the revelation came down—the harshest words He ever addressed to anyone—saying: “They will swear to you by Allah, when you return to them, so that you may turn away from them. Turn away from them, for they are impure, and their refuge is Hell—a recompense for what they used to earn. They will swear to you so that you may be pleased with them; but even if you are pleased with them, Allah is never pleased with defiantly disobedient people” (Qurʾan 9:95–96).

Kaʿb went on: “We three were set aside—meaning myself and my two companions—apart from those whose excuses the Messenger of Allah ﷺ accepted when they swore to him. He postponed judgment on our case until Allah decided the matter. Concerning this Allah the Exalted revealed: ‘and (He also turned in mercy) to the three who were left behind’ (Qurʾan 9:118). What Allah mentioned was not that we lagged behind the campaign itself; rather, it was that He left our affair unresolved and delayed its verdict, unlike those who stayed back, offered an excuse, and were pardoned by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” (Agreed upon.)

The death of ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy
Yūnus ibn Bukayr related from Ibn Isḥāq, who said: al-Zuhrī told me, from ʿUrwah, from Usāmah ibn Zayd: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went in to visit ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy during the illness from which he died. When he recognized that death was imminent, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “By Allah, I had forbidden you to love the Jews.” ʿAbd Allah replied, “Asʿad ibn Zurārah disliked them—so what?”

Al-Wāqidī said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl fell ill toward the end of Shawwāl and died in Dhū al-Qaʿdah; his illness lasted twenty nights, during which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ visited him. On the day he died the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered while he was struggling for breath and said, “Did I not forbid you from loving the Jews?” He answered, “Asʿad hated them, but what good did that do him?” Then he added, “Messenger of Allah, this is no time for reproach; it is…"