Al-W¥^idÏ's Asb¥b al-Nuz‰l - The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies ...

Asbab al-Nuzul
companion weep If I can cry, I will cry with you, if not I will feign crying’. The Prophet, Allah bless him
and give him peace, said: “I am crying because of the suggestion of ransoming the prisoners which your
fellow believers advised me to do. Your chastisement was closer to you than this tree (and he pointed to
a near by tree). Allah, exalted is He, had revealed (It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath
made slaughter in the land) up to His words (… an awful doom had come upon you on account of what
ye took) of ransom. 19 This was narrated by Muslim in his Sahih from Hannad ibn al-Sariyy from Ibn al-
Mubarak from ‘Ikrimah ibn ‘Ammar.
(O Prophet! Say unto those captives who are in your hands…) [8:70].
Said al-Kalbi: “This was revealed about al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, ‘Aqil ibn Abi Talib and Nawfal ibn
al-Harith. Al-‘Abbas was imprisoned at Badr while he had with him twenty Uqiyyah of gold which he had
taken with him to Badr to feed the idolaters. He was one of ten men who had taken it upon themselves
to feed the entire army of the unbelievers. His turn to finance the army of the unbelievers had not come
yet when he fell prisoner, and so it was taken with him, and the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and
give him peace, then took the gold from him. He said: ‘I spoke with the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless
him and give him peace, to take the twenty Uqiyyah of gold which he took from me as my ransom. He
refused and said: ‘We will not accept as your ransom something with which you had left to use against
us’. The ransom of my nephew ‘Aqil ibn Abi Talib cost me twenty measures of silver, and so I said to him:
‘By Allah, you have left me begging Quraysh for the rest of my life’. He said: ‘And where is the gold you
gave to Umm Fadl before you headed toward Badr You said to her: If anything were to happen to me,
this is for you and for ‘Abd Allah, al-Fadl and Qutham’. I said: Who informed you about this He replied:
Allah informed me about it. I said: I bear witness that you are truthful. I gave her the gold and none but
Allah knew about it. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah’.
Al-‘Abbas said: ‘And Allah gave me much better than he took from me, as He said. I had twenty slaves
all of whom were tending abundant riches instead of the twenty Uqiyyah of gold, and I still hope to gain
forgiveness from my Lord’ ”. 20
19
Tabari, :44.
20
Durr, :111-112.
118