The lesson to be drawn from this momentous episode is that Allah—glorified and exalted is He—sent Muhammad with guidance and the religion of truth so that He might make it prevail over every other faith. He then prescribed jihad for him, first as a permission (1) and later as an obligation, once he had emigrated to Medina and found there supporters who would aid Allah and His Messenger. During his residence in the Abode of Emigration—about ten years—the Prophet ﷺ personally led some twenty-odd campaigns, the first of which was Badr and the last the expedition (2) of Tabuk.

Allah revealed Surah al-Anfal at the start of those campaigns and Surah Bara’ah at their conclusion, placing them side by side in the muṣḥaf so that the beginning of the affair would mirror its end (3), as the Commander of the Believers ʿUthmān explained when asked why the two sūrahs were joined without a basmalah in between (4).

Actual fighting occurred in nine of those expeditions. The first combat engagement was Badr, and the last were Ḥunayn and al-Ṭāʾif. In both of them (5) Allah sent down His angels, as the Qur’an reports, and for that reason (6) people often speak of the two together, even though the battles are separated by considerable distance and time. Badr took place in Ramadan of the second year after the Hijrah, between Medina and Mecca on the Syrian side of Mecca, whereas the Battle of Ḥunayn occurred at the end of Shawwāl in the eighth year. Ḥunayn is a valley near al-Ṭāʾif to the east of Mecca.