“Who took you captive?”
I replied, “I do not know,” for I was reluctant to describe what I had witnessed.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “An angel from among the angels captured you. Take your prisoner, Ibn ʿAwf.”
Al-Wāqidī also relates: ʿĀʾidh ibn Yaḥyā told me, Abū al-Ḥuwayrith narrated to us, from ʿUmārah ibn Ukaymah, from Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, who said:
On the Day of Badr, while we were in the valley of Khalaṣ, I saw a vast covering descend from the sky until it blocked the horizon. Then the valley seemed to swarm like ants. I felt certain that this was something sent from heaven in support of Muḥammad; scarcely had that occurred to me when the enemy collapsed in defeat, and the angels engaged them.
Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh likewise reports: Wahb ibn Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying, “My father told me, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from his father, from Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim, who said:
Before the enemy routed, while the people were still fighting, I saw something like a black mantle descend from the sky, resembling a swarm of black ants. I had no doubt that they were the angels, and soon afterward the enemy was put to flight.”
When the angels descended to grant victory and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ perceived them, he dozed briefly and then awoke, giving Abu Bakr glad tidings:
“Rejoice, Abu Bakr! Here is Gabriel leading his horse, dust upon his fore-teeth.”
He meant dust from the battle. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then came out of the command shelter wearing his coat of mail. He urged the believers on to fight, promised them Paradise, and emboldened them with the news of the angels’ descent. The troops were still in their ranks and had not yet charged the enemy, yet tranquility and reassurance settled upon them. A gentle drowsiness overtook them—a sure sign of calm, steadfastness, and faith—as He, the Exalted, says: “When He caused drowsiness to overcome you as a security from Him” (8:11).
The same blessing came to them later at Uḥud, as the Qur’an affirms. Hence Ibn Masʿūd said, “Drowsiness on the battle line is from faith, whereas drowsiness in prayer is from hypocrisy.”
And Allah the Exalted says: “If you sought a decisive judgment, the decisive judgment has now come to you. But if you desist, that is better for you; and if you return, We will return, and your forces, even if many, will not avail you at all. And Allah is with the believers.” (8:19)