The Battle of Badr was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's war against his Quraish opponents in Mecca. The battle has been passed down in Islamic history as a decisive victory ascribed to either divine intervention or the genius of Muhammad. Although it is one of the few battles mentioned by name in the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, virtually all contemporary knowledge of the battle at Badr comes from traditional Islamic accounts, both hadiths and biographies of Muhammad, written down decades after the battle. Prior to the battle, the Muslims and Meccans had fought several smaller skirmishes in late 623 and early 624, as the Muslim ghazawÄ?t plundering raids grew increasingly commonplace, but this was their first large-scale battle. Muhammad was leading a raiding party against a caravan when he was surprised by a much larger Quraishi army. Advancing to a strong defensive position, Muhammad's well-disciplined men managed to shatter the Meccan lines, killing several important leaders including Muhammad's chief opponent, Amr ibn HishÄ?m. For the early Muslims, the battle was extremely significant because it was the first sign that they might eventually overcome their enemies in Mecca, one of the richest and most powerful pagan cities in pre-Islamic Arabia.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Badr

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

161: Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus succeeded Antoninus Pius to become co-Emperors of the Roman Empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius)

1862: American Civil War: Union forces won the Battle of Pea Ridge and cemented their control in Missouri. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pea_Ridge)

1936: Germany re-occupied the demilitarized Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhineland)

1950: The Soviet Union issued a statement denying that German nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs had served as a Soviet spy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Fuchs)

1965: American Civil Rights Movement: Civil rights demonstrators marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama were brutally attacked by police on Bloody Sunday. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Burn all the statutes and their shelves: They stir us up against our kind; And worse, against ourselves. We have a passion - make a law, Too false to guide us or control! And for the law itself we fight In bitterness of soul. And, puzzled, blinded thus, we lose Distinctions that are plain and few: These find I graven on my heart: *That* tells me what to do. -- William_Wordsworth in Rob Roy's Grave" (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth)