Seerah of Prophet Muhammed 39 - The Battle of Badr 4 - Yasir Qadhi | 31st October 2012
Seerah of Prophet Muhammed 39 - The Battle of Badr 4 - Yasir Qadhi | 31st October 2012
We will discuss the actual gist of the battle. Now the problem comes with the actual battle is that we cannot describe a battle between hundreds of people except with specific stories between individuals. It's not possible to describe an entire battle as this is the old style battle where you are one on one. What we have is a series of small incidents, that is all that we know, maybe 10-15 incidents of specific battles between two people. And this is our narration/version of the Battle of Badr. We want to have much more details, but unfortunately, we don't have most of these details recorded. What we have is literally probably around 15 stories, and that is about it. And again, another issue is the chronological order of the battles - we simply don't know.
Umayr ibn al-Humam RA
Of the stories that occurred at the beginning is that of Umayr ibn al-Humam (عمير بن الحمام). When the mushrikun ran towards the Muslims, and the Muslims charged forward, the Prophet PBUH said, "Stand up and embrace Jannah whose width is like the heavens and the earth." Umayr was eating some dates to strengthen himself, but when he heard this he said, "Bakhin bakhin (بخ بخ)" - an archaic Arabic phrase used to trivialize something. The Prophet PBUH said, "What do you mean? (i.e. How are you trivializing this?)" Umayr said, "What I mean, ya Rasulullah, is that if this is true, then what use is it to remain living here?! I WANT to be of those people of Jannah!" The Prophet PBUH said, "You are of those people." When Umayr heard this, he threw away the dates and said, "If I live long enough to finish these dates, then it is too long of a life!" And he stood up and charged into the army. And he is one of the handful of sahaba who died in the Battle of Badr. Indeed the Badriyun as it is were the most elite of the sahaba, and of them the shuhada of Badr were at a higher level - so Umayr ibn al-Humam was a very high level sahabi.
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The Battle of Badr
It's also narrated that when the army began to charge, the Prophet PBUH said, "Do not throw your arrows until they come within distance; then when they come, shower them with arrows, but save some for later on."
And in Abu Dawud the Prophet PBUH said, "Don't unsheathe your swords until they are right upon you"
And at some point in time, perhaps now or perhaps before this, the Prophet PBUH picked up a handful of dust and threw it in the direction of the faces of the mushrikun, and he said, "May these faces be cursed." And it's said every single mushrik was blinded for a short while. (It would make sense this happened right when the mushriks were charging at the Muslims.) And as we said Allah references this in the Quran in Surah al-Anfal [8:17].
Did the Prophet PBUH himself fight in Badr? There is some controversy here. The majority opinion is the Prophet PBUH did not fight in most of the battles; he was a military commander maintaining the order etc.; but as for Badr, it appears to be he was physically fighting. What Ibn Hajar opine is he would fight, and then go back to his tent to make du'a, and then would repeat. This is based on a narration by Ali RA in Musnad Imam Ahmad, "On the Day of Badr, we saw the Prophet PBUH was the closest of us to the enemy, and when the fighting got tough, we would seek protection through him" i.e. coming close to him. And Ali RA said, "The Prophet PBUH was the most aggressive/brave of us on that day." Now, Ali RA himself narrates he came to see what the Prophet PBUH was doing in his tent and he found him in sajdah saying, "Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum, ya Hayyu ya Qayyum (يا حي يا قيوم ، يا حي يا قيوم)," so he went away to fight. And then he came back again to find the Prophet PBUH still in sajdah, so he went away. And then he came back for the third time and the Prophet PBUH was still in sajdah. After this, Allah wrote victory for them, so he didn't come back for the fourth time. So Ali RA narrates both of these narrations (that the Prophet PBUH was in the tent, and that he PBUH was in the front of the army) thus the only way to reconcile is that the battle lasted multiple hours, therefore the Prophet PBUH was alternating between fighting and making du'a. Remember the battle was on a Friday, 17th Ramadan 2 H. And Abu Bakr RA would stay with him wherever he went; Abu Bakr RA guarded him while he made du'a. This is what Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hajar mentioned.
