The Messenger of Allah ﷺ received news of Abu Sufyan bin Harb traveling with forty riders from Quraysh, traders returning from Syria. Among them were Makhramah bin Nawfal and Amr bin As. So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called upon the Muslims and said to them, "This is Abu Sufyan returning with the trade caravan of Quraysh. Go out to intercept it, perhaps Allah will grant it to you as spoils."The Messenger of Allah and the Muslims set out. Some men hastened with him while others were slow to respond, for it was merely a call to seize wealth, and they did not think they would encounter a battle. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out with just over three hundred riders, though most of his companions were on foot. They had with them eighty camels and one horse. The hadith continues.
سمع رسول الله ﷺ بأبي سفيان بن حرب في أربعين راكبا من قريش تجارا قافلين من الشام، فيهم: مخرمة بن نوفل وعمرو بن العاص فندب رسول الله ﷺ المسلمين. وقال لهم: هذا أبو سفيان قافلا بتجارة قريش فاخرجوا لها، لعل الله عز وجل ينفلكموها، فخرج رسول الله والمسلمون، فخف معه رجال وأبطأ آخرون، وذلك إنما كانت ندبة لمال يصيبونه، لا يظنون أن يلقوا حربا، فخرج رسول الله ﷺ في ثلاثمائة راكب ونيف، وأكثر أصحابه مشاة، معهم ثمانون بعيرا وفرس… الحديث.
Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated it, from Muhammad bin Muslim Zuhri, Asim bin Umar bin Qatada, Abdullah bin Abu Bakr, and Yazid bin Ruman, from Urwa bin Zubayr, and others among our scholars, from Ibn Abbas. Each of them narrated to me part of this hadith, and their narrations combined form what I have presented of the account of Badr. Sirat bin Hisham (606/1-6079).Bayhaqi also narrated it in Dalail (31/3-32), from Yunus bin Bukayr, from Ibn Ishaq with his chain of transmission, except that he did not mention Ibn Abbas in his chain, and the wording given is Bayhaqi's. Its chain of transmission is hasan because of Muhammad bin Ishaq, for his hadith is hasan when he states his sources explicitly.