The Companions of Badr Kitab At Tabaqat Al Kabir By Muhammad Ibn Sad, English Translation
This volume, which is Volume 3, deals with the Companions who were present at Badr and then with the twelve leaders (nugaba’) of the Ansar who were present at the First Pledge of ‘Aqaba.
In his book, Ibn Sa‘d cites his sources and mentions the differences found in the various sources in order to give us a comprehensive picture of what is related about the individuals mentioned. There is some disagreement in the sources about the names in the list of the men who were present at Badr. Reports from the Companions say that there were 310 men plus a few more — usually 313 and 314 are mentioned. Ibn Sa‘d lists all the possibilities mentioned in his sources and so he gives us a total of 325 possible participants. He mentions the disagreement in the sources under their entries.
The majority of participants on the Battle were from the Ansar. In the second Pledge of ‘Aqaba they had pledged to defend the Prophet #, but this stipulation applied to Madina, and this was the first time they had agreed to fight outside Madina. Therefore the Prophet # felt the need to consult them to see if they were willing to participate. When the Prophet 32 met with them before the battle to ascertain their view, Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh rose and stated: “We believe in you, we declare your truth and we bear witness that what you have brought is the truth. We have given our word to hear and obey. Go where you wish and we are with you. By Allah, if you were to order us to cross the sea and you plunged into it, we would plunge into it with you. Not a man would stay behind.”
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