It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that when we migrated to Madinah Munawwarah, the climate there did not suit us and we were struck by severe fever. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to inquire about the circumstances and events related to Badr. When we received the news that the polytheists had set out to confront the Muslims, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) set out towards Badr. Badr is the name of a well. The polytheists reached there before us. There we found two polytheists; one was a Quraishi and the other was the slave of Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait. The Quraishi escaped from there, but we captured Uqbah’s slave. We began to ask him,“How many are the Quraish?”He replied,“By Allah, they are very many in number and are well-equipped.”When he said this, the Muslims began to beat him. Eventually, they brought him to the service of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He also asked him,“How many are they?”He again replied,“By Allah, they are very many and have plenty of equipment.”The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) tried his best to make him tell their exact number, but he did not say anything. Afterwards, the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him,“How many camels do they slaughter daily?”He replied,“Ten camels daily.”The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Their number is one thousand; there is one camel for about every hundred men.”

Later that night, there was a drizzle. We took shelter under trees and shields to protect ourselves from the rain. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spent the whole night praying to Allah. He was saying,“O Allah! If You destroy this small group, then there will be none left on earth to worship You.”When dawn broke, he called out,“O people! The time for prayer has come.”The people came out from under the trees and shields. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged us to fight against the enemy. Then he said,“The group of Quraish will be under that crooked red hill.”When the enemy approached us and we also lined up in front of them, one man among them, mounted on a red camel, was circling the enemy army. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and said,“Call Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him) to me; he is the closest relative among the polytheists.”He asked,“Who is this man on the red camel and what is he saying to them?”Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“If there is any good man among them who will say a good word to them, it will be this man on the red camel.”Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him) came and informed that this was Utbah bin Rabi’ah, who was forbidding them from fighting and saying to them,“O people! I see a group who are determined to die, and you will not be able to reach them. It is better for you. O people! Put the blame for retreating from the fight on me, and say that Utbah bin Rabi’ah showed cowardice. You know that I am not more cowardly than you.”Abu Jahl heard his words and said,“Are you saying such things? If someone else had said this, I would have told him to go and bite his father’s private parts. Fear has filled your heart.”Utbah replied,“O you who dye your backside with saffron, do you taunt me? Today you will know who among us is the coward.”

Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) says that Utbah, his brother Shaybah, and his son Walid came out to the field out of national pride and zeal. Utbah called out,“Who will come out to face us?”Six Ansar came forward in response. Utbah said,“We do not wish to fight them; we invite our cousins, the Banu Abd al-Muttalib, to face us.”The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), you stand up; Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with him), you stand up; and Ubaydah bin Harith bin Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him), you stand up.”Allah Almighty killed both sons of Rabi’ah, Utbah and Shaybah, and Walid bin Utbah, and among the Muslims, Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) was wounded. The Muslims captured seventy disbelievers and killed seventy. A short-statured Ansari companion (may Allah be pleased with him) brought Abbas bin Abd al-Muttalib as a captive. Abbas said,“O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), by Allah, it was not he who captured me, but a man who had no hair on either side of his head, who was extremely handsome, and whose horse’s legs were white up to the thighs. I do not see that man among you.”The Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) said,“O Messenger of Allah! I captured him.”The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Be quiet; in this matter, Allah helped you through one of His noble angels.”Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said,“We captured many disbelievers, and among the Banu Abd al-Muttalib, we captured Abbas, Aqil, and Nawfal bin Harith.”

