Ghazawat — Battles of the Prophet ﷺ

The first ghazwah the Prophet ﷺ personally led. With a small band of Muhājirīn he set out toward Waddān, near al-Abwāʾ, to intercept a Quraysh caravan and to seek an understanding with the Banū Ḍamrah. No fighting took place; instead a pact of non-aggression was concluded with Banū Ḍamrah. Over Madinah he left ʿAmr ibn Umm Maktūm (in some reports Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah) in charge.

The Prophet ﷺ led about two hundred Companions toward Buwāṭ to intercept a large Quraysh caravan led by Umayyah ibn Khalaf. The caravan was not encountered and no fighting occurred. Like the early expeditions, its purpose was to assert the Muslims' presence along the caravan routes and to pressure Quraysh who had seized the Muhājirīn's wealth in Makkah.

The Prophet ﷺ set out with around one hundred and fifty Companions to intercept the great Quraysh caravan on its way to Syria — the very caravan that would later trigger Badr on its return. He reached al-ʿUshayrah, but the caravan had already passed. There he concluded a pact with the Banū Mudlij and their allies of Banū Ḍamrah. It was during this journey that he gave ʿAlī رضي الله عنه the affectionate name "Abū Turāb."

Kurz ibn Jābir al-Fihrī raided the grazing herds on the outskirts of Madinah and drove them off. The Prophet ﷺ pursued him as far as the valley of Safwān near Badr — hence it is also called the First Badr — but Kurz escaped and could not be overtaken. No fighting took place. (Kurz himself later accepted Islam and was martyred at the Conquest of Makkah.)

The first decisive battle of Islam. Setting out to intercept a Quraysh caravan, the Prophet ﷺ instead met a Meccan army roughly three times the size of his 313 Companions. Despite being outnumbered and under-equipped, the believers were granted a resounding victory; the chiefs of Quraysh, including Abū Jahl, were killed. Allah called it "the day of criterion" (yawm al-furqān) and reminded the believers, "Allah had already given you victory at Badr while you were weak" (3:123). Angels were sent down to support them.

Banū Qaynuqāʿ, a Jewish tribe of goldsmiths bound by the Covenant of Madinah, were the first to break their treaty after Badr, provoking the Muslims and openly displaying enmity — including an incident in their market in which a Muslim woman was insulted and a man killed. The Prophet ﷺ besieged them until they surrendered. Through the intercession of ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy, their lives were spared and they were expelled from Madinah.

Abū Sufyān, having vowed to avenge Badr, rode out with a small band and, near Madinah, killed two Muslims and burned some palm-groves and a barn, then fled. The Prophet ﷺ pursued him; to lighten their loads and quicken their flight, Abū Sufyān's men threw away their provisions of parched barley-meal (sawīq) — from which the expedition takes its name. The raiders escaped and no battle followed.

Word reached Madinah that clans of Ghaṭafān (Banū Thaʿlabah and Muḥārib) were massing to raid its outskirts. The Prophet ﷺ marched out with a sizeable force to Dhū Amarr in Najd. The tribesmen scattered into the mountains and no battle occurred. The show of strength dispersed the threat and secured Madinah's eastern flank for a time.

On news that the Banū Sulaym were gathering at Baḥrān, a mining district in the Ḥijāz, the Prophet ﷺ led a force there to forestall the threat. As before, the tribesmen dispersed on his approach and no fighting took place. He returned to Madinah having again broken up a hostile concentration.

Quraysh returned a year later, around 3,000 strong, to avenge Badr. The Muslims fought bravely and had the upper hand until the archers, whom the Prophet ﷺ had ordered never to leave their pass, descended to gather spoils. The Meccan cavalry under Khālid ibn al-Walīd wheeled around the exposed rear, turning the tide; many Companions were martyred, including Ḥamza رضي الله عنه, and the Prophet ﷺ himself was wounded. Allah revealed, "When you were fleeing… and the Messenger was calling you from behind" (3:152-153), teaching the believers hard lessons about obedience and their own hearts.

The Jewish tribe of Banū al-Naḍīr, bound by treaty to the Muslims, plotted to assassinate the Prophet ﷺ by dropping a boulder on him. Warned by revelation, he ordered them to leave Madinah for their treachery. They fortified themselves; after a short siege they surrendered and were allowed to depart with what their camels could carry. The whole affair is recounted in Sūrat al-Ḥashr: "It is He who expelled those who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture from their homes" (59:2).

The Prophet ﷺ marched against clans of Ghaṭafān who were preparing to raid Madinah. The name "Dhāt al-Riqāʿ" ("the one of patches") is explained by the Companions binding rags around their bleeding feet, or by a patched banner, or a nearby mountain. The enemy withdrew and there was no full engagement, but the danger was near enough that the Prophet ﷺ instituted the Prayer of Fear (ṣalāt al-khawf), teaching how the congregation prays in shifts while facing a threat.

At the close of Uḥud, Abū Sufyān had challenged the Muslims to meet again at Badr the following year. True to the appointment, the Prophet ﷺ came out with about 1,500 Companions and camped at Badr during its annual fair. Abū Sufyān set out but, losing his nerve, turned his army back on the pretext of a barren year. The Muslims waited, traded profitably at the fair, and returned safely — a moral and psychological victory that restored their standing after Uḥud.

