with disbelief after having embraced Islam.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said, “Indeed, he has told you the truth.”

ʿUmar said, “O Messenger of Allah, allow me to strike off the head of this hypocrite.”

He replied, “He fought at Badr—and how can you be sure? Perhaps Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you will, for I have forgiven you.’”

Thereupon Allah revealed the sūrah: “O you who believe! Do not take My enemy and your enemy as allies…”—up to His words, “…for he has certainly strayed from the straight path” (al-Mumtaḥanah 1).

The rest of the compilers (except Ibn Mājah) have recorded this ḥadīth through the transmission of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah; al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

Imām Aḥmad also related—Ḥujayn and Yūnus told us, saying: al-Layth ibn Saʿd told us, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah—that Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah wrote to the people of Mecca informing them that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended to march against them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was informed about the woman carrying the letter; he sent for her and took the letter from the hair of her head. He said, “O Ḥāṭib, did you do this?” He answered, “Yes.” He said, “I did not do it out of treachery toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ or out of hypocrisy. I know that Allah will make His Messenger prevail and will complete His mission; but I was a lone man among them, and my mother was living in their midst, so I wished to earn a favor with them.”

ʿUmar said to him, “Shall I not strike off his head?” The Prophet replied, “Would you kill a man of the people of Badr? How do you know—perhaps Allah has looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish.’”

Imām Aḥmad alone transmitted this version of the report, and its isnād meets the criteria of Muslim—praise be to Allah.

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Ibn Isḥāq said: Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī related to me, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtbah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then set out on his journey, leaving Abū Ruhm Kulthūm ibn Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿUtbah ibn Khalaf al-Ghaffārī in charge of Madinah. He departed ten nights into Ramaḍān, fasting, and the people fasted with him. When he reached al-Kadīd—between ʿUsfān and Amajj—he broke his fast, and then continued until he encamped at Marr al-Ẓahrān with ten thousand Muslims.

ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr said, “There were twelve thousand with him,” and the same is reported by al-Zuhrī and Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah. The tribe of Sulaym joined him in groups of seven—some say they gathered all together—and Muzaynah likewise rallied to his side.