This surah, Al-Anfal (The Plunder) is basically a speech, or speeches, given by Muhammad to the Islamic army after the Battle of Badr. This battle occurred near the village of Badr, in the middle of the month of Ramadan, in the second year after Muhammad left Mecca (Muir dates this as January 13, A.D. 624, but another date Ive seen is March 15). At Badr, Muhammads troops, numbering 313 men, with two horses and 70 camels, defeated an army from Mecca which consisted of 950 men, with hundreds of camels and horses. Tinged accounts of the Battle of Badr can be read at alislaah3.tripod.com/alislaah/id7.html and www.geocities.com/badr_313/battle.htm and an account by William Muir can be read at answering-islam.org.uk/Bo...chap12.htm . It was a small battle by modern standards: it is reported that the Meccans lost about 70 men and about 70 Meccans were also taken captive. The Muslim army lost 14 men.
After the Battle of Badr, some members of the Islamic army were disputing about how to divide the plunder collected from the battlefield, and about who deserved what. One soldier had made it clear to Muhammad that he wanted a particularly nice sword. Others were just bickering. The revelation in verse 1 and further down in v. 41 served to settle the disputes: Muhammad put himself in charge of distributing the plunder, and kept one-fifth of it (most of which he subsequently redistributed to the poor). In verses 2-3 he reminds the soldiers to pay the zakat-tax on the plunder.
Muhammad used the victory at Badr to the fullest to augment his troops confidence in him. Those who had questioned his judgment previously -- when he had left Mecca -- are lightly rebuked. So are those who expressed their desire to avoid a battle with the Meccan army in order to pursue the caravan that was overseen by Abu Sufyan -- which had been the purpose of the Muslims excursion in the first place.
Theres a backstory here: Abu Sufyan was taking a caravan close to Badr, and Muhammad wanted to attack (as in, /rob/) it. Abu Sufyan, however, was a vigilant fellow. He detected evidence near the caravan-trail that some of Muhammads scouts had been there, and hustled his way out of danger. He also sent a messenger to Mecca, announcing that Muhammads army was on the move and that they had better come defend the caravan. The Quraish in Mecca armed themselves and went out to engage Muhammads army. Partly this was to guarantee that Muhammads army would not catch up to the caravan, and partly it was because some Meccans wanted to avenge the death of their relative Hadrami, who had been killed by a Muslim scout at Nahkla (during a truce-month) some time before this. By the time the battle began, both sides main reasons for leaving their homes did not exist. The caravan was safe. But neither side backed down and so the battle commenced.
In v. 9, Muhammad reminds the army that Allah helped them in the battle (Muhammad himself had been stationed behind the lines, praying in a small shelter). Theres a discrepancy between this verse and 3:124 ~ here a thousand of the angels are said to have assisted the army; in 3:124, three thousand angels are mentioned (the parallel between those two verses is underlined by the similarity between 8:10 and 3:126).
Verse 10 refers to the rain which fell on the night before the battle. Muhammad interpreted this rain as a divine provision: the phrase to clean you thereby probably means that rain-water was collected and used for prayer-ablutions, not that the Muslims used it to bathe in. One early Muslim interpreter claimed that the feet-firming reference alludes to how the rain solidified the otherwise sandy battlefield.
Muhammad insisted that angels took part in the battle. In v. 12 he relates that Allah, before the battle, informed the angels about how to attack the Quraish. Instructions are given for killing (Strike them over the necks) and wounding. Some of Muhammads soldiers had acted similarly -- after the battle, one soldier presented to him the decapitated head of Abu Jahl. Abu Jahl was identified by Muhammad as "The Pharaoh" of Mecca; thus Muhammad plainly compared the story of Moses and Pharaoh to the contest between Abu Jahl and Muhammad.
Then Muhammad tells his soldiers that if they ever turn their back on the enemy unless it be a strategem of war, or to retreat to a troop (of his own) they will be sent to hell. This decree, it would seem, was drastically modified later in light of the Muslims defeat at the Battle of Uhud. Umar, Muhammads companion, later claimed that this was only meant to apply to the Battle of Badr (even though, in context, this verse was given /after/ that battle); nevertheless fleeing from the battlefield is still counted as among the most grievous of all sins.
Verse 17 has a psychological edge. After the battle, the corpses of the Quraish were buried. Many of those who had been killed were former friends and close relatives of the Muslims. Abu Bakr had fought his own son; Abu Hudzaifa had fought his father Utba and at some point in the battle, Utba had been killed; Umar had fought his mothers brother. This verse helped deflect any remorse that the Muslims might have begun to feel about fighting a needless battle against their own close relatives. It might look like this verse was intended to reduce pride, but I think it was mainly intended to reduce *guilt* that the Muslims felt after the battle. A hadith relates that as the Muslims lowered the enemies corpses into a mass-grave, Muhammad theatrically taunted some of the dead Meccans, asking them if they had finally discovered that Allahs promises would come true. But when he saw Abu Hudzaifa wincing, he stopped, and began to sympathize with him.
