Military Management in the Battles of the Prophet (s)

Scope Of Research

My method of research about the proposed subject is scientific and relies on fully documented evidence along with undisputed facts. It is based firstly on primary sources which form the foundation of the discussion and then secondarily turns to the more recent studies and views of contemporary scholars. In this research, differing viewpoints on military management (with the aim of finding the best one), the principles of war, the fundamental role of ideology (and motivation) and the art of war in its new form are discussed alongside each other. This paper comprises of six sections and one preface - wherein the most important available sources on this subject are mentioned.

Section One:
In this section, the traits and distinctions of the Arab military before Islām have been mentioned and the most important points that are related to their military management like: the purpose of battle, number of combatants, means of transport etc. have been discussed.

Section Two:
This section consists of the important discussion on ‘Military Command’ in which issues like moral qualities of a commander are discussed. These include: heightened intelligence, foresight and prudence, awareness of matters that he is faced with, understanding the rules and principles of war such as defensive warfare, sudden warfare, revolutionary warfare, offensive warfare and psychological warfare.

Section Three:
This section aims to explain the workings of the military bases and under this heading, details are given about staff headquarters and management issues pertaining to it are discussed, including:

Department of planning: this department deals with the general policies of the army, the enumeration of soldiers, arming them, understanding the enemy and related issues.
Department of consultation: this is the consultative body or the command post of the war and its members are all recognized for their knowledge, acumen and understanding of issues pertaining to warfare.
Department of spiritual guidance: this department is responsible for increasing the zeal of the fighters, studying the assignments and tours of duty.

Section Four:
This section discusses the branch and department of ‘Security and Intelligence’ that is responsible for gathering information and intelligence from the enemy and analyzing it, and in the event of the intelligence being true, passing it to the supreme commander so that he may issue the correct orders.

Section Five:
In this section we discuss about the ‘Base of Operations’ which makes arrangements for the required equipment for planning, execution, training, creation and perfection of weaponry and all the other supplies for warfare and includes the following departments:
Department of operations: this is the department that is responsible for selecting the commander who leads the army in the battlefield, studying the assignments and sending troops and contingents.
Department of training: this department is responsible for training the fighters in the handling of all the tools used in battle including bows and arrows, hand to hand combat etc.
Department of armament: this department is in charge of securing all the supplies of war, weapons, military equipment etc.

Section Six:
This section deals specifically with the department of munitions that has the responsibility of securing munitions, sending support, transport, feeding the soldiers, providing army uniforms, overseeing booty and its distribution and handling medical issues. This department consists of the following sub-departments:

Department of munitions and relief support: this department has the task of providing support to the troops by means of providing supplies and fulfilling their other needs such as drinking water, tents, clothes and also removing the injured and dead from the battlefield.
Department of booty: its responsibility is gathering the war booty and categorizing, arranging and distributing it, and identifying those who should be permitted to use it.
Department of medical services: the aim of this department is protecting the wellbeing of the forces, providing medical treatment for those who are injured and incapacitated in battle, and burying the dead.

In this section, the role of women in providing assistance is also discussed.

Conclusion:
In the end, we shall discuss the ‘growth of Islāmic Governance’ after the migration of the Prophet (S) to Madina, the formation of the Islāmic Government under his leadership. The details of his role in nurturing the military forces during wartime and the beginning of the creation and training of the corps will also be discussed. We will examine how this army gained the ability of entering into battle and achieving decisive victory.

In this regard, we find the causes of victory in the Muslim army to be the implementation of the principles and rules of war by their commanders – which the enemy was unaware of at that time and is more in line with the principles and rules of war of today. Similarly, the organization of the army in such a way that a strong spiritual ethos existed among the commanders and the troops, must be considered one of the greatest factors of the Prophet’s (S) success. When one studies the conquests that took place after the era of Prophethood, one finds that the Prophet (S) was considered the first conqueror of Islām, because he laid the groundwork and raised the primary pillar (of these conquests) through his own battles.