I said: Allah only made Muslim women unlawful for polytheists in the year of al-Hudaybiyah, the sixth year after the Hijrah, as will be explained, God willing.
Ibn Isḥāq said (1): Yahyā ibn ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr related to me, from his father, from ʿĀ’ishah, who said:
When the people of Mecca dispatched the ransom for their prisoners, Zaynab, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, sent wealth to ransom Abū al-ʿĀṣ, and in it she placed a necklace that Khadījah had given her when she married him.
She said: When the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—saw the necklace, his heart was filled with tenderness and he said,
“If you see fit to release her captive and return to her what is hers, then do so.”
They replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah,” and they set him free and returned her property.
Ibn Isḥāq said (2): Among those whose names have reached us whom the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—released without ransom were: from Banū Umayyah, Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ; and from Banū Makhzūm, al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ḥanṭab ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmar ibn Makhzūm. He had been captured by men of the Banū [al-Ḥārith] of al-Khazraj, who kept him in their custody until they set him free, whereupon he joined his people.
Ibn Isḥāq said (4): The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—had also exacted from Abū al-ʿĀṣ a pledge to release Zaynab, meaning that he would allow her to emigrate to Madinah, and Abū al-ʿĀṣ fulfilled that pledge, as will be recounted. Ibn Isḥāq records the story here, but we have postponed it to a more suitable place—Allah knows best.
We have already mentioned how al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet’s uncle, ransomed himself and ʿAqīl and Nawfal, the sons of his two brothers, for one hundred uqiyyahs (ounces) of gold.
Ibn Hishām said (5): The one who captured him was Abū Ayyūb Khālid ibn Zayd.
Ibn Isḥāq said (7): Ṣayfī ibn Abī Rafāʿah ibn ʿĀʾidh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Makhzūm was left in the hands of his captors on condition that he would send them his ransom; they released him, but he did not honour the agreement. Concerning this Ḥassān ibn Thābit composed the following verses (8):
[long metre]