On the day of Badr, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) looked at his companions and they were three hundred and some, then he looked at the mushrikeen and saw that they were one thousand or more. The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) turned to face the qiblah, then he stretched forth his hands, wearing his upper and lower garment, and he said: “O Allah, where is Your promise to me? O Allah, accomplish for me what You have promised me! O Allah, if this small band of Muslims is destroyed, You will never be worshiped on earth.” He kept beseeching his Lord, calling out to Him, until his upper garment fell from his shoulders. Abu Bakr came to him, picked up his upper garment and put it back on him. Then he embraced him from behind and said, “O Prophet of Allah, this prayer of yours to your Lord will suffice, for He will accomplish for you what He has promised to you.” Then Allah revealed the words: “(Remember) when you sought help of your Lord and He answered you (saying): ‘I will help you with a thousand of the angels each behind the other (following one another) in succession’” (al-Anfal 8:9). On that day when the armies met (in battle), Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, caused the mushrikeen to be defeated, seventy of their men were killed and seventy were taken captive. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) consulted Abu Bakr, ‘Ali and ʼUmar (concerning the prisoners). Abu Bakr said, “O Prophet of Allah, they are our cousins, kinsmen and brothers. I think that you should accept a ransom for them, which will strengthen us against the kuffar, and perhaps Allah will guide them to Islam and they will become a support to us.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “What do you think, O son of al-Khattab?” I said: No, by Allah. I do not think as Abu Bakr thinks. I think that you should hand so and so—a relative of ‘Umar's—to me so that I may strike his neck, You should hand ‘Aqeel over to ‘Ali so that he may strike his neck, and you should hand over so and so to Hamzah (his brother) so that he may strike his neck, so that Allah will know that we have no mercy in our hearts towards the mushrikeen; these are their prominent figures and leaders. But the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) inclined towards the view of Abu Bakr, and he did not incline towards what I said, and accepted ransoms from them. The next day. I came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and found him with Abu Bakr, and they were both weeping. I said, “O Messenger ...

I never remained behind Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) from any expedition which he undertook except the Battle of Tabuk and that of the Battle of Badr. So far as the Battle of Badr is concerned, nobody was blamed for remaining behind as Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and the Muslims (did not set out for attack but for waylaying) the caravan of the Quraish, but it was Allah Who made them confront their enemies without their intention (to do so). I had the honour to be with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the night of 'Aqaba when we pledged our allegiance to Islam and it was more dear to me than my participation in the Battle of Badr, although Badr was more popular amongst people as compared with that (Tabuk). And this is my story of remaining back from Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the occasion of the Battle of Tabuk. Never did I possess means enough and (my circumstances) more favourable than at the occasion of this expedition. And, by Allah, I had never before this expedition simultaneously in my possession two rides. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) set out for this expedition in extremely hot season; the journey was long and the land (which he and his army had to cover) was waterless and he had to confront a large army, so he informed the Muslims about the actual situation (they had to face), so that they should adequately equip themselves for this expedition, and he also told them the destination where he intended to go. And the Muslims who accompanied Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) at that time were large in numbers but there was no proper record of them. Ka'b (further) said: Few were the persons who wanted to absent themselves, and were under the impression that they could easily conceal themselves (and thus remain undetected) until revelations from Allah, the Exalted and Glorious (descended in connection with them). And Allah's Messenger (may peace ...

"A man came to 'Abdullah and said: 'A story teller has said that a smoke will appear from the earth, taking the hearing of disbelievers and manifesting as a cold for the believers.'" He became angry, and since he was reclining, he sat up then said: 'When one of you is asked about something he knows, then let him speak accordingly' - Mansur (one of the narrators) narrated it as: "Then let him inform of it" - "And when asked about what he does not know, then let him say: "Allah knows best." For indeed, it is part of a man's knowledge, that when he is asked about something he does not know, he says: "Allah knows best." For verily Allah, Most High said to His Prophet: Say: "No wage do I ask of you for this, nor am I one of the pretenders (38:86)." When the Messenger of Allah (SAW) saw that the Quraish were behaving stubbornly with him, he said: "O Allah! Assist me against them with seven (years of famine) like the seven of Yusuf." So He punished them with drought making everything barren, until they ate skins and carcasses" - one of them said: "bones." He said: 'And it appeared that smoke was coming out of the earth. So Abu Sufyan came to him and said: "Verily your people are being destroyed, so supplicate to Allah for them." He said: "So this is about His saying: 'The Day when the sky will bring forth a visible smoke, covering the people, this is a painful torment (44:10 & 11).'" Mansur narrated it as: "So this is about His saying: Our Lord! Remove the torment from us, really we shall become believers (44:12)." - "So shall the punishment be removed from them in the Hereafter? Al-Batshah (humiliated defeat in Badr), Al-Lizam (disbeliever captives from Badr), the smoke," - one of them said: "The moon" the other said: "The Romans have all passed."