It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that when we migrated to Madinah Munawwarah, the climate there did not suit us and we were struck by severe fever. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to inquire about the circumstances and events related to Badr. When we received the news that the polytheists had set out to confront the Muslims, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) set out towards Badr. Badr is the name of a well. The polytheists reached there before us. There we found two polytheists; one was a Quraishi and the other was the slave of Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait. The Quraishi escaped from there, but we captured Uqbah’s slave. We began to ask him,“How many are the Quraish?”He replied,“By Allah, they are very many in number and are well-equipped.”When he said this, the Muslims began to beat him. Eventually, they brought him to the service of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He also asked him,“How many are they?”He again replied,“By Allah, they are very many and have plenty of equipment.”The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) tried his best to make him tell their exact number, but he did not say anything. Afterwards, the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him,“How many camels do they slaughter daily?”He replied,“Ten camels daily.”The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Their number is one thousand; there is one camel for about every hundred men.”

Later that night, there was a drizzle. We took shelter under trees and shields to protect ourselves from the rain. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spent the whole night praying to Allah. He was saying,“O Allah! If You destroy this small group, then there will be none left on earth to worship You.”When dawn broke, he called out,“O people! The time for prayer has come.”The people came out from under the trees and shields. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged us to fight against the enemy. Then he said,“The group of Quraish will be under that crooked red hill.”When the enemy approached us and we also lined up in front of them, one man among them, mounted on a red camel, was circling the enemy army. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and said,“Call Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him) to me; he is the closest relative among the polytheists.”He asked,“Who is this man on the red camel and what is he saying to them?”Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“If there is any good man among them who will say a good word to them, it will be this man on the red camel.”Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him) came and informed that this was Utbah bin Rabi’ah, who was forbidding them from fighting and saying to them,“O people! I see a group who are determined to die, and you will not be able to reach them. It is better for you. O people! Put the blame for retreating from the fight on me, and say that Utbah bin Rabi’ah showed cowardice. You know that I am not more cowardly than you.”Abu Jahl heard his words and said,“Are you saying such things? If someone else had said this, I would have told him to go and bite his father’s private parts. Fear has filled your heart.”Utbah replied,“O you who dye your backside with saffron, do you taunt me? Today you will know who among us is the coward.”

Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) says that Utbah, his brother Shaybah, and his son Walid came out to the field out of national pride and zeal. Utbah called out,“Who will come out to face us?”Six Ansar came forward in response. Utbah said,“We do not wish to fight them; we invite our cousins, the Banu Abd al-Muttalib, to face us.”The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), you stand up; Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him), you stand up; and Ubaydah bin Harith bin Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him), you stand up.”Allah Almighty killed both sons of Rabi’ah, Utbah and Shaybah, and Walid bin Utbah, and among the Muslims, Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) was wounded. The Muslims captured seventy disbelievers and killed seventy. A short-statured Ansari companion (may Allah be pleased with him) brought Abbas bin Abd al-Muttalib as a captive. Abbas said,“O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), by Allah, it was not he who captured me, but a man who had no hair on either side of his head, who was extremely handsome, and whose horse’s legs were white up to the thighs. I do not see that man among you.”The Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) said,“O Messenger of Allah! I captured him.”The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Be quiet; in this matter, Allah helped you through one of His noble angels.”Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said,“We captured many disbelievers, and among the Banu Abd al-Muttalib, we captured Abbas, Aqil, and Nawfal bin Harith.”