It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that some people from among the Muslims were living with the idolaters (in Makkah), and they were adding to the numbers (the manpower) of the idolaters. Then (on the battlefield) an arrow would be shot and it would strike one of them and kill him, or they would be struck (with a sword and the like) and killed. So Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, revealed this verse about them: "Indeed, those whose souls the angels take while they were wronging themselves, they (the angels) ask: 'In what condition were you?' They reply: 'We were helpless and oppressed in the land'" (to the end of the verse).
No one narrated this hadith from Abu al-Aswad (may Allah have mercy on him) except Ibn Lahi'ah (may Allah have mercy on him).
Hadith Referenceالمعجم الأوسط / باب الألف / 358
Hadith Takhrij«أخرجه البخاري فى «صحيحه» برقم: 1357، 4587، 4588، 4596، 4597، 7085، والضياء المقدسي فى «الأحاديث المختارة» برقم: 216، 215، والنسائي فى «السنن الكبرى» برقم: 11054، والبيهقي فى «السنن الكبرى» برقم: 12278، 12279، 17822، 17827، 17828، وأبو يعلى فى «مسنده» برقم: 2679، وابن حجر فى «المطالب العالية» برقم: 3578، والطحاوي فى «شرح مشكل الآثار» برقم: 3375، 3376، 3377، والطبراني فى «الكبير» برقم: 11240، 11505، 11506، 11708، 11709، والطبراني فى «الأوسط» برقم: 8638»