Ghazwah, jaish and sariyyah

Ghazwah is a battle in which Nabi ﷺ (peace and blessings be upon him) participated. The battle in which Nabi ﷺ (peace and blessings be upon him) did not participate and where the army was large is called a Jaish. If the army was small, it was called Sariyyah.

Nabi ﷺ (peace and blessings be upon him) participated in twenty-three Ghazawaat. Some say it was twenty-seven. Fighting took place in nine of them. These are as follows:

1. The First Battle of Badr
2. The Second Battle of Badr
3. The Battle of Uhud
4. The Battle of Ahzaab
5. The Battle of Banu Quraizah
6. The Battle of Ban-ul-Mustalaq
7. The Battle of Khaibar
8. The Battle of Hunain
9. The Battle of Taa-if

The Muslims were victorious in all these wars. However, in the Battle of Uhud, the Muslims gained victory at first, but due to the mistake of some Muslims they were temporarily defeated. In the Battle of Hunain some Muslims suffered a temporary defeat but Allah ﷻ (exalted is His majesty) thereafter granted them victory. In the battles besides these nine, the enemy either entered into a treaty with the Muslims or some incident occurred whereby the enemy was over-awed and unable to fight.