Short answer
No. For thirteen years in Mecca, he and his followers were persecuted, and he did not fight (Bukhari 3902). Fighting was first allowed only after they had been driven from their homes (22:39-40). That first permission was only against those who fight (2:190), and peace had to be accepted whenever the enemy offered it (8:61). In ten years at Medina he led nineteen campaigns, and there was a battle in eight of them (Muslim 1814). His great battles were against armies that came for him. At Badr, 319 men faced about a thousand (Muslim 1763). At Uhud and the Trench, the Quraysh marched on Medina. At Hudaybiyya he accepted a truce on hard terms rather than fight (Bukhari 2731). And he took Mecca with an amnesty (Muslim 1780b). A Muslim historian counted the dead on both sides in all his battles: 1,018. A warmonger looks for war. He accepted peace whenever it was offered.
Full explanation
Thirteen years without fighting
The Prophet (ﷺ) began to receive revelation at forty and stayed in Mecca thirteen years before he was ordered to migrate (Bukhari 3902). In those years the Quraysh persecuted his followers and boycotted his clan. Umayya ibn Khalaf laid Bilal on his back in the midday heat with a great rock on his chest. The Muslims did not fight back. In the end they left their homes and their property and went to Medina.
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) began to receive revelation at forty, stayed in Mecca thirteen years receiving it, was then ordered to migrate, lived ten years as an emigrant, and died at sixty-three.
Reports how the Quraysh persecuted the Prophet's (ﷺ) followers in Mecca, including how Umayya ibn Khalaf laid Bilal on his back in the midday heat with a great rock on his chest; and how the Quraysh wrote an agreement to boycott the clans of Hashim and al-Muttalib, which lasted two or three years.
The first permission to fight, and its limits
The Qur'an first gave permission to fight to those "against whom war is made", "because they are wronged": people "expelled from their homes in defiance of right" for saying "our Lord is Allah" (22:39-40). The limits came with it. Fight "those who fight you, but do not transgress limits" (2:190). "If the enemy incline towards peace, do thou (also) incline towards peace" (8:61). And an enemy who asks for asylum is to be given it, so that he may hear the word of Allah (﷾), and then escorted to safety (9:6).
“To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged;- and verily, Allah is most powerful for their aid;- (They are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right,- (for no cause) except that they say, "our Lord is Allah". Did not Allah check one set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is commemorated in abundant measure. Allah will certainly aid those who aid his (cause);- for verily Allah is full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (able to enforce His Will).”
“Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors.”
“But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou (also) incline towards peace, and trust in Allah: for He is One that heareth and knoweth (all things).”
“If one amongst the Pagans ask thee for asylum, grant it to him, so that he may hear the word of Allah; and then escort him to where he can be secure. That is because they are men without knowledge.”
Nineteen campaigns, eight battles
Zayd ibn Arqam, who went on seventeen of them, said the Prophet (ﷺ) led nineteen campaigns (Bukhari 3949). Buraida said he fought in eight of them (Muslim 1814). So eleven of the nineteen ended without a battle. Ibn Ishaq counts smaller marches too, and gives twenty-seven campaigns, with fighting in nine. Either way, most of his campaigns ended without a battle.
Zayd ibn Arqam, asked how many campaigns the Prophet (ﷺ) led, said nineteen, and that he himself took part in seventeen of them.
Zayd ibn Arqam reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) performed only one Hajj after he emigrated to Medina, and no other after it: the Farewell Pilgrimage.
Buraida reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) led nineteen campaigns and fought in eight of them.
Counts twenty-seven raids in which the Prophet (ﷺ) took part himself, smaller marches included, and says he actually fought in nine engagements: Badr, Uhud, the Trench, Qurayza, al-Mustaliq, Khaybar, the conquest of Mecca, Hunayn and al-Ta'if.
- 13years in Mecca without fighting
- 19campaigns he led
- 8with a battle
- 11ended without a battle
Outnumbered, and on the defensive
At Badr, the first great battle, the Prophet (ﷺ) had 319 men and the Quraysh about a thousand (Muslim 1763). The next year the Quraysh marched out to avenge Badr and camped opposite Medina. The Prophet's (ﷺ) first view was to stay inside the city and fight them there (Ibn Ishaq). The battle was fought at Uhud, just outside the city. Two years later the Quraysh came again with Ghatafan and other tribes, the Confederates, and besieged the city. The Prophet (ﷺ) carried earth for the trench himself (Bukhari 2837). The Qur'an remembers that siege: "they came on you from above you and from below you, and behold, the eyes became dim and the hearts gaped up to the throats" (33:10).
Umar reports that at Badr the Prophet (ﷺ) looked at the enemy, about a thousand, and at his own companions, three hundred and nineteen. He faced the qibla, stretched out his hands and called on his Lord: O Allah, fulfil what You promised me. He kept on until his cloak slipped from his shoulders, and Abu Bakr put it back and said Allah would fulfil His promise. Allah then revealed that He would help with a thousand angels.
Reports that the Quraysh marched out to avenge Badr and halted opposite Medina, and that the Prophet's (ﷺ) first view was to stay in the city and fight them there. It gives the Muslims killed at Uhud as sixty-five, and the polytheists killed as twenty-two.
Al-Bara reports that on the day of the Confederates he saw the Prophet (ﷺ) carrying earth, the dust covering his belly, as the trench was dug.
“O ye who believe! Remember the Grace of Allah, (bestowed) on you, when there came down on you hosts (to overwhelm you): But We sent against them a hurricane and forces that ye saw not: but Allah sees (clearly) all that ye do. Behold! they came on you from above you and from below you, and behold, the eyes became dim and the hearts gaped up to the throats, and ye imagined various (vain) thoughts about Allah!”
Peace when it was offered: Hudaybiyya
In 628 the Prophet (ﷺ) set out for Mecca with his Companions to perform the lesser pilgrimage. He was told the Quraysh would fight to stop him. He said they had not come to fight anyone, only to perform the Umra, and he offered them a truce (Bukhari 2731). He accepted terms his own Companions found hard. They would go home that year without visiting the Ka'ba. And any man of Mecca who came over to him, even a Muslim, would be sent back. Umar questioned the terms, and Abu Bakr told him to stand by the Prophet (ﷺ).
Al-Miswar ibn Makhrama and Marwan report the Prophet's (ﷺ) march to Hudaybiyya and the treaty there. Abu Bakr rebukes Urwa, who suggests the Prophet's (ﷺ) companions would run and leave him alone. Umar questions the terms of the treaty with the Prophet (ﷺ) and then with Abu Bakr, who tells him to hold to the Prophet (ﷺ), for he is on the right.
Mecca: one morning's fighting, then an amnesty
Under the truce, the Banu Bakr tribe sided with the Quraysh, and the Khuza'a sided with the Prophet (ﷺ). Then a party of Banu Bakr attacked Khuza'a by night and killed one of their men. Some of the Quraysh secretly gave them weapons and fought beside them (Ibn Ishaq). The truce was broken, and in 630 the Prophet (ﷺ) marched on Mecca. Abu Hurayra's report does not hide what happened next. The Quraysh gathered a band of their followers and sent them forward to fight. The Prophet (ﷺ) told the Ansar to wipe them out, and Abu Hurayra says that anyone they saw that day was killed (Muslim 1780b). Then Abu Sufyan, the leader of the Quraysh, came to say the Quraysh were being destroyed. The Prophet (ﷺ) declared: whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is safe, whoever lays down his weapons is safe, whoever locks his door is safe (Muslim 1780b). The city that had driven him out was spared that same day.
Reports that under the truce of Hudaybiyya Banu Bakr joined the Quraysh and Khuza'a joined the Prophet (ﷺ); that a party of Banu Bakr then attacked Khuza'a by night at their well of al-Watir and killed one of their men; and that the Quraysh helped Banu Bakr with weapons, and some of them fought with them secretly under cover of night, until they drove Khuza'a into the sacred area.
Abu Hurayra's second account of the conquest of Mecca. The Prophet (ﷺ) told the Ansar to wipe out the band the Quraysh had gathered when they met them, and Abu Hurayra says whoever was seen by them that day was put to death. Abu Sufyan came and said the Quraysh were perishing, and the Prophet (ﷺ) declared: whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is safe, whoever lays down his arms is safe, whoever locks his door is safe.
Abu Hurayra describes the conquest of Mecca. The Quraysh gathered a band of their followers and sent them forward. The Prophet (ﷺ) signalled to the Ansar that they should be killed, and none could resist. Then Abu Sufyan came and said the blood of the Quraysh had become cheap, and the Prophet (ﷺ) declared that whoever entered the house of Abu Sufyan would be safe. When some of the Ansar thought he would now stay in his city, he told them he would live and die with them.