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The Army of 1,000 Angels
We also know from the Quran Allah sent down exactly 1,000 angels:
إِذْ تَسْتَغِيثُونَ رَبَّكُمْ فَٱسْتَجَابَ لَكُمْ أَنِّى مُمِدُّكُم بِأَلْفٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ مُرْدِفِينَ
"[Remember] when you asked help of your Lord, and He answered you, 'Indeed, I will reinforce/help you with a thousand from the angels, following one another.'" [Quran, 8:9]
Allah says here, "I will HELP you" i.e. not "you sit back and relax." NO. "You do your job and I will help you." And Allah says in the Quran:
إِذْ يُوحِى رَبُّكَ إِلَى ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ أَنِّى مَعَكُمْ فَثَبِّتُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ۚ سَأُلْقِى فِى قُلُوبِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ ٱلرُّعْبَ فَٱضْرِبُوا۟ فَوْقَ ٱلْأَعْنَاقِ وَٱضْرِبُوا۟ مِنْهُمْ كُلَّ بَنَانٍۢ
"[Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, 'I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip.'" [Quran, 8:12]
Notice here the angels HELPED the believers. The believers are raising the sword and fighting, and the angels complete the action. Not that the believers did nothing. No.
A number of stories have been narrated where the sahaba saw the angels. We already mentioned in last lesson that as soon as the Prophet PBUH lowered his hands, he said, "Allah has answered our prayer. Here is Jibril, turbaned, armed, and riding a horse." Notice even the angels have horses which leads to the interesting theological question. There are animals within the realm of the angels. And we know for a fact that even jinns have animals. So Allah has created creatures way beyond our imagination. "And He creates what you do not know" [Quran, 16:8]. And why are the angels armed? Allah wants to show us even the angels need to put in the effort. Of the stories mentioned, in Sahih Muslim, Ibn Abbas narrates that one of the sahaba was in hot pursuit of a mushrik, and he heard the sound of a whip coming from in front of him, and he heard a rider (an angel) calling out to his horse, "Go forth, Haizum (حيزوم)!" and he saw the mushrik he was about to attack, his nose was instantly chopped off. Before the Muslim could lower his sword, the angel chopped the mushrik's nose off. (Again the key point here is the angels "helped" the believers - every action they began, the angels completed it. We need to put in the effort, THEN Allah will help us.) And when the sahaba told the Prophet PBUH what happened, the Prophet PBUH said, "You have told the truth, that was a help Allah had sent down from the Third Heaven."
Al-Abbas would later be brought as a prisoner of war, and he was a strong warrior; and the Ansari who brought him was a small, stout person; so Abbas was very angry and embarrassed when he got to the Prophet PBUH, before even the Ansari could say anything, he said, "This man did not capture me!" But the Ansari said, "NO, I captured him!" Abbas looked around trying to see the 'man' who captured him, and he said, "No. The man who captured me had parted his hair, and he was the most handsome man I've ever seen, on the most beautiful horse of black and white mixture. But I don't see where he is [now]." The Ansari said, "No, ya Rasulullah. I was the one." The Prophet PBUH said to the Ansari, "Be quiet, for Allah helped you with a noble angel."
As we said, the Prophet PBUH specified two people should not be killed. In one narration it's said the Prophet PBUH specified that all of Banu Hashim must not be killed. Why? Because they have been forced to fight (recall Abu Lahab didn't even come). Along with this, he said not to kill Abu al-Bukhturi since he helped broke the Boycott. Thus the Prophet PBUH here is returning the favor. Those who have done good for the Muslims, they will be remembered. This clearly shows us that we as Muslims living in a non-Muslim land, we look at the sympathetic non-Muslims, we see who's supporting the cause of freedom for every religion to practice its faith, and we do not treat them the same way we treat Islamophobes. This is clear cut from the seerah. Those who treat us with justice and dignity and kindness, we must return the favor. There are some isolationist amongst us who say, "ALL kuffar this, ALL kuffar that," but wallahi this is wrong. Yes they have kufr, but some kuffar, they also stand for truth and justice. Their kufr doesn't prevent them from standing up for truth. And Abu al-Bukhturi was one such person. And Mut'im ibn Adi was another person. If people stand for truth and justice, their kufr shouldn't stop us from respecting them and standing with them in noble causes.
