—were with him wished that the promise should refer to the caravan, for it held plentiful wealth yet only a few men to defend it, while they were loath to confront the armed host because of its great numbers and equipment. But Allah chose what was best for them and fulfilled His promise regarding the host: He unleashed against them a chastisement that could not be repelled. Seventy of their nobles were killed, another seventy were taken prisoner, and they ransomed themselves for large sums of money. Thus He combined for the believers the good of this world and the hereafter.

For this reason the Most High said:
“Allah intends to establish the truth by His words and to cut off the very root of the disbelievers.” (8:7)
The details of this were given earlier in the account of the Battle of Badr.

He also said:
“O Prophet, say to those captives who are in your hands: If Allah knows any good in your hearts, He will give you better than what has been taken from you and will forgive you, and Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (8:70)
And so it was: Allah recompensed all who accepted Islam among them with the blessings of this world and the next.

Al-Bukhārī relates that al-ʿAbbās came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah, grant me something, for I have ransomed myself and I have ransomed ʿAqīl.” He replied, “Take.” Al-ʿAbbās then gathered into his cloak an amount of wealth so great that he could not lift it; he kept putting some of it down again and again until he could carry it on his shoulders, and then he went off with it, as we have recounted in detail elsewhere. This is one of the clear confirmations of that noble verse.

The Most High also said:
“And if you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you out of His bounty.” (9:28)
So it came to pass: Allah compensated them for the gains they had formerly received from the pagan pilgrims by prescribing combat against the People of the Scripture, imposing the jizyah upon them, and permitting the confiscation of the wealth of those who were killed while persisting in unbelief—as happened with the disbelievers of Greater Syria among the Byzantines, and with the Magians of Persia in Iraq and other lands over whose horizons Islam spread and whose cities and open country it came to rule.

He, exalted be He, says:
“He is the One who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, that He may make it prevail over every other religion, even though the polytheists may detest it.” (9:33)

And He says:
“They will swear to you by Allah, when you return to them, that you may turn away from them. So turn away from them, for they are defilement…” (9:95)
This, too, occurred. When the Prophet ﷺ returned from the Expedition of Tabūk, a group of hypocrites had stayed behind. They began swearing by Allah that they had valid excuses for their absence, though they were lying. Allah therefore commanded His Messenger to deal with them according to their outward claims and not to expose them before the people, even though He had made him aware of the identities of fourteen of them, as we mentioned earlier in the account of Tabūk. Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān was among those who knew their names because the Prophet ﷺ had informed him of them.

The Most High also says:
“Indeed, they were about to provoke you so that they might expel you from the land; but were that to happen, they would not remain after you except for a little while.” (17:76)
And so it happened: when they conspired to imprison him, kill him, or drive him out, they finally settled on killing him. At that point Allah ordered His Messenger to depart from their midst, so he left with his Companion, Abū Bakr