Verse 19 is a one-verse address to the Meccans not only to the 70 captives, but also indirectly to the citizens still in the city, who were going to pay the captives ransoms. A hadith-report says that the Meccans had prayed to their idols a prayer equivalent to Let the better army win and this verse is Muhammads bravado-radiant retort. This verse also answered a question which was, no doubt, on the Meccan captives minds: what was Muhammad going to do with them? Umar advised killing them all. And three of them were killed: Bilal dismembered his ex-slavemaster, Umayya. And Muhammad ordered the execution of Uqba bin Abi Muayt and Al-Nadr Ibn Harith, who had mocked his recitations (One account says that Muhammad himself decapitated Al-Nadr Ibn Harith, but it was probably Ali who did so, on Muhammads orders. Surah 83:13 ~ which refers to a man who calls the Quran Tales of the ancients ~ alludes to Al-Nadr Ibn Harith.)
But as this verse implies, Muhammad followed the advice of Abu Bakr to ransom all the captives whose families could afford it, at the rate of 4,000 dirhams (silver coins) each, and simply release the rest (except for some who were retained for a while to teach some Islamic children how to write). Shortly thereafter, Muhammad seems to have regarded the acceptance of ransom as a mistake (see verses 67-68) although it is not clear if it was seen as wrong because he did not kill the captives, or if it was seen as wrong because he did not release them without charge. Later, this event was integrated into an explanation of the defeat at Uhud: the loss of 70 Muslim soldiers lives at the Battle of Uhud was a punishment for the ransoming of 70 captives after the Battle of Badr.
As the detailed essay at answering-islam.org.uk/Mu....html#abel suggests, the difference between Abels attitude of non-violence, expressed in 5:28 (If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand against you to kill you, for I fear Allah) and Muhammads attitude at this point in his career, after the victory at Badr, is clear. The live-and-let live attitude expressed in some of the early surahs is obscured at this point. One may ask why Muhammad did not ransom off Al-Nadr Ibn Harith with the other prisoners. The answer, I think, is pretty simple: Muhammad realized that Al-Nadr Ibn Harith was capable of persuading the Meccans that Muhammad, victorious general or not, was not supernaturally guided.
Uqba bin Abi Muayt was probably not executed for such a strategic reason. Bukhari (in Hadith 4:409 see www.sacred-texts.com/isl/...h4_413.htm which is also numbered as Vol. 5, Book 58, #193) says that Uqba had once tossed camel-intestines over Muhammad when he (Muhammad) had been praying (though it might have been Abu Jahl). On another occasion when Muhammad was praying, Uqba had sneaked up and put a sheet around his neck and choked him, squeezing hard, till Abu Bakr pulled him away. Uqba was probably executed simply because Muhammad figured that he deserved to die.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
After the Battle of Badr, some members of the Islamic army were disputing about how to divide the plunder collected from the battlefield, and about who deserved what. One soldier had made it clear to Muhammad that he wanted a particularly nice sword. Others were just bickering. The revelation in verse 1 and further down in v. 41 served to settle the disputes: Muhammad put himself in charge of distributing the plunder, and kept one-fifth of it (most of which he subsequently redistributed to the poor). In verses 2-3 he reminds the soldiers to pay the zakat-tax on the plunder.
Muhammad used the victory at Badr to the fullest to augment his troops confidence in him. Those who had questioned his judgment previously -- when he had left Mecca -- are lightly rebuked. So are those who expressed their desire to avoid a battle with the Meccan army in order to pursue the caravan that was overseen by Abu Sufyan -- which had been the purpose of the Muslims excursion in the first place.
Theres a backstory here: Abu Sufyan was taking a caravan close to Badr, and Muhammad wanted to attack (as in, /rob/) it. Abu Sufyan, however, was a vigilant fellow. He detected evidence near the caravan-trail that some of Muhammads scouts had been there, and hustled his way out of danger. He also sent a messenger to Mecca, announcing that Muhammads army was on the move and that they had better come defend the caravan. The Quraish in Mecca armed themselves and went out to engage Muhammads army. Partly this was to guarantee that Muhammads army would not catch up to the caravan, and partly it was because some Meccans wanted to avenge the death of their relative Hadrami, who had been killed by a Muslim scout at Nahkla (during a truce-month) some time before this. By the time the battle began, both sides main reasons for leaving their homes did not exist. The caravan was safe. But neither side backed down and so the battle commenced.
In v. 9, Muhammad reminds the army that Allah helped them in the battle (Muhammad himself had been stationed behind the lines, praying in a small shelter). Theres a discrepancy between this verse and 3:124 ~ here a thousand of the angels are said to have assisted the army; in 3:124, three thousand angels are mentioned (the parallel between those two verses is underlined by the similarity between 8:10 and 3:126).
