We spend seven lessons on the Battle of Badr.

We will discuss what happens there

after, in between Badr and Uhud.
The first incident is one of the most interesting assassination attempts on the
life of the prophet PBUH. Safwan ibn Ummayah, the son of Ummayah ibn Khalaf whos
e father and brother had just died in Badr. He was sitting with his cousin Umayr
ibn Wahab al Jumahe. Umayr's son was in MAdinah as a PoW. And he didn't have/di
dn't want to pay the randsom. His cousin was Safwan - and Safwan began ridiculin
g the prophet PBUH, and the problems this new religion had caused. Umayr said "W
alahi were it not for the fact I owe so and so some money, and I have a family t
o take care off, I would personally go and execute the prophet PBUH myself, for
they have destroyed my family and my son is with them". So Safwan took this gold
en opportunity: "what if I take care of your debt, and I promise to take of your
family that anything I give my family, your family will get the same. Will you
agree?" Umayr said "In this case yes, but don't tell a single soul". Immediately
Umayr went back home, sharpened his sword and saturated it with poison. And he
left Mecca without telling anyone where is going. And he made his way alone to M
adinah; travelling for over 2 weeks. And when he reaches Madinah, he disguises h
imself (covers his face as a normal traveller), and his sword his hanging from h
is neck. And he makes his way straight to the masjid. Umar RA recognises him fro
m the eyes and said "This dog, enemy of Allah, by Allah he has come for some evi
l intent". Umar RA is speaking from afar. So Umar RA immediately went to the pro
phet PBUH and informed him "Umayr ibn Wahab is here in the city and he is lookin
g for you". The prophet PBUH said "bring him to me". So Umar RA immediately took
his own sword to meet Umayr, and then brought him to the masjid. And the prophe
t PBUH said watch him because "this filthy person cannot be trusted". Note Umayr
's own son is still in captive so he knows by doing this he is effectively killi
ng his son too but he dosen't care - such was the hatred.
So Umar and Umayr both walk in, and Umar has his hand on his sword waiting to de
fend the prophet PBUH if need be. When Umayr entered, he greeted the prophet PBU
H with their greeting "in am sabaha i.e. good morning". So the prophet PBUH said
"Allah has given us a greeting of the people of Jannah, it is the salaam". Even
here the prophet PBUH is giving him daw'ah. So Umayr said "this is something ne
w to me". So the prophet PBUH said "why have you come?" Umayr said "In order to
negotiate the randsom of my son and that you send him back with me, and be good
with him". The prophet PBUH said "If that is the case what is this sword around
your neck?" Umayr said "This sword here? What good did it do us at Badr?" The pr
ophet PBUH said "tell me the truth" but he insisted "I have told you for my son"
. Now the prophet PBUH reveals the truth - Jibreel AS must have come to tell him
. The prophet PBUH said "Rather you and Safwan were sitting alone in the Hijar o
f the kab'ah and you mentioned the losses at Badr. And you said were it not for
your debt or family you would personally kill Muhammad. So Safwan offered to tak
e care of your debts so that you may come to kill me, but Allah has come between
you and your plans". Umayr realised there was no way the prophet PBUH could hav
e discovered this. He himself travelled; had any traveller been faster he would
have known. There is no way the prophet PBUH would have known unless Allah told
him. So he immediately blurted out "You are the messenger of Allah". We mention
this many times: some of Islams worst enemies were sincere in their animosity. D
eep down they didn't know Islam was true. Some did i.e. Abu Jahal, but many did
not and they opposed Islam genuinely being it to be false. If this is the case w
ith the people interacted directly with the prophet PBUH what about the people n
ow? Similarly the magicians of Pharoh: when they saw it with their own eyes they
instantly reverted. Similarly modern people genuinely believe what they are say
ing is true. They have been brainwashed themselves. And in general gentleness wi
ns over harshness. Here is Umair literally waiting to come within stabbing dista
nce. All he wants to do is take the sword and prick. But within 5 second he test
ifies the khalma. And he said "we used to reject you when you told us wahi would
come from the skies, but this issue - no one knew of it except me and Safwan. S
o I thank Allah who has caused me to see the truth and guided me to Islam".

