the muslim army was made up of 300-317 men, 82-86 emigrants, 61 from aws and 170 from khazraj. they were not well-equipped nor adequately prepared. they had only two horses belonging to az-zubair bin al-‘awwam and al-miqdad bin al-aswad al-kindi, 70 camels, one for two or three men to ride alternatively. the messenger of allâh [pbuh] himself, ‘ali and murthid bin abi murthid al-ghanawi had only one camel. disposition of the affairs of madinah was entrusted to ibn umm maktum but later to abu lubabah bin ‘abdul mundhir. the general leadership was given to mus‘ab bin ‘umair al-qurashi al-‘abdari, and their standard was white in colour. the little army was divided into two battalions, the emigrants with a standard raised by ‘ali bin abi talib, and the helpers whose standard was in the hand of sa‘d bin mu‘adh. az-zubair bin al-‘awwam was appointed to the leadership of the right flank, al-miqdad bin ‘amr to lead the left flank, and the rear of the army was at the command of qais bin abi sa‘sa‘ah. the general commander-in-chief was the prophet [pbuh], of course.

the prophet [pbuh], at the head of his army, marched out along the main road leading to makkah. he then turned left towards badr and when he reached as-safrâ’, he despatched two men to scout about for the camels of quraish.