Battle of Badr-ul-Mau’id
An incident that took place in 4 AH. is the Battle of Badr al-Mau‘id. The cause of this expedition is that when Abu Sufyan bin al-Harb was departing from the Battle of Uhud he said out loud, “Next year we shall face one another again at Badr al-Safra and we shall fight there.” The Holy Prophet (sa) instructed Hazrat Umar (ra) to reply, “yes indeed, God-Willing.” They all then parted thereafter. When the Quraish returned, they informed their people of this agreement.
Badr is a famous well between Mecca and Medina and situated between the valley of Safra and Jar. Badr is situated 150 km southwest of Medina. In the era of ignorance, a large festival used to take place on 1 Dhu al-Qa‘dah and lasted for eight days.
As the appointed time drew nearer, Abu Sufyan became less and less content to set out against the Holy Prophet (sa) and was fearful. He desired not to come up against the Holy Prophet (sa) at this appointed time. Abu Sufyan was making it seem as though he was preparing a great army to attack the Muslims and also so that this news would reach the people of Medina. Through means of this, he wanted this news to spread among the Arabs in order to strike fear into the Muslims.
(Mustafa ‘Abd al-Wahid, Subul al-Huda wa al-Rashad fi Sirat Khair al-‘Ibad, Vol. 4 [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1993], p. 337) (Shawqi Abu Khalil, Atlas Sirat Nabawi (sa) [Darul Islam, 1424AH], p. 216)
According to one narration, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) and Hazrat Umar (ra) went to the Holy Prophet (sa) saying, “O Messenger (sa) of Allah! Allah will make His religion prevail and grant honour to His Prophet (sa). We have made a promise to the people and we desire not to break it, otherwise, they (i.e. the disbelievers) shall see it as a sign of cowardice. You must go ahead according to the agreement, for by God, there is good in this.” Hearing these sentiments, the Holy Prophet (sa) became overjoyed. When the Holy Prophet (sa) received this news regarding the army being assembled by Abu Sufyan, he appointed Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Rawahah as the Amir of Medina in his absence.
According to another narration he appointed Abdullah bin Abdillah bin Ubayy bin Sulool as the amir, and gave his flag to Hazrat Ali (ra) as he set off with his companions towards Badr. Alongside him were 1,500 Muslims. One the way, the Muslims took part in some trade at the festival that was taking place and made quite some profit from their business. After remaining there for eight days they returned to Medina.
(Mustafa ‘Abd al-Wahid, Subul al-Huda wa al-Rashad fi Sirat Khair al-‘Ibad, Vol. 4 [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1993], p. 337) (Ibn Sa‘d, Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, Vol. 2, Bab Ghazwah Rasulullahsa Badr al-Mau‘id [Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 2017], p. 46)
The Muslims engaged in trade in that festival with the thought in mind that if the battle was to take place then so be it, but if it did not, then they could at least do some business there and the Muslims benefited from this a great deal.