What if the Muslims lost the Battle of Badr?

For the first 13 years of Islam, despite intense persecution, the Muslims did not fight Quraysh. Once in Medina, Muhammad gave the Muslims permission to respond militarily. In the two years after the emigration, the encounters between the two groups were small skirmishes and raids. In 624 CE, this changed.

That year, Mohammad received information that Quraysh had a large caravan returning from Syria to Mecca. The Muslims planned to raid the caravan in retaliation for Quraysh’s taking the property that Muslims could not take with them to Medina. Mohammad did not intend to go to battle. Abu Sufyan, one of the Meccan leaders who was with the caravan, received word of the plan for the raid and called on the Meccans to send troops to protect the caravan.

Before Mohammad decided to fight the Meccans, he consulted his followers who were made of up Muslims who emigrated from Mecca (called muhajirun) and Muslims from Medina (called ansar). He waited for the support of the Muslims from Medina because the Constitution of Medina that they signed on to did not include fighting outside of Medina. Once he received their support, Muhammad decided to engage in battle.

Numerically, the Quraysh had the advantage. They fielded an army three times larger than that of the Muslims (The Quraysh had 950 infantry and cavalry which consisted of 100 horses and 170 camels whereas the Muslims had 313 infantry and cavalry which consisted of 2 horses and 70 camels)

The Muslims won the battle thanks to Mohammad's aptitude for strategy. Advancing to a strong defensive position, Muhammad's well-disciplined force broke the Meccan lines, killing several important Quraishi leaders including the Muslims' chief antagonist Abu Jahl.

Behind the lines before the battle, the Quraysh were not of the same mind. The Quraysh reached Juhfah, just south of Badr. At this point, a power struggle broke out in the Meccan army. Abu Jahl wanted to continue, but several of the clans present, including Banu Zuhrah and Banu Adi, promptly went home. Armstrong suggests they may have been concerned about the power that Abu Jahl would gain from crushing the Muslims. The Banu Hashim tribe wanted to leave, but was threatened by Abu Jahl to stay.

Despite these losses, Jahl was determined to win at Badr before returning to Mecca, boasting "We will not go back until we have been to Badr."

What if the Banu Zuhrah and Banu Adi tribes, along with the others, did not leave, thereby strengthening the Quraysh army, or alternatively, what if the ansar stayed at Medina, weakening the Islamic army, both PODs causing the Muslims to lose to the Quraysh?
 
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trajen777

Banned
A major set back for the Muslims if not the death of the religion. Much of the early sucess was from the sucess of each battle, against large odds. So a loss especially a major one would have extinguished this aura.
 
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