The Execution of ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith

On the other hand, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) specifically chose ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith to be executed from among all of the other prisoners of war, who numbered seventy in total. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ said: how is it, O Messenger of Allah, that you are choosing me out of everyone else — if you are going to kill the rest of the prisoners of war, then kill me with them; if you are going to ransom them, then ransom me with them; how is it that you are picking me out of everyone else, to be executed? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: li-ʿadāwatika lillāhi wa rasūlih — because of your enmity toward Allah and His Messenger. So ʿUqbah said: fa-man li-l-ṣibyah? — who will take care of my children? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: the Fire. Qaddimhu yā ʿĀṣim, and he was promptly beheaded by ʿĀṣim ibn Thābit (may Allah be pleased with him). Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, meanwhile, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib to execute.

These two men were specifically handpicked out of everyone else because of their evil, and it is said: these two men were among the most evil of Allah's servants — the most stubborn, wicked, envious and disbelieving of men — and they had been very active in ridiculing Islam and its supporters. Allah cursed them, and He did indeed.^* ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ was the one who saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in sujūd next to the Kaʿbah, when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was still in Makkah, and stepped over his neck with his foot; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: I felt that my eyes were going to pop out — I was going to die. And this is also the man who saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in rukūʿ, and came and threw the entrails of a camel, the intestines of a camel, over his back, and then Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ came and removed them. So ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ was one of the worst devils of Quraysh, and that is why he deserved this severe punishment. Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, meanwhile, was the one who went to Persia to learn the stories of Isfandiyār and Rustam, and would come back to Makkah and tell the people to gather around him, and would say: come and listen to my stories, they are better than Muḥammad's stories — what makes him more befitting of being a prophet compared to me? I can tell stories just like he could, so what makes him entitled to becoming a prophet, and doesn't give me that right? So he used to sway the people away from the gatherings of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), from his circle. So these two men were executed; and one can contrast this to what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said about al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdiyy, and see how differently the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would deal with different people.

With the rest, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) specifically gave the instruction to the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them): istawṣū bi-l-asārā khayran — treat the prisoners of war kindly, treat them kindly.