Allah granted His Prophet the victory, and He Himself named that day “the Day of Discernment, the day the two hosts met” (al-Anfāl 8:41).

On that day Allah distinguished truth from falsehood in the most decisive way. Consider His power: three hundred and a handful more—barely three-hundred-and-thirteen men—defeated roughly one thousand opponents who were better equipped and physically stronger. The Muslims possessed only a few camels and horses, yet once Allah’s aid descends upon a people no one can stand before them. To this Allah alluded when He said, “Indeed, Allah gave you victory at Badr while you were few and weak” (Āl ʿImrān 3:123).

Later, when the Muslims set out after the Conquest of Mecca with twelve thousand men against Hawāzin and Thaqīf, they took pride in their numbers, saying, “Today we shall not be beaten for being few.” Consequently, three thousand five hundred warriors routed them. Those three-and-a-half thousand overcame twelve thousand fighters even though the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was their commander, for the Muslims had been impressed by their own multitude. Allah thus showed them that sheer numbers would not benefit them.

Allah the Exalted says: “And [remember] the Day of Ḥunayn, when your great numbers pleased you but they did not benefit you at all; the earth, vast as it is, seemed to close in upon you, and then you turned your backs in retreat” (al-Tawbah 9:25).

Do you see what became of the people of Badr? Allah gazed upon them and said, “Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you.”

Any sin they might commit was already pardoned, for the price had been paid in advance. That expedition, therefore, became the source of every good—even Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿa