A brother recently returned refreshed from a rihla to Madinah al-Munawwarah, armed with his pictures and video clips he enlightened me and others with the reminder of the various sites that the group he was with had visited in the course of their trip.
During his mention of their visit to Badr, the view of some of the scholars that the Prophet (Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam) did not actually participate physically in the battle was raised. When he mentioned this issue it jogged my memory as something similar had been discussed a few years earlier, and when i had heard about it then it had also surprised me. However I did recall having read afterwards somewhere the mention of the Messenger (Sallalahu Alaihi Wassalam) fighting in Badr.
I went home with this issue on my mind, not being able to get to sleep that night meant that I decided to try to research this issue with the limited resources at my disposal, I picked up Diya al-Nabi which is a multi volume Sirah work in Urdu (including Arabic texts aswell) by Sheikh Karam Shah al-Azhari. Around 2:30 am in the morning i found the following two reports on (3/342) of the work, both are referenced to the Arabic Sirah work Subul al-Huda wal-Rashad (4/71) of Imam Yusuf al-Salihi wherein he mentions two reports of the Prophet (Sallalahu Alaihi Wasslam) participating in Badr they are:
“Just as they both (The Messenger of Allah [Allah bless him and give him peace] and Abu Bakr [r.a.]) were in the Areesh making jihad by humbly supplicating, they both came (to the battlefield) and encouraged (the Muslims) to fight, they both fought with their swords and joined between these two ranks (of making dua and fighting).”
And also the narration from Imam Ali (Alaihi Salam):
“When the fighting began on the day of Badr the Messenger of Allah (Sallalahu Alaihi Wasslam) lead us, we sought protection behind Him (Allah bless him ad give him peace), and He (Allah please give him peace) was involved in the heaviest fighting on that day, no one was closer to the mushrikin than Him (Allah bless him and give him peace).”
May Allah (Most High) facilitate the ziyarah of Badr. Amin.