So the prophet PBUH said "teach your brother about the religion and free his cap
tive". SubhanAllah one second he is willing to kill the prophet PBUH, the next s
econd he gets every blessing imaginable including his son for free. We also see
the importance of the Qur'an; the first advice he is given is to teach Umayr the
salah and memorise the Quran. This was the sunnah of the prophet PBUH to assign
a teacher to any new convert. The first thing we must do is pair a new convert
with an established knowledgable muslim. It's easy to do and Allah willing we ca
n do it in the future. So Umair remained for some time learning Islam until he d
ecided to go back. Before he leaving he told the prophet PBUH "Ya RasulAllah I u
sed to strive to extinguish the flame of Allah, and torture those who embrace Is
lam. So now I ask your permission to call people to Islam as I tried to push the
m away. And I used to irritate you and your companions let me go back and defend
you". So now he wants to make up what he has done. And of course he's a big nam
e of the Quraysh. Pure blooded Qurayshi so there's no danger to his personal lif
e. Safwan after two weeks began to spread in Mecca that "wait a big suprise and
good news will come to you". He build the hype up but then he finds out Umayr ha
s accepted Islam. And soon as finds out he makes a promise to Allah that he will
never have anything to do with Umair. And Ibn Ishaaq writes many people convert
ed to Islam at the hands of Umair. This is the way its done: Islam takes a while
. A person has been raised in a certain way of life. Sometimes it takes decades
to really think things through. You can't just expect conversions after 5 minute
s.
Umayr eventually settles in Madianh, and comes back to Mecca in the 8th year of
the Hijrah in the conquest of Mecca. Safwan was still a pagan and he assumed the
prophet PBUH would never forgive him so he fled. Umayr and Safwan haven't spoke
n since they plotted to assassinate, and once the muslims completed the conquest
Umayr is searching "where's Safwan?". He finds out Safwan has fled. So Umair as
ks "Oh RasulAllah please promise me you won't harm Safwan". And the prophet PBUH
would never refuse a request so the prophet PBUH said "you have my amaan". Umay
r went and found where is Safwan hiding, and convinced Safwan to come back until
finally Safwan accepted. They came back and said the shahadah in front of the p
rophet PBUH. Look at the kudr of Allah - these two cousins first plan to assassi
nate the prophet PBUH, and here they are now muslims at the hands of the prophet
PBUH.
There is another story indirectly linked to Badr, the story of the Banu Qaynuqa.
With regards to the seerah, those who wish to criticise Islam, they criticise i
t based on a number of grounds:
1. The personal morality of the prophet PBUH with regards to marriage to Aisha R
A, the story of Zainab, caravan raiding etc.
2. The other angle is the political dealings of the prophet PBUH; and the number
one matter is how he treated the jewish tribes. It's the most sensitive and pol
itically charged issues.
3. Miliatry action i.e. assassinations and executions of jewish tribes etc.
The main reason its problematic is that the prophet PBUH is accused of anti semi
tism, mini-holocaust etc. Every single instance of harming jews, it's automatica
lly linked to the holocaust. We need to defend the prophet PBUH fairly and squar
ely. Therefore we are not allowed to sugar coat: we need to let the sources spea
k from themselves. We are not apologetics - we firmly believe the truth is the b
est and it speaks for itself. So, we have to point out it's a sensitive, politic
ally charged topic in light of Isreal/Palestine conflict. Further, any one who h
as an agneda or a disease in the heart will always find faults in someone.
Classic case:

159. Abu Saeed Khudri reports that a woman came to the Prophet and we were sitti
ng with him. She said. "My husband Safwan bin Mu'attil beats me when I am prayin
g and orders me to break my fast when I am fasting. And he does not say his Fajr
prayer until the sun rises". Abu Sa'eed goes on to add. "Safwan was among those
present there and the Prophet asked him to explain his conduct in the context o
f her complaint". He explained thus: "O Apostle of Allah! As about her complaint
about being beaten for praying, she recites not one but two (long) surahs (in e
very rak at or unit) and I restrain her from so doing". The Prophet said, "One Sur
ah is enough. "Safwan further explained, "As for being compelled to break her fa
st, the truth of it is that she goes on fasting (non stop, supererogatory fasts)
and young as I am, I cannot restrain myself (long enough without intercourse)".
The Prophet said, "No woman can fast (supererogatorily) without permission of h
er husband." After that he accounted for Fajr prayer after sunrise, saying. "We
come of a family notorious for late rising (only after sunrise)". To this the Pr
ophet said, O Safwan! Pray when you wake up from sleep". -Abu Da'ood
Exposition: The tradition brings out certain important facts worthy of careful n
ote by one and all.
