And God ordained this only as a glad tiding, and that your hearts should thereby be set at rest - since no succour can come from any save God: verily, God is almighty, wise!
10
Asad Translation Note Number :
"On the day of the battle of Badr, the Prophet looked at
his followers, who were three hundred-odd men, and he
looked at those who were ascribing divinity to beings
other than God: and lo, they were more than one thousand.
Thereupon God's Prophet turned towards the qiblah, raised
his hands and thus implored his Sustainer: 'O God! Fulfil
what Thou hast promised me! O God! If this little band of
those who have surrendered themselves unto Thee is
destroyed, Thou wilt not be worshipped on earth...'."
This authentic Tradition, quoted by Muslim, Abu Da'ud,
Tirmidhi, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, etc., appears also in a very
similar version in Bukhari's Sahih. It is said that the
above Our'an-verse was revealed in response to the
Prophet's prayer - whereupon he recited another, much
earlier verse ( 54:45 ): "The hosts shall be routed, and
shall turn their backs [in flight]" (Bukhari). - As
regards the promise of aid through thousands of angels,
see {3:124-125}, where a similar promise - made on the
occasion of the battle of Uhud - is said to have been
uttered by the Prophet and thus, by implication,
confirmed by God. The spiritual nature of this angelic
aid is clearly expressed by the words, "and God ordained
this only as a glad tiding...", etc. (See also surah {3},
notes [93] and [94].)
