Expeditions Between Badr and Uhud

The minor expeditions filling the year between Badr (2 AH) and Uhud (3 AH), as the Quraysh and neighbouring tribes probed the newly-victorious Muslims and the Syrian trade route stayed choked. Three stand out.

Qarqarat al-Kudr

Only seven days after Badr, tribes of Banu Salim and Ghatafan mustered ~200 to raid Madinah in revenge for the disrupted trade. The Prophet ﷺ marched out; the pagans fled, abandoning tents and livestock — so much that each Muslim took two camels. An Abyssinian slave, Yasar, was captured, converted, was freed, and stayed on as the Prophet’s ﷺ servant. Here the Prophet ﷺ said (Bukhari): “I have been aided by awe cast into my enemies a month’s distance away.”

Sariyya of Sawiq

Abu Sufyan, having vowed not to wash until he avenged Badr, gathered ~150–200 men. The Banu Nadir (a Jewish tribe) sheltered and supplied them — a grave breach of the Constitution. Abu Sufyan burned a Madinan date-garden and killed two Ansaris, then fled when the Muslims came, dumping bags of sawiq (dried barley-porridge) to lighten his camels — hence the name. He had done just enough to “wash.”

Sariyya of Qarada — “Badr Part II”

With the direct road to Syria blocked, Safwan ibn Umayya led the Quraysh caravan by a risky Iraq route. A secret Muslim in Makkah, Salit ibn al-Nu’man, overheard the plan; the Prophet ﷺ sent Zayd ibn Harithah to intercept. The whole caravan — 100+ camels and 50,000+ dirhams of silver and goods — fell to the Muslims without a casualty. Yasir Qadhi notes Allah’s Badr promise (“one of the two,” Q 8:7) was in the end fulfilled both ways: the army at Badr, and now the caravan. This loss pushed the Quraysh toward Uhud.

Significance

These raids show the Madinan phase was not only battles — Islam was spreading down the coast (per Safwan’s own words) — while the Quraysh grew economically desperate and the Jewish tribes began openly aiding the enemy, foreshadowing the Qaynuqa expulsion and the killing of Ka’b.

Cross-references

The Battle of Badr · The Battle of Uhud · Muhammad ﷺ · Abu Sufyan ibn Harb (ra) · Safwan ibn Umayya · Zayd ibn Harithah (ra) · The Constitution of Madinah · The Assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf · The Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa · Quraysh · Madinah (Yathrib) · Seerah Timeline

Sources

• S007 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 043–044. Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham, al-Waqidi, Sahih Bukhari. (Note: sariyya = an expedition the Prophet ﷺ commanded but did not join.)