On the day of the confrontation at Badr, says the report, when the armed force of one thousand men of Makkah entered into the valley from behind the cliff, it did not hide its contempt for Muslims being low in numbers and weak in combat fitness. And on top of it, it came waxing proud over its numbers and strength, betraying great arrogance. At that time, the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him raised his hands of prayer saying: Ya Allah! Here come Your beliers, the Quraysh of Makkah, all proud and arrogant. The promise of victory You have made to me, let that promise be fulfilled soon.' (Ruh al-Bayan) Thereupon, angel Jibra'il came and said: 'You take a handful of dust and throw it towards the army of the enemy.' He did what he was asked to do. And according to a report of Ibn Abi Hatim based on a narration of Ibn Zayd, the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him picked up a handful of dust and pebbles thrice; the first he threw towards the right of the army, the second towards the left, and the third towards the centre. The outcome was that these one to three handfuls of dust and pebbles were Divinely spread out miraculously all over them, so much so that not one man from the force was left without having received part of this dust and these pebbles over his eyes and face. Naturally, this caused a rampage in the army. Muslims pursued them. The angels were with them, fighting and killing. (Mazhari, Ruh)
Finally, some fighting men from the opposing side were killed, some were taken prisoners, the rest ran away and the battle was won by the Muslims.
This great victory was achieved by Muslims in the background which was initially full of dismay and hopelessness. So, when they returned from the battlefield, they started talking about it. The Companions got busy relating their deeds on the battlefield. Revealed thereupon was this verse: (So, you did not kill them, but Allah killed them - 17) through which they were instructed not to wax proud over their effort and deed, for that which happened there was not simply the outcome of their personal effort and deed. In fact, it was purely and simply the fruit of the help and support given by Allah Ta'ala - and the enemies killed at their hands were not really killed by them, rather, they were killed by Allah Ta'ala.
Similarly, addressing the Holy Prophet Sallallahu 'Alayhi Wasallam: Peace be upon him, it was said: (And you did not throw when you threw, but Allah did throw). It means that the specific outcome of the act of throwing, whereby it would reach the eyes of every fighting man in the enemy force and frighten them all, was not the direct effect of 'his' throwing. It was, in fact, the perfect power of Allah Ta'ala which generated the format of this situation.
Certainly valuable for Muslims - more valuable than their victory in Jihad - was this instruction which disengaged their minds from means and tied it up with the master-provider of all means, and through it, saved them from falling into the trap of pride and arrogance which generally intoxicates victorious nations.
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