the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish, for I have forgiven you’?” This is reported in both Sahīh collections.
Both collections also relate, in the account of the slander:
“Usayd ibn al-Hudayr said to Sa'd ibn Ubādah, ‘You are a hypocrite, defending the hypocrites.’ The two groups quarrelled, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reconciled them.”
Thus, among these participants in the Battle of Badr were those who said to another of their number, “You are a hypocrite.” Yet the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, declared neither an unbeliever; rather, he testified that they would all enter Paradise.
Likewise, both Sahīh collections report:
“Usāmah ibn Zayd killed a man after he had said, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.’ When Usāmah told him, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, regarded this as a grave matter and said, ‘Usāmah, did you kill him after he had said, “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah”?’ He repeated this to him until Usāmah said, ‘I wished that I had not embraced Islam until that day.’”
Nevertheless, he did not require him to be executed in retaliation, to pay blood money, or to perform an expiation, because he had acted on an interpretation. He had thought it permissible to kill the man who uttered those words, believing that he had said them to protect himself.
Similarly, members of the early generations fought one another—those who participated in the Battle of the Camel and at Siffīn, and others like them—yet they were all Muslims and believers. As Allah Most High says:
“If two groups of believers fight one another, make peace between them. But if one of them transgresses against the other, fight the transgressing group until it returns to Allah’s command. Then, if it returns, make peace between them with justice and act equitably. Indeed, Allah loves those who act equitably.”
Allah Most High has thus made clear that, despite their fighting one another and some of them transgressing against others, they are brothers in faith. He commanded that peace be made between them with justice.