(5–8) “Just as your Lord brought you forth from your home in truth, though a group of the believers were averse to it. They disputed with you concerning the truth after it had become clear, as though they were being driven toward death while looking on. And when Allah promised you that one of the two groups would be yours, you wished that the unarmed one would fall to you. But Allah intended to establish the truth by His words and cut off the disbelievers to the last, so that He might establish the truth and nullify falsehood, even though the evildoers hated it.”

Before recounting this great and blessed battle, Allah Most High presented the qualities that believers must uphold, because whoever upholds ⦗316⦘ them will have his affairs set aright and his deeds made righteous—foremost among them being jihad in His cause. Just as their faith is true faith and their reward is the true reward Allah promised them, so too Allah brought His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, forth from his home to confront the polytheists at “Badr” in accordance with the truth that Allah Most High loves and had destined and decreed.

When the believers set out, it had never occurred to them that a battle would take place between them and their enemy. When it became clear to them that this would indeed happen, a group of the believers began disputing with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, about it and were averse to confronting their enemy, as though they were being driven toward death while looking on.

This was not becoming of them, especially after it had become clear that their departure was in accordance with the truth and was something Allah had commanded and approved. There was therefore no room for argument [under such circumstances] (1), for argument has its proper place and benefit when the truth is unclear and the matter confused. Once it has become clear and manifest, however, nothing remains but submission and compliance.

Moreover, many of the believers did not engage in any such dispute and were not averse to confronting their enemy. Even those whom Allah reproached submitted wholeheartedly to jihad. Allah made them steadfast and provided them with means by which their hearts were reassured, some of which will be mentioned shortly.

The original purpose of their departure was to intercept a large Qurayshite caravan that had set out for Syria with Abū Sufyān ibn Harb. When they heard that it was returning from Syria, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, called upon the people to go forth. Three hundred and ten-odd men set out with him, accompanied by seventy camels that they took turns riding and on which they carried their belongings. Quraysh heard of them and went out to protect their caravan with a large force and ample equipment—arms, horses, and men—numbering nearly one thousand.

Allah promised the believers one of the two groups: either they would capture the caravan or defeat the army. They preferred the caravan because the Muslims had limited means and because it was not a fighting force. But Allah Most High desired and willed for them something higher than what they desired.

He willed that they should defeat the army containing the leaders and chieftains of the polytheists. “But Allah intended to establish the truth by His words,” thereby granting victory to its adherents, “and cut off the disbelievers to the last”; that is, to eradicate the adherents of falsehood and show His servants such a manifestation of His support for the truth as they had never imagined.

“So that He might establish the truth” through the evidence and proofs He manifests of its soundness and veracity, “and nullify falsehood” through the evidence and proofs He establishes of its invalidity, “even though the evildoers hated it.” Allah pays no heed to them.