so I may strike his neck. For these are the leaders of disbelief, its chieftains, and its commanders. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) inclined toward what Abu Bakr had said and did not incline toward what I had said. When the next day came, I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and Abu Bakr sitting and weeping. I said: O Messenger of Allah, tell me, why are you and your companion weeping? If I find a reason to weep, I will weep, and if I do not find a reason, I will feign weeping out of sympathy for your weeping. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

I am weeping for that which your companions presented to me regarding taking the ransom. Indeed, your punishment was presented to me closer than this tree—a tree near the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)—and Allah the Almighty revealed: "It is not for a prophet to have captives until he has thoroughly slaughtered [the enemies] in the land..." [up to the end of] the verse.

9151 - My father narrated to us, ‘Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us, Jarir narrated to us from al-A’mash, from ‘Amr ibn Murrah, from Abu ‘Ubaydah, from ‘Abd Allah, who said: When it was the day of Badr and the captives were brought, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "What do you say regarding these captives?" Abu Bakr said: O Messenger of Allah, they are your people and your kin; keep them and be patient with them, perhaps Allah will accept their repentance. Then ‘Umar said:

O Messenger of Allah, they cast you out and denied you, so strike their necks. Then ‘Abd Allah ibn Rawahah said: O Messenger of Allah, I see a valley with much firewood, so put them into it and ignite a fire upon them. Al-‘Abbas, who was among the captives, said: You hear what they are saying—you have severed your kinship! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) remained silent and did not answer them anything. Then some people said: He will accept the view of Abu Bakr; some said: He will accept the view of ‘Umar; and some said: He will accept the view of Ibn Rawahah. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) then came out to them and said:

Verily, Allah softens the hearts of some men regarding this, until they are softer than softness, and verily, Allah makes the hearts of some men firm regarding this, until they are harder than stone. And your likeness, O Abu Bakr, is as that of Abraham, who said: "Then whoever follows me, he is of me, and whoever disobeys me, indeed You are Forgiving, Merciful" (1). And your likeness, O Abu Bakr, is as that of Jesus, who said: "If You punish them, indeed they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, indeed it is You who are the Exalted in Might, the Wise" (2). And your likeness, O ‘Umar, is as that of Noah, who said: "My Lord, do not leave upon the earth any of the disbelievers as an inhabitant."