for their truthfulness and punish the hypocrites if He wills, or turn to them in mercy. Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

The lesson to be drawn from this momentous event is this:

Allah Most High sent Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion. He prescribed jihad for him, first permitting it and then making it obligatory after he emigrated to Medina and gained supporters there who aided Allah and His Messenger. During his residence in the city of emigration—a period of about ten years—he personally led twenty-some expeditions, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

The first was the expedition of Badr, and the last was the expedition of Tabūk. Allah revealed Surah al-Anfāl concerning his first expedition and Surah Barā’ah concerning his last. He placed the two together in the written Quran because of the similarity between the beginning and the end of the matter, as the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Uthmān, explained when asked why the two surahs were placed together without the basmalah—the opening invocation—separating them. Fighting took place in nine of these expeditions.

The first expedition involving combat was Badr, and the last were Hunayn and al-Tā’if. Allah sent down His angels during them, as the Quran relates. For this reason, people came to mention the two together, despite the great distance in time and place between the two battles. Badr took place in Ramadan in the second year after the Hijrah, between Medina and Mecca, to the north of Mecca. The battle of Hunayn took place in late Shawwāl of the eighth year. Hunayn is a valley near al-Tā’if, east of Mecca. Then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, distributed