Thābit ibn Qays and al-Zubayr ibn Bāṭā

One of the Ṣaḥābah appealed for one of the Jewish men, because this man had done him a favour in the time of Jāhiliyyah, so he wanted to pay him back for that. And this man, the Ṣaḥābī, was Thābit ibn Qays. He went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to appeal for al-Zubayr ibn Bāṭā. Now al-Zubayr ibn Bāṭā was an old man who had become blind. Thābit went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to spare the life of al-Zubayr, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) agreed.

But then al-Zubayr told Thābit, "What would an old man who would have no son and no family do with his life?" So Thābit went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and asked the Messenger of Allah to free his wife and his children, which the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did. But then al-Zubayr said, "What's to become of a household in the Ḥijāz that has no property? How could they survive?" We're in the desert; how will I live without my property? So Thābit goes to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and asks for the property of this man to be released, which the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did. So now al-Zubayr is free, his wife is free, his children are free, and his property is back.

But then al-Zubayr asked Thābit. He said, "What became of Kaʿb ibn Asad, whose face was like a mirror that reflects the faces of the tribe's virgins?" Thābit said, "He has been killed." Al-Zubayr said, "And what of our vanguard in the attack and our protector in flight, ʿAzzāl ibn Shamwāl?" Thābit said, "He has been killed." "So what became of the two councils?" He said, "They have dispersed and been killed." Then al-Zubayr said, "I ask you then, Thābit, by your obligation to me, to let me join my own people. There is no good in life for me now that they have gone, and I can't stand postponing joining my loved ones for so long as it would take to fill an empty bucket being borne along by a camel."

Al-Zubayr was saying: what's the purpose of living if my whole tribe has been exterminated? So this man was so attached to his people that he didn't want to live without them. And he was asking Thābit to pay back his favour to him by making him join his loved ones. So when al-Zubayr said that that was his wish, Thābit ibn Qays went over to him and cut off his head. When the news of this reached Abū Bakr, when he heard the statement of al-Zubayr, "I want to join my loved ones," Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "He'll meet them, by Allah, in the fire of Hell, where he will dwell forever." When you want to join your people — the Yahūd who died, and the kuffār — fine, you will join them, but you will join them in Hellfire.