Abū ʿAzzah's Two Escapes

Abū ʿAzzah, another prisoner of war, said: O Messenger of Allah, you know my state of finances, I am poor and have a family, so be gracious to me. Abū ʿAzzah had daughters to take care of, and he was poor. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) appreciated that he was considerate of his situation, so he told him: I am going to allow you to be freed; however, my condition is that you do not support anyone else against me. This time you came out fighting against me in the Battle of Badr — next time, you are to refuse to fight against Muḥammad (peace be upon him) and the Muslims. Abū ʿAzzah agreed. However, at the Battle of Uḥud, the people of Quraysh were able to seduce him into joining them, and subḥān Allāh, again he fell into the hands of the Muslims. This time he tried to use the same excuse again, and said: O Messenger of Allah, I have daughters, I am poor, let me go. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: I will not let you stroke your beard and say that you have deceived Muḥammad twice.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was not sentimental, and he was not a leader who could be tricked or deceived; he was kind, he was compassionate, he was tolerant, but at the same time he would not allow people to take advantage of these good qualities, and harm the Muslims. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: I already allowed you once, I am not going to allow you again — and he ordered his execution on the spot. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: lā yuldaghu al-muʾminu min juḥrin wāḥidin marratayn — a believer will not be bitten twice from the same hole; a believer will not be tricked twice; a believer should not allow himself to be bitten twice from the same source — a report agreed upon by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. This is an important lesson for the Muslims: one should not be gullible, and should not fall prey to deceptive words a second time; Muslims should be alert, and should know who is there to benefit Islam and the Muslims, and who is up to no good.