Home > Surah 8 - The Spoils of War
The Quran Verse
Surah 8:9:
When you asked help of your Lord, and He answered you, "Indeed, I will reinforce you with a thousand from the angels, following one another."
The Contradiction
When this same event (Badr) is recounted elsewhere, the numbers change significantly:
This represents legendary embellishment. In the immediate aftermath (Surah 8), the number is 1,000.
As the story is retold later (Surah 3), the "miracle" is inflated to 3,000 and then 5,000.
For the scholar, this mirrors how folk heroes' deeds grow larger with every retelling; an omniscient God would not provide three different tallies for the same battalion of angels.