Hunayn and Tabuk
When the Hawazin heard that Mecca had been taken, their leader Malik ibn Awf gathered them, with the Thaqif, to attack the Prophet (ﷺ). They brought their cattle, wives and children with the army (Ibn Ishaq). The Muslims met them at Hunayn. Later, a Hawazin delegation came to him as Muslims. He asked his soldiers to give back their captives, and they did (Bukhari 2307). He marched north to Tabuk on news that the Romans and their Arab allies were gathering in Syria. He stayed twenty days, and came home without a battle (Ibn Sa'd).
Reports that when the Hawazin heard the Prophet (ﷺ) had taken Mecca, Malik ibn Awf gathered them, with Thaqif and others, and decided to attack him, bringing the men's cattle, wives and children with the army.
When a delegation of the Hawazin came to the Prophet (ﷺ) as Muslims and asked for their families taken captive at Hunayn, he asked his soldiers to return the captives, and they gave up their shares willingly.
Ibn Sa'd records that the campaign of Tabuk came in Rajab of the ninth year after the Hijra. Word reached the Prophet (ﷺ) that the Romans had gathered large forces in Syria, that Heraclius had paid his soldiers a year's wages, that the Arab tribes of Lakhm, Judham, 'Amilah and Ghassan had joined him, and that they had sent their vanguards to al-Balqa. The Prophet called the people to march, reached Tabuk with thirty thousand men, stayed there twenty days, and returned from Tabuk without an encounter, reaching Medina in Ramadan.
Ka'b ibn Malik tells how he stayed behind from Tabuk. He says that at Badr the Prophet (ﷺ) had gone out after a Quraysh caravan until Allah brought the Muslims and their enemy together without an appointment, and that Tabuk was a long march in severe heat against a great number of the enemy.
| Campaign | Year | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Badr | 624 | A Quraysh army of about 1,000 met 319 Muslims who had gone out after a Quraysh caravan |
| Uhud | 625 | The Quraysh marched on Medina to avenge Badr |
| The Trench | 627 | The Confederates besieged Medina; the Muslims held a trench |
| Hudaybiyya | 628 | He came as a pilgrim and accepted a truce; no battle |
| Khaybar | 628 | Chiefs of the exiled Banu al-Nadir there had raised the Confederates |
| Mecca | 630 | Allies of the Quraysh broke the truce; the city was taken with an amnesty |
| Hunayn | 630 | The Hawazin gathered to attack him; later he gave back their captives |
| Tabuk | 630 | Word of a Roman army; he marched north, and no battle took place |
Banu Qurayza
Critics most often raise Banu Qurayza. This Jewish tribe of Medina was in treaty with the Prophet (ﷺ), and broke it while the Confederates were besieging the city (Bukhari 4028; Ibn Ishaq). After the siege they surrendered and accepted the judgement of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, chief of the Aws, their own allies. He judged that their fighting men be killed and the women and children taken captive (Bukhari 4121). That was the Torah's own law for a city that makes war (Deuteronomy 20:12-14). Those of Qurayza who came over to the Prophet (ﷺ) were granted safety (Bukhari 4028).
Ibn Umar reports that Banu al-Nadir and Banu Qurayza fought against the Prophet (ﷺ). He exiled Banu al-Nadir and let Banu Qurayza stay, until they fought him again. Then their men were killed and their women, children and property divided among the Muslims, except some who came to the Prophet (ﷺ): he granted them safety, and they became Muslims.
Reports that chiefs of the exiled Banu al-Nadir, among them Huyayy ibn Akhtab, went to Khaybar; that they later went to the Quraysh at Mecca and to Ghatafan and urged them to attack the Prophet (ﷺ) together, which brought the Confederate armies to Medina; and that during the siege Huyayy pressed Ka'b ibn Asad, chief of Banu Qurayza, who had first refused, saying he was in treaty with Muhammad (ﷺ) and had always found him loyal and faithful, until Ka'b broke his promise and cut the bond between them. The Prophet (ﷺ) sent the chiefs of the Aws and the Khazraj to find out, and they found it worse than reported.
