Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) related the story of the day of Badr: When the Companions took them (the polytheists) captive, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu Bakr, Ali and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), what is your opinion about these captives?" Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they are our cousins and kinsfolk; I think you should take ransom from them, which will also give us strength against the disbelievers, and perhaps Allah will guide them to Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Ibn al-Khattab, what is your view?" I said: By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I do not hold Abu Bakr's view; my view is that you give us authority over them so that we strike their necks: let Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) be given authority over Aqil so that he strikes his neck, and let me strike the neck of so-and-so, a relative of mine; these are the leaders of disbelief. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) liked what Abu Bakr said and did not like what I said. When I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) the next day, he (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) were both weeping. I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), tell me why you and Abu Bakr are weeping. If there is cause for weeping, I will weep too; otherwise I will try to weep because of your weeping. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I am weeping because of what your companions proposed to me about taking ransom. Their punishment was presented to me closer than this tree" (a tree that was near the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)). Allah Almighty revealed the verse: "It is not for a prophet to have captives until he has thoroughly subdued (the enemy) in the land" [Surah al-Anfal: 67] up to His words: "So eat of what you have taken as spoils, lawful and good" [Surah al-Anfal: 69]. Thus Allah made the spoils lawful for them.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12843
Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: On the day of Badr, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What do you say about these captives?" Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah, they are your people and your kin. Keep them alive and ask them to repent; perhaps Allah will accept their repentance. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah, they belied you and drove you out; bring them forward and strike their necks. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Rawahah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), you are in a valley with plenty of firewood; kindle a fire in the valley and throw them into it. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent and gave no reply, then he stood up. Some people said: He should act on the word of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him); some said: He should act on the word of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him); and some said: He should act on the word of Ibn Rawahah (may Allah be pleased with him). Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came out to them and said: "Allah Almighty has made the hearts of some men soft in this matter, even softer than milk, and has made the hearts of some hard, even harder than stone. O Abu Bakr, your example is like that of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), who said: 'Whoever follows me is of me, and whoever disobeys me, then indeed You are Forgiving, Merciful' [Surah Ibrahim: 36]. And O Abu Bakr, your example is like that of Isa (peace be upon him), who said: 'If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, then indeed You are the Mighty, the Wise' [Surah al-Ma'idah: 118]. And O Umar, your example is like that of Musa (peace be upon him), who said: 'Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts, so that they do not believe until they see the painful punishment' [Surah Yunus: 88]. And O Umar, your example is like that of Nuh (peace be upon him), who said: 'My Lord, do not leave upon the earth a single inhabitant from among the disbelievers' [Surah Nuh: 26]. You are in need, so let none of them go free except for a ransom or by being killed." Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), except Suhayl bin Bayda', for I have heard him speak of Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent. I have never seen a day on which I was more afraid than that day, as though stones were falling upon me from the sky, until the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Except Suhayl bin Bayda'." Then Allah Almighty revealed this verse: "It is not for a prophet to have captives" [Surah al-Anfal: 67].
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12844
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said concerning the captives of Badr: "If you wish, kill them; and if you wish, ransom them and benefit from the ransom, and from among you a number equal to theirs will be martyred." And the last of the seventy martyrs was Thabit bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him), who was martyred at al-Yamamah.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12845
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that on the day of Badr the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) fixed the ransom for the people of the Jahiliyyah at four hundred.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12846
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that among the captives of Badr were people who had nothing to pay as ransom, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) set their ransom as teaching the children of the Ansar to write. A boy of the Ansar went to his father, who asked: "What is the matter?" The boy said: "My teacher hit me." The father said: "That wicked man is seeking revenge for Badr. By Allah, do not go to him anymore."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12847
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that some men of the Ansar sought permission from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), saying: O Messenger of Allah, permit us to waive the ransom of our sister's son, al-Abbas. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By Allah, do not leave even a single dirham."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12848
Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: When the people of Makkah sent the ransoms for their captives, Zaynab, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), sent as ransom for Abu al-As the necklace which Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) had given Zaynab at the time of her marriage to Abu al-As. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw it, he was overcome with tenderness, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If you see fit, release Zaynab's captive and return her ransom to her." They said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. So they released him and returned her ransom. Sayyiduna al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah, I am a Muslim. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah knows best about your Islam. If it is truly as you say, Allah will reward you for it. So pay the ransom for yourself and your two nephews, Nawfal bin al-Harith and Aqil bin Abi Talib, and for your ally Utbah bin Amr bin Jahdam of Banu al-Harith bin Fihr." Al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah, I have nothing. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Then where is the wealth that you and Umm al-Fadl (may Allah be pleased with her) buried, when you said to her: 'If I am killed, this wealth is for my sons al-Fadl, Abdullah and Qutham'?" Al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I know that you are the Messenger of Allah; this was something no one knew except me and Umm al-Fadl (may Allah be pleased with her). So, O Messenger of Allah, count towards my ransom the twenty uqiyah of wealth I had with me, which you took. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I will do so." So al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) paid the ransom for himself, his two nephews and his ally, and Allah Almighty revealed this verse: "O Prophet, say to the captives who are in your hands: If Allah knows any good in your hearts, He will give you better than what was taken from you, and He will forgive you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful" [Surah al-Anfal: 70]. So in Islam Allah gave me twenty slaves in place of the twenty uqiyah, each of them with wealth in his hand to trade with, besides what I hope for of the forgiveness of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12849
Dabbah bin Mihsan (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I said to the Commander of the Believers, Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), that Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) had chosen forty of the sons of the Asawirah (Persian cavalry nobles) for himself. When Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) came, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: What is the matter with you, that you have chosen forty sons (of the Asawirah)? He said: O Commander of the Believers, I chose them because I feared that the army would be cheated of them; so I ransomed them and strove hard over their ransom, then I took out the khumus and distributed (the rest). Dabbah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is true, by Allah; neither did the Commander of the Believers lie, nor did I lie to him.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12851
Al-Nakha'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Our elders related that on the day of al-Qadisiyyah a man from among the sons of kings fell to the share of (the tribe of) al-Nakha'. Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) wanted to take him from them, but they set upon him with their whips. He sent word to them: I have written to Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). They said: We are content. So Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote to him: We do not take the khumus from the sons of kings. So Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) took him from them. Al-Mughirah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: (That was) because his ransom was more than that.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب قسم الفيء والغنيمة / 12852