Those who responded to Allah and the Messenger after injury had befallen them—for those among them who excelled and were mindful of Allah there is a magnificent reward. (Āl ʿImrān 3:172)

ʿĀʾishah said to ʿUrwah, “Nephew, your father al-Zubayr—and Abū Bakr as well—were among them. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ suffered what he suffered on the day of Uḥud and the idolaters withdrew, he feared they might return, so he asked, ‘Who will go after them?’ Seventy men volunteered, among them Abū Bakr and al-Zubayr.” Al-Bukhārī narrated the report in this form.

Muslim also recorded it in abridged fashion (1) through several chains from Hishām. The same wording was transmitted by Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr and Abū Bakr al-Ḥumaydī, both on the authority of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah (2). Ibn Mājah likewise related it (3) through that chain from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah. Al-Ḥākim reproduced it in his Mustadrak (4) via Abū Saʿīd al-Muʾaddib from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, and again through al-Bahiyy from ʿUrwah, declaring of both isnāds, “Authentic, though neither al-Bukhārī nor Muslim included them.” Such were his words.

This version is, however, exceedingly uncommon, for what is famous among the scholars of the expeditions is that everyone who had fought at Uḥud went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad—seven hundred in all. Seventy had been killed, and the rest remained alive.

Ibn Jarīr (5) reported, through the chain of al-ʿAwfī from Ibn ʿAbbās, that:
“Allah cast fear into the heart of Abū Sufyān on the day of Uḥud, after what he had done, so he returned to Mecca. The encounter at Uḥud took place in Shawwāl. Merchants would arrive in Dhū al-Qaʿdah at Madinah, encamping once each year at ‘the lesser Badr.’ They came after the battle of Uḥud, at a time when the Muslims had been wounded and complained of it to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the hurt weighed heavily upon them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ urged the people to set out with him and to pursue the enemy, saying: ‘They are only travelling now in order to reach the Pilgrimage; they will not have such an opportunity until next year.’ Then Satan came, frightening his allies, and said, ‘The people have gathered against you.’ Yet the people refused to follow him, so he announced, ‘I will go, even if no one accompanies me.’ Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ṭalḥah, al-Zubayr, Saʿd, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, Abū ʿUbaydah, Ibn Masʿūd, and Ḥudhayfah responded—seventy men in all—and they marched in pursuit of Abū Sufyān until they reached al-Ṣafrāʾ.

Thereupon Allah revealed: ‘Those who responded to Allah and the Messenger after injury had befallen them—for those among them who excelled and were mindful of Allah there is a magnificent reward’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:172). This report, too, is unusual.

Ibn Hishām (6) said: Abu ʿUbaydah narrated to us that when Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb withdrew on the day of Uḥud he intended to return to