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reports that Banu Qurayza agreed to accept the verdict of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh. The Prophet (ﷺ) sent for Sa'd and told the Ansar to stand for their chief. Sa'd judged that their fighting men be killed and their offspring taken captive, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said he had judged with Allah's judgement.
“And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:”
“And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.”
The dead of ten years
No early source gives one total. The Muslim historian Qazi Muhammad Sulaiman Mansurpuri (d. 1930) went through the battles one by one. He counted 1,018 dead: 259 Muslims and 759 of their enemies. Single battles show the scale. At Badr, fourteen Muslims were killed (Ibn Ishaq), and seventy of the Quraysh (Muslim 1763; Ibn Ishaq's list gives fifty). At Uhud, sixty-five Muslims were killed, and twenty-two of the Quraysh (Ibn Ishaq). The number of men of Banu Qurayza put to death after the siege is reported in different ways. A sahih hadith says four hundred (Tirmidhi 1582). Ibn Ishaq says six or seven hundred, and adds that some said as many as eight or nine hundred. Even if you add the highest of those figures to Mansurpuri's count, the dead on both sides in ten years come to fewer than two thousand.
A biography of the Prophet (ﷺ) in Urdu. Its table of the battles of his lifetime counts 1,018 dead in all: 259 Muslims and 759 of their opponents.
Lists fourteen Muslims killed at Badr, six of the Emigrants and eight of the Ansar, and gives fifty as the number of the Quraysh slain.
Umar reports that at Badr the Prophet (ﷺ) looked at the enemy, about a thousand, and at his own companions, three hundred and nineteen. He faced the qibla, stretched out his hands and called on his Lord: O Allah, fulfil what You promised me. He kept on until his cloak slipped from his shoulders, and Abu Bakr put it back and said Allah would fulfil His promise. Allah then revealed that He would help with a thousand angels.
Reports that the Quraysh marched out to avenge Badr and halted opposite Medina, and that the Prophet's (ﷺ) first view was to stay in the city and fight them there. It gives the Muslims killed at Uhud as sixty-five, and the polytheists killed as twenty-two.
Jabir reports that Sa'd ibn Mu'adh was struck by an arrow on the day of the Confederates and prayed not to die before Banu Qurayza's fate was settled. They surrendered to Sa'd's arbitration, and he judged that their men be killed and their women taken captive. The Prophet (ﷺ) said he had judged according to Allah's judgement. They numbered four hundred.
Reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) besieged Banu Qurayza for twenty-five nights; that their chief Ka'b ibn Asad put three choices to them, the first being to follow the Prophet (ﷺ), whom he said they knew from their scripture, and they refused; that the Aws, their allies, asked for them and agreed that one of their own should judge, and the Prophet (ﷺ) named Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, chief of the Aws; that Sa'd's people urged him to be lenient and he said he would not heed any man's blame in the cause of Allah; that Sa'd had his people pledge by Allah to accept his judgement, and the Prophet (ﷺ) agreed; that Amr ibn Su'da of Qurayza, who had refused to join the treachery, was let go, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said Allah had delivered him for his faithfulness; and that the men put to death were 600 or 700, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900.
For scale: the World Wars and the Crusades
The dead of the Prophet's (ﷺ) ten years are best seen beside other wars. The numbers are not like for like. The wars of the last century were fought by nations of millions, with modern weapons. But they show the scale of other wars. In the First World War (1914-1918), between 8.6 and 10.8 million soldiers died. About 2 million were from Germany, 1.7 to 2.3 million from Russia, about 1.4 million from France, 1.2 to 1.5 million from Austria-Hungary and about a million from the British Empire. More than 2 million civilians were killed as well. In the Second World War (1939-1945), some 15 million soldiers died in battle, and about 45 million civilians. About 24 million people died in the Soviet Union, 20 million in China, 6.6 to 8.8 million in Germany, 5.6 million in Poland and 2.6 to 3.1 million in Japan. About 450,000 died from the United Kingdom, and 418,000 from the United States (National WWII Museum). The Crusades to the East began in 1095. Pope Urban II called Christians to help the Christians of the East and to drive out the Turks and Arabs. He promised those who died on the way "immediate remission of sins" (Fulcher of Chartres). When the crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099, they massacred many of its Muslim and Jewish people. There is no firm total for those two centuries. Published estimates of the dead on all sides run from one million to nine million, with three million as the middle figure (Matthew White). In the Prophet's (ﷺ) battles, by Mansurpuri's count, 1,018 died on both sides, and fewer than two thousand even counting Banu Qurayza.
