The Quraysh leader Abu Suyfan, who accompanied the caravan and realized that Muslim scouts were nearby, ordered the caravan to take a different route to leave the danger zone and sent a messenger to Mecca. After the latter arrived in Mecca and told the Quraysh that a Muslim attack was imminent, a Meccan relief force of 1000 men, many of them wearing mail armour, was sent. Abu Jahl, who led the relief army, pressed northwards to where he expected the Muslim army to be: at Badr.