He related that his father had written a letter to the disbelievers of Quraysh while he was with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and had taken part in Badr. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ called Ali and Zubayr and said, "Go until you catch up with a woman who has a letter with her, then bring it to me."So they set off until they reached her, and they said to her, "Hand over the letter you have with you."She replied, "I have no letter."They told her that they would not leave until they stripped off every garment she had on. So she said, "Are you not two Muslim men?"They answered, "Yes, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has told us that you have a letter with you."When she became certain that she could not escape them, she undid the letter from her hair and handed it to them.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then summoned Hatib, and after the letter was read out to him, he asked, "Do you recognize this letter?"Hatib said, "Yes."The Prophet ﷺ asked, "What made you do this?"He replied, "My children and my relatives are there, and I was a stranger among you, the people of Quraysh."Umar said, "Allow me to kill Hatib."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "No, for he was present at Badr, and you do not know, perhaps Allah has looked upon the people of Badr and said, 'Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you.'"
أنه حدث أن أباه كتب إلى كفار قريش كتابا وهو مع رسول الله ﷺ قد شهد بدرا فدعا رسول الله ﷺ عليا والزبير فقال: انطلقا حتى تدركا معها كتاب فأتياني به، فانطلقا حتى لقياها فقالا أعطينا الكتاب الذي معك وأخبراها أنهما غير منصرفين حتى ينزعا كل ثوب عليها فقالت ألستما رجلين مسلمين؟ قالا: بلى ولكن رسول الله ﷺ حدثنا أن معك كتابا فلما أيقنت أنها غير منفلتة منهما حلت الكتاب من رأسها فدفعته إليهما فدعا رسول الله ﷺ حاطبا حتى قرأ عليه الكتاب فقال: أتعرف هذا الكتاب؟ قال: نعم قال: فما حملك على ذلك؟ قال: هناك ولدي وذو قرابتي وكنت امرءا غريبا فيكم معشر قريش فقال عمر: ائذن لي في قتل حاطب فقال رسول الله ﷺ: لا لأنه قد شهد بدرا وأنك لا تدري لعل الله قد اطلع على أهل بدر فقال اعملوا ما شئتم إني غافر لكم.
Tabarani related it in al-Kabir (3/206) and Hakim in al-Mustadrak (3/301), both from the hadith of Musa bin Harun, from Hashim bin Harith, from Ubaydullah bin Amr, from Ishaq bin Rashid, from Zuhri, from Urwa bin Zubayr, from Abdul-Rahman bin Hatib bin Abu Balta, who mentioned it.Its isnad is hasan because of Ishaq bin Rashid, for he has some lapses in his narrations from Zuhri, though he did not err in this hadith due to its corroborating reports. Abdul-Rahman bin Hatib bin Abu Balta did not witness the event himself, and he only had a sighting of the Prophet, so his hadith is counted among the mursal reports of the companions, and he certainly heard this from his father. And Allah knows best.