His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "It is not for a Prophet to have captives until he has made great slaughter in the land. You desire the goods of this world, while Allah desires the Hereafter. And Allah is Exalted in Might, Wise." "If it had not been for a decree from Allah that had preceded, you would have been touched for what you took by a great punishment." "So eat from what you have gained as lawful and good, and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

This verse contains, in my view, a reprimand from Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, to the companions of His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. The meaning is: it was not appropriate for you to do this act which necessitated that the Prophet have captives before the killing. The information is for them, and for this reason the address continued with 'You want.' The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, did not command the retention of the men during wartime, nor did he ever intend to offer worldly gain. Rather, this was done by the majority of those directly engaged in the battle. The mention of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in the verse indicates his involvement in the reprimand when he did not prohibit that when he saw it from the canopy. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh denied it, but he, blessings and peace be upon him, was preoccupied by the suddenness of the matter and the appearance of victory, so he left off the prohibition of retention. For this reason, he, blessings and peace be upon him, and Abu Bakr wept when this verse was revealed. Many of the commentators have passed over the fact that this rebuke was due to the suggestion of one who advised the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to take the ransom. This is because the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, 'when he gathered the captives of Badr, consulted his companions about them. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq said: O Messenger of Allah, they are your relatives, and perhaps Allah will guide them to Islam later, so ransom them and retain them, and the Muslims will be strengthened by their wealth.' Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said: No, O Messenger of Allah, rather we should strike their necks, for they are the leaders of disbelief. Abdullah ibn Rawahah said: Rather, we should place them in a valley with plenty of firewood, then set fire to it upon them. And Sa'd ibn Mu'adh said, while he was with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, in the canopy and saw the captives: Killing them is more beloved to me than retaining the men. So the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, accepted the words of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, and inclined towards them. Then this verse was revealed, informing that the first and more formidable action against all the disbelievers was the killing of the captives of Badr. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, said: This verse was revealed while the Muslims were few. When they became numerous and their authority became strong, it was revealed regarding the captives: 'So either a favor afterward or a ransom.' And al-Tabari and others mentioned that when the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, spoke to his companions about the captives as mentioned, he entered and did not respond to them. Then he came out and said: Indeed, Allah, the Exalted, softens the hearts of men and hardens the hearts of men until they become harder than stone. And your example, O Abu Bakr, is like that of Ibrahim, who said: 'So whoever follows me is indeed of me, and whoever disobeys me, indeed, You are Forgiving and Merciful.' And your example, O Isa, is like that of him who said: 'If You punish them, indeed they are Your servants, and if You forgive them, indeed You are the Exalted in Might, the Wise.' And your example, O Umar, is like that of Nuh, who said: 'My Lord, do not leave upon the earth any disbeliever.' And the example of Musa, who said: 'Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they do not believe until they see the painful punishment.' Then the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Today, no man among them shall escape except by ransom or by striking his neck.' In this narration, Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, preferred what Abu Bakr said and did not prefer what I said.'

And this is a proof regarding the mention of "desire" in righteousness.

And a group read "what was for the Prophet" defined, while the majority of the people read "for a Prophet." And Abu Amr ibn al-Ala alone read "that it may be" in the feminine form, taking into account the wording of "the captives." The remaining seven and the majority of the people read "that he may be" in the masculine form, taking into account the meaning of "the captives." The majority of the people and the seven read "captives," while some people read "prisoners" and it was narrated by al-Mufaddal from Asim, and this is the reading of Abu Ja'far.

The analogy and the rule is that "captives" is pluralized to "captives," and likewise every "fa'il" meaning "maf'ul," and it is likened to "fa'il" even if it does not mean "maf'ul" like "sick" and "sick ones." If there are also matters that are a way for a person to be compelled to them and they come to him by force, then he is in them in the position of "maf'ul." As for its pluralization to "prisoners," it is similar to "lazy" in the plural of "lazy ones," and "lazy" is also pluralized to "lazies" likening it to "captives" in the plural of "captives." Sibawayh said this, and both are irregular. And al-Zajjaj said: "prisoners" is the plural of "captives," so it is the plural of the plural.

The majority of the people read "yuthkhina" with the thaa' being silent, while Abu Ja'far, Yahya ibn Ya'mar, and Yahya ibn Waththab read "yuthakhkhina" with the thaa' being opened and the kha' being doubled. Its meaning in both ways is: he exaggerates in killing, and "ithkhan" is only in killing and wounding and what is from it.

Then he commanded addressing the companions of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, saying: "You desire the goods of this world," meaning: its wealth that is of interest and is presented, and the intended meaning is what was taken from the captives of wealth. "And Allah desires the Hereafter," meaning: the deeds of the Hereafter, so the addition was omitted, and the added was placed in its place. Ibn Jammaz read "the Hereafter" in the genitive case based on the estimation of the addition, and this is looked at in the saying of the poet:

"Do you think every person is a person, and a fire that burns at night is a fire?"

based on the estimation of: "and every fire."

