(Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation…) [16:125-127].
Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mansuri informed us> 'Ali ibn 'Umar al-Hafiz> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz> al-Hakam ibn Musa> Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash> 'Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Ghaniyyah> al-Hakam ibn 'Utaybah> Mujahid> Ibn 'Abbas who said: “When the idolaters retreated from those who were killed at the Battle of Uhud, The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went there and saw a scene which he strongly disliked. And he also saw Hamzah with his stomach ripped open, nose burnt and ears cut off. He said: 'If it were not for the fear of causing more grief to the women or that it becomes a followed practice after me, I would leave him until Allah, exalted is He, resurrect him from the bellies of predatory animals and birds. I shall kill seventy men of them [of the disbelievers of Quraysh] in revenge', He then asked for a mantle to cover him with it. When he covered his face, his feet remained uncovered and so he covered them with some Bulrush. He then placed him forward and said 'Allah is the greatest' ten times. Then, all those Muslim dead were brought, one by one, while the body of Hamzah was unmoved from its place, and the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, prayed on them. And so He performed seventy prayers on Hamzah. There were seventy Muslims who died in this battle. When they were buried and finished with, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation) up to His words (Endure thou patiently (O Muhammad). Thine endurance is only by (the help of) Allah…) [16:127]. And so, he was patient and did not mutilate any one”.
Isma'il ibn Ibrahim al-Wa'iz informed us> Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Isa al-Hafiz> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz> Bishr ibn al-Walid al-Kindi> Salih al-Murri> Sulayman al-Taymi> Abu 'Uthman al-Nahdi> Abu Hurayrah who said: “When the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, got closer to Hamzah, he saw that he was dead. Nothing that he ever saw was more painful to his heart than that sight. He said: “By Allah, I will kill seventy of them in return!” This verse was then revealed (If ye punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith ye were afflicted. But if ye endure patiently, verily it is better for the patient) [16:126].
Abu Hassan al-Muzakki informed us> Abu'l-'Abbas Muhammad ibn Ishaq> Musa ibn Ishaq> Yahya ibn 'Abd al-Hamid al-Humani> Qays ibn Abi Layla> al-Hakam> Muqassim> Ibn 'Abbas who reported that, on the day Hamzah was killed and mutilated, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: “If I get my hand on the Quraysh I will mutilate seventy men of them. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (If ye punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith ye were afflicted. But if ye endure patiently, verily it is better for the patient), upon which the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: 'I would rather be patient, O Lord!' ”
The commentators of the Qur'an said: “When the Muslims saw what the idolaters did to their dead at the Battle of Uhud in terms of ripping open their stomachs, cutting off their male organs and mutilating them in the most ugly way, they said: 'If Allah gives us a chance to get our hands on them, we will mutilate them even worse than what they did; we shall maim them in a way that none of the Arabs did before to any other Arab; and we shall do this and we shall do that'. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, stopped at the body of his paternal uncle Hamzah with his nose and ears amputated, his male organs cut off and his stomach ripped open. Hind bint 'Utbah had taken a piece of his liver, chewed it and swallowed it but her stomach could not take it and she threw it up. When the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, heard of this, he said: 'She would have never entered hell if she did digest it; Hamzah is too noble in the sight of Allah to allow any part of his body to enter hell'. When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, saw Hamzah [lying dead and mutilated], he had never seen, before that, anything which was more painful to his heart. And so he said: 'May Allah's mercy be on you; you were, as far as I know, someone who kept his ties of kinship and did always good deeds. Had it not been for the grieving of those who survived of your family, it would have pleased me to leave you as you are until you are resurrected [on the Day of Judgement] from different bellies. By Allah, if Allah, exalted is He, gives me the opportunity to lay my hand on them, I will mutilate seventy men of them, for what they did to you'. But Allah, exalted is He, revealed (If ye punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith ye were afflicted. But if ye endure patiently, verily it is better for the patient) and so the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: 'I would rather be patient', and then he made amends for the oath he had made”.
Here, we need to mention how Hamzah was killed. 'Amr ibn Abi 'Amr al-Muzakki informed us> Muhammad ibn Makki> Muhammad ibn Yusuf> Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Ju'fi> Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah> Hujayn ibn al-Muthanna> 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Salamah.
And we were informed by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Thaqafi> Sa'id ibn Yahya al-Umawi> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq> 'Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl ibn 'Ayyash ibn Abi Rabi'ah> Sulayman ibn Yasar> Ja'far ibn 'Amr ibn Umayyah al-Damri who said: “I travelled with 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Adiyy ibn al-Khiyar through Hums. While we were there 'Ubayd Allah said to me: 'Do you wish to go to visit Wahshiyy to ask him how he killed Hamzah'. I said: 'If you want to'. A man said to us: 'You will find him in the courtyard of his house; he is a man who is always drunk. However, if he is sober, he will speak in Arabic and you might find what you are after'. When we got to him, we greeted him and he raised his head. We said: 'We have come to you to tell us about your killing of Hamzah, may Allah have mercy on him'. He said: 'I will relate to you exactly what I related to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, when he asked me about the same. I was a slave of Jubayr ibn Mut'im ibn 'Adiyy ibn Nawfal whose uncle Tu'aymah ibn 'Adiyy was killed at the Battle of Badr. When the Quraysh marched toward Uhud, Jubayr ibn Mut'im said to me: 'You are free if you kill Hamzah, Muhammad's uncle, as a revenge for the killing of my uncle Tu'aymah'. I went out with them. It is to be remembered that I am an Abyssinian who is expert in throwing spears, like all Abyssinians, and I never missed my target. When the two sides met, I went looking for Hamzah until I saw him in the middle of the army, like a white-and-black camel, slaughtering people with his sword such that nothing stood in his way. By Allah, I was waiting for my moment, hiding behind a rock or tree, so that he drew closer to me, when Siba' ibn 'Abd al-'Uzza passed me and went toward him. When Hamzah, may Allah have mercy on him, saw him, he called him: 'Here, O son of a cutter of clitoris!' Then he struck him on the head and, by Allah, he did not miss. I moved my spear about until I felt comfortable and threw it at him. It caught him in the lower abdomen and the spear came out from his feet. He made a move toward me and then collapsed and I left him to die. I went toward him, retrieved my spear and joined the people at the camp. I did not want to kill anyone else, for I only killed him to gain my freedom. When I went back to Mecca, I was emancipated. I stayed there until Islam spread throughout it upon which I travelled to al-Ta'if. In Ta'if, they sent emissaries to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and mentioned that he does not harm emissaries. And so I went with them to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. When he saw me, he said: 'Are you Wahshiyy?' and when I answered in the affirmative, he asked again: 'You are the one who killed Hamzah?' I said: 'What happened is exactly as it was related to you'. He said: 'Could you keep your face away from me?' I left. When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, died and Musaylimah the liar emerged to the people, I thought to go and kill Musaylimah to cancel out my killing of Hamzah. I went out with people, and what happened to him is now known' ”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou