The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 2 of 4

244 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
This means "Even if you have fought in the sacred month, they have blocked
you from God's path by disbelieving in Him, and also by keeping you from the
holy mosque and expelling you from it when you were of its people. This is more
grave in God's view than your fighting those of them you did. For causing unrest
is worse than killing. That is, they used to seduce Muslims from their religion,
trying to return them to disbelief from faith. This was worse in God's view than
the fighting. Their conduct was far worse and they were completely unrepentant.
This is why God Almighty stated, 'They will not stop fighting you until they turn
you from your religion, if they can!"'
Ibn Ishq went on, "When the Qur'ii~~ was revealed about this and God had alleviated
the concerns of the Muslims, the Messenger of God (SAAS) took possession
of the caravan and the two prisoners. Qgaysh then sought to provide ransom for
Wthmw and d-Hakam b. Kaysm, but the Messenger of God (SAAS) responded,
'We will not release them to you until our two men come forth.' He was referring
to Sa'd b. Abn WaqqQ and Wtba b. Ghazwm. 'We are concerned', he told them,
'about your treatment of them If you kill them, we will kill your men.'
"Sakl and Wtba then came forth, and the Messenger of God (SAAS) ransomed
them. Al-Hakam b. Kaysan accepted Islam and became a Muslim,
remaining with the Messenger of God (SAAS) until he was killed, a martyr, at
the battle of Bi'r Macnna. Wthman b. 'Abd All& stayed in Mecca where he died
an unbeliever."
Ibn Ishaq stated, "When 'Abd Allah b. Jahsh and his companions had been
relieved of their anxiety when the revelation came in the Qur'an, they sought
reward. They asked, '0 Messenger of God, may we hope that this be considered
an expedition for which we will be given reward as warriors for God's cause?'
And so God revealed concerning them, 'Those who believe and those who have
emigrated and those who have fought for God's cause, those persons may hope
for the mercy of God, for God is merciful and forgiving' (stlrat al-Baqa'ara I1
v.218). Through this God gave them very great hope."
Ibn Ishaq continued, L'The hadcth concerning this is from al-Zuhri, and Yazid
b. Riimsn from Wrwa h. al-Zubayr."
Miisa b. Wqba related, in his work on the military expeditions, from al-Zuhri,
a similar account, as did Shu'ayb from al-Zuhri, from Wrwa. Their account
stated, "Ibn d-Hadrami was the first man killed in fighting between Muslims
and polytheists."
'Abd al-Malik b. Hishim stated, "He was the first person killed by the
Muslims. And this was the first booty taken by the Muslims; Wthrnm and
al-Hakam h. Kaysin were the first prisoners taken by Muslims."
I comment that in his aforementioned report I m Alpnad ~ quoted Sacd b. Abn
Waqqa~ as having said, "'Abd Allah b. Jahsh was the first amir, commander,
appointed in Islam."