Why Badr Is Told in Detail

After that discussion, from verse 42, begins a detailed treatment of the Battle of Badr. It will be remembered that earlier the Battle of Uḥud was treated in detail, and the Battle of Badr merely mentioned at the outset, in passing; and then it moved to the Battle of Uḥud, which came as a response to Badr. But Badr was not treated in detail there. Now, in Sūrat al-Anfāl, the Battle of Badr is set out in detail, with what amounts almost to an analysis of it, showing what benefits came of it, what harm it did, what benefits were received, and how it created such awe. And then a number of incidents that took place during the battle are given here.

Once that is complete, pretty well the rest of the sūrah runs to the end of the chapter. Sūrat al-Anfāl is a fairly long sūrah. It runs to the quarter of the chapter, and then it passes to Sūrat at-Tawbah, or Sūrat al-Barāʾah, which has a similar theme in any case, and which then runs to the end of the chapter.

So there are two great discussions here. One is the Battle of Badr, in Sūrat al-Anfāl. And after that, in Sūrat al-Barāʾah, Sūrat at-Tawbah, the discussion is of the munāfiqīn. And it seems to be, as it were, the final nail in their coffin, because that one opens them up and reveals them. Until now the discussion was not an opening up; it mentioned some of their ploys and tactics and plots and their private conversations. But now it makes it entirely plain. And then there is the matter of the expedition of Tabūk, which has a prominent place in Sūrat al-Barāʾah. Much of it has to do with Tabūk, which was a truly major expedition. It ended with no battle at all against the Romans; but it was among the most difficult things they had faced. So there is much discussion of it there, and of the fallout from it, the repercussions of it, and the various reactions to it. That, in shāʾ Allāh, is what is to be looked at here.