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Ayah
Word by Word
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا
O
ٱلنَّبِيُّ
Prophet
قُل
Say
لِّمَن
to whoever
فِيٓ
(is) in
أَيۡدِيكُم
your hands
مِّنَ
of
ٱلۡأَسۡرَىٰٓ
the captives
إِن
If
يَعۡلَمِ
knows
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
فِي
in
قُلُوبِكُمۡ
your hearts
خَيۡرٗا
any good
يُؤۡتِكُمۡ
He will give you
خَيۡرٗا
better
مِّمَّآ
than what
أُخِذَ
was taken
مِنكُمۡ
from you
وَيَغۡفِرۡ
and He will forgive
لَكُمۡۚ
you
وَٱللَّهُ
And Allah
غَفُورٞ
(is) Oft-Forgiving
رَّحِيمٞ
Most Merciful
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا
O
ٱلنَّبِيُّ
Prophet
قُل
Say
لِّمَن
to whoever
فِيٓ
(is) in
أَيۡدِيكُم
your hands
مِّنَ
of
ٱلۡأَسۡرَىٰٓ
the captives
إِن
If
يَعۡلَمِ
knows
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
فِي
in
قُلُوبِكُمۡ
your hearts
خَيۡرٗا
any good
يُؤۡتِكُمۡ
He will give you
خَيۡرٗا
better
مِّمَّآ
than what
أُخِذَ
was taken
مِنكُمۡ
from you
وَيَغۡفِرۡ
and He will forgive
لَكُمۡۚ
you
وَٱللَّهُ
And Allah
غَفُورٞ
(is) Oft-Forgiving
رَّحِيمٞ
Most Merciful
Translation
O Prophet, say to whoever is in your hands of the captives, "If Allāh knows [any] good in your hearts, He will give you [something] better than what was taken from you, and He will forgive you; and Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful."
Tafsir
O Prophet, say to those captives who are in your hands: (asraa, may also be read as asaaraa) 'If God knows of any good, any faith or sincere devotion, in your hearts He will give you better than that which has been taken from you, by way of ransom, by His multiplying it for you in this world and rewarding you in the Hereafter, and will forgive you, your sins. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful'.
"
Pagan Prisoners at Badr were promised better than what They lost, if They become Righteous in the Future
Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Abdullah bin Abbas said that before the battle of Badr, the Messenger of Allah said,
إِنِّي قَدْ عَرَفْتُ أَنَّ أُنَاسًا مِنْ بَنِي هَاشِمٍ وَغَيْرِهِمْ قَدْ أُخْرِجُوا كَرْهًا لَا حَاجَةَ لَهُمْ بِقِتَالِنَا فَمَنْ لَقِيَ مِنْكُمْ أَحَدًا مِنْهُمْ أَيْ مِنْ بَنِي هَاشِمٍ فَلَ يَقْتُلْهُ وَمَنْ لَقِيَ أَبَا الْبُخْتَرِي بْنَ هِشَامٍ مُسْتَكرِهًا
I have come to know that some people from Bani Hashim and others were forced to accompany the pagans, although they had no desire to fight us. Therefore, whoever meets any of them (Bani Hashim), do not kill him. Whoever meets Abu Al-Bukhtari bin Hisham, should not kill him. Whoever meets Al-Abbas bin Abdul-Muttalib, let him not kill him, for he was forced to come (with the pagan army).
Abu Hudhayfah bin Utbah said, ""Shall we kill our fathers, children, brothers and tribesmen (from Quraysh), and leave Al-Abbas By Allah! If I meet him, I will kill him with the sword.""
When this reached the Messenger of Allah, he said to Umar bin Al-Khattab,
يَا أَبَا حَفْص
O Abu Hafs!
and Umar said, ""By Allah that was the first time that the Messenger of Allah called me Abu Hafs.""
أَيُضْرَبُ وَجْهُ عَمِّ رَسُولِ اللهِ بِالسَّيْف
Will the face of the Messenger of Allah's uncle be struck with the sword!
Umar said, ""O Allah's Messenger! Give me permission to cut off his neck (meaning Abu Hudhayfah) for he has fallen into hypocrisy, by Allah!""
Ever since that happened, Abu Hudhayfah used to say, ""By Allah! I do not feel safe from this statement coming back to haunt me, and I will continue to fear its repercussions, unless Allah, the Exalted, forgives me for it through martyrdom.""
Abu Hudhayfah was martyred during the battle of Al-Yamamah, may Allah be pleased with him.
Ibn Abbas said,
""On the eve after Badr, the Messenger of Allah spent the first part of the night awake, while the prisoners were bound. His Companions said to him, `O Allah's Messenger! Why do you not sleep!'
Al-Abbas had been captured by a man from Al-Ansar, and the Messenger of Allah said to them,
سَمِعْتُ أَنِينَ عَمِّي الْعَبَّاسِ فِي وِثَاقِهِ فَأَطْلِقُوه
I heard the cries of pain from my uncle Al-Abbas, because of his shackles, so untie him.
When his uncle stopped crying from pain, Allah's Messenger went to sleep.""
In his Sahih, Al-Bukhari recorded a Hadith from Musa bin Uqbah who said that Ibn Shihab said that Anas bin Malik said that;
some men from Al-Ansar said to the Messenger of Allah, ""O Allah's Messenger! Give us permission and we will set free our maternal cousin Al-Abbas without taking ransom from him.""
