It is also related through Ibn ʿAbbās and Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said, “If I should gain mastery over Quraysh, I will surely mutilate seventy of them.” Thereupon Allah revealed, “If you retaliate, then retaliate only to the extent that you were wronged; but if you endure patiently, that is better for those who are patient.” (1)
ʿAbdān reported: ʿĪsā ibn ʿUbayd al-Kindī informed us, Rabīʿ ibn Anas narrated to me, Abū al-ʿĀliyah narrated to me from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb:
On the day of Uḥud seventy men from the Anṣār were slain, and their dead were mutilated. The Anṣār said, “If ever we gain the upper hand over them, we shall outdo them in vengeance.”
When the day of the Conquest of Mecca came, an unidentified man twice cried out, “No Quraysh after today!” Then Allah sent down to His Prophet the verse, “If you retaliate…” and the Prophet ﷺ said, “Restrain yourselves from the people.” (2)
(1) Al-Hakim records the report (3/197) through the chain: Khalid ibn Khaddash – Salih al-Marri – Sulayman al-Taymi – Abu Uthman al-Nahdi – Abu Hurayra. It relates that on the day of Uhud the Prophet looked at Hamza, who had been killed and mutilated, and saw a sight that had never been more painful or alarming to him. He said: “May Allah’s mercy be upon you; you upheld family ties and were constant in good works. Were it not for the sorrow people would feel after you, I would have left you until you were carried away by many mouths.” Then, while still standing, he swore, “By Allah, I shall mutilate seventy of them in your stead.” At that very spot the Quran was revealed: “If you retaliate, then retaliate with the like of that with which you were afflicted; but if you are patient, that is better for those who are patient…” (al-Nahl 126-128) until the end of the surah. The Messenger of Allah then expiated his oath and abandoned what he had intended.
The isnad is weak because of Salih al-Marri, a point on which al-Dhahabi concurred. Ibn Kathir cited it in his Tafsir (2/592) through al-Bazzar and likewise graded it weak for the same reason. Al-Suyuti mentioned it in ad-Durr al-Manthur (4/135) and traced it to Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Tabarani, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqi in Dalail an-Nubuwwa. The text itself is also flawed, as Ibn Kathir observes in his Sira (2/79): the verse is Meccan, whereas the battle of Uhud occurred three years after the Hijra; how can the two coincide?
Al-Suyuti likewise cites the report from Ibn Abbas in ad-Durr al-Manthur (4/135) and attributes it to Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Tabarani, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqi in Dalail an-Nubuwwa.
(2) The chain of transmission is sound (hasan). The hadith is also found in Ahmad (5/135); al-Tirmidhi (no. 3128, Tafsir, “Chapter on Surat al-Naml”), who judged it “hasan gharib” from Ubayy ibn Kab; al-Hakim (2/359); and Ibn Hibban (no. 1695). Al-Suyuti records it in ad-Durr al-Manthur (4/135) and further attributes it to al-Nasa’i, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqi in Dalail an-Nubuwwa.