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: On the day of Badr, the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) looked towards his companions, while they were a little more than three hundred, then he (peace and blessings be upon him) looked towards the polytheists and they were more than a thousand, then he (peace and blessings be upon him) turned towards the Qiblah, stretched out his hands, while he (peace and blessings be upon him) was wearing a sheet and an izar, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) made this supplication: O Allah! Where is what You promised me? O Allah! Fulfill what You promised me. O Allah! If You destroy this group of Muslims, then You will never be worshipped on the earth. He (peace and blessings be upon him) kept seeking help from his Lord and kept supplicating, until his sheet fell off. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came, picked up his sheet, put it on him (peace and blessings be upon him), and held him from behind, then said: O Prophet of Allah! What you have asked from your Lord is enough for you, He will soon fulfill what He has promised you. At that time Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: {إِذْ تَسْتَغِیثُونَ رَبَّکُمْ فَاسْتَجَابَ لَکُمْ أَنِّی مُمِدُّکُمْ بِأَلْفٍ مِنَ الْمَلَائِکَۃِ مُرْدِفِینَ۔} … Remember when you were calling upon your Lord for help, then Allah responded to you:“I will help you with a thousand angels, following one another.”(Surah Al-Anfal: 9) Then, when the two armies clashed that day, Allah the Exalted defeated the polytheists in such a way that seventy of them were killed and seventy were captured. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) consulted Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, Sayyiduna Ali, and Sayyiduna Umar about the captives. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Prophet of Allah! These people are the sons of our uncles, our relatives and brothers. My opinion is that you take ransom from them, with that wealth our strength against the disbelievers will increase, and it is also possible that Allah the Exalted may later guide them, thus they may become our supporters. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Ibn Khattab! What is your opinion in this matter? He said: By Allah! I do not agree with the opinion of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). My opinion is that so-and-so, who is my relative, should be handed over to me, I will strike his neck; Aqeel should be handed over to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), he will kill him; so-and-so should be handed over to Sayyiduna Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him), he will strike his neck, so that Allah the Exalted may know that there is no compassion in our hearts for the polytheists. These captives are the chiefs, rulers, and leaders of the polytheists. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) liked the opinion of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and did not like the opinion of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), so he (peace and blessings be upon him) took ransom from them. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: When I went to the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the next day, he and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) were both sitting and weeping. I said: O Messenger of Allah! Tell me about the thing that is making you and your companion weep. If I am able to weep, I will also weep, and if I am not able to weep, I will make a weeping face because of your weeping. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Because of the opinion your companions gave about taking ransom, your punishment was presented to me, which is near that tree. By this he (peace and blessings be upon him) meant a nearby tree. At that time Allah the Exalted revealed these verses: {مَا کَانَ لِنَبِیٍّ اَنْ یَّکُوْنَ لَہٗٓاَسْرٰی حَتّٰییُثْخِنَ فِی الْاَرْضِ تُرِیْدُوْنَ عَرَضَ الدُّنْیَا وَاللّٰہُ یُرِیْدُ الْاٰخِرَۃَ وَاللّٰہُ عَزِیْز’‘ حَکِیْم’‘۔ لَوْ لَا کِتٰب’‘ مِّنَ اللّٰہِ سَبَقَ لَمَسَّکُمْ فِیْمَآ اَخَذْتُمْ عَذَاب’‘ عَظِیْم’‘} It is not for a Prophet to have captives until he has thoroughly subdued the land. You desire the goods of this world, but Allah desires the Hereafter, and Allah is Mighty, Wise. Had it not been for a prior decree from Allah, a severe punishment would have touched you for what you have taken. (Surah Al-Anfal: 67) Then, spoils of war were made lawful for them. When the Battle of Uhud took place the following year, the punishment for taking ransom on the day of Badr was given, and seventy companions were martyred, and the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) fled from him, his teeth were martyred, his helmet was broken on his head, and blood began to flow on his face. Then Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: {اَوَلَمَّآ اَصَابَتْکُمْ مُّصِیْبَۃ’‘ قَدْ اَصَبْتُمْ مِّثْلَیْھَا قُلْتُمْ اَنّٰی ھٰذَا قُلْ ھُوَ مِنْ عِنْدِ اَنْفُسِکُمْ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ عَلٰی کُلِّ شَیْئٍ قَدِیْر’‘۔} (What is the matter that when on the day of Uhud) a calamity befell you, though you had inflicted twice as much, you said:“From where has this come?”Say:“It is from your own selves.”Surely Allah is Powerful over everything. (Surah Aal-e-Imran: 165) That is, because of taking ransom.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) consulted the people on the day of Badr. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) spoke, but the Prophet turned his face away. Then Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) spoke, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also turned his face away from him. So the Ansar said, "O Messenger of Allah! Are you waiting for our opinion?" Then Miqdad bin Aswad (may Allah be pleased with him) said (in another narration, the name of Sa'd bin Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) is mentioned), "O Messenger of Allah! By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if you command us to plunge into the sea, we will plunge into it, and if you command us to drive our mounts to Bark al-Ghamad, we are ready for that as well. O Messenger of Allah! Proceed towards the purpose you have in mind." Thus, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the noble Companions to set out. You set out and halted at the place of Badr. Men came to the Quraysh's water-carrying camel. Among them was a black slave of Banu Hajjaj, whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) captured. The Muslims asked him about Abu Sufyan and his companions, but he said, "I do not know anything about Abu Sufyan. However, the Quraysh, Abu Jahl, and Umayyah bin Khalaf, etc., are here." When the Muslims heard this, they began to beat him. When they beat him, he said, "Yes, yes, Abu Sufyan is there." When they stopped beating him and asked him about Abu Sufyan, he said, "I do not know anything about Abu Sufyan, but the Quraysh are here." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was performing prayer. When he finished the prayer, he said, "When he tells the truth, you beat him; when he lies, you leave him." And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) placed his hand on certain spots and said, "InshaAllah, tomorrow so-and-so will fall dead here, and so-and-so will fall here." The Muslims and the disbelievers confronted each other, and Allah Almighty defeated the disbelievers. By Allah, not a single person fell anywhere except at the very spots marked by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Three days later, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went to those dead disbelievers. Their corpses had begun to rot. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "O Abu Jahl! O Utbah! O Shaybah! O Umayyah! Have you found true what your Lord promised you? I have found true what my Lord promised me." Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), three days have passed since they died. Are you speaking to them, even though their corpses have begun to rot?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "You do not hear what I am saying to them any better than they do. The only difference is that they cannot reply." Then the Prophet ordered regarding those dead men, and they were dragged by their legs and thrown into the well of Badr.