“Allah has indeed turned in mercy to the Prophet, to the Emigrants, and to the Helpers … and to the three who were left behind,” to the end of the passage (Qur’an 9:117–118).
ʿAṭiyyah ibn Saʿd al-ʿAwfī also related it from Ibn ʿAbbās in similar wording.
Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Mujāhid, and Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (1) recount the story of Abū Lubābah: what befell him on the day of Banū Qurayẓah and how he tied himself up until his repentance was accepted; then, when he stayed behind from the Tabūk campaign, he bound himself once more until Allah pardoned him. He wanted to give all his wealth in charity, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, “A third of it will suffice you.”
Mujāhid and Ibn Isḥāq added that the verse, “And others have confessed their sins …” (Qur’an 9:102), was revealed concerning him.
Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib said, “After that, nothing was ever seen from him in Islam except goodness—may Allah be pleased with him and grant him His satisfaction.”
I say: It seems that these three narrators mentioned him alone and left out the rest of his companions because he was, as it were, their spokesman, as Ibn ʿAbbās’s account indicates—Allah knows best.
Al-Bayhaqī (2) relates—through Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī, from Sufyān al-Thawrī, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿIyāḍ, from his father, from Abū Masʿūd—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ once addressed us, saying:
“There are hypocrites among you. Anyone I name must stand: stand, so-and-so; stand, so-and-so; stand, so-and-so,”
until he had named thirty-six men. He then added,
“Among you—or within you—are hypocrites, so ask Allah for well-being.”
Abū Masʿūd continued: ʿUmar passed by a man who had covered his face; the two of them were acquainted. He asked, “What is the matter with you?” The man told him what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had said, whereupon ʿUmar replied, “May you be kept far away for the rest of the day!”
I say: Those who stayed behind from the Tabūk expedition fell into four groups:
- Those who were ordered to remain and will be rewarded for it—such as ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, and Ibn Umm Maktūm;
- Those with valid excuses—the weak, the sick, and the poor; these are the Weepers;
- The disobedient sinners—the three men, together with Abū Lubābah and his companions already mentioned;
- The blameworthy and censured—namely, the hypocrites.
A mention of the events that occurred after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned to Madinah from Tabūk
Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī (3) said: Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Ḥāfiẓ dictated to us; Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb informed us; Abū al-Bakhtarī ʿAbd Allāh ibn [Muḥammad ibn] Shākir narrated to us; Zakarīyā ibn Yaḥyā related to us; the uncle of Abū Zahr ibn—