Yet another unnamed Ansari narrated his father was pursuing an enemy, and before he could lift his sword, he saw a man died right in front of him. So this Ansari said his father knew he was being helped. (Technical note: A sahabi who is unknown does not affect the validity of the hadith chain. The chain is still authentic. Whereas if you don't know the name of the second or third or fourth person, then for sure the hadith is weak. As for the sahaba, if somebody says, "One of the sahaba said," or, "My father (who is a sahabi) said," and we don't know his name, we do not care, because جهالة الصحابي لا تضر, the fact that the Companion is unknown does not affect the chain.)
There is also a beautiful hadith in Mustadrak of al-Hakim: Zubayr ibn al-Awam, whom the Prophet PBUH called his حواري (disciple), was wearing a yellow turban during the battle. Thus to imitate him, all the angels came down in the same garment as al-Zubayr, including the yellow turban. This is a great honor for Zubayr ibn al-Awam - all the angels came in the same clothes as him. And Allah chose these 1,000 angels Himself, and He blessed them through the Battle of Badr. In later seerah, Jibril AS once asked the Prophet PBUH (and this hadith is in Bukhari): "What do you think of those (Muslims) who participated in Badr?" The Prophet PBUH said, "We think they are the best of all of us." And Jibril AS said, "And similarly, those who participated in Badr from the angels, we too think the same." This shows us the angels also have ranks. And the elite of them are those who participated in Badr.
Now, why did Allah send 1,000 angels when frankly one was enough? When Allah wanted to destroy the people of Lut AS, it is said Jibril AS came in his real form, took one tip of his wing, and he just hit the ground next to the cities with it. And the hit was so powerful the cities flipped all the way up and then they came crashing down. So then why does Allah AWJ send 1,000 angels? Again here we get to the simple fact that throughout the Quran and Sunnah, the entire message that is given is: You don't get anything for free. Not even Jannah! You have to put in an effort. Even if that effort isn't worth the result e.g. Jannah is not worth our actions. We don't 'earn' Jannah. But we need to pay some price and put effort in. Allah will look at the quality, and not the quantity, of our effort. Thus when the 300+ sahaba are literally walking into death, then Allah sent His angels to help them, to complete each of their actions. The angels were just mukammal (مكمل - completer/finisher) and mumid (ممد - helper) - and we gave so many examples. Every time we hear of an incident, the sahabi is doing something, then the angel finishes it off. Think about that. Never do we hear of an incident where the angel does the whole chore for the sahaba. You have to follow the means to get to the end. You have to traverse the path to get to the destination. You need to get there. And even if you are not able to, Allah will bless you, but you need to put in the dedication. Subhan'Allah, even Maryam AS, when she is alone and in labor, Allah says, 'Don't worry, I will bless you... BUT you need to shake the tree.' She cannot stand up so Allah said, 'OK, do what you can i.e. shake the tree.' See Qur'an, [19:25]. Even Maryam AS in that state, still she doesn't get it for free. The point is so profound here. If this is the case for someone like Maryam AS when she is giving birth to that miraculous child Isa AS, then how about us? This is the most important lesson of Badr. The victory was ultimate, it was miraculous, but still it wasn't given until the Muslims went the whole 9 yards in the thick of the battle.
Ibn Abbas also narrates that, "Never did the angels actually fight with the believers except on the Day of Badr." i.e. In every other occasion, they merely were backups - they were present, but didn't physically fight; except for Badr.
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Ukasha ibn Mihsan RA
We also have the story of Ukasha ibn Mihsan (عكاشة بن محصن). He hit the armor of someone and his sword broke. And he complained to the Prophet PBUH, "Ya Rasulullah, I only have one sword. What am I gonna do now?" So the Prophet PBUH picked up some twigs and said, "Here, go fight with this." So Ukasha, without a second thought, went out with the twigs, raised them, and suddenly they transformed into the best sword he's ever seen. Look at the tawakkul (توكل) here. This is what you call Iman. And he fought with this sword in every battle until he died a shaheed against Musaylimah [much later on, during the khilafa of Abu Bakr, 11 AH]. It's said they buried him with that sword (but this is one of those legends Allah knows how true it is).
