commanding them, “Drive them back with arrows.” He ﷺ was in the makeshift shelter with Abu Bakr, and it was Friday morning, the seventeenth of Ramadan.

Sufyān, reporting from Qatādah, said that the Battle of Badr took place on Friday morning, the seventeenth of Ramadan. Qurrah ibn Khālid related: “I asked ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim about Laylat al-Qadr, and he answered, ‘Zayd ibn Thābit used to venerate the seventeenth and say, ‘It is the night of Badr.’’’ The same date was affirmed by Ismāʿīl al-Suddi and others who wrote on the history of Badr, and it was likewise the view of ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr. Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Wāsiṭī transmitted from ʿAmr ibn Yaḥyā, from ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, from his father, from ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah, who said: “The morning of Badr was the seventeenth of Ramadan.”

Qutaybah, however, narrated from Jarīr, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, from al-Aswad, from Ibn Masʿūd regarding Laylat al-Qadr: “Seek it when eleven nights remain; its morning is the day of Badr.” Such was Ibn Masʿūd’s opinion, yet the more widespread view is the one cited first.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then straightened the ranks himself, returned to the shelter with only Abu Bakr, and began imploring his Lord: “O Lord, if this small band is destroyed today, You will no longer be worshipped on earth.” Abu Bakr kept saying, “O Prophet of Allah, restrain some of your entreaty; Allah will surely fulfil what He has promised you.”

The Prophet ﷺ then drifted into a light sleep, awoke, and said, “Rejoice, Abu Bakr! Victory has come. Here is Gabriel holding the reins of his horse, leading it through clouds of dust.”

Muhajjiʿ, the freedman of ʿUmar, was struck by an arrow and became the first to be killed in Allah’s cause. Shortly after, Ḥārithah ibn Suraqah al-Najjārī was shot with an arrow while drinking at the cistern and was likewise killed.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then went out to the people, urging them to fight, and the battle was joined.