“O Prophet, tell the captives in your custody: ‘If Allah knows goodness in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken from you and forgive you. Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.’ (70) If they intend to betray you, they have previously betrayed Allah, so He gave you power over them. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (71)

Allah the Exalted says: “O Prophet, tell the captives in your custody.” Abu ‘Amr and Abu Ja‘far recited it as al-asārā, with an additional alif, while the rest recited it without an alif.

This was revealed concerning al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, may Allah be pleased with him. He was taken captive on the day of Badr and was one of the ten men who had undertaken to provide food for those at Badr. On the day of Badr, it was his turn. He had set out with twenty ounces of gold to feed the people, and he intended to provide food that day; but fighting broke out, and [there remained] (1) the twenty ounces with him. They were taken from him in the battle.

He spoke to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asking him to count the twenty ounces toward his ransom, but he refused and said: “As for something you brought out to use against us, I will not leave it to you.” He was then required to pay the ransom of his two nephews, ‘Aqil ibn Abi Talib and Nawfal ibn al-Harith.

Al-‘Abbas said, “O Muhammad, have you left me to beg from Quraysh for the rest of my life?” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Then where is the gold that you handed over to Umm al-Fadl when you left Mecca, saying to her: ‘I do not know what may happen to me on this journey. If anything happens to me, it is for you, ‘Abdullah, ‘Ubayd Allah, al-Fadl, and Qutham’?”—meaning, his sons.

Al-‘Abbas said to him, “How did you know about it?” He replied, “My Lord, Exalted is He, informed me of it.” Al-‘Abbas said, “I bear witness that you are truthful, that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah, and that you are His servant and Messenger. No one knew of this except Allah, Exalted is He.”

This is the meaning of Allah the Exalted’s saying: “O Prophet, tell the captives in your custody”—those from whom you took ransom—“If Allah knows goodness in your hearts,” that is, faith, “He will give you something better than what has been taken from you,” namely, the ransom, “and forgive you”