two maidservants from the settlement, and one was saying to the other, “The caravan will arrive tomorrow or the day after; grind for them now and I will repay you later.” Mujdī sent the two girls away, for he was acting as Abū Sufyān’s lookout. The two spies then returned to the Prophet ﷺ and informed him of what they had heard.
When Abū Sufyān drew near Badr he rode on ahead alone until he reached its well. He asked Mujdī, “Have you noticed anyone?” Mujdī told him about the two riders. Abū Sufyān went to the place where their camels had knelt, took some of the droppings, crumbled them, and found date-stones inside. “By Allah,” he said, “this is the fodder of Yathrib!” He hurried back, diverted the caravan from its usual route, took the coastal road, and escaped. He then sent word to Quraysh: “The caravan is safe; turn back.”
Abū Jahl refused and declared, “By Allah, we shall not turn back until we reach the water of Badr, stay there for three days, slaughter camels, feast, and let the Arabs hear of us so that they will fear us forever.”
At that point al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq al-Thaqafī—an ally of Banū Zuhrah—withdrew with all the men of Banū Zuhrah, for he was heeded among them.
Quraysh then camped on the far side of the valley, while the Prophet ﷺ reached the water of Badr first. That night a heavy rain fell; it firmed the ground for the Muslims but hindered Quraysh from gaining the water.
The Prophet ﷺ encamped at the nearest well to Medina. Al-Ḥubbāb ibn al-Mundhir ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Jamūḥ asked, “Messenger of Allah, is this position one that Allah has ordered you to occupy, so that we may neither advance nor fall back, or is it merely opinion, war, and stratagem?” He ﷺ replied, “It is opinion, war, and stratagem.”
Al-Ḥubbāb said, “Messenger of Allah, this is not the right place for you. Let us move to the nearest well to the enemy, camp there, block up the wells behind it, then build a cistern over our well and fill it with water. We will drink while they cannot.”
The Prophet ﷺ approved his suggestion, carried it out, ordered the other wells to be stopped up, and had a cistern built and filled. A shelter was also erected for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
He then walked over the ground where the battle would be fought and pointed out to his Companions the future places where Quraysh’s leaders would fall, saying, “This is where so-and-so will fall, and this is where so-and-so will fall.” Not one of them died except exactly where the Prophet ﷺ had indicated.