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The End of Abu Jahal
Of the stories, one of the highlights of Badr is the killing of Abu Jahal (Amr ibn Hisham/عمرو بن هشام). And the Prophet PBUH said he is the fir'awn (pharaoh) of this ummah. And Allah willed he be killed by two young teenagers, around 16-17 years old. There's great wisdom here: That this great tyrant will be killed by some teenagers. It's another humiliation for him, but an honor for the two teenagers and the Ansar. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf (عبد الرحمن بن عوف) RA said when he was battling in Badr, he wanted strong people by his side so if they finish their 1 on 1 battle, they could help him. But he narrates that when he turned to his left and right, he saw young small men fighting. So he was disappointed. And their names were Mu'adh ibn Amr ibn al-Jumuh (معاذ بن عمرو بن الجموح) and Muawwidh ibn Afra' (معوذ بن عفراء). And Mu'adh ibn Amr ibn al-Jumuh's father was a leader of the Banu Salama. Mu'adh himself took the shahada at the second treaty, Bay'at al-Aqaba. And he is around 16 now. Ibn Abbas narrates: Suddenly one of these boys poked Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf and whispered in his ear, "Where is Abu Jahal?" It turns out both of these boys were friends and they had a competition between them of who would kill Abu Jahal. They are both young Ansaris and so they haven't seen Abu Jahal. So one of them poked Abd al-Rahman and said, "O uncle, have you seen Abu Jahal before? I have heard he has disrespected the Prophet PBUH, and I've given an oath to Allah that if I see him, my shadow will overlap with his until one of the two of us is dead." And so Abd al-Rahman said, "If I see him I'll tell you." And barely had he got back to his position when the other boy poked him and asked the exact same question. And he told him the exact same answer. And so when Abd al-Rahman heard this, he felt comforted that although these guys are young, they both have spirit. Ibn Hajar and others mention that Abu Jahal was standing in a grove of trees - a type of protection. And he was surrounded by his men, most importantly by his son Ikrimah (عكرمة) who was a strong, young man.
Abd al-Rahman narrates further, "And so when we were fighting I saw in the distance Abu Jahal. So I shouted out loud [to the boys], 'This is your 'companion'!'" As soon as he said that, the two of them ran into the army to get to him. They make their way to the grove where Abu Jahal is. Mu'adh ibn Amr raced forward trough the trees, and scared he isn't going to get to Abu Jahal, he jumped forward with his sword to try to get the remaining distance before somebody stops him, but he isn't able to reach the upper portion of Abu Jahal. So he in the air and the full force of the sword comes smashing down onto the left leg of Abu Jahal and it completely disconnects, chopping off his leg. Ikrimah is trying to defend his father, so his sword chops off the entire right arm of Mu'adh simultaneously. (And Mu'adh after this lived with one arm for his entire life.) And Mu'adh later narrated that his arm hung on to his body with just one tendon, and it got in his way in Badr, so he put it on his foot, bent down and ripped it off. This is a 16-17 year old kid. He is using his left hand for the rest of the battle. This is Mu'adh ibn Amr ibn al-Jumuh. (And he lived a long life and died a natural death in the khilafah of Uthman.)
Muawwidh ibn Afra' was that person who volunteered to fight in the mubaraza. His mother who was called Afra' (عفراء) was so pious all her children were named after her. And Afra' had three sons, two of them became shaheed in Badr (both brothers who stood up for the mubaraza). And Muawwidh, we don't know exactly where his blow struck, but it also struck somewhere in the body. He also managed to strike a blow and make his way back. He then died a shaheed some time later in the battle. So he also gets a blow to Abu Jahal. So both Mu'adh and Muawwidh come rushing back to the Prophet PBUH saying, "I killed Abu Jahal," "I killed Abu Jahal," and they started arguing as to who killed him when the Prophet PBUH said, "Show me your swords." They both showed him the swords. The Prophet PBUH said, "The both of you have killed him" - meaning both of these wounds together will cause his death. So the honor of killing Abu Jahal goes to the both of them. But Mu'adh was the one to get the armor of Abu Jahal since Muawwidh died. In Islamic law, whoever you kill in a war you get their personal belongings. So Mu'adh got a mini fortune.
