I am afraid that you might order someone else to carry it out and he will kill him; then I shall not be able to endure seeing the slayer of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy walking among the people. I would strike him down, killing a believer on account of a disbeliever, and so consign myself to the Fire.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “No. We shall deal gently with him and keep good company with him for as long as he remains among us.”

Thereafter, whenever Ibn Ubayy did anything untoward, it was his own clan who rebuked, restrained, and scolded him. When word of this reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he said to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, “What do you think now, O ʿUmar? By Allah, had I killed him on the day you told me, ‘Kill him,’ people’s noses would have bristled in anger. Yet if I were to command them to kill him today, they would certainly do so.” ʿUmar replied, “By Allah, I have come to see that the command of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is far more blessed than my own opinion.”

ʿIkrimah, Ibn Zayd, and others report that his son, ʿAbd Allāh—may Allah be pleased with him—blocked his father at one of Madinah’s narrow passes and said, “Stop! By Allah, you shall not enter until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ permits it.” When the Prophet ﷺ arrived, the son sought permission for his father; the Prophet granted it, and he let him enter the city.

Ibn Isḥāq (1) says: Several men of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq were killed that day, and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib slew two of them, Mālik and his son.
Ibn Hishām (2) adds: The Muslims’ battle-cry was, “O Mansūr, slay! slay!”
Ibn Isḥāq (3) further relates: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ captured many prisoners from them and distributed them among the Muslims.

Al-Bukhārī (4) narrates: Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd told us, Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar informed us, from Rabīʿah ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabbān, from Ibn Muḥayriz, who said: “I entered the mosque and saw Abū Saʿīd al-Khuḍrī, so I sat with him and asked about coitus interruptus (ʿazl). Abū Saʿīd said, ‘We went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the expedition to Banū al-Muṣṭaliq. We captured some Arab women and longed for them; celibacy weighed heavily upon us and we wished to practise ʿazl. We said, “Shall we practise ʿazl while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is among us before asking him?” So we asked him, and he said, “There is no harm if you do not do it; every soul that is to come into existence until the Day of Resurrection will indeed come into existence.”’” The hadith is reported likewise elsewhere (5).

Ibn Isḥāq (6) continues: Among the captives taken that day was Juwayriyyah bint al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Ḍirār. Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr told me, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ divided the captives of Banū …”