Its table of the dead by country gives military deaths of 2,037,000 for Germany (Reichskriegsministerium, 1934); 1,700,000 to 2,254,369 for Russia (Krivosheev); 1,357,000 to 1,397,800 for France (Huber, 1931); 1,200,000 to 1,494,200 for Austria-Hungary; 949,454 to 1,118,264 for the British Empire (Commonwealth War Graves Commission); 460,000 to 709,000 for Italy; 325,000 to 771,844 for the Ottoman Empire; 300,000 to 450,000 for Serbia; 250,000 to 335,706 for Romania; and 116,708 for the United States. Military dead in all: 8,573,058 to 10,824,240. Civilians killed: 2,250,099.
Gives about 15 million battle deaths and 45 million civilian deaths worldwide, and notes that estimates vary widely. Total dead, soldiers and civilians, by country: Soviet Union 24,000,000; China 20,000,000; Germany 6,600,000 to 8,800,000; Poland 5,600,000; Dutch East Indies 3 to 4 million; Japan 2,600,000 to 3,100,000; India 1,500,000 to 2,500,000; Yugoslavia 1,000,000; Romania 833,000; France 567,600; Italy 457,000; United Kingdom 450,700; United States 418,500.
Fulcher's account of Pope Urban II's speech at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The pope urged people of every rank to go to the aid of the Christians of the East against the Turks and Arabs and to drive them out, and promised that all who died on the way, by land or sea, or in battle against the pagans, would have "immediate remission of sins".
The armies of the First Crusade took Jerusalem on 15 July 1099 and massacred many of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants.
Lists the published estimates of the dead in the Crusades to the East, 1095-1291, on all sides: from 1,000,000 (Hittell, 1874) to 9,000,000 (Robertson, 1902), among them 2,000,000 Europeans (Mackay, 1841) and 3,000,000 in all (Garrison, 1922). He gives a median of 3 million, and notes that no one has published a toll below one million or above nine million.
A biography of the Prophet (ﷺ) in Urdu. Its table of the battles of his lifetime counts 1,018 dead in all: 259 Muslims and 759 of their opponents.
- 1 to 9 millionpublished estimates of the dead, on all sides
- 3 millionthe median of those estimates
- 1,018the dead on both sides in the Prophet's (ﷺ) battles; under 2,000 with Banu Qurayza
For scale: Korea, Vietnam and Iraq
The wars since then tell the same story. In the Korean War (1950-1953), around a million soldiers died. Among them were about 300,000 North Koreans, about 190,000 Chinese, 137,899 South Koreans and about 36,500 Americans. An estimated 1.5 to 3 million civilians died too. In the Vietnam War, Vietnam's government gave 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers dead, and 2 million civilians on both sides. The South Vietnamese army recorded about 254,000 killed in battle, and 58,220 Americans died. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraq Body Count has recorded 200,065 to 226,628 civilians killed by violence. And 4,492 American soldiers died there by 2011. Surveys of the first three years alone give from 151,000 to more than 600,000 violent deaths. Korea killed more people in a day, and Vietnam in a week, than all the Prophet's (ﷺ) battles did in ten years.
Gives around one million military deaths in the war of 1950-1953, among them 294,151 to 316,579 North Korean, 183,108 to 197,653 Chinese, 137,899 South Korean and 36,515 American dead or missing, and an estimated 1.5 to 3 million civilian deaths.
Reports the Vietnamese government's figures of 1995 (New York Times, 23 April 1995): 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers dead, and 2 million Vietnamese civilians dead on both sides. The South Vietnamese army recorded 254,256 combat deaths from 1960 to 1974 (Clarke, 1988). The US National Archives records 58,220 American fatal casualties.
Records 200,065 to 226,628 documented civilian deaths from violence in Iraq from the 2003 invasion onward, counted from news reports, hospital, morgue and official records.
Gives 4,492 US military deaths in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 (US Department of Defense). For violent deaths from March 2003 to June 2006 it gives the Iraq Family Health Survey's 151,000 (2008) and the Lancet study's 601,027 (2006), and notes that all such estimates are disputed.