To finish up the story of Abu Jahal: After the Battle of Badr had finished, the Prophet PBUH told the sahaba, "Go and find the body of Abu Jahal." So a number of sahaba split out and it was Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (عبد الله بن مسعود) who found him. (Note: Ibn Mas'ud is the 6th convert to Islam, the one who was humiliated many times in Makkah as he was a low caste). Abu Jahal was breathing heavily and was about to die. So Ibn Mas'ud places his foot on the chest of Abu Jahal and says, "Do you finally admit Allah has disgraced you, O enemy of Allah?" But to the very end Abu Jahal remained obstinate and stubborn, "How have I been disgraced? A person killed by his own people," - meaning Abu Jahal is trying to put the blame on the Muslims, "Shame on you!" To the very end he's still trying to throw the blame back on the Muslims. Then he asked Ibn Mas'ud, "Tell me, what's the result of the battle? Who has won today?" And so Ibn Mas'ud said, "Allah and His Messenger have won." Abu Jahal then noticed the foot on his chest and out of arrogance he said, "You have stepped on a high place, O son of a shepherd." At this Ibn Mas'ud pulled his sword out to killed Abu Jahal; but his sword had been made dull by the whole day of Badr, so he got the sword of Abu Jahal and delivered the final blow using his own sword. So Ibn Mas'ud got an honor for giving Abu Jahal the final blow (but note it's not the full honor since Abu Jahal would've died anyway.) He then came back to the Prophet PBUH and said, "Ya Rasulullah, I found the corpse of Abu Jahal." The Prophet PBUH asked, "Do you swear by Allah?" He said, "Yes, I swear by Allah." "Do you swear by Allah?" "Yes, I swear by Allah." "Do you swear by Allah?" "Yes, I swear by Allah." - 3 times, as this was a very big news. And then the Prophet PBUH said, "Show me [the body]," so they went to see the body, and this was when the Prophet PBUH said, "This was the fir'awn (pharaoh) of this ummah" - and this is the only time he said this.
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The End of Umayyah ibn Khalaf
Another story is that of Umayyah ibn Khalaf who met a very evil end. And indeed in this story we see Allah's justice is infinite. That as you do unto others it shall be done unto you.
When the Quraysh had fled, he began to look for people to be on his side. One of his best friends in the days of Jahiliyyah was Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, so much so that even after he converted to Islam, they remained good friends.
(Tangent: Before Abd al-Rahman became Muslim, his name was Abd Amr [عبد عمرو]. So when he converted, he changed his name to Abd al-Rahman. But Umayyah said to him, "I cannot call you this because I don't know who this 'Rahman' is." Abd al-Rahman said, "I will not respond to my old name Abd Amr." So Umayyah said, "Okay, I will call you Abd al-Ilah [عبد الإله]." And Abd al-Rahman says he is fine with that, so he would always be called Abd al-Ilah by Umayyah.)
So when Umayyah sees Abd al-Rahman passes by during Badr, he holds onto him with two hands, and he notices Abd al-Rahman has in his hands the armor of someone he had killed, so Umayyah said, "O Abd al-Ilah, what if I were to give you much more than this armor? What if I were to give you many milking camels? Get rid of this armor! Protect me! Take me as a prisoner, and I will give you as much as you want!" Begging for his life to the very end. And even on the battlefield Abd al-Rahman is still a businessman, so he throws away the armor and he takes Umayyah and his son back to the camp of the Muslims as prisoners of war.
2 things to note:
1. The laws of war have not yet been revealed - as we will see later, the Muslims didn't know what to do with the prisoners of war, ransom, booty, etc. All of this will come down later on.
2. Technically they are still on the battlefield, and this is a key point. They are not actually in the safety zone yet. War is still happening. So it's a gray area - where the rules met or not, completely gray.
