Eighty armed men from the people of Mecca came down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from the mountain of Tanim, intending to catch the Prophet ﷺ and his companions off guard. He captured them peacefully and spared their lives. Then Allah revealed, "And it is He who withheld their hands from you and your hands from them within Mecca after He had enabled you to overcome them" [Fath 48:24].
أن ثمانين رجلا من أهل مكة هبطوا على رسول الله ﷺ من جبل التنعيم متسلحين يريدون غرة النبي ﷺ وأصحابه، فأخذهم سلما فاستحياهم فأنزل الله عز وجل: {وهو الذي كف أيديهم عنكم وأيديكم عنهم ببطن مكة من بعد أن أظفركم عليهم} [الفتح: ٢٤].
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Jihad (1808), from Amr bin Muhammad Naqid, who said, Yazid bin Harun narrated to us, Hammad bin Salama informed us, from Thabit, from Anas, who related it. Ahmad also narrated it (12227) from Yazid bin Harun, adding at the beginning, "On the day of Hudaybiya."Regarding his statement, "eighty men," in the narration of Salama bin Akwa it says "seventy men," and the way to reconcile the two is that the discrepancy comes down to the narrator's estimation.Regarding his statement, "he took them as salm," meaning he captured them as prisoners, salm (with fatha on the sin and sukun on the lam) meaning capture. It has also been said that it is (with fatha on the lam), meaning submission and compliance, as in His saying, "and offered you submission" [Nisa 4:90], meaning compliance. He then released them out of mercy from Allah, for the Prophet ﷺ was sent as a mercy to all the worlds.Regarding his statement, "the mountain of Tanim," this mountain extended toward Hudaybiya, since Hudaybiya is twenty-two kilometers west of Makkah, and Tanim is twenty kilometers west of Makkah.Regarding his statement in the narration of Salama bin Akwa, "Leave them, let them be the ones who initiate the wrongdoing and its repetition," fujur (wrongdoing) is the opposite of righteousness, and "its repetition" means their returning to it. What is meant by fujur here is breaking the treaty. The Prophet ﷺ pardoned them so that the terms of the truce would be fulfilled, and they would return again, and this would become a cause for the conquest of Makkah.