On the day of (the battle of) Badr, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) looked at the polytheists, who were one thousand (fighters), while his Companions were three hundred and nineteen
Authentic hadithعن ابن عباس رضي الله عنه قال: لمَّا كان يومُ بدْر نظر رسولُ الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إلى المشركين وهم ألف، وأصحابه ثلاثُمائة وتسعة عشر رجلا، فاستقبل نبيُّ الله صلى الله عليه وسلم القبلةَ، ثم مدَّ يديْه، فجعل يَهْتِف بربِّه: «اللهمَّ أَنْجِزْ لي ما وعدْتَني، اللهم آتِ ما وعدْتَني، اللهمَّ إنْ تَهْلِك هذه العِصابةُ من أهْل الإسلام لا تُعْبَد في الأرض»، فما زال يَهْتِف بربِّه، مادًّا يديْه مستقبلَ القِبلة، حتى سقط رِداؤه عن مَنْكبيه، فأتاه أبو بكر فأخذ رِداءه، فألقاه على مَنْكبيه، ثم التَزَمه مِن وَرَائه، وقال: يا نبيَّ الله، كفاك مناشَدَتَك ربَّك، فإنَّه سيُنْجِز لك ما وعَدَك، فأنزل الله عز وجل : {إذ تستغيثون ربَّكم فاستجاب لكم أنِّي مُمِدُّكم بألف من الملائكة مُرْدِفين} [الأنفال: 9] فأمدَّه اللهُ بالملائكة، قال أبو زميل: فحدثني ابن عباس، قال: بينما رجلٌ من المسلمين يومئذ يشتَدُّ في أَثَر رَجُلٍ من المشركين أمامه، إذ سَمِع ضربةً بالسَّوْط فَوْقَه وصَوْت الفارس يقول: أقدِم حَيْزُوم، فنَظَر إلى المشرك أمامه فخَرَّ مُسْتَلْقيًا، فنظر إليه فإذا هو قد خُطِمَ أنفُه، وشُقَّ وجهُه، كضرْبة السَّوْط فاخْضَرَّ ذلك أجمعُ، فجاء الأنصاري، فحدَّث بذلك رسولَ الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ، فقال: «صدَقْتَ، ذلك مِن مَدَدِ السماء الثالثة»، فقَتَلوا يومئذ سبعين، وأَسَروا سبعين، قال أبو زميل، قال ابن عباس: فلمَّا أَسَروا الأُسارى، قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لأبي بكر وعمر: «ما تَرَوْن في هؤلاء الأُسارى؟» فقال أبو بكر: يا نبي الله، هم بنو العَمِّ والعَشِيرة، أَرَى أن تَأْخُذ منهم فِدْيَةً فتكون لنا قوَّةً على الكفار، فعسى اللهُ أنْ يهديَهم للإسلام، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : «ما تَرى يا ابنَ الخطَّاب؟» قلت: لا واللهِ يا رسول الله، ما أرى الذي رأى أبو بكر، ولكني أرى أنْ تُمَكِنَّا فَنَضْرب أعناقَهم، فتُمَكِّنْ عليًّا من عَقِيل فيضرب عنقَه، وتُمَكِّنِّي من فلان نسيبًا لعمر، فأضرب عنُقه، فإن هؤلاء أئمةُ الكفر وصَناديدُها، فهَوِيَ رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ما قال أبو بكر، ولم يَهْوَ ما قلتُ، فلمَّا كان من الغَدِ جئتُ، فإذا رسولُ الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وأبو بكر قاعدين يبكيان، قلتُ: يا رسول الله، أخبرني مِن أي شيء تبكي أنت وصاحبُك؟ فإن وجدتُ بكاءً بكيْتُ، وإن لم أجد بكاء تَباكيْتُ لِبُكائكما، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : " أبكي للذي عُرِضَ على أصحابك مِن أخذِهم الفِداء، لقد عُرِضَ عليَّ عذابَهم أدْنى مِن هذه الشجرة -شجرةً قريبةً من نبي الله صلى الله عليه وسلم- وأنزل الله عز وجل : {ما كان لِنَبِيٍّ أن يكون له أَسرى حتى يُثْخِنَ في الأرض} [الأنفال: 67] إلى قوله {فكلوا مما غَنِمْتُم حلالا طيِّبا} [الأنفال: 69] فأحلَّ الله الغنيمةَ لهم.
Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: On the day of (the battle of) Badr, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) looked at the polytheists, who were one thousand (fighters), while his Companions were three hundred and nineteen. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) turned towards the Qiblah, stretched his hands up, and started calling upon his Lord: "O Allah, fulfill for me what You have promised to me. O Allah, accomplish what You have promised to me. O Allah, if this small band of Muslims is destroyed, You will not be worshiped on earth." He continued his supplication to his Lord while raising his hands and facing the Qiblah until his mantle slipped down from his shoulders. So Abu Bakr came to him, picked up his mantle, and put it back on his shoulders. Then he embraced him from behind and said: "O Prophet, you have sufficiently prayed to your Lord, and He will fulfill for you what He has promised you." So Allah, the Exalted, revealed: {When you appealed to your Lord for help, He responded to your call (saying): I will help you with one thousand angels coming in succession} [Sūrat al-Anfāl: 9]. So Allah supported him with angels." Abu Zumayl reported that Ibn ‘Abbās told him: "On that day, a Muslim was chasing a disbeliever who was running in front of him, he heard the sound of a whip from above, and the voice of a rider, saying: 'Go ahead, Hayzūm.' He glanced at the polytheist, who had (then) fallen down on his back. When he looked at him, there was a scar on his nose, and his face was torn as if it had been lashed with a whip, and it all turned purple. The Ansāri (man from the Ansār came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and related this (incident) to him. He said: 'You have told the truth. This was help from the third heaven.' On that day (the day of the battle of Badr), the Muslims killed seventy disbelievers and captured seventy as captives. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said to Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them): 'What is your opinion regarding these captives?' Abu Bakr said: 'They are our kith and kin. I think you charge them a ransom (in return for releasing them), which (the ransom) will be a source of strength to us against the disbelievers. Perhaps, Allah will guide them to Islam.' Then the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'What is your opinion, O Ibn al-Khattāb?' He said: 'No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I do not agree with the opinion of Abu Bakr. I am of the opinion that you should hand them over to us so that we cut off their heads. Hand over ‘Aqīl to ‘Ali to cut off his head, and hand over such-and-such relative to me to cut off his head. These are the leaders of the disbelief and its veterans.' ‘Umar noted: 'The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) favored the opinion of Abu Bakr and did not favor what I had said. The next day, when I came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) I found that both he and Abu Bakr were sitting and crying. I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, why are you and your companion crying? Tell me the reason. For I will cry, or I will at least pretend to cry in sympathy with you.’ The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘I cry for what has been offered to your companions of taking the ransom (from the prisoners). I was shown the punishment to which they will be subjected. It was brought to me as close as this tree.’ Then Allah, the Exalted, revealed: {It is not befitting for a Prophet that he should take prisoners until the force of the disbelievers has been crushed...} [Sūrat al-Anfāl: 67] {so eat of what you have gained of the spoils of war, (it is) lawful and pure} [Sūrat al-Anfāl: 69]. So Allah made war spoils lawful for them."
Explanation
When it was the battle of Badr, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) looked at the polytheists, who were numbered one thousand fighters, whereas his Companions consisted of only three hundred and nineteen men. As the Muslims were a minority compared to the disbelievers, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) turned toward the Qiblah and raised his hands to the heaven, audibly invoking Allah: "O Allah, fulfill for me what You have promised to me. O Allah, accomplish what You have promised to me. O Allah, if this small band of Muslims is destroyed, You will not be worshiped on earth." He continued his prayer until his cloak fell off his shoulders. Abu Bakr picked it up and put it back on the Prophet's shoulders, embracing him from behind and telling him that he made sufficient invocation to Allah, Who would fulfill His promise of victory to the Prophet. Hence, Allah, the Almighty, revealed: {When you appealed to your Lord for help, He responded to your call (saying): I will help you with one thousand angels coming in succession} [Sūrat al-Anfāl: 9]. This means that Allah would provide the believers with a thousand fighters among the angels who would be sent one after another to support the believers in their fight against the polytheists. Ibn ‘Abbās mentioned that while a Muslim man from among the Ansār was chasing a disbeliever to kill him, he heard a crack of a whip and the voice of a horseman saying "Go ahead, Hayzūm." The Ansāri looked to find the infidel on the ground with the trace of a whip on his nose and a rupture across his face. The Ansāri told the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) about that, and the Prophet told him that this was an angel from the third heaven and that Hayzūm was the name of that angel's horse. On that day, the Muslims killed seventy disbelievers and took another seventy as captives. Concerning the captives, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) consulted Abu Bakr and ‘Umar on what to do with them. Abu Bakr opined that those were the Muslims' relatives and kin, and therefore the Prophet should take a financial ransom and release them. The ransom would support the Muslims in their subsequent fights against the disbelievers. Abu Bakr added that, perhaps, Allah would guide them to Islam. ‘Umar, however, did not agree with Abu Bakr's opinion and opined that the Muslims should kill them and the Prophet should ask each Muslim to kill his relative among these captives, for they were the leaders of disbelief and the heads of misguidance. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) inclined to Abu Bakr's suggestion rather than that of ‘Umar. One day later, ‘Umar found the Prophet and Abu Bakr crying. He asked why they were crying, for if there was a reason for crying, he would join them in it, and if not, then he would pretend to cry in sympathy with them. The Messenger (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) told him that they were crying because Allah spoke of the punishment of those who spoke of accepting the ransom from the captive disbelievers; the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to a tree near him and said that the punishment was presented closer than that tree. In this regard, Allah, the Almighty, revealed: {It is not befitting for a Prophet that he should take prisoners until the force of the disbelievers has been crushed...} [Sūrat al-Anfāl: 67] to the end of the verse: {So eat of what you have gained of the spoils of war, (it is) lawful and pure} [Sūrat al-Anfāl: 69]. This means that it is not appropriate for a Prophet, while fighting the disbelievers who want to extinguish the light of Allah and extirpate Islam, to hasten to arrest them and keep them alive to collect their ransom. Such ransom is of little value compared with the benefit of eradicating them and ending their evil. As long as those infidels were strong enough to act maliciously and threaten the Muslims, it was not appropriate to take them as captives. However, if they were incapable of doing evil, it would be fine to arrest them and keep them alive. Then Allah declared the riches that the Muslims take from the disbelievers by force in war to be lawful for them.
Source · Narrated by Muslim
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).