1118 – Saʿīd ibn Jubayr reported: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ executed three men on the Day of Badr ṣabran (after they had been taken captive).” Abū Dāwūd recorded it in al-Marāsīl, and its transmitters are trustworthy. (1)

Status of the report:
It is mursal, though its narrators are reliable.

Ibn Ḥajar states in al-Talkhīṣ: In Abū Dāwūd’s al-Marāsīl there is the narration from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ executed three men of Quraysh on the Day of Badr ṣabran: al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdī, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ.”

The wording “al-Muṭʿim” is a scribal error; the correct name is Tuʿaymah ibn ʿAdī. Ibn Abī Shaybah related it with this reading, and al-Ṭabarānī supplied a connected chain that mentions Ibn ʿAbbās. Al-Ḥāfiẓ commented: “Its transmitters are trustworthy, but I have not located its isnād.” The story of these three being executed ṣabran is transmitted through several routes and is well-known, yet every route contains a break, an omission, or a weakness.

Shaykh al-Albānī writes: “In short, despite its fame in the sīrah sources, I have found no chain that provides decisive proof for this story—the execution of ʿUqbah and al-Naḍr. As for what Abū Dāwūd recorded concerning ʿUqbah alone, through the report of ʿAmr ibn Murrah from Ibrāhīm: al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays wished to appoint Masrūq, whereupon ʿAmmār ibn ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ said, ‘Will you put in charge a man who is one of the remnants of those who slew ʿUthmān?’ Masrūq replied, ‘ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd narrated to us that whenever the Prophet ﷺ intended to execute your father he would ask, “Who will look after the children?” and the answer would be, “The Fire.”’”

I say: This isnād is sound; its narrators are trustworthy, being the men relied upon by the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim). End of citation.