1. The husbands have no right to stop their wives from saying obligatory prayers
. However, it is incumbent on a woman to have due regard for the needs of her hu
sband and should not make her daily obligatory prayers too long to interfere wit
h her normal household duties. As for the supererogatory prayers she should not
say them without permission of the husband, nor fast surpererogatorily without h
is express leave. Promptly attending to his needs is more important for her.
2. Safwan bin Mu'attil was a wage earner watering the fields of farmers during t
he greater part of the night. Spending the nights in such hard toil and going to
bed in the early hours of the morning made waking up in time for Fajr prayers (
before sunrise) a difficult job. (Late-rising which he attributes to the family
trait appears to be due to the family occupation - hard work in sleepless nights
).
Safwan bin Mu attil is a high ranking companion and it is unthinkable about him th
at he was careless about his early morning prayers (Fajr). It is most likely tha
t occasionally when he went to bed very late and nobody awakened him for Fajr pr
ayer, he could wake up only after sunrise, not saying his prayers in time. It wa
s for this reason that the Prophet asked him to say his Fajr prayer whenever he
woke up. Had he been careless about prayer and a regular defaulter in the knowle
dge of the Prophet, he would have been wroth with him and admonished him severel
y.
Now, before we begin, the claim the prophet PBUH discriminated against the jews
- it's genuinely so shallow no serious person can say this. Look at Islamic hist
ory: there were large pockets of jews living very peacefully in muslim lands all
the way up to the creation of Isreal in 1947. The jews of Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia,
Morocco etc. Every time the jews were expelled and persecuted in christian land
s, they always found safe refuge in muslim lands. There is historically very tru
e. By the tens of thousands: the Sultan literally sent his ships to the jews and
said "come to our lands". Pre Isreal the jews lived in full harmony with their
muslim neighbors. And indeed muslims and jews have much more in common that any
other two religions. The islamic shariah overalps 70% of the time with jewish la
ws. Throughout Islamic centuries there were always jews living in Islamic lands.
Sa'adiya Gaoone was one of the greatest jewish thinkers who lived in Baghdad in
the 7th century. The single greatest mind of Judaism was Musa'b bin Maymoon (Mo
ses Maimonides). To him they owe their creed, their law books, their commentarie
s etc (it's like THEIR ibn Tammiyah). There was a recent book that came out that
said Musa'b bin Maymoon was actually a practicing muslim i.e. he grew up in And
aloos so he dressed like a muslim, prayed with them, studied at the universities

among muslims - ethnically he was a jew but he entered the culture of Islam. Th
is is why his greatest books are in Arabic and they had to be translated into He
brew. And he later moved to Egypt and became the personal doctor to Salahudeen a
l Ayoobi and so his fame increased even more. And he becamed the grand rabbi in
Egypt. For sure he lived as a muslim for a period of time - therefore who can ar
gue Islam discriminated against jews? How can Islam be anti semite when the Arab
s are semite themselves? The descendants of Ibrahim AS are all semites.
The main central point is that the prophet PBUH did not treat the jews in ANY ne
gative matter because they were jews. Rather he did so because of what they DID.
Not because of who they were and there is a big difference between these points
. They were punished because of their crimes and the breaking of the treaties. I
t's very clear cut.
One of the most interesting figures of Judaism was Sabbatai Zevi. A large group
of jews thought HE was the chosen messiah. It was the largest messianic movement
in the history of Judaism. What happened? He converted to Islam towards the end
of his life. The sultan of the Ottomans was much pleased, and rewarded Sabbatai
by conferring on him the title (Mahmed) Effendi, and appointing him as his door
keeper with a generous salary. Sarah and approximately 300 families among Sabbat
ai's followers also converted to Islam. These new Muslims thereafter were known
as dnmeh (converts). And to this day there are a group of turkish muslims called
donmeh that go back to these jewish people who followed Sabbatai Zevi and conver
ted to Islam. Their beliefs aren't sunni Islam, they have slightly interesting b
eliefs.
