In another account, he called out to them in the dead of night: “O ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, O Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, O Umayyah ibn Khalaf, O Abū Jahl ibn Hishām,” naming each of those who lay in the well.
Ibn Isḥāq adds: One of the scholars related to me that he ﷺ also said, “O people of the pit, what an evil clan you proved to be for your prophet! You accused me of lying while others believed me; you cast me out while others sheltered me; you fought me while others came to my aid.”
Anas reports: When ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah was dragged to the pit, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ looked at his son Abū Hudhayfah and saw that his face had fallen and changed color. He said, “Perhaps something about your father is troubling you?” Abū Hudhayfah replied, “By Allah, I have never doubted my father or the manner of his death. Yet I knew him to be a man of sound judgment and forbearance, and I had hoped he would embrace Islam. When I saw what befell him and the state in which he died, that saddened me.” The Prophet then prayed for him and spoke kindly to him.
Al-Ḥārith ibn Rabīʿah ibn al-Aswad, Abū Qays ibn al-Fākih ibn al-Mughīrah, Abū Qays ibn al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, ʿAlī ibn Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and al-ʿĀṣ ibn Munabbih ibn al-Ḥajjāj had all accepted Islam. When the Prophet ﷺ emigrated, however, their fathers and clans detained them, pressured them, and turned them away from the faith, so they apostatized—we seek refuge in Allah from the trial that endangers one’s religion.
They then marched out with their people at Badr and were all slain. Concerning them the verse was revealed: “Surely, those whose souls the angels take while they have wronged themselves…” (Qur’an 4:97).
ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit said, “Al-Anfāl was revealed about us, the people of Badr, when we disputed over the spoils and our manners deteriorated. Allah therefore removed the matter from our hands and placed it with His Messenger, and he distributed the booty equally among the Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ then sent ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah and Zayd ibn Ḥārithah as bearers of glad tidings to—"