The total number of the notables of the unbelievers who were killed at Badr reached seventy, even though a thousand angels were present on the battlefield. Yet Allah’s prior decree concerning those who remained alive was that many of them would later embrace Islam. Had Allah willed, He could have sent a single angel to annihilate them to the last man; instead, only those who were utterly bereft of good were slain. Among the angels that day was Gabriel—he whom Allah, exalted is He, once commanded to uproot the cities of the people of Lot, seven towns altogether. In them were nations, livestock, soil, and crops—only Allah knows their full number. Gabriel lifted them on the tip of his wing until they reached the clouds, then turned them upside-down and followed them with the stones marked for them, as we have detailed earlier in the story of Lot’s people (1).

Allah has ordained the believers’ jihad against the disbelievers and has set down its ruling, saying:
“So when you meet those who disbelieve, strike at their necks; and when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind them firmly. Thereafter, either show them grace or ransom them, until the war lays down its burdens. That is so. Had Allah willed, He could have exacted vengeance upon them Himself, but He has done this in order to test some of you by means of others.” (Q 47:4)

He also says:
“Fight them: Allah will punish them at your hands, disgrace them, grant you victory over them, heal the breasts of a believing people, remove the rage from their hearts, and Allah turns in mercy to whom He wills.” (Q 9:14–15)

Abū Jahl was killed by a young man from the Anṣār. Afterwards, ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd stood over him, grasped his beard, and set his foot upon his chest. Abū Jahl said, “You have climbed a difficult height, O little shepherd!” Ibn Masʿūd then severed his head, carried it, and laid it before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, whereupon Allah healed the hearts of the believers. This was far more telling than if a thunderbolt had struck him, a roof had collapsed upon him, or he had died quietly in his sleep—and Allah knows best.

Ibn Isḥāq (2) records that among those killed at Badr alongside the idolaters were a number of men who were actually Muslims. They had gone out with Quraysh only to avert persecution, for they had been oppressed and pressured into abandoning their faith. They included al-Ḥārith ibn Zamʿah ibn al-Aswad, Abū Qays ibn al-Fākih, [Abū Qays ibn al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah] (3), ʿAlī ibn Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and al-ʿĀṣ ibn Munabbih ibn al-Ḥajjāj. Concerning them the verse was revealed: “Indeed, those whom the angels take while they have wronged themselves—the angels will ask, ‘In what condition were you?’ They will reply, ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ The angels will say, ‘Was not Allah’s earth spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?’ For such, their refuge is Hell—what an evil destination!” (Q 4:97).

The number of prisoners that day was also seventy, as will be discussed later, Allah willing. Among them were members of the Prophet’s own clan: his uncle al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, his cousin ʿAqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib, and Nawfal ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.

Al-Shāfiʿī, al-Bukhārī (4), and others deduced from this that merely owning a close relative who is a maḥram does not automatically set him free.