If you say: What does 'when you seek help' relate to? I say: It is a substitute for 'when He promises you.' It is said to relate to His saying: 'to establish the truth and to abolish falsehood.' Their seeking help was because when they knew that fighting was inevitable, they began to call upon Allah and say: O our Lord, grant us victory over Your enemy, O Helper of those who seek help, help us. And from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, looked at the polytheists, and they were a thousand, and at his companions, and they were three hundred. He faced the Qiblah and raised his hands in supplication: O Allah, fulfill for me what You have promised me. O Allah, if You destroy this group, no one will worship You on earth. He continued like this until his cloak fell, and Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, took it and threw it over his shoulder and embraced him from behind, saying: O Messenger of Allah, it is enough for You to call upon Your Lord, for He will fulfill for You what He has promised You. [Reported by Muslim from the narration of Ibn Abbas from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.] 'Indeed, I am supporting you' is originally 'Indeed, I am supporting you,' so the preposition was omitted and 'responded' was placed in its place. And from Abu Amr, he read 'Indeed, I am supporting you' with a kasra, intending the saying, or by treating 'responded' like 'said' because responding is from saying. If you say: Did the angels fight on the Day of Badr? I say: There is a difference of opinion about it. It is said: Gabriel descended on the Day of Badr with five hundred angels on the right flank, where Abu Bakr was, and Michael with five hundred on the left flank, where Ali ibn Abi Talib was, in the form of men, wearing white garments and white turbans, with their tails hanging between their shoulders. It is said: They fought on the Day of Badr and did not fight on the Day of the Confederates and the Day of Hunayn.

And from Abu Jahl, he said to Ibn Mas'ud: Where was that sound we used to hear but did not see a person? He said: From the angels. Abu Jahl said: They have overpowered us, not you. And it is narrated that a man from the Muslims, while he was pursuing a man from the polytheists, heard the sound of a whip strike above him. He looked and saw the polytheist fallen, lying flat, and his face split open. The Ansari informed the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and said: You have spoken the truth; that is from the support of the heavens. This is part of the narration of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding the previous matter. And from Abu Dawood al-Mazni: I followed a man from the polytheists to strike him on the day of Badr, and his head fell before my sword reached him. It was narrated by Ibn Ishaq in al-Maghazi: My father narrated to me from men of Banu Mazin from Abu Dawood al-Mazni - and he mentioned it. And through him, it was narrated by Ishaq, al-Tabari, and others. It was said that they did not fight but rather increased the numbers and supported the believers. Otherwise, a single angel is sufficient to destroy all the people of this world, for Gabriel, peace be upon him, destroyed the cities of the people of Lot with a feather from his wing, and destroyed the land of Thamud, the people of Salih, with a single cry. And it was read as مُرْدِفِينَ with a broken and a opened dal, from the saying: he followed him. From it is His saying, the Exalted, 'Rَدِفَ لَكُمْ بَعْضُ الَّذِي تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ,' meaning he followed you. And I followed him: if I came after him. The broken dal cannot be without meaning of following, or following. If it means following, it cannot be without meaning: following one another, or following each other, or meaning: following the believers, that is, they precede them and follow them themselves, or following them, accompanying them and leading them before them while they are in their rear, to be under their eyes and protection. Or meaning following themselves, other angels, or following others from the angels. This is supported by His saying in Surah Al-Imran, 'With three thousand angels sent down.' 'With five thousand angels marked.' And whoever read مُرْدِفِينَ with an opening, it means following or following. And it was read: مردّفين, with a broken and a closed ra and a doubled dal: its origin is مرتدفين, meaning following or accompanying, from ارتدفه, so the تاء of the verb was assimilated into the dal, and two consonants met, so the ra was moved to a break according to the origin, or according to following the dal. And with the closure according to following the meem. And from al-Suddi: with thousands of angels. In the plural to agree with what is in Surah Al-Imran.

If you say: How can one excuse those who read in the singular and did not interpret المردفين as the following of angels by other angels, and the following of them by their following others? I say: That the intended meaning is the thousand from those who fought among them. Or the faces among them who are followers of others.