He said,
لَاا وَاللهِ لَاا تَذَرُونَ مِنْهُ دِرْهَمًا
No, by Allah! Do not leave any Dirham of it.
And from Yunus Bikkir, from Muhammad bin Ishaq, from Yazid bin Ruwman, from Urwah, from Az-Zuhri that several people said to him,
""The Quraysh sent to the Messenger of Allah concerning ransoming their prisoners, and each tribe paid what was required for their prisoners.
Al-Abbas said, `O Allah's Messenger! I became a Muslims before.'
The Messenger of Allah said,
اللهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِسْلَمِكَ فَإِنْ يَكُنْ كَمَا تَقُولُ فَإِنَّ اللهُ يُجْزِيكَ وَأَمَّا ظَاهِرُكَ فَقَدْ كَانَ عَلَيْنَا فَافْتَدِ نَفْسَكَ وَابْنَي أَخِيكَ نَوْفَلَ بْنَ الْحَارِثِ بْنِ عَبْدِالْمُطَّلِبِ وَعَقِيلَ بْنَ أَبِي طَالِبِ بْنِ عَبْدِالْمُطَّلِبِ وَحَلِيفَكَ عُتْبَةَ بْنَ عَمْرٍو أَخِي بَنِي الْحَارِثِ بْنِ فِهْر
Allah knows if you are Muslim! If what you are claiming is true, then Allah will compensate you. As for your outward appearance, it was against us. Therefore, ransom yourself, as well as, your nephews Nawfal bin Al-Harith bin Abdul-Muttalib and Aqil bin Abu Talib bin Abdul-Muttalib, and also your ally Utbah bin `Amr, from Bani Al-Harith bin Fihr.
Al-Abbas said, `I do not have that (money), O Allah's Messenger!'
The Messenger said,
فَأَيْنَ الْمَالُ الَّذِي دَفَنْتَهُ أَنْتَ وَأُمُّ الْفَضْلِ فَقُلْتَ لَهَا إِنْ أَصَبْتُ فِي سَفَرِي هَذَا فَهَذَا الْمَالُ الَّذِي دَفَنْتُهُ لِبَنِي الْفَضْلِ وَعَبْدِاللهِ وَقُثَمٍ
What about the wealth that you and Umm Al-Fadl buried, and you said to her, `If I am killed in this battle, then this money that I buried is for my children Al-Fadl, Abdullah and Quthm.
Al-Abbas said, `By Allah, O Allah's Messenger! I know that you are Allah's Messenger, for this is a thing that none except Umm Al-Fadl and I knew. However, O Allah's Messenger! Could you count towards my ransom the twenty Uwqiyah (pertaining to a weight) that you took from me (in the battle)'
The Messenger of Allah said,
لَاا ذَاكَ شَيْءٌ أَعْطَانَا اللهُ تَعَالَى مِنْك
No, for that was money that Allah made as war spoils for us from you.
So Al-Abbas ransomed himself, his two nephews and an ally, and Allah revealed this verse,
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّمَن فِي أَيْدِيكُم مِّنَ الَاسْرَى إِن يَعْلَمِ اللّهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ خَيْرًا يُوْتِكُمْ خَيْرًا مِّمَّا أُخِذَ مِنكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
O Prophet! Say to the captives that are in your hands:""If Allah knows any good in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken from you, and He will forgive you, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."" (8:70)
Al-Abbas commented, `After I became Muslim, Allah gave me twenty servants in place of the twenty Uwqiyah I lost. And I hope for Allah's forgiveness.""
Al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Al-Bayhaqi recorded, that Anas bin Malik said,
""The Prophet was brought some wealth from Bahrain and said;
انْثُرُوهُ فِي مَسجِدِي
Distribute it in my Masjid,
and it was the biggest amount of goods Allah's Messenger had ever received. He left for prayer and did not even look at the goods. After finishing the prayer, he sat by those goods and gave some of it to everybody he ﷺ Al-Abbas came to him and said, `O Allah's Messenger! give me (something) too, because I gave ransom for myself and Aqil.'
Allah's Messenger told him to take. So he stuffed his garment with it and tried to carry it away but he failed to do so.
He said, `Order someone to help me in lifting it.'
The Prophet refused.
He then said to the Prophet, `Will you please help me to lift it!'
Allah's Messenger refused.
Then Al-Abbas dropped some of it and lifted it on his shoulders and went away.
Allah's Messenger kept on watching him till he disappeared from his sight and was astonished at his greediness. Allah's Messenger did not get up until the last coin was distributed.""
Al-Bukhari also collected this Hadith in several places of his Sahih with an abridged chain, in a manner indicating his approval of it.
Allah said
وَإِن يُرِيدُواْ خِيَانَتَكَ فَقَدْ خَانُواْ اللّهَ مِن قَبْلُ
But if they intend to betray you, they indeed betrayed Allah before,
meaning,
وَإِن يُرِيدُواْ خِيَانَتَكَ
(But if they intend to betray you) in contradiction to what they declare to you by words.
فَقَدْ خَانُواْ اللّهَ مِن قَبْلُ
(they indeed betrayed Allah before), the battle of Badr by committing disbelief in Him,
فَأَمْكَنَ مِنْهُمْ
So He gave (you) power over them,
causing them to be captured in Badr,
وَاللّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
And Allah is All-Knower, All-Wise.
He is Ever Aware of his actions and All-Wise in what He decides."
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