116 THE MADINA PERIOD

Some of the Muhajirun, who had lost old Meccan relatives and friends in the conflict, saw that their kinsmen among the captives were sad. This feeling was strong amongst the women. Then this rebuke, came:—

O ye who believe, verily, in your wives and your children ye have an enemy;1 wherefore, beware of them. Sura At-Taghabun (lxiv) 14.

In the week following the battle of Badr, two of the most prominent offenders, Abu 'Afak and Ibn 'Auf were assassinated. Men then criticized in private, but that was very soon forbidden:—

Hast thou not marked those who have been forbidden secret talk, and return to what they have been forbidden, and talk privately with wickedness and hate and disobedience toward the Apostle. Sura Al-Mujadilah (lviii) 9.

The victory was gained by an inferior over a superior force, and the Quraish lost men who had been the Prophet's determined foes, and so the idea of divine interposition seemed quite a natural explanation
[Footnote continued from previous page]
'In the day of Badr they gave their sweet life and were separated from the gift of life and the pleasant taste of the world.'
'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says the expression, 'slain on God's path' means 'slain in the obedience of God, in the day of Badr'—فى طاعت الّه يوم بدر A Tradition recorded on the authority of Muslim states: 'That the souls of martyrs in the presence of God enter into the bodies of green birds which wander about in Paradise and roost near the lamps around the throne of God.' (Khalasatu't-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 96.) This is also recorded on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas in the Tarikhu'l-Waqidi, p. 242, with other Traditions concerning the blessed state of the martyr.
1 Baidawi explains this as beguiling them from their obedience to God and from the duties of religion. Some commentators say it refers to the migration from Mecca which was not popular with certain families among the converts.
EFFECT OF THE VICTORY OF BADR 117

It placed the Prophet in a position of security for the time, and enabled him, as we have seen, to carry out his policy, more fully developed after the battle of Badr, of entirely subduing the Jewish tribes for whose aid he had now no further need. The value of the spoils and of the ransoms of the prisoners proved most acceptable to the Muhajirun who thus became independent of the Ansar. Prisoners who were too poor to pay a ransom in money did it by giving writing lessons, an art now fully appreciated by Muhammad. [Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 282-3] The victory also made a great impression on the Bedouin tribes and caused them to become more inclined to come to terms with one who stood before them as a leader of a victorious military force. For the Prophet they cared little, but a successful warrior claimed their attention and respect. The claim to divine support when a victory was gained also increased the prestige and power of the Prophet; but it was a dangerous assertion to make, or policy to follow, for when defeat came, the conclusion naturally drawn was that God had forsaken him. This is what actually occurred later on.

About a year after the battle of Badr, the Quraish smarting under the defeat determined to make another great effort to overcome their opponents.. They collected a comparatively large army and in the spring of A.D. 625 drew near to Madina. The immediate reason for this was that Muhammad continued his plundering expeditions. The merchants of Mecca found that their trade was in great danger. The ordinary western route to Syria was unsafe and so they sent a rich caravan by the eastern one.