News came that tribes near Dūmat al-Jandal, on the route to Syria, were plundering travellers and reportedly planning to advance on Madinah. The Prophet ﷺ led about a thousand Companions on a bold march far to the north. The raiders scattered before his arrival; the expedition secured the trade route and impressed Arab and Byzantine powers alike with the reach of the Madinan state, then returned without fighting.

The confederates (al-aḥzāb) — Quraysh, Ghaṭafān and allied tribes, some 10,000 men — marched to annihilate Madinah. On the advice of Salmān al-Fārisī رضي الله عنه, the Muslims dug a trench across the exposed northern approach, a tactic that stunned the Arabs. For weeks the city was besieged in cold and fear, and Banū Qurayẓa broke their pact from within. Then Allah sent a bitter wind and unseen soldiers that scattered the confederates without a pitched battle: "O you who have believed, remember the favour of Allah upon you when armies came to you and We sent upon them a wind and armies you did not see" (33:9-25).

Immediately after the confederates withdrew, the Prophet ﷺ moved against Banū Qurayẓa, who had betrayed the covenant at the most dangerous hour of the siege. They were besieged until they surrendered and agreed to be judged by Saʿd ibn Muʿādh رضي الله عنه, whom they themselves had chosen. He ruled according to their own scripture's law of treason. This came at Allah's command after the trial of al-Aḥzāb: "And He brought down those who supported them among the People of the Scripture from their fortresses" (33:26).

Learning that al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Ḍirār was rallying the Banū al-Muṣṭaliq to attack Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ struck first at their watering-place of al-Muraysīʿ. The tribe was defeated with little bloodshed. On the return, two grave trials arose: the hypocrite ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy sowed discord and uttered the words condemned in "They say: if we return to Madinah, the mighty will expel the weak" (63:8); and the slander (ifk) against ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها, which Allah refuted from above the seven heavens (24:11-20). Juwayriyah رضي الله عنها, daughter of the tribe's chief, became a Mother of the Believers, and her marriage led many captives to be freed.

The Prophet ﷺ set out with some 1,400 Companions to perform ʿUmrah, not to fight. Quraysh barred them at al-Ḥudaybiyyah. There the Companions gave the Pledge of Riḍwān under a tree, swearing not to flee. A treaty was signed whose terms seemed heavily against the Muslims — including turning back that year. Yet Allah called it a manifest victory: "Indeed, We have granted you a clear conquest" (48:1). The truce opened the way for daʿwah, and within two years the Muslims returned in overwhelming strength.

Khaybar was a wealthy Jewish stronghold that had become a centre of hostility against Madinah, hosting the Banū al-Naḍīr who had incited the confederates. The Prophet ﷺ besieged its fortresses one by one. The banner was given to ʿAlī رضي الله عنه, of whom the Prophet ﷺ said he would give it "to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger and whom Allah and His Messenger love," and by his hand the great fortress fell. Khaybar's conquest secured Madinah's northern flank; its lands were left with the inhabitants to farm for a share of the produce.

A force of about 3,000 Muslims met a vastly larger Byzantine and Arab-Christian army after the murder of the Prophet's envoy. The Prophet ﷺ had appointed three commanders in succession: Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, then Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, then ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah رضي الله عنهم — each fell as a martyr. Khālid ibn al-Walīd رضي الله عنه then took the banner and, with brilliant manoeuvres, withdrew the army intact against overwhelming odds; the Prophet ﷺ named him "the Sword of Allah" (Sayf Allāh). It was the first clash with the Roman power and prepared the way for Tabūk.

When Quraysh violated the treaty of al-Ḥudaybiyyah, the Prophet ﷺ advanced on Makkah with about 10,000 Companions. The city surrendered with almost no bloodshed. Entering as a conqueror yet bowed in humility on his mount, he cleared the Kaʿbah of its 360 idols reciting, "Truth has come and falsehood has departed" (17:81). Then, to the people who had tortured and driven him out, he declared a general amnesty: "Go, for you are free." It was the crowning mercy of the sīrah and the day Makkah became a city of Islam.

Soon after the conquest, the tribes of Hawāzin and Thaqīf gathered to fight the Muslims, who now numbered about 12,000 — the largest army yet. Some were pleased by their own numbers. In the narrow valley the enemy archers ambushed them and the ranks broke in the first moments. The Prophet ﷺ stood firm, calling the Companions back, and Allah restored the victory. He revealed, "And on the day of Ḥunayn, when your great number pleased you but it availed you nothing… then Allah sent down His tranquillity" (9:25-26).

After Ḥunayn the remnants of Thaqīf shut themselves inside the fortified city of Ṭāʾif. The Muslims besieged it and, for the first time, used a manjanīq (catapult), but the walls held. Rather than press a costly assault, the Prophet ﷺ lifted the siege, and when asked to curse Thaqīf he instead prayed, "O Allah, guide Thaqīf and bring them." His prayer was answered: the following year Thaqīf came to Madinah and embraced Islam of their own accord.

In fierce summer heat, drought and scarcity, the Prophet ﷺ called the believers to march far north to meet a rumoured Byzantine mobilisation. This "army of hardship" (jaysh al-ʿusrah) tested the community's sincerity: many gave generously, while the hypocrites made excuses to stay behind and were exposed. Allah rebuked those who lagged: "O you who have believed, what is the matter with you that, when you are told to go forth in the cause of Allah, you cling heavily to the earth?" (9:38-40). No battle occurred; the show of strength secured the north, and the true and the false were sifted apart.