The Banu Qaynuqa - they were expelled on the 15th Shawwal on the 2nd year of the
Hijrah. Thus 28 days after the battle of Badr. What happened? We don't have tha
t much detail about any of these three tribes. Generally speaking when they reco
rded history, you mention the good points in great detail. But regarding the neg
ative points, there was no need for the early muslims to preseve the gruesome an
d precise details of this sort of stuff. Ibn Ishaaq only has a page about the Ba
nu Qaynuqa. He has a generic line that the Banu Qaynuqa increased in their hosti
lity in Islam. What did they do? We don't have that much to tell. What we do hav
e it two specific things that indicate to us. Ibn Ishaaq mentions after the batt
le of Badr the Banu Qaynuqa were saddened at the victory of the muslims. So the
prophet PBUH went to the sook (marketplace) of the Banu Qaynuqa. Recall they wer
e known as goldsmiths. And so the prophet PBUH gathered all of the Banu Qaynuqa
together, admonished them about their attitude and reminded them of their treaty
the constitution of Madinah "you protect us, we'll protect you, we will join to
fight external forces". At this one of the leaders stood up: "O Muhammad, don't
be fooled by your recent victory, you fought a bunch of nobodies, had you reall
y been fighting men like us, you would have seen what the result would have been
". This is one of their leaders standing up straight to the prophet PBUHs face.
It's quite clear the situation was not good. And the Banu Qaynuqa had around 700
fighting men, the biggest jewish tribe. So the tension is increasing.
One incident occured that lit the fuse completely. One of the ladies of the Ansa
r had a lot of money and she wanted to buy some gold. So she sat in front of a g
oldsmith and the goldsmith began flirting with her to expose some of her awrah.
So he made a motion to someone such that he put a pin in her clothes so when she
stood up her entire body was exposed. So she began screaming, and when a muslim
who was there saw this, he chopped off the head of the one who did it in anger.
Immediately, and remember this is their territory, outside Madinah, the Banu Qa
ynuqa surrounded him and killed him. When the news reaches the prophet PBUH he s
ends them a message the treaty has been broken. Why? The prophet PBUH never supr
ised anyone the treaty is not broken - and Allah says this in the Quran Anfal ve
rse 58
"If you [have reason to] fear from a people betrayal, throw [their treaty] back

to them, [putting you] on equal terms. Indeed, Allah does not like traitors."
So you have to tell them the treaty is broken. Now, the Banu Qaynuqa did not exp
ect the prophet PBUH to do anything. Perhaps out of confidence in their numbers,
fortresses etc. Note the jews had a different way of living; they lived in big
fortresses. They learned the art of building thick walls and layering it. Simila
rly Kabars fortresses were like this. Even the Banu Qaynuqa had this: every subt
ribe had their own fortress. Yet, the prophet PBUH immediately marched against t
hem and when they heard he was coming they locked themselves in their fortress.
Note the prophet PBUH did not have the mechanisms right now to break a fortress.
So the prophet PBUH cut off the supplies. And for a half a month the prophet PB
UH and the muslims surrounded them until finally the Banu Qaynuqa surrendered. T
he prophet PBUH gathered all the men together and tied them up, and had to decid
e what to do.
In the days of Jaheleya, the Banu Qaynuqa had two main representatives/allies fr
om old Madinah: Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salul, the leader of the hypocrites and th
e sahabi, Ubada ibn As-Samit. So they reached out for help to these two people.
They said "you are our allies, help us". And recall the Banu Qaynuqa had an alli
ance with the Khazraj and Abullah ibn Ubay and Ubada were both from the Khazraj.
As soon as they reached out, Ubada ibn Samit went to the prophet PBUH and said
"I am no longer their ally - my wali is Allah and His messenger, and I have cut
off my ties from the Banu Qaynuqa. I will have my alliance with Allah and His me
ssenger". He is saying "I am not on their side". As for Abdullah ibn Ubay, he ma
rches straight to the camp where they are prisoners and he demands the muslims t
o release them. He demands "do it or I will" and the sahabi in charge al Munzir
said "If you dare do it, I will kill you". So he finds the prophet PBUH (recall
its all happening in Banu Qaynuqa area) and says "Ya Muhammad" - note he rarely
called the prophet PBUH "RasulAllah". Allah Himself says "do not call the messen
ger like you call the others". Note its still early in the game: there is still
hope he is muslim - Uhud was the clear turning point. So Abdullah says "Be gener
ous with MY allies" and the prophet PBUH was silent. So he repeated "Oh Muhammad
be generous with MY allies" and the prophet PBUH was silent and turned away. Un
believably, Abdullah ibn Ubay took the prophet PBUH's armour by his hand, put hi
s hand into his armour, held on to him and said "be generous to MY allies" and t
he prophet PBUH said "Let go off me". And Ibn Ishaaq said it was clear the anger
was visible was on his face. But Abdullah ibn Ubay held on tighter and said "I
swear by Allah I will not let go until you promise you will treat my hunafa (all
ies) in a generous manner". He said "These 700 men, 300 were armed and 400 not a
rmed; they protected me from 'mankind', and now you think you will rid off them
in one day". Note he is saying they helped him so he now needs to help them. And
he also says "I am scared of ad-dawaail" i.e. bad luck happening to him if they
are mistreated. So where is trust in Allah? Nothing - very weak imaan. So when
he's holding on so long the prophet PBUH said "I give them to you". Abdullah ibn
Ubay was insisting they be spared but the prophet PBUH never said he would kill
them.