Verse 10 refers to the rain which fell on the night before the battle. Muhammad interpreted this rain as a divine provision: the phrase to clean you thereby probably means that rain-water was collected and used for prayer-ablutions, not that the Muslims used it to bathe in. One early Muslim interpreter claimed that the feet-firming reference alludes to how the rain solidified the otherwise sandy battlefield.
Muhammad insisted that angels took part in the battle. In v. 12 he relates that Allah, before the battle, informed the angels about how to attack the Quraish. Instructions are given for killing (Strike them over the necks) and wounding. Some of Muhammads soldiers had acted similarly -- after the battle, one soldier presented to him the decapitated head of Abu Jahl. Abu Jahl was identified by Muhammad as "The Pharaoh" of Mecca; thus Muhammad plainly compared the story of Moses and Pharaoh to the contest between Abu Jahl and Muhammad.
Then Muhammad tells his soldiers that if they ever turn their back on the enemy unless it be a strategem of war, or to retreat to a troop (of his own) they will be sent to hell. This decree, it would seem, was drastically modified later in light of the Muslims defeat at the Battle of Uhud. Umar, Muhammads companion, later claimed that this was only meant to apply to the Battle of Badr (even though, in context, this verse was given /after/ that battle); nevertheless fleeing from the battlefield is still counted as among the most grievous of all sins.
Verse 17 has a psychological edge. After the battle, the corpses of the Quraish were buried. Many of those who had been killed were former friends and close relatives of the Muslims. Abu Bakr had fought his own son; Abu Hudzaifa had fought his father Utba and at some point in the battle, Utba had been killed; Umar had fought his mothers brother. This verse helped deflect any remorse that the Muslims might have begun to feel about fighting a needless battle against their own close relatives. It might look like this verse was intended to reduce pride, but I think it was mainly intended to reduce *guilt* that the Muslims felt after the battle. A hadith relates that as the Muslims lowered the enemies corpses into a mass-grave, Muhammad theatrically taunted some of the dead Meccans, asking them if they had finally discovered that Allahs promises would come true. But when he saw Abu Hudzaifa wincing, he stopped, and began to sympathize with him.
Verse 19 is a one-verse address to the Meccans not only to the 70 captives, but also indirectly to the citizens still in the city, who were going to pay the captives ransoms. A hadith-report says that the Meccans had prayed to their idols a prayer equivalent to Let the better army win and this verse is Muhammads bravado-radiant retort. This verse also answered a question which was, no doubt, on the Meccan captives minds: what was Muhammad going to do with them? Umar advised killing them all. And three of them were killed: Bilal dismembered his ex-slavemaster, Umayya. And Muhammad ordered the execution of Uqba bin Abi Muayt and Al-Nadr Ibn Harith, who had mocked his recitations (One account says that Muhammad himself decapitated Al-Nadr Ibn Harith, but it was probably Ali who did so, on Muhammads orders. Surah 83:13 ~ which refers to a man who calls the Quran Tales of the ancients ~ alludes to Al-Nadr Ibn Harith.)
But as this verse implies, Muhammad followed the advice of Abu Bakr to ransom all the captives whose families could afford it, at the rate of 4,000 dirhams (silver coins) each, and simply release the rest (except for some who were retained for a while to teach some Islamic children how to write). Shortly thereafter, Muhammad seems to have regarded the acceptance of ransom as a mistake (see verses 67-68) although it is not clear if it was seen as wrong because he did not kill the captives, or if it was seen as wrong because he did not release them without charge. Later, this event was integrated into an explanation of the defeat at Uhud: the loss of 70 Muslim soldiers lives at the Battle of Uhud was a punishment for the ransoming of 70 captives after the Battle of Badr.
As the detailed essay at answering-islam.org.uk/Mu....html#abel suggests, the difference between Abels attitude of non-violence, expressed in 5:28 (If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand against you to kill you, for I fear Allah) and Muhammads attitude at this point in his career, after the victory at Badr, is clear. The live-and-let live attitude expressed in some of the early surahs is obscured at this point. One may ask why Muhammad did not ransom off Al-Nadr Ibn Harith with the other prisoners. The answer, I think, is pretty simple: Muhammad realized that Al-Nadr Ibn Harith was capable of persuading the Meccans that Muhammad, victorious general or not, was not supernaturally guided.
Uqba bin Abi Muayt was probably not executed for such a strategic reason. Bukhari (in Hadith 4:409 see www.sacred-texts.com/isl/...h4_413.htm which is also numbered as Vol. 5, Book 58, #193) says that Uqba had once tossed camel-intestines over Muhammad when he (Muhammad) had been praying (though it might have been Abu Jahl). On another occasion when Muhammad was praying, Uqba had sneaked up and put a sheet around his neck and choked him, squeezing hard, till Abu Bakr pulled him away. Uqba was probably executed simply because Muhammad figured that he deserved to die.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
