Military career of Muhammad Quraysh that a Muslim attack was imminent, a Meccan relief force of 1000 men, many of them wearing mail armour, was sent. Abu Jahl, who led the relief army, pressed northwards to where he expected the Muslim army to be: at Badr. While marching, however, around 200–400 warriors left his army and headed back to Mecca. Muhammad was unaware of the Meccan army until one day before contact, when his men captured two Quraysh waterbearers. The Muslims took up a defensive position. The battle started off with a duel between three Muslim and three Meccan champions, which the Muslims decided
Battle of Badr him seeing "the camels of [Medina] laden with certain death"). This further demoralized the Quraish, as Arab battles were traditionally low-casualty affairs, and set off another round of bickering among the Quraishi leadership. However, according to Arab traditions Amr ibn Hishām quashed the remaining dissent by appealing to the Quraishi's sense of honor and demanding that they fulfill their blood vengeance. The battle began with champions from both armies emerging to engage in combat. Three of the Medinan Ansar emerged from the Muslim ranks, only to be shouted back by the Meccans, who were nervous about starting any unnecessary feuds