Chief of the Prophets — Page 108
Chapter Six 108 According to the instructions of Muḥammad sa , 24 chieftains of the Quraish were buried in a mass grave, and everyone else was buried in individual graves. Among the Muslim martyrs, there were six Muhājirūn and eight Anṣār , but this loss could not overshadow the jubilation of the victory. Muḥammad sa and the Muslims joyfully collected the spoils of the war and returned back to Madīnah. In terms of the treatment of the prisoners, Sir William Muir writes about how well they were treated under the instructions of Muḥammad sa : In pursuance of Moḥammad's command, and in accord with the passage already quoted, the Citizens, and such of the Refugees as had houses of their own, received the prisoners with kindness and consideration. 'Blessings on the men of Medīna!' said one of these in later days: 'they made us ride, while they themselves walked afoot; they gave us wheaten bread to eat when there was little of it, contenting themselves with dates. ' It is not surprising, therefore, that some of the captives, yielding to these influences, declared themselves Believers, and to such their liberty was at once granted. The rest was kept for ransom. But it was long before Ḳoreish could humble themselves to visit Medīna for the purpose. The kindly treatment was thus prolonged, and left a favourable impression on the minds even of those who did not at once go over to Islām. 1 According to the Arab tradition, war prisioners were either killed or made slave for the rest of their lives. But Muḥammad sa disliked this custom. After listening to the advice of Abū Bakr ra , he decided to fix a ransom of 1,000 to 4,000 dirhams for the freedom of the prisoners 1 The Life of Moḥammad: From the Original Sources, Sir William Muir and T. H. Weir p. 233, Published at Edinburgh by J. Grant, 1912.