before that; they merely compelled me.”

He ﷺ replied, “Allah knows best about your state. If what you claim is true, Allah will reward you for it; but outwardly you stood against us, so ransom yourself.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ already knew that al-‘Abbās had taken twenty uqiyyas of gold with him. I said (1), “O Messenger of Allah, count them toward my ransom.”

He said, “No. That is something Allah has granted us from you.”

I said, “But I have no other wealth!”

He responded, “Where is the money you left in Mecca with Umm al-Faḍl, when no one but the two of you was present, and you said, ‘If anything happens to me on this journey, al-Faḍl is to receive such-and-such, Qutham such-and-such, and ʿAbdullāh such-and-such’?”

I declared, “By Him who sent you with the truth, no one knew of this except her. I now know for certain that you are the Messenger of Allah.” (2)

Yūnus ibn Bukayr narrated—on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās related to me, from ʿIkrima, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

Quraysh (3) sent to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning the ransom of their captives. Each clan ransomed its own prisoner for whatever sum they mutually agreed upon. Al-‘Abbās said, “O Messenger of Allah, I had already become a Muslim….” He went on until he said—and the verse was revealed:

“O Prophet, say to those captives (4) who are in your hands: ‘If Allah knows of any good in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken from you and will forgive you.’” (al-Anfāl 70)

He added, “Allah gave me, in place of the twenty uqiyyas of gold, twenty slaves in Islam,