A biography of the Prophet (ﷺ) in Urdu. Its table of the battles of his lifetime counts 1,018 dead in all: 259 Muslims and 759 of their opponents.
| War | Soldiers | Civilians |
|---|---|---|
| Korea, 1950-1953 | Around a million, among them about 36,500 Americans | 1.5 to 3 million |
| Vietnam | 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, about 254,000 South Vietnamese, 58,220 Americans | 2 million, by Vietnam's government |
| Iraq, from 2003 | 4,492 Americans by 2011 | 200,065 to 226,628 documented |
| The Prophet's (ﷺ) battles, ten years | 1,018 on both sides, by Mansurpuri's count; under 2,000 with Banu Qurayza | Killing women and children forbidden |
The rules he gave his armies
When a woman was found killed in one of his campaigns, the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade the killing of women and children (Bukhari 3015). He told his commanders not to steal from the spoils and not to break a promise. They were not to cut up the dead or kill children (Muslim 1731). Khalid ibn al-Walid once killed men who had been trying to say they had become Muslims. The Prophet (ﷺ) raised his hands and said twice that he was free before Allah (﷾) of what Khalid had done (Bukhari 4339). And he warned about anyone under a treaty with the Muslims. Whoever kills such a person will not smell the fragrance of Paradise (Bukhari 3166).
Ibn Umar reports that a woman was found killed during one of the Prophet's (ﷺ) campaigns, and the Prophet forbade the killing of women and children.
Buraida reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) appointed a commander he told him to fear Allah and to be good to his men, and not to steal from the spoils, break a pledge, mutilate the dead or kill children. Before any fighting the enemy was to be offered three choices: accept Islam; if not, pay the jizya, and then the Muslims must hold back from them; and only if both were refused, fight.
Khalid ibn al-Walid, sent to the tribe of Jadhima, killed and captured men who had been trying to say they had become Muslims. When the Prophet (ﷺ) heard, he raised his hands and said twice: O Allah, I am free of what Khalid has done.
Abdullah ibn Amr reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said that whoever kills a person who has a treaty with the Muslims will not smell the fragrance of Paradise, though its fragrance reaches a distance of forty years.
The hard cases, answered
Sahih al-Bukhari 4418 — Kitab al-Maghazi (Military Expeditions), hadith 4418
Ka'b ibn Malik tells how he stayed behind from Tabuk. He says that at Badr the Prophet (ﷺ) had gone out after a Quraysh caravan until Allah brought the Muslims and their enemy together without an appointment, and that Tabuk was a long march in severe heat against a great number of the enemy.
Cited for
Badr was a raid on a trade caravan.
The response
The Muslims did go out after a Quraysh caravan (Bukhari 4418). The Quraysh had driven them from their homes in Mecca (22:39-40). And the battle was not with a caravan: the Quraysh marched out with an army of about a thousand men against 319 (Muslim 1763).
Where it lands — Badr was fought between peoples already at war, against an army three times larger.
Sahih Muslim 1780b — Kitab al-Jihad wa'l-Siyar (Jihad and Expeditions), hadith 1780b
Abu Hurayra's second account of the conquest of Mecca. The Prophet (ﷺ) told the Ansar to wipe out the band the Quraysh had gathered when they met them, and Abu Hurayra says whoever was seen by them that day was put to death. Abu Sufyan came and said the Quraysh were perishing, and the Prophet (ﷺ) declared: whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is safe, whoever lays down his arms is safe, whoever locks his door is safe.
Cited for
At Mecca he ordered the Quraysh to be killed.
The response
Abu Hurayra's report says so, and it should be read in full. The order was against the band the Quraysh had gathered and sent forward to fight, and Abu Hurayra says whoever was seen by them that day was put to death. Then the leader of Mecca came to say the Quraysh were perishing, and the Prophet (ﷺ) declared safe everyone who entered Abu Sufyan's house, laid down his arms or locked his door (Muslim 1780b).
Where it lands — The order was against a fighting band, and the whole city was granted safety the same day.
Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah — Banu al-Nadir at Khaybar, the Confederates, and Qurayza's treaty broken
Reports that chiefs of the exiled Banu al-Nadir, among them Huyayy ibn Akhtab, went to Khaybar; that they later went to the Quraysh at Mecca and to Ghatafan and urged them to attack the Prophet (ﷺ) together, which brought the Confederate armies to Medina; and that during the siege Huyayy pressed Ka'b ibn Asad, chief of Banu Qurayza, who had first refused, saying he was in treaty with Muhammad (ﷺ) and had always found him loyal and faithful, until Ka'b broke his promise and cut the bond between them. The Prophet (ﷺ) sent the chiefs of the Aws and the Khazraj to find out, and they found it worse than reported.
