The Well of the Dead

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) tells the story of al-Qalīb. He says, "The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered on the day of the battle at Badr that twenty-four of the chiefs of Quraysh be thrown into a dirty, refuse-laden old well" (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 3976). So the bodies of the leaders of Quraysh, twenty-four of them, were dragged into this grave, a dirty, refuse-laden old well. As Anas ibn Mālik describes it, when they were pulling the body of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, his son Abū Ḥudhayfah was watching on. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) looked into his face and saw that he was distressed, that he was sad, and said, "Abū Ḥudhayfah, are you very upset at your father's fate?" Abū Ḥudhayfah answered, "I swear, O Messenger of Allah, I have no problem with my father's fate. But I once knew him as a man of reason, judgement and goodness, and hoped those qualities would lead him to Islam. When I saw what his fate was, and how he had died in disbelief despite my hopes for him, I was saddened." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) then made duʿāʾ for him.