toward the watering-places that lie close to the sea, where they halted and remained for a full day. At that stop Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah slaughtered nine camels for them. The next morning they were at al-Juhfah, and that day ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah slaughtered ten. The following morning they reached al-Abwāʾ, where Nabīh and Munabbih, the two sons of al-Ḥajjāj, slaughtered ten, and al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib slaughtered ten as well. When they arrived at the water of Badr, Abū al-Bukhturī slaughtered another ten, after which they ate from their own provisions.

Al-Umawī said:

[My father narrated to us:] Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī related: “The polytheists had sixty horses and six hundred coats of mail, whereas the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had two horses and sixty coats of mail.”

Such, then, was the condition of that group during their mobilization from Mecca and their march to Badr. As for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Ibn Isḥāq (1) reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out with his Companions after several nights of the month of Ramadan had passed. He appointed Ibn Umm Maktūm to lead the people in prayer, sent Abū Lubābah back from al-Rawḥāʾ and placed him in charge of Madinah, and entrusted the banner to Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr—the banner was white. Preceding the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were two black flags: one, called al-ʿUqāb (“the Eagle”), borne by ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and the other borne by one of the Anṣār.

Ibn Hishām (2) states that the Anṣār’s flag was with Saʿd ibn Muʿādh.

Al-Umawī adds that two horses were with them, both under the charge of al-Ḥabbāb ibn al-Mundhir.

Ibn Isḥāq (3) further relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed Qays ibn Abī Ṣaʿṣaʿah, of the Banū Māzin ibn al-Najjār, in command of the rear-guard.

Al-Umawī (4) also says that they had two horses: one was ridden by Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr and the other by al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām—at times by Saʿd ibn Khaythamah, and at other times by al-Miqdād ibn al-Aswad.

Imām Aḥmad (5) transmits—through the chain of Abū Isḥāq, from Ḥārithah ibn Muḍarrib—that ʿAlī said: “On the Day of Badr there was no horseman among us except al-Miqdād.”

Al-Bayhaqī (6) likewise relates—by way of Ibn Wahb, from Abū Ṣakhr, from Abū Muʿāwiyah al-Bajalī (7), from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās—that ʿAlī told him: “We had only two horses with us: one belonging to al-Zubayr and the other to al-Miqdād ibn al-Aswad”—referring to the Day of Badr.