Battle of Siffin was fought between forces of Muawiyah and Hazrat Ali. Seeing that the Medinites could not depose Ali, Muawiyah, who was now a powerful man in Syria, and had a strong army of his own, was head of the House of Umayyad, decided to try his luck against Ali. He claimed to be the avenger of Osman’s death.
It was not, he said, that Usman belonged to the clan of the Bani Umayyad, it was only that he was an innocent martyr and his blood cried for revenge. Muawiyah showed the blood-stained shirt of the martyred Usman to the people, seeking their support, and soon felt himself in a strong enough position to fight. Many people thought that it was a revival of the old rivalry between the Houses of Umayyad and Hashim, but were powerless to prevent it. Muawiyah’s army moved east. Ali moved north with his troops. The two armies met at Siffin which lay in north-eastern Syria. Muawiyah had a strong army, but Ali was the better general. Soon Muawiyah found that he could not win, so he thought of a ruse. He ordered his soldiers to tie their Quran to their lances and raise them in the air, which they did. Ali saw through his and told his army that it was a trick, but the soldiers could not cut down men who held up the Quran. The fighting ceased.

Muawiyah now proposed arbitration; he and Ali should each choose a nominee and leave the matter to them. Ali agreed, because he did not want any more bloodshed, but a number of people in this won camp were not pleased. They said that since Ali was in the right he should not leave such matter to the arbitrations of man. They also declared that Ali was making a big mistake and would lose their support. After this, they decided to withdraw from Ali’s side. Others said that by accepting arbitration Ali had lost all prestige because he thus accepted Muawiyah as his equal although Muawiyah was his subordinate and now a rebel, as he had risen against the Caliph.
What was worse, Ali made a wrong choice. Muawiyah selected a friend of his, the astute Amr ibn al-As, as his nominee; Ali nominated a neutral, Musa al-Ashari. The arbitrators made a curious decision; they announced that both Muawiyah and Ali should resign. This was really a condemnation of Ali, because Muawiyah was a subordinate who had already rebelled against the Caliph and could not continue in his office. So the verdict was in reality against Ali and he did not accept it. For that matter, neither did Muawiyah. Both armies’ retreated, and the same state of affairs continued. Ali’s loss, however, was double, asl Amr ibn al-As openly accepted Muawiyah as the de facto Caliph.

The first battle between the Muslims is battle of the Camel.Hazrat Talha and Zubair and other prominent Medinites assembled an army and taking Hazrat Aisha with them, left for Kufa. Hazrat Ali soon learnt of their intentions. The was innocent, the world knew that, and it was not proved that Malik Al-Ashtar and Muhammad ibn Abu Bakar were the actual assassins of Hazrat Usman. He wanted no bloodshed between Muslims; if the Medinites wanted trouble, they must be stopped. He met the advancing army near Basra in December 656. He tried to persuade Aisha to stop this senseless war, but her counsellors would not agree. The only thing left was to fight. Aisha rode a white dromedary; Ali ordered that she must be captured, because that was the only way to end this bloodshed. The Medinites fought round the camel fanatically and the battle is known as ‘the battle of the Camel’.

It is said that seventy people died before her brother, Muhadmmad ibn Abu Bakar reached her mahmil and tried to lift her out. At this outrage she cried out,’ what impious hand dare touch the mother of the Muslims?’ Muhammad answered: ‘The same whom your mother carried in her womb for many months’.

The battle ended in a victory for Hazrat Ali. Talha and Zubair lost their lives on the battlefield, but Ali treated Aisha with great honor. She was so impressed by Ali’s nobility of conduct that she renounced polities. She was sent with an escort to Medina with all honors. In spite of this nothing was settled.
Battle of camel is important because first time Muslims shed the blood of their Muslim fellows in war after the death of Prophet Muhammad PBUH. This battle is also known as Battle of Jamal and Battle of Bassorah.

In A.D. 630 Meccans attacked a tribe which was under Muslim protection, and thus broke the truce. The prophet PBUH led a large army of Muslims (10000 strong) towards Mecca. By now the tide had turned; the Meccans were not strong enough to fight such an army commanded by a great general such as the Prophet PBUH turned out to be, and they laid down their arms. Their leader, Abu Sufyan, accepted Islam. His son, Muawiyah, became one of the secretaries of the Prophet PBUH. Mecca, the heart of Arabia, now lay before the Prophet PBUH. The despised son of that ancient town had come back triumphant, but instead of being vindictive, he showed kindness and mercy toward his arch enemies. He acted in a way new to the Arabs; he forgave his enemies. He destroyed the idols which lay in the Kaaba, but the first thing he did in the Kaaba was to pray.

He gave back the key of the sacred house to the hereditary keepers and told the people to come in peace to him. This conduct delighted the Meccans. They considered this great act of kindness and forgiveness of the Prophet PBUH the height of nobility and came forward to enter this astonishing religion which returned enmity with love.

The conquest of Mecca is great event in the history of Islam because after this conquest Islam spread in all corners of the world beyond Arabia. Prophet Muhammad PBUH won that great battle without any bloodshed.

