He said: When evening fell on the Day of Badr and the prisoners were held fast in their bonds, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained awake during the first part of the night. His Companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what keeps you from sleep?” He replied,

“I can hear the groaning of my uncle al-‘Abbās in his fetters.”

They therefore loosed his bonds, the groaning ceased, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was able to sleep.

Ibn Isḥāq states: He (al-‘Abbās) was a wealthy man, so he ransomed himself with one hundred uqiyyahs of gold.

I (the author) say: This hundred covered his own ransom, that of his two nephews ‘Aqīl and Nawfal, and that of his confederate ‘Utbah ibn ʿAmr—one of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Fihr—as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ directed him when al-‘Abbās claimed to have already embraced Islam. The Prophet ﷺ said to him:

“Outwardly you were against us; Allah knows best your inner state and will requite you for it.”

Al-‘Abbās then claimed he had no money, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Where is the wealth you and Umm al-Faḍl buried, when you told her: ‘If anything happens to me on this journey, this is for my sons—al-Faḍl, ʿAbd Allah, and Qutham’?”

Al-‘Abbās responded, “By Allah, I now know you are truly the Messenger of Allah; no one knew of this matter except Umm al-Faḍl and me.” Ibn Isḥāq transmitted it from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbās.

It is authentically established in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, through the route of Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, that al-Zuhrī narrated: Anas ibn Mālik said, “Some men from the Anṣār sought permission from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying, ‘Allow us to forgo the ransom of our nephew al-‘Abbās.’ He replied,

‘No, by Allah, you will not leave a single dirham of it.’”

Al-Bukhārī also said: Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭahmān narrated from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ṣuhayb, from Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ was once brought a large sum of money from Bahrain. He said,

“Scatter it in the mosque,”

and it was the greatest amount of wealth ever brought to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Al-‘Abbās came and said, “O Messenger of Allah, give me something, for I ransomed myself and I ransomed ʿAqīl.” He said,

“Take.”

Al-‘Abbās scooped the money into his cloak and tried to lift it but could not. He said, “Instruct someone to help me raise it onto my back.” The Prophet ﷺ replied,

“No.”

Al-‘Abbās said, “Then you lift it onto me.” He answered,

“No.”

Al-‘Abbās threw out some of it, tried again to lift it, and still could not. He repeated, “Instruct someone to help me.” The Prophet ﷺ said,

“No.”

He said, “Then you lift it onto me.” He replied,

“No.”

Al-‘Abbās threw out more, shouldered what remained, and departed. The Messenger of Allah kept watching him until he disappeared from view, amazed at his eagerness. He did not rise from where he was sitting until not a single dirham of that money remained.

Al-Bayhaqī relates: Al-Ḥākim informed us, and al-Aṣamm narrated from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Yūnus, from Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr, from Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī, who said: “The ransom for al-‘Abbās and his two nephews—ʿAqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib and Nawfal ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib—was set at four hundred dinars for each man.” Then Allah, Exalted is He, threatened the others, saying:

“And if they intend to betray you, then they have already betrayed Allah before, and He enabled you to prevail over them; and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (Q 8:71)