Now, Allah willed Bilal RA sees Abd al-Rahman holding Umayyah's hand as a prisoner. So Bilal RA says, "Umayyah ibn Khalaf, the leader of the kuffar! You are giving him security?! Over my dead body!" And Abd al-Rahman starts pleading, "Calm down, Bilal, calm down, these are my prisoners," etc. But Bilal kept on raising his voice until he called the Ansar and told them, "This is that man who tortured me!" And subhan'Allah it's amazing how Allah has preserved the honor and story of Bilal - it's well known even to our children, how much more so amongst the sahaba. Everyone knows it. So when Bilal showed Umayyah to the Ansar, now Abd al-Rahman had to negotiate with all of them, "These are my prisoners, they have entrusted themselves to me." But Bilal RA kept on saying, "You are not going to save this man." Until finally they surrounded Abd al-Rahman and began prodding Umayyah. So much so it's said Abd al-Rahman tried to stop them with his own body, and they would go underneath his hand etc. And Abd al-Rahman was actually wounded on his foot from trying to protect Umayyah. But eventually both Umayyah and his son were killed. And Abd al-Rahman would say till he died, "May Allah have mercy on Bilal. Not only did he stop me from getting my two ransoms, I never got the armor back as well."
Subhan'Allah the same voice that called out, "Ahad-un-ahad (One God, One God)", that was the voice that caused Umayyah's death. That same loud voice, Allah AWJ willed that it will come back now to haunt Umayyah. And it was that voice that brought the help of the Ansar and managed to kill Umayyah ibn Khalaf before he reached the safety of the camp.
And Umayyah ibn Khalaf was the only person who was not buried. The rest were. But Umayyah, after the battle had finished, they found his body on a bed of pebbles (which was what he would use to torture Bilal with). And whenever they tried to lift him up, the flesh would just decompose, so they couldn't pick him up. This is truly Allah's qadr. So they had to leave him on those pebbles, and for the sake of covering a dead body, they put more pebbles on top of him. They took the same burning hot pebbles of the desert and just threw it onto his body. Truly, كما تدين تدان (as you do unto others, so it shall be done unto you).
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The Father of Abu Ubaydah Amir ibn al-Jarrah
Abu Ubaydah Amir ibn al-Jarrah (أبو عبيدة عامر بن الجراح) RA, one of the Ten Promised Jannah, his father Jarrah was on the side of the mushriks, and he was a bitter enemy who could not stand his son having converted. In Badr, he wanted to kill his own son. Whenever Jarrah would see Abu Ubaydah, he would make his way to him to kill him. And every time Abu Ubaydah sees his father coming, he would go somewhere else out of respect and love; until finally his father surprised him. Out of the blue suddenly Jarrah came jumping on him to kill him, and in self-defense, Abu Ubaydah killed his own father. After this, the people began speaking that, "He has killed his own father." And Abu Ubaydah felt a great amount of sadness, "What have I done." Now this is something bad enough in these days out of pure humanity, but especially in those Jahiliyyah tribalism days it was worse. But Allah revealed in the Quran the last verse of Surah al-Mujadila:
لَّا تَجِدُ قَوْمًۭا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ يُوَآدُّونَ مَنْ حَآدَّ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَلَوْ كَانُوٓا۟ ءَابَآءَهُمْ أَوْ أَبْنَآءَهُمْ أَوْ إِخْوَٰنَهُمْ أَوْ عَشِيرَتَهُمْ ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ كَتَبَ فِى قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلْإِيمَـٰنَ وَأَيَّدَهُم بِرُوحٍۢ مِّنْهُ ۖ وَيُدْخِلُهُمْ جَنَّـٰتٍۢ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ رَضِىَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا۟ عَنْهُ ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ حِزْبُ ٱللَّهِ ۚ أَلَآ إِنَّ حِزْبَ ٱللَّهِ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
"You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day having affection for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred. Those - He has decreed within their hearts faith and supported them with spirit from Him. And We will admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him - those are the party of Allah . Unquestionably, the party of Allah - they are the successful." [Quran, 58:22]
Subhan'Allah this verse is a praise of Abu Ubaydah from Allah. In our religion, there is no question one's ultimate loyalty always is to Allah SWT. Every other loyalty is conditional. There is no room for negotiation in this regard.
