to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saying, “Restrain those who have come and embraced Islam, and cancel the condition.” So he did. The incident involving Abu Basir, may Allah be pleased with him, was as follows: Abu Basir came from Quraysh as a Muslim, so they sent two men in pursuit of him. As soon as he arrived in Madinah, the two men also arrived. They asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to return to them the man who had come as a Muslim, and he returned him to them in accordance with the condition.
While they were on the road and had sat down to eat lunch, he said to one of them, “Show me your sword; it is a fine sword.” The man showed it to him, thinking, “This man is our captive.” When Abu Basir took it, he struck him on the neck with it and severed his head. The other man fled to Madinah and came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Abu Basir then caught up with him and said, “O Messenger of Allah, Allah has discharged you of your obligation and enabled you to fulfill your covenant: you returned me to them, but Allah saved me from them.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Woe to his mother! What a firebrand of war he would be, if only he had supporters.”
Abu Basir, may Allah be pleased with him, understood that the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, would return him to them, so he left Madinah and settled at a coastal place. Whenever a Quraysh caravan passed by him, he raided it and seized it. Some young men from the people of Makkah heard of him and went out to join him, until they became a group. Quraysh was then unable to deal with them, and the matter ended with their being allowed to return to Madinah (1). All praise is due to Allah.
His statement: “And he secretly instructs him to fight them and flee from them,” means: We hand him over to them and say, “If you are able to kill one of them or fight them, then do so; or if you are able to flee from them, then do so—but go somewhere they cannot reach you. Do not come to us, for if you come to us, we will return you to them.”
His statement: “If an enslaved person flees and embraces Islam, he is not returned, and he is free,” means: he fled