And al-Tabari and others mentioned that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to the people: "If you wish, you can take the ransom of the captives and seventy of you will be killed in war for their number, and if you wish, they will be killed and you will be safe." They said: "We will take the wealth and seventy of us will be martyred." And Abd ibn Humayd mentioned in his chain that Gabriel descended upon the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, with the choice for the people like this.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And on the two narrations, the matter in this choice is from Allah, for it is a notification of the unseen. If they were given a choice, how could the reprimand occur afterwards with His saying, "A great punishment has touched you for what you have taken"? And what I say regarding this is that the reproach towards the companions of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, with His saying, "It is not for a Prophet" up to His saying, "great" is indeed regarding the preservation of men at the time of defeat, desiring to take wealth from them. And all the reproach, when considered, is indeed for the people. And at that time, Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, was killing and urging to kill and did not see the preservation. At that time, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh said, "Inflicting harm is more beloved to me than preserving men." And with that, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, made them two who would be saved from punishment if it were to descend. And what indicates the eagerness of some of them for wealth is the saying of Al-Miqdad when the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, commanded the killing of 'Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt: "Take him captive, O Messenger of Allah," and the saying of Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr to the one who was capturing his brother: "Tighten your grip on him, for he has a wealthy mother," and other such stories of theirs. So when the captives were obtained and brought to Medina, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, ordered the killing of Al-Nadr and 'Uqbah, and the freeing of Abu 'Azza and others, and he began to deliberate regarding the rest of them, the choice descended from Allah, glorified and exalted is He. So the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, consulted at that time. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, passed by his first opinion regarding killing, and Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, saw the benefit in the strength of the Muslims through the wealth of ransom. And the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, inclined towards the opinion of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. And both opinions are ijtihad after the choice. So there was no reproach on any of this. And the commentators mentioned that the verse was revealed because of this consultation and these opinions, and that is contested by what I have mentioned. And likewise, they mentioned in these verses the permissibility of the spoils for this nation. And I do not say that, for the ruling of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, regarding the permissibility of spoils for this nation had indeed preceded before Badr, and that was in the expedition in which 'Amr ibn Al-Hudhayrimi was killed. And the only innovation in Badr was the preservation of men for the sake of wealth, and that which Allah bestowed upon them in it was the inclusion of the ransom of the disbeliever with the spoils which had previously been made permissible.

And the meaning of what the commentators said is that the people were given a choice in two matters, one of which was not good in terms of testing them, so they chose the lesser option, and thus the reproach occurred. And it was not a choice between two equal levels, just as the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was brought two vessels on the Night of Isra and chose the better one.

And "Mighty, Wise" are two attributes from the verse, for with might and wisdom, His intention is completed in perfection and fulfillment. And Abu Amr ibn Al-Ala said: The captives are those who are not bound when they are taken, and the prisoners are those who are bound by ties.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And Abu Hatim narrated that he heard this from the Arabs, and Abu Al-Hasan Al-Akhfash also mentioned it, saying: The Arabs do not recognize this, and both are the same to them.

And His saying, exalted is He: "If it were not for a decree from Allah that had preceded," some groups said: the preceding decree is the Qur'an. The meaning is: if it were not for the decree that you believed in and affirmed, the punishment would have touched you for taking this ransom. And Sa'id ibn Jubair, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, and Ibn Zayd also said: the preceding decree is Allah's forgiveness for the people of Badr for what has preceded of their sins or what has come after. And Al-Hasan, Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, Abu Huraira, and others said: the decree is what Allah had decreed in the beginning regarding the permissibility of the spoils of war and ransom for Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and his nation, which were prohibited for all other nations. And another group said: the preceding decree is Allah's pardon for them in this specific sin. And another group said: the decree is that Allah, exalted and mighty is He, decreed that He would not punish anyone for a sin they committed out of ignorance. And this is a weak statement that is opposed by places in the Sharia. And Al-Tabari mentioned from Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib that the preceding decree is that no one would be punished for a sin except after being forbidden from it, and they had not yet been forbidden. And another group said: the preceding decree is what Allah has decreed regarding the erasure of minor sins by avoiding major sins.

Al-Tabari went to include all these meanings under the term and that it encompasses them, and he turned away from specifying one meaning over another. And the "lam" in "would have touched you" is the response to "if it were not for," and "decree" is in the nominative as a subject with the predicate being omitted. And so is the case with the noun that follows "if it were not for." Its estimation according to Sibawayh is: if it were not for a preceding decree from Allah that would have encompassed you. And "what" from His saying, exalted is He: "in what" refers either to the captives or to the ransom, and it is relative.

And in "you took" there is a pronoun that returns to it, and it may be that it is verbal and does not need a referent. It has been narrated that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "If punishment were to descend in this matter, Umar ibn al-Khattab would have been saved from it," and in another narration: "and Sa'd ibn Mu'adh." This is because their opinion was that the captives should be killed. And His saying, exalted is He: "So eat from what you have gained," is a clear text on the permissibility of the wealth taken from the captives and its inclusion with the spoils of war that had previously been made lawful.

His saying: "pure and lawful" are two conditions from "what" in His saying: "from what you have gained," and it is correct that they are from the pronoun in "you have gained." And it may be that "lawful" is the object of "so eat." "And fear Allah" means: in hastening according to human desire and inclination in another incident. And His saying: "And fear Allah" is a clear interjection in the midst of the speech, because His saying: "Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful" is connected in meaning to His saying: "So eat from what you have gained, pure and lawful."