The Battle of Yarmuk or Yarmouk is an important early battle of Islam which took place in 636 A.D. The Byzantines had some Arab allies. A large tribe, the Bani Ghassan, had migrated to Palestine, accepted Christianity, and settled in what is today Jordan, in the sixth century. They had a strong army of their own. The Byzantine Commander-in-Chief now flung these Ghassanids against Khalid’s small army. But Khalid was like lightning, impossible to catch. He made such an impetuous attack on the Bani Ghassan that he them in the Battle of Marj Rahit. He then joined the other Arab forces. It was at this time that the Caliph died, but the people soon elected  Hazrat Omer ibn al-Khattab, Hazrat Abu Bakr’s right-hand man, as his successor. So the campaign in Syria went on. The second Caliph, for reasons not understood to this day by many, dispatched another Commander-in-Chief over Khalid; he was Abu Obaidah ibn al-Jarrah, a venerable Companion of the Prophet, but no general. He was, however, a wise man. He kept Khalid as the Deputy Commander and the campaign did not suffer.

The two armies at last met on the banks of the small river Yarmuk. The day was hot and windy, and dust and sand blew in from the desert. Khalid chose the ground and the day. The northern men of Byzantine army did not like the situation at all, but they fought bravely, even desperately. It is said that they linked themselves together with chains, but they could not withstand the whirlwind attacks of the Arabs. The new army of Islam, though inexperienced and ill-trained cut down the great Byzantine army, and there was great slaughter. The river ran blood and the army of the Emperor was utterly destroyed. The Muslims had won their greatest battle so far. They had also won a decisive battle. After A.D. 636 Syria was lost to the Christians. This great battle of Islamic history which establish Muslims supremacy in the region.

Battle of Uhud or Ghazwa e Uhud is great Islamic battle. This early Islamic battle is of great Significance. The defeat at Badar was a blot on the honor of the Meccans of which they were greatly ashamed. So the next year they attacked Medina with a large force which numbered 30000 fighters. The Muslims could only muster 700 armed men. The Prophet PBUH, realizing the seriousness of the occasion, gave strict instructions to his followers. He laid plan of attack and defense, ordering archers to keep to their positions unless told to move; but the inexperienced Muslims forgot all these instructions in the excitement of the battle. They began to fight without plan, and after beating back a flank of the Meccans army, fell on the Meccans camp without making sure that the enemy had been really defeated.

Uhud Battlefield

The result was that the Meccans reserves, led by a brilliant commander, Khalid bin Walid, came upon them suddenly and scattered them. The Prophet PBUH himself was wounded and he fell. A cry rose; ‘The Prophet is slain’. This demoralized the Muslims further and many fled. The battle of Uhad ended in the temporary defeat, and the Muslims of Medina were shamed before their prophet. But the Prophet PBUH was no ordinary man; he gathered his men together, read them a lecture, rebuked them for their folly, exhorted them to obey orders in future, and led the chastened Medinites out to face the victorious Meccans once more. He came up with them in the early hours of the next morning. When the day dawned, the Meccans were running from battle field and Prophet PBUH had turned the defeat into victory.

Battle of Uhad is important in many ways. First of all it shows the real face of the Jews of Medina who betrayed the Muslims and left them alone in battle field. Meccans/Quraish lost their 12 leaders in this war and Hazrat Ali killed 8 of them. Total 69 companions of Muhammad PBUH martyred in Ghazwa e Uhad. Although Muslims almost lost the war due to negligence of archers but at the end they were considered as victorious because invaders fail to capture Medina.

The most important and first battle of Islam was the Battle of Badar or Ghazwa e Badar. The Meccans were strong, and pound of their wealth and their position. To fight them, strategy was required. The Prophet PBUH decided to strike at the root of these two things. Their wealth depended on their trade with the land of Syria, that is, the Mediterranean littoral, so the trade route to Syria must be cut. The Meccans considered themselves the best of the Arabs in everything, evening valour, so they must be proved wrong. The Prophet send a small patrol of Muslims with the order that the next caravan to Mecca which was, of course, escorted by fighters, be attacked. As it happened, the caravan was led by the chief man of Mecca, the arch-enemy of Islam, Abu Sufyan himself. Abu Sufyan was clever man. He had a strong guard with him, but realizing the danger, he sent a swift messenger to Mecca for aid. Meanwhile the Muslims came up under the leadership of the Great Prophet Muhammad PBUH. They were only about 300 strong, and the Meccans numbered 1000.

These are small numbers, but with these forces one of the decisive battles of the world was fought at Badr in A.D.623, the second year of the Hijrah, the Muslims were inspired by faith, they never doubted for an instant that they would win. They swept the Meccans off the field. It was a great victory. Many prisoners were taken and much booty, but he prophet PBUH showed great diplomacy and foresight; rejecting vengeful advice, he held the Meccans to ransom and treated them well. Battle of Badar or Ghazwa e Badar is Great Islamic Battle established the Muslim rule in Medina and also considered as foundation of Great Muslim Empire.