A difficult trial, whoever erred in it had his blood shed. However, Allah sent His Prophet to a people who did not know, so He taught them, and to a people who had no etiquette, so He disciplined them.

4474 - Muhammad ibn al-'Abbas, the freed slave of Banu Hashim, narrated to us, Muhammad ibn 'Amr narrated to us, Zunayj narrated to us, Salamah narrated to us, Muhammad ibn Ishaq said regarding His saying: "And indeed, they had been before in manifest error," meaning: In the blindness of Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance), you did not know any good, nor did you seek forgiveness for any evil.

His saying, the Exalted: "Have you when a disaster struck you, [although] you had struck [the enemy] with one twice as great?"

4475 - Muhammad ibn Sa'd al-'Awfi informed us in what he wrote to me, my father narrated to me, my uncle al-Husayn narrated to us, from his father, from his grandfather, from Ibn 'Abbas regarding His saying: "Have you when a disaster struck you, [although] you had struck [the enemy] with one twice as great? You said, 'From where is this?' Say, 'It is from yourselves.'" He says: You struck the polytheists on the day of Badr with twice as much as they struck you on the day of Uhud. A similar report was narrated from Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah, 'Ikrimah, al-Suddi, Qatadah, al-Dahhak, and al-Rabi' ibn Anas.

4476 - al-Hasan ibn Ahmad narrated to us, Musa ibn Muhkam narrated to us, Abu Bakr al-Hanafi narrated to us, 'Abbad ibn Mansur narrated to us, he said: I asked al-Hasan about His saying: "Have you when a disaster struck you, [although] you had struck [the enemy] with one twice as great?" He said: When they saw those who were killed among them on the day of Uhud, they said: "From where is this? It was not for the disbelievers to kill us." So when Allah saw what they said regarding that, Allah said: They are [referring to] the captives whom you took on the day of Badr. Allah returned that to them, and hastened that for them in the world so that they may be spared from it in the Hereafter.

4477 - Muhammad ibn al-'Abbas, the freed slave of Banu Hashim, narrated to us, Zunayj narrated to us, Salamah narrated to us, Muhammad ibn Ishaq said, then he mentioned the disaster that befell them and said: "Have you when a disaster struck you, [although] you had struck [the enemy] with one twice as great?" Meaning: If a disaster has not struck you regarding your brethren, then it is due to your sins; for you had struck twice as much before from your enemy on the day that preceded it at Badr, in deaths and captives, and you forgot your disobedience and your defiance of what your Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, commanded you—you brought this upon yourselves.

His saying, the Exalted: "They were, that day, nearer to disbelief than to faith."