—the letter.’ She untied it from her hair.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then summoned Ḥāṭib; when the letter had been read aloud to him, he admitted it. He asked, “What led you to do this?”
Ḥāṭib replied, “I have relatives and children in Mecca, and I was a stranger among you, people of Quraysh.”
ʿUmar said, “O Messenger of Allah, grant me permission to kill him.”
He answered, “No. He fought at Badr, and you do not know—perhaps Allah has already looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish, for I have forgiven you.’” (1)
Its chain of transmission is sound, and the original wording is found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. (2)
Some of his freedmen once came to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb complaining that he did not provide for their upkeep, so ʿUmar reproached him for that.
His son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was born during the Prophet’s lifetime and thus qualifies as one who saw him.
From ʿAbd al-Raḥmān transmit his own son—the jurist Yaḥyā—ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, and others.
He died in 68 AH.
Ḥāṭib himself passed away in 30 AH.
(1) Reported by al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (no. 3066); also by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak, 3/301–302. Al-Haythami cites it in Majma al-Zawaid, 9/304, and remarks: “It is narrated by al-Tabarani in both al-Kabir and al-Awsat, and all the transmitters are trustworthy.”
(2) The hadith is found in al-Bukhari, 7/400–401: Book of Maghazi, chapters “The Expedition of Uhud” and “The Merit of Those Who Attended Badr”; in the Book of Jihad, chapters “The Spy” and “When a Man Is Forced to Look at the Hair of People under Muslim Protection or Disobedient Believing Women and to Uncover Them”; in the tafsir of Surah al-Mumtahana at its opening; in the Book of Seeking Permission, chapter “One Who Examines a Document from a Muslim He Fears in Order to Clarify His Case”; and in the Book of Calling Apostates to Repentance, chapter “Reports on Those Who Misinterpret the Texts.” Muslim also records it (no. 2494) in the Book of the Virtues of the Companions, chapter “Some Virtues of the People of Badr.” For scholarly discussion of the phrase “Do whatever you wish, for I have forgiven you,” see Fath al-Bari, 8/487.