The Mubarazah: The Pre-Battle Duels at Badr

Dr. Yasir Qadhi narrates the first casualties of Badr and the Mubārazah, the pre-battle duels that were the traditional Arabian opening to any major engagement.

❧What is the Mubārazah?

Before two armies engaged in full battle, the traditional Arabian custom was for individual champions from each side to step forward and fight one-on-one in the middle of the field, a public duel to the death. The purposes: to grant a morale boost to one side before the main engagement; to draw blood and fire up the fighters; to test the quality of the opposing champions. The fighters chosen were always from the senior second-tier, not the supreme leader (too demoralizing to risk), but the most respected fighters below him.

❧Al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd al-Asad: The First Death at Badr

The first death of the battle occurred separately, possibly on the evening of the 16th or early morning of the 17th, the exact timing is unclear in the sources. When the Quraysh army arrived at the plain and found that the Muslim army had blocked all the wells, al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd al-Asad al-Makhzūmī, from Abū Jahl's own Banū Makhzūm clan, made a vow in front of the Qurashī camp: 'I will get to that water and drink from it, or I will die trying.'

He broke through the Muslim lines charging toward the well. Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib intercepted him, cut off his leg with one blow, and then killed him before he reached the water. Al-Aswad fulfilled his vow: he died trying. He became the first casualty of Badr.

❧The Mubārazah Begins and the Anṣār Are Rejected

ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, who had just been publicly shamed by Abū Jahl's accusation of cowardice, stepped forward in rage with his brother Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah and his son al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah. The three shouted: 'Who will come forth and battle us? Who will fight us?'

Immediately, three young Anṣār men jumped up:

- ʿAwf ibn ʿAfrāʾ (approximately 16–17 years old)

- Muʿawwidh ibn ʿAfrāʾ (his brother, similar age)

- ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah (Anṣārī poet-warrior)

ʿUtbah rejected them: 'We have no quarrel with you. We did not come to fight you. We do not even know you. We want our own blood, our own kinsmen. O Muḥammad, send us men worthy of us!' The Quraysh are so deeply Jāhilī that they cannot even see the point of fighting the Anṣār. Why would they kill strangers? Their fight is with their own family who went to the other side. They do not understand that the bonds of Islām, akhūwat al-Islām, are stronger than blood.

❧The Three Muslim Champions

The Prophet ﷺ himself assigned the Muslim champions:

'Stand up, O ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith. And you, O Ḥamzah. And you, O ʿAlī.'

When the three stood up, they identified themselves across the plain. ʿUtbah said: 'Noble adversaries, now let us fight.'

The pairings by age and seniority:

- ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith (eldest Muslim) vs. ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah (eldest Qurashī)

- Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (middle) vs. Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah (middle)

- ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (youngest, ~21) vs. al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah (youngest)

(A note on lineage: ʿUbaydah's grandfather is al-Muṭṭalib, the brother of Hāshim, the Prophet's great-grandfather. This makes ʿUbaydah from the Banū al-Muṭṭalib, not Banū Hāshim, though both are from ʿAbd Manāf.)

❧The Results of the Duels

- Ḥamzah vs. Shaybah: Ḥamzah killed Shaybah quickly and without injury to himself.

- ʿAlī vs. al-Walīd: ʿAlī killed al-Walīd quickly and without injury.

- ʿUbaydah vs. ʿUtbah: The oldest match was the most contested. ʿUtbah managed to slice off ʿUbaydah's leg. ʿUbaydah fell. ʿUtbah was about to finish him, when both Ḥamzah and ʿAlī, having already dispatched their opponents, rushed to ʿUbaydah's side and together killed ʿUtbah.

ʿUbaydah was carried off the field on the shoulders of ʿAlī and Ḥamzah. He died several days later from his wound, his entire leg had been severed. He died as a shahīd from the wounds of Badr, though not on the field itself.

ʿUtbah died, not because he had hated Islām most fanatically, but because a moment of blind rage over Abū Jahl's taunt overrode a lifetime of reluctant wisdom. He, his brother Shaybah, and his son al-Walīd: all three died together. The families of Makkah lost entire households in one morning.

❧Allāh References the Mubārazah

According to the majority of Tafsīr scholars, Sūrat al-Ḥajj (22:19) refers to this very scene:

> Hādhāni khaṣmāni-khtaṣamū fī rabbihim (هَٰذَانِ خَصْمَانِ اخْتَصَمُوا فِي رَبِّهِمْ)

'These are two adversaries who are disputing about their Lord.'

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه used to say: 'I will be the first of those who will ikhtaṣamū, who will argue, before their Lord on the Day of Judgment. For this āyah came down about me and my companions, and I was the first to kill on the day of Badr.'

Muʿawwidh ibn ʿAfrāʾ, who had stepped forward for the Mubārazah, would go on to mortally wound Abū Jahl during the main battle, alongside Muʿādh ibn ʿAmr al-Jumūḥ, another young Anṣārī. Muʿawwidh was martyred at Badr. His brother ʿAwf ibn ʿAfrāʾ also died as a shahīd in the same battle. Their mother ʿAfrāʾ lost both sons on the same morning. ʿAbdullāh ibn Rawāḥah survived and was martyred years later at Muʾtah.