Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib's Ransom

Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: ransom yourself, pay a ransom. Al-ʿAbbās said: O Messenger of Allah, I am a Muslim. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: ammā ẓāhiruka fa-kāna ʿalaynā — what was evident was that you were against us; Allah knows best about your accepting Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is here setting, for the Muslims, a rule: judgement goes by what is seen, since no one can know what is in the hearts — only Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is the one who can see the hearts. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said, when he was caliph: in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), revelation would come down and tell us what was in the hearts of men, but now judgement is made on what appears. If what appears from a man is Islam, that is accepted from him; and if what appears from a man is disbelief, he is taken to be a disbeliever, even if he claims that he is otherwise — if his actions are those of a disbeliever, it does not benefit him to say that he is a Muslim, since judgement goes by a person's actions. So this was the case with al-ʿAbbās: he was with the enemy; he could claim to be a Muslim, he could state lā ilāha illallāh, but why was he on the side of the enemy? This is a very important rule: people are not to be judged according to what is in their hearts, but by their actions; at the same time, no one is to be allowed to be fooled or tricked by a person stating that he is this or that, when his actions prove otherwise — judgement goes by the actions of people.

Al-ʿAbbās said: I don't have any money. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: what about the money that you buried in the ground, and told your wife Umm al-Faḍl, if I am killed, then make use of this money? Al-ʿAbbās said: I testify and I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah — no one knew of that treasure except myself and my wife. He paid for his ransom, and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed the āyah:

O Prophet, say to whoever is in your hands of the captives: if Allah knows any good in your hearts, He will give you better than what was taken from you, and He will forgive you, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful; but if they intend to betray you, then they have already betrayed Allah before, and He has empowered you over them, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is telling these men who claimed that they were Muslim, and who had to pay for their ransom: if you are Muslim, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will replace the money that was taken from you — do not worry. Al-ʿAbbās said that he paid twenty ūqiyyah of gold — a certain weight of gold — for his ransom, and that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, gave him back much more than that, meaning that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, replaced the money he paid for ransom, and multiplied it for al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (may Allah be pleased with him).