The spoils of war were not made lawful for any people before us, then Allah made the spoils of war lawful for us when He saw our weakness and helplessness, so He made them lawful for us
Narrator in the source: Abu Hurayrah reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah say:
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "One of the prophets (peace be upon them) set out on a military expedition. He said to his people: 'Let not anyone accompany me who has married a woman and wishes to consummate his marriage with her but has not yet done so, or one who has built a house but has not yet erected its roof, or one who has bought sheep or pregnant she-camels and is waiting for their offspring.' Then he marched on and approached a village at the time of the afternoon prayer or close to that, so he said to the sun: 'You are commanded and so am I. O Allah, hold it back (from setting) for us,' and it was held back until Allah granted him victory. He gathered the spoils of war, and the fire came down to devour them but it did not devour them. He said: 'Some of you misappropriated the spoils of war, so one man from each tribe should give me his pledge of allegiance.' They all did so and the hand of one man stuck to his hand, so he said: 'Your tribe is guilty of misappropriation of the spoils of war. Let all the members of your tribe give their pledge of allegiance to me.' They did so and the hands of two or three men stuck to his hand. He said: 'You have taken something from the spoils of war illegally.' So they brought an amount of gold equal in size to the head of a cow. They placed it among the spoils so the fire approached and devoured them. The spoils of war were not made lawful for any people before us, then Allah made the spoils of war lawful for us when He saw our weakness and helplessness, so He made them lawful for us."- Grade in the source
- Authentic hadith
- Reported by
- Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim
- