Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 53number of followers. Nobody at the time knew whetherthis party of Muslims would have to confront thecaravan which was coming from Syria or the armywhich was coming from Mecca. The party numberedabout three hundred. A commercial caravan in thosedays did not consist only of camels loaded withmerchandise. It also included armed men who guardedthe caravan and escorted it through its journey. Sincetension had arisen between Meccans and the Muslims ofMedina, the Meccan chiefs had begun to take specialcare about arming the escort. History records the fact oftwo other caravans which passed by this route a shortwhile before. In one of these, two hundred armed menwere provided as guard and escort, and in the otherthree hundred. It is wrong to suggest, as Christianwriters do, that the Prophet sa took three hundredfollowers and set out to attack an undefendedcommercial caravan. The suggestion is mischievous andunfounded. The caravan which was now coming fromSyria was a large one and, considering its size and thearmed escort provided for other caravans, it seemsreasonable to think that about four to five hundredarmed guards must have been provided to serve as itsescort. To say that the Muslim party of three hundredpoorly-armed men were led by the Prophet sa to attacksuch a well-armed caravan in the hope of looting it isunjust in the extreme. Only rank prejudice anddetermined ill-will against Islam can prompt such athought. If the Muslim party was out to confront onlythis caravan, their adventure could have been describedas an adventure of war, although war in self-defence, forthe Muslim party from Medina was small and ill-armedand the Meccan caravan was large and well-armed, andfor a long time they had been carrying on a campaign ofhostility against the Muslims of Medina.In point of fact the conditions under which this smallparty of Muslims set out of Medina were far more grave.As we have said, they did not know whether it was thecaravan from Syria or the army from Mecca which they