وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَ‌كُمُ اللَّـهُ بِبَدْرٍ‌ وَأَنتُمْ أَذِلَّةٌ

And Allah certainly supported you at Badr when you were weak. (123)

Badr : Location and Importance

Badr is located about eighty miles south-west of Madinah and used to be a halting-place while travelling between Makkah and Madinah, before the modern Tariq al-Hijrah was commissioned into service which by passes it.

At that time, Badr was known for its abundance of water, something very important in the desert zones of Arabia. The first armed encounter between believers and disbelievers came to pass at this spot on Friday, Ramadan al-Mubarak, Hijrah year 2 which fell on March 11, 624 A.D. On a superficial view, this battle appears to be a local tribal war, but the truth is that it has charted a revolutionary course in the history of the world, therefore, the Holy Qur'an calls it Yawm al-Furgan یوم الفرقان (a day of distinction). According to Professor Philip Hitti, this was Islam's first clear victory.

The expression وَأَنتُمْ أَذِلَّةٌ translated as 'when you were weak' means that 'you were, at that time, few in numbers and materials'. According to strong and authentic narrations, the number of Muslims was 313. This 'army' had two horses and seventy camels. On these, they took their turns while riding.

The verse ends with the statement: فَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُ‌ونَ (So, fear Allah, that you may be grateful). This may remind one of the many places in the Holy Qur'an where Taqwa (fear of Allah) and Sabr (patience) have been prescribed as a security shield against the machinations of the hypocrites and the harmful effects of hostile enemies. Right here, in these two behaviour models, there lies the secret of an entire organized struggle, and clear victory, that comes in its wake. As mentioned elsewhere, Taqwa and Sabr have not been mentioned here, in conjunction. Instead, Taqwa has been considered sufficient for, in reality, Taqwa is such a comprehensive human attribute that صبر Sabr too gets to be included therein.