Interrogating a Captured Scout

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent out Zuhayr and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and some other Companions, scouting the area, trying to gather information. They found a servant belonging to the army of Quraysh, arrested him, and took him back. They brought him back while the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was praying, and then they would ask him, "Who do you belong to?" He would say, "I belong to the army of Quraysh," so they would beat him up badly. And they would ask him about the location of Abū Sufyān, and this man did not know, and he said, "I have no idea where Abū Sufyān is." So they would tell him, "Well, who do you know about?" He said, "I know the whereabouts of Abū Jahl, of Umayyah ibn Khalaf, of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah," naming some of the prominent members of the army of Quraysh. And they would beat him and tell him, where is Abū Sufyān, so he would say, "Okay, okay, I'll tell you about Abū Sufyān," so they would stop beating him, and then he would say, "I don't know." The reason they were beating him to give them the location of Abū Sufyān shows that they still wanted to know where the caravan was, and they were not happy when he told them the truth, that he belonged to the army.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) finished his ṣalāh and told them, "When he speaks the truth, you beat him, and when he lies, you leave him alone" — for when he would say, "Yes, I know where Abū Sufyān is," they would leave him alone. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were not really getting the right information from him, so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) went to interrogate him himself. He walked up to the man without beating him, and just asked him, "Tell me about the numbers — what is the number of the army, how many are they?" The young man said, "I have no idea — there are a lot, kathīr, there are a lot." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted specific information: what does "a lot" mean, tell me how many they are — and this young man had no clue. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked him how many camels they slaughter every day. The man said, "One day they would slaughter ten camels, the next day they would slaughter nine." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, al-qawmu bayna tisʿimiʾatin wa alf — they are between nine hundred and a thousand.