Mishkat al-Masabih 3967

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Qatada reported: Anas ibn Malik told us from Abu Talha that on the day of Badr, the Prophet of God (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that twenty-four of Quraysh’s leading men be thrown into one of Badr’s foul, putrid wells. When he had prevailed over a people, he would remain on the battlefield for three nights. On the third day at Badr, he ordered his riding camel to be brought and saddled, then walked, with his Companions following him, until he stood at the edge of the well. He called to them by their names and their fathers’ names: ‘So-and-so son of so-and-so, would it please you if you had obeyed God and His Messenger? We have found true what our Lord promised us. Have you found true what your Lord promised you?’ ʿUmar said, ‘Messenger of God, why speak to bodies without souls?’ The Prophet said, ‘By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, you do not hear what I say any better than they do.’ Another version says, ‘You do not hear any better than they do, but they cannot answer.’ Agreed upon. Al-Bukhari added: Qatada said, ‘God brought them to life so that they could hear his words as rebuke, humiliation, retribution, grief, and regret.’