they stopped her and said, “Bring out the letter you are carrying to the people of Mecca.” She replied, “I have no letter.” They insisted, “You must hand over the letter; either you produce it yourself or we will search you, even beneath your clothes.” Realizing their resolve, she removed the letter from inside her shoe. It was a message from Ḥāṭib (may Allah be pleased with him) to the Meccans, informing them of the Prophet’s plans. They brought it back to the Messenger ﷺ, and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him)—one of the staunchest defenders of Allah’s religion—sought permission from the Prophet ﷺ to execute Ḥāṭib. He said, “This man has acted hypocritically; he has conveyed our secrets to our enemies.” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Do you not know that Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said, ‘Do whatever you wish, for I have forgiven you’?” Ḥāṭib was one of them; otherwise, this would have been a very serious crime.

For this reason, if the ruler apprehends a spy who is relaying our information to the enemy, he must execute him—even if he is a Muslim—because he has sown corruption on earth. Killing a spy, even a Muslim one, is incumbent upon the ruler due to the gravity of the offense. In this particular case, however, an impediment prevented the punishment: Ḥāṭib was among the warriors of Badr. Thus the Messenger ﷺ did not say, “Do you not know that he is a Muslim?” Rather, he said, “Do you not know that Allah looked upon the people of Badr…?”

This episode therefore indicates that one of the unique distinctions granted to the Messenger ﷺ is that Allah has forgiven him all his earlier and later sins; and, as I have mentioned, this may likewise occur for certain