Muḥammad b. Isḥāq said: Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar related to me, on the authority of ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr and other scholars among us, the following report:
When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) resolved to march on Mecca, Ḥāṭib b. Abī Baltaʿa wrote a letter to the Quraysh. In it, he informed them about the Messenger of God’s (peace and blessings be upon him) intention to advance upon Mecca. He then took the letter and gave it to a woman. Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar claimed that the woman was from the Muzayna tribe. According to what others have told me, her name was Sarra and she was a freed slave of one of the Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. Ḥāṭib promised her a great reward in exchange for delivering the letter.
The woman placed the letter in her hair braid and set out. What Ḥāṭib had done was revealed to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) from the heavens. Thereupon, he sent ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām, and said to them:
– Seize a woman, for Ḥāṭib b. Abī Baltaʿa has sent a letter with her to the Quraysh. He is informing them of the battle we have resolved upon and calling them to prepare themselves.
ʿAlī and al-Zubayr set out. They caught up with her in the district of Khalīfa belonging to Banū Abī Aḥmad and asked her to dismount her camel. They searched her belongings but found nothing. Then ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib said to the woman:
– By Allah, neither has a false report come to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) from the heavens, nor has he lied to us. Either you produce the letter yourself, or we will search your person!
When the woman saw the seriousness of the matter, she said:
– Turn aside.
He turned his face away, and the woman undid her braids and produced the letter, handing it over to him. He brought it to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), who summoned Ḥāṭib and said to him:
– O Ḥāṭib! What led you to do this?
– O Messenger of God, by Allah, I am indeed a believer in Allah and His Messenger. I have neither changed nor altered my religion. But I am a man who has no root or clan among the Quraysh. I have family and children among them. For this reason, I sought to ingratiate myself with them.
Thereupon, ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb said:
– O Messenger of God, let me strike off his head, for this man has become a hypocrite.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
– O ʿUmar, how do you know? Allah looked upon the people of Badr on the Day of Badr and said:
“Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you.”
Thereupon, the Exalted Allah sent down the following verses regarding Ḥāṭib:
“O you who have believed, do not take My enemies and your enemies as allies...” (al-Mumtaḥina 60:1)
From this point, the event is narrated, and the situation is clarified in the verses of this surah until the end of the story.
Ibn Isḥāq transmitted this story in this manner as mursal (with a missing link). According to Suhaylī, the letter Ḥāṭib wrote to the Quraysh contained the following words: “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) is coming upon you with an army like the darkness of night, surging forth like a flood. By Allah, even if he comes upon you alone, Allah will aid him against you, for Allah will fulfill what He has promised him.”
In the tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis) of Ibn Sallām, it is also mentioned that Ḥāṭib’s letter contained the following: “Indeed, Muḥammad has set out with his army. He will come to you or to others. Be cautious and beware.”
Al-Bukhārī, through the transmission of Qutayba, narrated that ʿAlī said:
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me, al-Zubayr, and al-Miqdād. He commanded us:
– Set out. When you reach the place called Rawḍat al-Fakhr, there you will find a woman. She has a letter. Take the letter from her.
We set out, urging our horses at full speed. When we reached Rawḍa, we found the woman. We said to her: “Produce the letter.” She said: “I have nothing with me.” We said: “Either you produce the letter, or we will strip your clothes.” She then produced the letter from within her braids. We took the letter and brought it to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). Inside, it was written:
“From Ḥāṭib b. Abī Baltaʿa to the polytheist people in Mecca...” In this letter, Ḥāṭib was informing them that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was advancing upon the Quraysh. The Messenger of God summoned him and asked:
– O Ḥāṭib, what is this?
– O Messenger of God, do not be hasty in judging me. I am a person who has ties with the Quraysh. Though I am not one of them, I am their ally. Some of the Emigrants (Muhājirūn) with you have relatives among the Quraysh, and by means of these relatives, they protect their property and families. As for me, knowing that I have no clan among them, I wished to have some standing with them by sending this letter, so that I might protect my kinship. I did not do this out of apostasy from my religion or out of contentment with kufr (disbelief) after Islam. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to those present: “Ḥāṭib has spoken the truth to you.”
ʿUmar said:
– O Messenger of God, let me strike off the neck of this hypocrite. The Messenger of God replied: – How do you know? Perhaps Allah has looked upon the people who participated in the Battle of Badr and said: “Do as you wish. I have forgiven you.”
Thereupon, Allah the Exalted sent down this noble verse: “O you who have believed, do not take My enemies and your enemies as allies. You extend to them affection while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth, having driven out the Messenger and yourselves [only] because you believe in Allah, your Lord. If you have come out for jihad in My cause and seeking My pleasure, [do not take them as allies]. You confide to them affection, but I am most knowing of what you have concealed and what you have declared. And whoever does it among you has certainly strayed from the straight path.” (al-Mumtaḥina 60:1)
Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh that Ḥāṭib b. Abī Baltaʿa wrote a letter to the Meccans, informing them that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was coming against them with the intention of battle. He gave this letter to a woman, and this was reported to the Messenger of God. The Messenger of God sent men to the woman, and they retrieved the letter from her hair. The Messenger of God asked Ḥāṭib:
– O Ḥāṭib, did you do this?
– Yes. But I did not do it out of hypocrisy or to deceive the Messenger of God. For I knew that Allah would grant victory to the Messenger of God and bring his affair to a successful conclusion. I was merely a stranger among the Quraysh, and my mother was among them. I did it as a favor to them so that they would not harm my mother.
ʿUmar said:
– Shall I strike off this man’s head? The Messenger of God replied:
– Will you kill a man who participated in the Battle of Badr? How do you know, perhaps Allah has looked upon those who participated in the Battle of Badr and said: “Do as you wish.”