A sound version of this report is also transmitted through ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-ʿUmari, from Wahb ibn Kaysān, from Jābir with similar wording.

Al-Suhaylī said: This ḥadīth alludes to what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh—that Allah brought his father back to life, spoke with him, and said to him, “Ask of Me whatever you wish.” His father was a martyr, and Allah, exalted is He, says: “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth” (al-Tawbah 9:111). He then added to that in His words: “For those who have excelled there shall be the best reward and even more” (Yūnus 10:26). Thus He combined for them both the price and the purchased object, returning to them the souls He had bought, as He says: “Do not think of those who are killed in the path of Allah as dead; rather, they are alive with their Lord, provided for” (Āl ʿImrān 3:169).

The soul, for a human being, is like a mount, as ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz remarked. For that reason the Messenger of Allah ﷺ bought Jābir’s camel—his mount—paid him its price, then returned it to him and even added something extra. In this lies a confirmation of what he had told him about his father. The insight al-Suhaylī draws here is an unusual and beautiful allusion; Allah knows best.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī, in his Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah, gave this ḥadīth under the heading: “The blessings and signs that appeared during this expedition in the camel of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh (may Allah be pleased with him).” The report has many chains from Jābir and numerous wordings, with wide variation concerning the amount paid for the camel and the conditions of the sale. A full treatment of that properly belongs in the Book of Sales within al-Aḥkām; Allah knows best.

The incident is variously linked to this expedition and to others, as will be mentioned, yet it is unlikely that it happened more than once; Allah knows best.

The Expedition of Badr al-Ākhirah
This is the “appointed Badr,” the encounter they had promised one another after Uhud, as previously noted.

Ibn Isḥāq said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned to Madinah from the expedition of Dhāt al-Riqāʿ, he remained there for the rest of Jumādā al-Ūlā, all of Jumādā al-Ākhirah, and Rajab; then in Shaʿbān he set out for Badr for his rendezvous with Abū Sufyān.

Ibn Hishām adds: He appointed ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl as governor of Madinah in his absence.

Ibn Isḥāq continues: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ encamped at Badr and stayed there for eight days awaiting Abū Sufyān. Abū Sufyān left Mecca with the Quraysh until he halted at Majannah, in the region of al-Ẓahrān—some say he reached ʿUsfān—then he changed his mind and said, “People of Quraysh, you will only fare well in a year of plenty when you can graze your herds on green pasture and drink plentiful milk. This is a year of drought. I am going back; so go back.” The people turned back, and the Meccans nicknamed them “the Saweeq Army,” saying, “You only went out to drink saweeq.”