Cited for
Khaybar was an unprovoked attack on a Jewish town.
The response
When the Banu al-Nadir were exiled from Medina after fighting the Prophet (ﷺ) (Bukhari 4028), some of their chiefs, among them Huyayy ibn Akhtab, settled at Khaybar. Those chiefs then went to the Quraysh at Mecca and to Ghatafan and urged them to attack him together, and the Confederate armies that besieged Medina were the result (Ibn Ishaq).
Where it lands — Khaybar was where the men who raised the army against Medina had settled.
Qur'an 9:5 — Surat al-Tawba (The Repentance), verse 5
“But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Cited for
The Qur'an orders Muslims to slay unbelievers wherever they find them.
The response
The verse is about pagan tribes who "violated their oaths" and were "the first (to assault) you" (9:13). The next verse says that if one of them asks for asylum, grant it to him, "and then escort him to where he can be secure" (9:6).
Where it lands — 9:5 is about treaty-breakers at war, and the next verse protects any of them who asks for safety.
Sahih al-Bukhari 4121 — Kitab al-Maghazi (Military Expeditions), hadith 4121
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reports that Banu Qurayza agreed to accept the verdict of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh. The Prophet (ﷺ) sent for Sa'd and told the Ansar to stand for their chief. Sa'd judged that their fighting men be killed and their offspring taken captive, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said he had judged with Allah's judgement.
Cited for
He massacred the Jews of Banu Qurayza.
The response
They were judged for treason in war, not for being Jews. They broke their treaty while the Confederates besieged Medina (Bukhari 4028; Ibn Ishaq). After they surrendered, they accepted the judgement of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, chief of their allies the Aws, and he judged that the fighting men be killed and the women and children taken captive (Bukhari 4121). A man of Qurayza who had refused the treachery was let go (Ibn Ishaq), and those who came over were granted safety (Bukhari 4028).
Where it lands — They were judged for treason in war, by a judge they accepted.
Perspectives
He was a warmonger
He raided caravans and led one campaign after another. He conquered Mecca and Khaybar, put the men of a Jewish tribe to death, and left a scripture that tells Muslims to fight. A man of peace does not do that.
He began by raiding Quraysh caravans.
Rebuttal
The Muslims did go out after a Quraysh caravan before Badr (Bukhari 4418). But the Quraysh had driven them from their homes, and the Qur'an's first permission to fight names that wrong (22:39-40). The battle itself came when the Quraysh sent out an army of about a thousand against 319 (Muslim 1763).
He fought dozens of wars.
Rebuttal
He led nineteen campaigns in ten years, and battle was joined in eight (Bukhari 3949; Muslim 1814). Eleven ended without a battle. Even Ibn Ishaq's larger count of twenty-seven has fighting in only nine.
The Qur'an tells Muslims to slay the pagans wherever they find them (9:5).
Rebuttal
The verse is about pagan tribes who had broken their oaths and attacked the Muslims first (9:13). And the very next verse orders that any of them who asks for shelter must be given it, and taken somewhere safe (9:6).
He massacred the Jews of Banu Qurayza.
Rebuttal
They broke their treaty while an army was besieging Medina (Bukhari 4028). They surrendered and accepted the judgement of the chief of their own allies. His ruling was the Torah's own law for a city that makes war (Deuteronomy 20:12-14). Those of them who came over to the Prophet (ﷺ) were given safety (Bukhari 4028).
The Islamic perspective
He fought when war was made on him, and accepted peace whenever it was offered. He set limits that protected women, children and those who asked for safety. And he pardoned the city that had driven him out.
He did not fight in thirteen years of persecution in Mecca. And fighting was first allowed only to those who had been wronged and driven from their homes.
Most of his campaigns ended without a battle: he led nineteen, and fought in eight.
He accepted a truce on hard terms at Hudaybiyya, and took Mecca with an amnesty.
He forbade killing women and children, and disowned a commander's wrongful killing.
By a Muslim historian's count, the dead on both sides in all his battles came to 1,018.