Hazrat Ubaidah Aslami narrates that on the day of Badr, seventy individuals from among the polytheists were taken captive and seventy polytheists were killed. Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, gathered the Ansar and gave them the choice (regarding the captives) and said: Whatever you wish (will happen). If you wish, you may kill them, and an equal number from among you will be killed. And if you wish, you may take ransom, so that you may gain strength in the way of Allah through it. The Ansar said: O Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him! We will take ransom, through which we will gain strength in the way of Allah, and an equal number from among us will be killed. The narrator says: Thus, on the day of Uhud, an equal number of the Companions were killed as the number of the disbelievers.