When the call to mobilize was made, al-Ṣiddīq spoke well, as did the other Emigrants. Yet the Prophet kept repeating, “Give me your counsel.” At last Saʿd ibn Muʿādh said, “It is as though you are addressing us, Messenger of Allah. By Him who sent you with the truth, were you to lead us to this sea and plunge into it, we would plunge in with you; not a single man among us would lag behind. We do not flinch from meeting our enemy tomorrow. We are steadfast in battle, true when we face the foe. Perhaps Allah will show you from us what will delight your eyes. So march on with us, under Allah’s blessing.” The Messenger of Allah was gladdened by Saʿd’s words and felt reassured.

Imam Aḥmad related—through Wakīʿ, from Sufyān, from Mukhāriq ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ahmasī, from Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb—that al-Miqdād said to the Messenger of Allah on the Day of Badr, “Messenger of Allah, we shall not say to you what the Children of Israel said to Moses: ‘Go, you and your Lord, and fight; we will stay here’ (al-Māʾidah 5:24). Rather we say: Go, you and your Lord, and fight; we are with you, fighting.” This chain is sound from this route, and it has another path: Aḥmad also said—Aswad ibn ʿĀmir told us; Isrāʾīl told us; from Mukhāriq, from Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb—who said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said, “I witnessed from al-Miqdād a scene I would rather have been the one to perform than possess anything comparable. He came to the Messenger of Allah while the Prophet was invoking against the polytheists and declared, ‘By Allah, Messenger of Allah, we will not say to you as the Children of Israel said to Moses: “Go, you and your Lord, and fight; we will stay here.” Instead we shall fight on your right and on your left, in front of you and behind you.’ I saw the face of the Messenger of Allah shine with joy at these words, and he was pleased.” Al-Bukhārī recorded it in both the Tafsīr and the Maghāzī sections through several chains from Mukhāriq.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr ibn Mardawayh said: ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī narrated to us; Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī narrated to us; Ḥumayd narrated to us, from Anas: When the Messenger of Allah set out for Badr he consulted the Muslims; ʿUmar gave his opinion, then he consulted them again and ʿUmar gave his opinion, then he consulted them a third time. The Anṣār said, “Assembly of Anṣār, the Messenger of Allah is referring to you.” They declared, “Then we will not say to him what the Children of Israel said to Moses: ‘Go, you and your Lord, and fight; we will stay here.’ By Him who sent you with the truth, even if you were to spur the camels all the way to Bark al-Ghimād, we would follow you.”