Al-Bukhārī and Muslim together (1) relate—through Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs, Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, and Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī—from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib the story of Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah, who sent a letter to the people of Mecca in the year of the Conquest. ʿUmar asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for permission to strike off his head, saying that he had betrayed Allah, His Messenger, and the believers. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied:

“He was at Badr. And how can you be sure? It may be that Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish; I have forgiven you.’”

Al-Bukhārī’s wording is:
“Is he not one of the people of Badr? It may be that Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish; Paradise has been guaranteed for you’—or: ‘I have forgiven you.’”
ʿUmar’s eyes filled with tears and he said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.”

Muslim (2) also narrates—through Qutaybah, al-Layth, Abū’z-Zubayr, and Jābir—that a slave of Ḥāṭib came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ complaining about him and said, “Messenger of Allah, Ḥāṭib is surely going to enter the Fire.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied,

“You are wrong; he will not enter it, for he fought at Badr and at al-Hudaybiyah.”

Imām Aḥmad (3) reports: Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd related to us; Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us; al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared,

“No man who took part in Badr or al-Hudaybiyah will enter the Fire.”
Aḥmad alone transmits this, and its chain meets Muslim’s criteria.

Imām Aḥmad (4) likewise reports: Yazīd related to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from ʿĀṣim ibn Abī’n-Nujūd, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ:

“Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish; I have forgiven you.’”
Abū Dāwūd (5) also records it, through Aḥmad ibn Sinān and Mūsā ibn Ismāʿīl, both from Yazīd ibn Hārūn.

Al-Bazzār, in his Musnad (6), relates: Muḥammad ibn Marzūq told us; Abū Ḥudhayfah narrated to us; ʿIkrimah, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“I hope—if Allah wills—that none who fought at Badr will enter the Fire.”
Al-Bazzār then remarks, “We do not know this ḥadīth to be reported from Abū Hurayrah except through this chain.” I add: al-Bazzār is the sole transmitter of this narration; the compilers of the two Ṣaḥīḥs did not include it, though its chain satisfies their standards—Allah knows best.

Al-Bukhārī (7), in the chapter “The Angels’ Presence at Badr,” also says: Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm related to us; Jarīr narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Muʿādh ibn Rifāʿah ibn Rāfiʿ al-Zuraqī, from his father—who was one of the men of Badr—who said: “Gabriel came to …”