was in your hearts of love for Allah.”

“And when He showed them to you, when you met, as few in your eyes...”

Muqatil said: This was because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw in a dream before meeting the enemy that they were few, and he informed his Companions of what he had seen. Then, when they met at Badr, Allah made the polytheists appear few in the eyes of the believers.

Ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “They appeared so few in our eyes that I said to a man beside me, ‘Do you think they are seventy?’ He said, ‘I think they are a hundred.’ Then we captured a man and asked him, ‘How many were you?’ He replied, ‘A thousand.’”

“And He made you, O company of believers, appear few in their eyes.” Al-Suddi said: Some of the polytheists said, “The caravan has gone on its way, so return.” But Abu Jahl said, “Now that Muhammad and his companions have come out against you? Do not return until you have wiped them out. Muhammad and his companions are no more than enough men to eat a single camel. Do not kill them; tie them up with ropes”—he said this out of the confidence he felt within himself.

Al-Kalbi said: Each side regarded the other as few, so that they would dare to fight. Thus, Allah made the polytheists appear few in the eyes of the believers so that they would not lose courage, and He made the believers appear few in the eyes of the polytheists so that they would not flee, “so that Allah might accomplish a matter”: namely, the raising of Islam, the strengthening of its people, and the humiliation of polytheism and its people. “That was bound to be fulfilled,” that is, destined to occur. “And to Allah all matters are returned.”

“O you who believe, when you meet a force, stand firm and remember Allah often, so that you may prosper.” (45)