The Messenger of Allah ﷺ consulted the people about the captives on the day of Badr, saying, "Allah has given you power over them."Umar bin Khattab stood up and said, "Messenger of Allah, strike their necks."The Prophet ﷺ turned away from him.Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned to the matter and said, "People, Allah has given you power over them, and they are only your brothers of yesterday."Umar stood up again and said, "Messenger of Allah, strike their necks."The Prophet ﷺ turned away from him once more.Then the Prophet ﷺ returned to the matter and addressed the people as before. Abu Bakr stood up and said, "Messenger of Allah, we think you should pardon them and accept ransom from them."The grief that had been on the face of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ departed. He pardoned them and accepted ransom from them, and Allah revealed, "Had there not been a prior decree from Allah, a great punishment would have afflicted you for what you took" [Anfal 8:68].
استشار رسول الله ﷺ الناس في الأسارى يوم بدر، فقال: إن الله قد أمكنكم منهم قال: فقام عمر بن الخطاب، فقال: يا رسول الله اضرب أعناقهم قال فأعرض عنه النبي ﷺ، قال: ثم عاد رسول الله ﷺ فقال: يا أيها الناس، إن الله قد أمكنكم منهم، وإنما هم إخوانكم بالأمس قال: فقام عمر، فقال: يا رسول الله اضرب أعناقهم قال: فأعرض عنه النبي ﷺ، قال: ثم عاد النبي ﷺ، فقال للناس مثل ذلك، فقام أبو بكر، فقال: يا رسول الله! نرى أن تعفو عنهم، وتقبل منهم الفداء. قال: فذهب عن وجه رسول الله ﷺ ما كان فيه من الغم، قال: فعفا عنهم، وقبل منهم الفداء، قال: وأنزل الله: {أولا كتب من الله سبق لمسكم فيما أخذتم عذاب عظيم}.
Ahmad narrated it (13555) from Ali bin Asim, from Humayd, from Anas, and he mentioned a man, from Hasan, who said, then he related it.This hadith has been narrated through two chains. The first is connected through Anas, and its chain is hasan because of Ali bin Asim, who is Ibn Suhayb Wasiti. He is daif according to most scholars of knowledge, except that Ajli deemed him trustworthy. Ahmad used to say, "Take from his hadith what is sahih, and leave what he got wrong or erred in." This hadith is among those in which he did not err.The second chain is narrated as mursal from Hasan, and it contains an unnamed man.His statement, the Almighty, "So eat of what you have taken in war, lawful and good" [Anfal 8:69]