Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr, and the Status of the People of Badr

Usayd ibn Ḥuḍayr (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) after the Battle of Badr, and said: O Messenger of Allah, we did not know that any fighting would occur, otherwise we would have followed you. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: you are speaking the truth. Some of the Anṣār who stayed behind, then, stayed behind not because they did not want to fight, but because they did not think that fighting would happen — since, as already said, the original intent of the army was to raid a caravan, not to meet an army.

What, then, is the status of the people of Badr? The people of Badr carry a special status. Jibrīl came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and asked him: mā taʿuddūna ahla Badrin fīkum? — what do you consider the people of Badr among you to be, what is the status of the people of Badr among you? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: they are among the best of the Muslims. Jibrīl said: the same is the case with the angels who attended Badr. So Badr was not a special event only for the Muslims who attended it, but also a special event for the angels who attended it. The Muslims who attended Badr are the best of the Muslims, and the angels who attended Badr are the best of the angels; and that is why, in the books of the Companions, the people of Badr are considered a special class — Ṭabaqāt al-Badriyyīn, the class of the people of Badr, a special class.

When Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah committed an act of treason against Allah and His Messenger, by informing the people of Makkah of the plans of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to attack them, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, let me execute him — he is a hypocrite. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: O ʿUmar, probably Allah has looked down at the people of Badr, and said, do whatever you want, because I have forgiven you. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is saying that the people of Badr, because of attending Badr, Allah looked at them and said, you can now do whatever you want, because I have forgiven you. When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that, the eyes of ʿUmar filled with tears. Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah was one of the Muslims who attended Badr, and because of that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, had granted him forgiveness. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says, in another report, related through Jābir and preserved by Muslim: no one who attended Badr or al-Ḥudaybiyyah will enter the Fire. So the people of Badr are special.