jibril (AS) (Gabriel) descended with a thousand of angels in order to stand by the believers. "As Your Lord was revealing to the Angels, (saying), "I am with you; so make the ones who believe stand firm. I will soon cast into the hearts of the ones who have disbelieved horror; so strike above the necks, and strike every finger-tip of them" (TMQ, 8: 12). 

This is a very important lesson for you, Muslims, to learn. You should put your trust in Allah; however, at the same time, you should exert your maximum efforts. Badr is a very important lesson - well planning then a miracle from Allah; the battle was lead by heaven and at the same time there was a lot of effort exerted on earth. Courage and seriousness on the part of the Muslims, and at the same time rain and angels from heaven. The result was a crushing victory for Muslims. Everyone who harmed the Muslims in the past was taken revenge from. Seventy of the leaders of Quraysh were killed. even Abu-Lahab, who refused to join the army died in Makkah in a horrible way. The Prophet (SAWS) dug a pit called Al-Qulayb, in which the bodies of the 70 dead people from Quraysh were buried. He stood in front of the grave and asked, "Have you found what your Lord promised to be true?"

The battle resulted in the death of fourteen of the Prophet's companions, 13 of which are from al-Ansar and only one from the migrants; their pledge with the Prophet (SAWS) was a deal on sacrifice until the last breath.

Are you going to dedicate your lives to the message of the Prophet (SAWS)?

Are you going to love the Prophet (SAWS)?

Is the Prophet (SAWS) going to be satisfied with you?

Are you going to tell him that you have done your duty towards him ?

Amr Khalid is an Egyptian Muslim activist and preacher. The New York Times Magazine, in reference to Khaled's popularity in Arab countries, described him in its April 30, 2006 issue as"the world's most famous and influential Muslim televangelist. Amr Khaled has recently been chosen as number 62 of the world's most influential people by Time Magazine.