7 Preface وَإِذ يَعِدُكُمُ اللَّهُ إِحدَى الطّائِفَتَينِ أَنَّها لَكُم وَتَوَدّونَ أَنَّ غَيرَ ذاتِ الشَّوكَةِ تَكونُ لَكُم وَيُريدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُحِقَّ الحَقَّ بِكَلِماتِهِ وَيَقطَعَ دابِرَ الكافِرينَYusuf AliBehold! God promised you one of the two (enemy) parties,1 that it should be yours: Ye wished that the one unarmed should be yours, but God willed to justify the Truth according to His words and to cut off the roots of the Unbelievers;-Just before Badr there were two alternatives before the Muslims in Medīna, to save themselves from being overwhelmed by the Meccan Quraish with all their resources from the rich Syrian trade. One, which had least danger for the time being, and also promised much booty, was to fall upon the Quraish caravan returning from Syria to Mecca richly laden, and led by Abū Sufyan with only 40 men unarmed. From a wordly point of view this was the safest and most lucrative course. The other alternative, which was actually adopted on the recommendation of the Prophet by the guidance of God, was to leave the booty alone and march out boldly against the well-armed and well-equipped Quray sh anny of 1,000 men coming from Mecca. The Muslims had no more than 300 men, ill-armed, to oppose the force. But if they could defeat it, it would shake the selfish autocracy which was in possession of Mecca. By God’s help they won a splendid victory, and the standard of Truth was established, never to be lowered again.