Free Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers by C.J. Werleman Page B

they could join Mecca’s forces without him knowing of their mobilization. This is exactly what happened when Muhammad led the Muslims into a major engagement against the Meccans at the Battle of the Trench, or known by its more appropriate name, The Siege of Medina. But another, the Battle of Badr, would first precede that engagement.
    Badr was the first large-scale engagement between the two rival militaries. Muhammad received intelligence that a caravan was on its way from Palestine to Mecca. He sent three hundred and fifty of his men to intercept the caravan at the wells of Badr. Muhammad led his small army on camel and horseback, but unbeknownst to him, the Meccans learned of the Muslim plan, and they sent out a force three times superior, numbering more than 1,000 warriors. The Meccans diverted the caravan away from the wells and replaced them with their soldiers, and then waited in ambush. However, an advance Muslim scout spotted the trap and reported back to Muhammad. The Muslims looked to their leader and asked whether they should return to Medina. Muhammad walked away to gather his thoughts. When he returned, he said to his men, “We attack!” With their swords held outstretched above their heads, they charged the Meccan lines. The battle was vicious hand-to-hand combat, and the Meccans had not only underestimated the fighting skill of the Muslims, they were completely overwhelmed by their willingness to sacrifice themselves with such ferocity. It didn’t take long for the Meccan lines to break, and from that point on it became a massacre. Most of the Meccans fled, but those who were captured were either sold for a ransom fee or were executed.
    This was a huge victory for Muhammad and word spread that the Muslims were a force to be reckoned with, and many non-Muslims began to believe that Muhammad, based on securing victory against overwhelming odds, might indeed be a man of God. Moreover, it strengthened his position in Medina. Returning home, Muhammad honored the fallen as martyrs and told their respective widows they would now be in paradise for defending the word of God. Medina was delirious with joy.
    The mood in Mecca couldn’t have been starker, however, as their noses had been bloodied by greatly inferior numbers, and they were further humiliated that the person who they despised most, had defeated them so comprehensively. For the next two years, the Meccans perfected a plan to lay siege on Medina with the purpose of razing the city to the ground and all its inhabitants with it. Further, they wanted Muhammad’s head on a stick.
    In January 625, Mecca, seeking retribution for the Muslim attack on their caravan, sent an army of 4,000 men to Medina. The Quraysh were hell bent on ending Muhammad and his Muslims once and for all, and the Meccans weren’t alone, as the three Jewish clans, the clans expelled from Medina by Muhammad, joined Mecca’s fighting force. It was a ten-day foot march from Mecca to Medina, which meant forward scouts were able to report back to Muhammad that the Quraysh army was headed their way. When the Meccans moved within sight of the city, the Muslim warriors countered by moving to the slopes of a nearby mountain, Uhud, in an effort to gain the higher ground. The Meccans pursued them and hostilities commenced, but like Badr, the Muslims quickly gained the ascendency due to their ferociousness and fighting vigor. Suddenly, however, things turned quickly from good to bad when a number of Muhammad’s men fled in cowardice. For a brief moment this left Muhammad exposed and a blow to the head felled him. Word spread quickly that the prophet had been killed and the Meccans were elated, but the fog of war had provided them with incorrect information, as Muhammad had suffered only minor injuries. The leader of the Quraysh forces, Abu Sufyan, called out to the Muslims to surrender or face immediate extermination. Muhammad sent a lieutenant to deliver a reply, “God is most high and most