When the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw how deeply stricken he was, they said, “If we overcome them, we shall surely mutilate them in a way that no Arab has ever inflicted upon anyone.”
So Allah revealed: “If you retaliate, then retaliate with the like of what you were afflicted with” (Qur’an 16:126) to the end of the surah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then forgave them. (1)
Abu Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated from Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās:
“When Hamzah was killed, his sister Ṣafiyyah came. She met ʿAlī and al-Zubayr and they pretended not to know where he lay. She went to the Prophet ﷺ, and he said, ‘I fear that she may lose her reason.’ He placed his hand upon her chest and prayed for her; she said, ‘To Allah we belong and to Him we return,’ and she wept.
“Then the Prophet came, stood over Hamzah—who had been mutilated—and said, ‘Were it not for the grief of women, I would leave him until he were gathered from the crops of birds and the bellies of beasts.’
“He then ordered that the slain be brought forward. He would perform the funeral prayer over them with seven takbīrs, after which they would be taken away while Hamzah remained. Then another seven would be brought and he would pronounce seven takbīrs over them, and so on until he had finished with all of them.” (2)
(1) In its mursal form the report is not valid, for the transmitter Burayda b. Sufyan b. Furwa al-Aslami was deemed weak by more than one critic. Al-Daraqutni ruled: “He is to be abandoned.” Al-Bukhari wrote concerning him: “There is a problem.” Al-‘Uqayli reported that when Ahmad was asked about his hadith he replied: “A calamity.” See also Ibn Hisham, 2/96.
(2) Ibn Majah related it (no. 1513) in abridged form in the Book of Funerals, chapter “What is reported about praying over and burying the martyrs”; it is also found in Ibn Sa‘d, 3/1/7, and al-Hakim, 3/197, who remained silent about it. Al-Dhahabi remarked: “Abu Bakr b. ‘Ayyash heard it from Yazid, and neither is dependable.” The report is likewise transmitted by al-Tahawi, 1/503; al-Daraqutni, 2/474; and al-Bayhaqi, 4/12, the latter commenting: “I know it only through Abu Bakr b. ‘Ayyash from Yazid b. Abi Ziyad, and both had poor memories.” Nevertheless, the hadith is strengthened by supporting narrations. In the same connection there is a report from Ibn Mas‘ud, recorded by Ahmad, 1/463: ‘Affan b. Muslim told us, from Hammad b. Salama, from ‘Ata b. al-Sa’ib, from al-Sha‘bi, from Ibn Mas‘ud, that on the day of Uhud the women stood behind the Muslims finishing off the wounded idolaters. “Had I sworn that day,” he said, “I would have hoped to be truthful in saying that none of us desired the world until God Most High revealed: ‘Among you are those who desire the world and among you are those who desire the hereafter; then He turned you back from them to test you’ (Q 3:152). When the Prophet’s Companions disobeyed the order given to them, the Messenger of God ﷺ was left with only nine men: seven from the Ansar and two from Quraysh, and I was the tenth. When the enemy pressed upon him he said, ‘May God have mercy on the man who drives them away from us.’ An Ansari stood up, fought for a while, and was killed. They pressed forward again, and he repeated, ‘May God have mercy on the man who drives them away from us,’ and he kept saying this until the seven were slain. The Prophet ﷺ then said to his companion, ‘Our comrades have not treated us fairly.’ Abu Sufyan then came forward saying, ‘Exalt Hubal!’ The Messenger of God ﷺ said, ‘Say: God is higher and more majestic.’ They therefore replied, ‘God is higher and more majestic.’ Abu Sufyan said, ‘We have al-‘Uzza, whereas you have no ‘Uzza.’ The Messenger of God ﷺ said, ‘Say: …’