(O ye who believe! When ye go forth (to fight) in the way of Allah, be careful to discriminate…) [4:94].
Abu Ibrahim Isma'il ibn Ibrahim al-Wa'iz informed me> Abu'l-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamid> Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn 'Abd al-Jabbar> Muhammad ibn 'Abbad> Sufyan> 'Amr>> 'Ata'> Ibn 'Abbas who said: “Some Muslims chased a man for his booty. When they got to him, he said: 'Peace be with you'. But they killed him and took his booty. The verse was then revealed (… and say not unto one who offereth you peace: “Thou art not a believer”, seeking the chance profits of this life), i.e. that booty”. This was narrated by Bukhari from 'Ali ibn 'Abd Allah and also by Muslim from Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah; and both transmitters related it from Sufyan.
Isma'il informed us> Abu 'Amr ibn Nujayd> Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Khalil> Abu Kurayb> 'Ubayd Allah> Isra'il> Simak> 'Ikrimah> Ibn 'Abbas who said: “A man from Sulaym who had sheep with him passed by a group of Companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. He greeted them with the greeting of peace, but they said to each other: 'He greeted you with the greeting of peace only to seek refuge from you'. And so they killed him and took his sheep and went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, after which Allah, exalted is He, revealed (O ye who believe! When ye go forth (to fight) in the way of Allah, be careful to discriminate)”.
Abu Bakr al-Asfahani informed us> Abu'l-Shaykh al-Hafiz> Abu Yahya al-Razi> Sahl ibn 'Uthman> Waki'> Sufyan> Habib ibn Abi 'Amrah> Sa'id ibn Jubayr who said: “Al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad went out one day at the head of a military expedition and they came across a man with some possession. They wanted to kill him, but the man said: 'There is no god but Allah!' Despite this, al-Miqdad went ahead and killed him. He was told: 'How can you kill a man who has said, there is no god but Allah? He would have rather fled with his family and property'. When they went back to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, they mentioned what had happened, and the verse (O ye who believe! When ye go forth (to fight) in the way of Allah, be careful to discriminate) was revealed”.
Said al-Hasan: “The Companions of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, went out in a reconnaissance patrol. While they were there, they met with some idolaters whom they fought and defeated. One of the men ran away and a Muslim man followed him, in pursuit of his stuff. When he was about to strike him with his sword, the man said: 'I am a Muslim, I am a Muslim!' The Muslim man did not believe him. He killed him and took his possessions which were paltry. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was informed of this. He said to the man: 'You killed him even though he claimed he was Muslim!' The man said: 'O Messenger of Allah, he said it only to protect himself'. The Messenger said: 'Why did you not split his heart open?' 'Why, O Messenger of Allah', asked the man. He said: 'So that we see whether he was truthful or not'. The man said: 'How was I supposed to know he was telling the truth, O Messenger of Allah?' He said: 'You did not know that but he expressed it with his words'. This killer did not live long after this event. When he died, they buried him but the following morning they found his corpse on the side of his grave. They dug another grave and buried him, and the following day they found his corpse on the side of the grave. They did this twice or three times, and when they saw that the earth did not accept his corpse, they threw him in some mountain trails. And then this verse was revealed”.
Al-Hasan commented on this: “The earth contains those who are more evil than this man. However, this was an admonition to them so that they would never do this again”.
Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Muzakki informed us> 'Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Battah> Abu'l-Qasim al-Baghawi> Sa'id ibn Yahya al-Umawi> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq> Yazid ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Qusayt> al-Qa'qa' ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Abi Hadrad> his father who said: “The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent us in a military expedition to Idam. This was before his conquest of Mecca. It happened that 'Amir ibn al-Adbat al-Ashja'i passed by us and greeted us with the greeting of Islam, but we mistrusted him. Muhallim ibn Jathamah attacked him, due to some feud that they had with each other in the pre-Islamic era, and killed him. He seized from him as booty a camel, a bedding to sleep on and some provision. We then reported to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and informed him about this incident. Allah, exalted is He, revealed (O ye who believe! When ye go forth (to fight) in the way of Allah, be careful to discriminate…) up to the end of this verse”.
Said al-Suddi: “The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent Usamah ibn Zayd at the head of a military expedition during which he encountered Mirdas ibn Nuhayk al-Damri and killed him. This man was from Fadak, and he was the only person who accepted Islam from amongst all his people. He used to say: 'There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah', and greeted them with the greeting of peace. Usamah said: 'When I went back to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and informed him of what had happened, he exclaimed: 'You killed a man who says: there is no god but Allah'. I said: He said it only to protect himself'. He said: 'What will you do when he comes on the Day of Judgement to dispute with you by means of 'there is no god but Allah''. And he kept repeating: 'You killed a man who says: there is no god but Allah', until I wished that I had only embraced Islam on that day. Then the verse (O ye who believe! When ye go forth (to fight) in the way of Allah, be careful to discriminate) was revealed”. Al-Kalbi and Qatadah also reported something of this effect. The authenticity of this tradition is evidenced by the following tradition. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Isa ibn 'Amrawayh> Ibrahim ibn Sufyan> Muslim> Ya'qub al-Dawraqi> Hushaym> Ibn Hasin> Abu Zubyan> Usamah ibn Zayd ibn Harithah relating the following: “The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent us to al-Hirqah close by Juhaynah. We raided them in the morning and defeated them. I and one of the Helpers chased one of their men and when we caught up with him, he said: there is no god but Allah. The Helper stopped but I stabbed him with my spear and killed him. When we went back the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, he heard of what had happened. He said to me: 'O Usamah, you killed him after he said, there is no god but Allah'. I said: 'O Messenger of Allah, he said it to protect himself'. He said: 'You killed him after he said, there is no god but Allah', and he kept repeating it until I wished that I had embraced Islam only that day”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou