the most cowardly among you.”

Abū Jahl heard of this and said, “You say such a thing? By Allah, had anyone else spoken it I would have set upon him! Your belly is full of terror.” ʿUtbah replied, “Do you mean me, O pale-bottomed one? Today you will know which of us is the greater coward!”

ʿUtbah, his son al-Walīd, and his brother Shaybah then stepped forward and called out, “Who will duel with us?” Some young men of the Anṣār came out, but ʿUtbah said, “We do not want these; let those who are our own kinsmen face us.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Rise, ʿAlī; rise, Ḥamzah; rise, ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith.” Allah caused ʿUtbah and Shaybah the sons of Rabīʿah, and al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah, to be killed, while ʿUbaydah was wounded.

We killed seventy of them and captured seventy. A short man from the Anṣār came leading a prisoner from Banū Hāshim. The captive protested, “By Allah, this man did not seize me; a bald man of surpassing handsomeness on a piebald horse captured me, and I do not see him among the people.” The Anṣārī said, “I am the one who captured him, Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet replied, “Be quiet; a noble angel assisted you.” Among those taken prisoner from Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib were al-ʿAbbās, ʿAqīl, and Nawfal ibn al-Ḥārith.

Ishāq ibn Manṣūr al-Sulūlī reported: Isrāʾīl narrated to us, from Abū Isḥāq, from Abū ʿUbaydah, from ʿAbd Allāh, who said: “On the Day of Badr they were made to appear few in our eyes. I even asked the man beside me, ‘Do you think they are seventy?’ He replied, ‘I think they are one hundred.’ We later captured a man and I asked him, ‘How many were you?’ He said, ‘One thousand.’”

Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah narrated, from Thābit, from Anas, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said on the Day of Badr, “Rise toward a Garden whose width is that of the heavens and the earth.” ʿUmayr ibn al-Ḥumām al-Anṣārī asked, “Messenger of Allah, a Garden whose width is that of the heavens and the earth?” He replied, “Yes.” ʿUmayr exclaimed, “Bravo, bravo!” The Prophet asked, “What prompts you to say, ‘Bravo, bravo’?” He answered, “Nothing, by Allah, Messenger of Allah, but the hope that I might be among its people.” The Prophet said, “You are indeed one of its people.”