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Abu Hudhayfah RA
Abu Hudhayfah ibn Utbah (أبو حذيفة بن عتبة) RA is the son of Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, one of the three who died in the mubaraza. (Tangent: One of the famous reciters of the Qur'an among the sahaba named Salim Mawla Abu Hudhayfah [سالم مولى أبي حذيفة] is Abu Hudhayfah's freed slave. There are a lot of hadith about Salim. He has a beautiful voice. And Abu Hudhayfah's sister is Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan.) When Abu Hudhayfah heard the Prophet PBUH say the Banu Hashim should not be killed, he said, "So our fathers, uncles, and brothers (who all just died in the mubaraza) will be killed, but the uncle and family of the Prophet PBUH would not be killed?!" The Jahiliyyah tendency came out in him. And the news spread that Abu Hudhayfah said this, and on top of this, he swore to kill al-Abbas. When the Prophet PBUH heard this, he told Umar RA, "O Abu Hafs (أبو حفص), will the face of the uncle of the Prophet PBUH be struck with a sword?" meaning don't let it happen. Umar RA said, "Ya Rasulullah, he has committed nifaq (hypocrisy), let me take care of him (kill him)." But the Prophet PBUH forbade him from doing that, so Umar RA went to Abu Hudhayfah and made sure he was put into place. Later on Abu Hudhayfah used to say, "I shall never feel safe against the consequences of that one sentence (that I said) unless Allah accepts me as a shaheed," i.e. "I made a big mistake. I'm always going to be worried about it unless Allah accepts me as a shaheed." And his du'a was accepted and he died a shaheed in the Battle of Yamama [12 AH].
A number of points here:
1. Firstly, even the greatest of the sahaba, they are human and they can fall into an error. Therefore if one of us makes a mistake, have heart that people far better than you fell into far bigger mistakes than you. Imagine someone swearing they will kill the uncle of the Prophet PBUH; can you imagine how guilty he felt? But he repented and Allah accepted the repentance.
2. Notice the wisdom of the Prophet PBUH - he handled it in a very wise manner. He expressed his frustration to Umar. He didn't directly go to Abu Hudhayfah because that would have been too humiliating for him. So the Prophet PBUH goes to Umar, and he knows Umar will put him in his place. The Prophet PBUH was irritated, but he realized Abu Hudhayfah's brother, uncle, and father all just died. So he excused him and didn't take him to task. There's no consequences because one's emotional state is overlooked here.
After the battle was finished, all of the bodies of the mushriks were thrown into the well. When the body of Utbah (his father) was being dragged to be thrown into the well, Abu Hudhayfah's face became very pale. You could see the effects of grief on him. Upon this, the Prophet PBUH said to him, "Perhaps you find this difficult," and Abu Hudhayfah says, "Ya Rasulullah, I have no doubt my father died upon kufr, but I knew from him wisdom, love, and great care" - and frankly Utbah was of the better of the Quraysh. So he is saying his father was a good person, and he hoped Allah guided him to Islam. So the Prophet PBUH made du'a for Abu Hudhayfah - this is his way of showing Abu Hudhayfah that there are no hard feelings - everything is forgotten.
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Abu al-Bukhturi
Now even though the Prophet PBUH forbade the killing of al-Abbas, the Banu Hashim, and Abu al-Bukhturi, unfortunately Abu al-Bukhturi was killed. An Ansari saw him and told him, "O Abu al-Bukhturi, we have been forbidden from harming you, so surrender yourself and let me take you back to the camp." But Abu al-Bukhturi said, "How about my friend?" and the Ansari said, "We have no laws about him." So Abu al-Bukhturi said, "No. Let not the women of Quraysh say that I saved myself at the expense of my friend." So he charged forward and the Ansari had to kill him in self-defense. The Ansari then came to the Prophet PBUH and told him,"Ya Rasulullah, I tried my best to take him prisoner like you said, but he refused except to fight, so I had to kill him." So the Prophet PBUH excused him for killing Abu al-Bukhturi.