In the end he promised Abdullah to spare their lives. The final verdict came the
prophet PBUH gave them three days to pack their bags and go home. They went to
Ubada ibn As Samit and he said "don't come to me I would never have given you a
day". And once again Abdullah ibn Ubay tried to remove the ban, but the prophet
PBUH didn't listen. Obviously when they left, they left alot of property etc. Th
ey couldn't take many of the items they stored. Ultimately they themselves messe
d up and they were indeed a threat to the muslims so the prophet PBUH had to act
. At this Allah revealed Surah Maidha verses 51-56
"O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. The
y are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you
- then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing peop
le."

This is an ayat used by Islamaphobes - but look at the context. Everything dange
rous about it drops instantly. Allah is saying "don't take the jews as protector
s" and its very clear it is pertaining to this incident.
"So you see those in whose hearts is disease hastening into [association with] t
hem, saying, "We are afraid a misfortune may strike us." But perhaps Allah will
bring conquest or a decision from Him, and they will become, over what they have
been concealing within themselves, regretful."
Allah quotes Abdullah ibn Ubay here: he said "we are worried about bad luck". So
this ayah is directly to him. In the next verses Allah praises Ubada ibn As Sam
it:
"And whoever is an ally of Allah and His Messenger and those who have believed indeed, the party of Allah - they will be the predominant."
So these series of verses deals with the expuslion of the Banu Qaynuqa. What wer
e the benefits of expelling them?
1. The Banu Qaynuqa were the largest of the three jewish tribes and were the fir
st to be dealt with. It was the least harsh of the three. After Uhud the punishm
ent was more and then after Ahzan was execution. And it makes complete sense to
go gradual aswell: that "look oh second tribe you've seen what happened to the f
irst one". And then third one have already seen what happened to tribe 1 and 2 y
et they still attack Allah and His messenger.
2. Proper understanding of the verse: Islamaphobes take a english translation an
d say LOOK the Quran says "do not take the jews and christians as friends". But
the arabic world is 'oliya' and this isn't friends. Further look at the context
of the situation! These are people who have mocked Allah and the prophet PBUH th
us in this situation you have to choose sides: when the prophet PBUH is on one s
ide you must choose the side of Allah and His messenger.
3. Aisha RA used to say "walahi the prophet PBUH never took revenge for somethin
g personal" and this is truly evident when Abdullah ibn Ubay was personally rude
to the prophet PBUH. Yet the prophet PBUH didn't lay a finger on him, and in fa
ct he gave him what he requested. Now did the prophet PBUH change his mind for A
bdullah ibn Ubay? No one knows. After 3,4 attempts the prophet PBUH said "Ok I g
ive them to you" so he was appeasing him. There is clear wisdom in granting Abdu
llah want he wants. Why? Because still there is hope for him. He was a senior fi
gure before Islam so many Ansar still look up to him. Thus there is wisdom in co
nceding some things to him.
4. The true colours of the munafiqoon are showing. Yes nifaq began after Badr bu
t it was manifested at Uhud when they turned around and did not fight.
Note the books of seerah do not mention where Umar RA and the other sahabah were
when the prophet PBUH was being attacked by Abdullah ibn Ubay. One hypothesis i
s even the sahabah were confused when someone as senior as Abdullah ibn Ubay is
having a word of war with the prophet PBUH. He is being crude - he is not being
physical, he is just being vulgar. Abullah was being harsh and rude - so perhaps
the sahabah themselves did not know what is to be done. And of course is the pr
ophet PBUH said "do something" they would have instantly done it.
Hadith in Bhukari: one of the leaders of the hypocrites came to the prophet PBUH
and the prophet PBUH talked to him like normal. After he left the prophet PBUH
said "What an evil man he is" Aisha RA said "you were just smiling and laughing
with him!". The prophet PBUH said "Oh Aisha have you ever known me to be crude a
nd rude? This is the leader of the hypocrites. Verily the worst in the eyes of A

llah are those whom we are forced to smile at even if our hearts curse".
Further Allah says "if they do treachery to you, you can never do treachery to t
hem".