Blind and Deaf

Up until that moment, Quraysh had no idea about the movements of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). A huge army, ten thousand strong, and yet Quraysh were blind and deaf concerning the movements of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); while whenever Quraysh made a movement, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would be alerted. So the intelligence gathering of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and the Muslims was of a much higher calibre than that of Quraysh. And that was a blessing from Allah (swt) given to the Muslims, even though their resources were much less and the kuffār in the area were much more. The number of Muslims until that moment was quite small: it was limited to Madīnah and the areas surrounding Madīnah; the rest of Arabia were all kuffār. Nevertheless, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had disciplined and trained the Companions to be alert, and he would send them out scouting for information; while Quraysh, up until this moment, had no clue about what was going on.

Another reason that made the intelligence gathering of the Muslims better than that of Quraysh was the loyalty they had to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), so information would not leak. As was seen in the case of Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah, that was a single case, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was alerted to it by al-waḥy. So the Companions would never disclose information about the movements of the Muslims. One of the things we suffer from today is the lack of loyalty, and the lack of understanding of walāʾ and barāʾ. So Muslims — people who claim to be Muslims — are willing not only to give information on a single occasion, but to work long-term for the kuffār, giving them information about the Muslims, spying against the Muslims. And this is nifāq; a person who does so is a munāfiq. A person who gives up information about the Muslims, spies in the masājid, and collects information and delivers it to the kuffār — how will he escape the wrath of Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgement? So Muslims need to fear Allah; they need to have taqwā; and they need to have the correct understanding of what al-walāʾ and al-barāʾ mean.