The events, in order
Tap an event to read the full story: why it happened, what happened, the numbers as the sources give them, the verses revealed about it, and its lessons.
Battle of Badr
The first great battle of Islam: about 313 believers against a Quraysh army of about a thousand, and the day the Quran calls the Day of Criterion.
17 Ramadan 2 AH · March 624 CE
Battle of Uhud
A year after Badr, Quraysh came back with three thousand men. The archers left their post, and the day became a lesson in obedience and patience.
Shawwal 3 AH · March 625 CE
Battle of the Trench (Khandaq)
The Confederates, about ten thousand strong, besieged Madinah for nearly a month. A trench, a storm and Allah's help sent them home.
Shawwal 5 AH · Early 627 CE
Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
The Muslims set out for Umrah and were stopped outside Makkah. The truce that followed looked like a loss, and Allah called it a clear conquest.
Dhul Qadah 6 AH · March 628 CE
Conquest of Makkah
Eight years after the Hijrah the Prophet ﷺ returned to Makkah with ten thousand, cleared the Kaaba of idols and pardoned the people who had driven him out.
Ramadan 8 AH · January 630 CE
Battle of Tabuk
The last expedition the Prophet ﷺ led: a long march north in summer heat, the army of hardship, and the story of the three who stayed behind.
Rajab 9 AH · October 630 CE
At a glance
| Event | Hijri date | CE | Muslims | Other side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle of Badr | 17 Ramadan 2 AH | March 624 CE | About 313 | About 1,000 (Quraysh) |
| Battle of Uhud | Shawwal 3 AH | March 625 CE | About 700 | About 3,000 (Quraysh) |
| Battle of the Trench (Khandaq) | Shawwal 5 AH | Early 627 CE | About 3,000 | About 10,000 (the Confederates) |
| Treaty of Hudaybiyyah | Dhul Qadah 6 AH | March 628 CE | About 1,400 | Quraysh (no battle) |
| Conquest of Makkah | Ramadan 8 AH | January 630 CE | About 10,000 | Quraysh (little fighting) |
| Battle of Tabuk | Rajab 9 AH | October 630 CE | About 30,000 (other reports: more than 10,000) | The Byzantines and allies (did not come) |
Numbers are the ones most sources give. Each page shows where the reports differ.
What the seerah is
Seerah (sirah) means the way a person lived, and in Islam it means the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. See the meaning of seerah. This page covers the major events of the Madinan years. For his whole life in one timeline, from his birth in about 570 CE to his passing in 11 AH, see the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ life timeline.
Not every event here was a battle. Hudaybiyyah was a peace treaty that Allah called "a clear conquest" (48:1), and Makkah was opened with almost no fighting. The Muslims were first given permission to fight after thirteen years of persecution, "because they were wronged" (22:39), and the Prophet ﷺ forbade killing women and children (Sahih al-Bukhari 3015).
How we tell the seerah
Each page follows the Quran first, then the sahih hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim, then the classical books of seerah: Ibn Hisham's edition of the seerah of Ibn Ishaq, and Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri's al-Raheeq al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar). Numbers and dates are given only as these sources state them. When they differ, we say so. Reports from the seerah books that hadith scholars judged weak are marked as such.
Questions
What are the main battles of the Prophet ﷺ?
Badr (2 AH), Uhud (3 AH), the Trench or Khandaq (5 AH), Khaybar (7 AH), the Conquest of Makkah (8 AH), Hunayn (8 AH) and Tabuk (9 AH). The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah (6 AH) was a turning point without a battle.
How many battles did the Prophet ﷺ fight in?
Zayd ibn Arqam said the Prophet ﷺ led nineteen expeditions (Sahih al-Bukhari 3949). Fighting took place in only some of them; the historians count about nine.
What was the first battle in Islam?
The Battle of Badr, in Ramadan 2 AH (624 CE), was the first major battle. There were smaller expeditions before it.
What was the last battle of the Prophet ﷺ?
Tabuk, in Rajab 9 AH, was the last expedition he led himself, though no fighting took place there.
What is the best book on the seerah in English?
Two widely used ones are The Sealed Nectar (al-Raheeq al-Makhtum) by al-Mubarakpuri and Martin Lings' Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. The classical source is Ibn Hisham's edition of Ibn Ishaq.
Sources
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah, from the sirah of Ibn Ishaq.
- Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, al-Raheeq al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar).
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Maghazi (the book of the expeditions); Sahih al-Bukhari 3015 and 3949.
- Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Jihad wa al-Siyar.
- Quran: Arabic from the Tanzil Uthmani text, transliteration from Tanzil, English by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic is the standard wording of the collection named; gradings are given for every hadith outside al-Bukhari and Muslim.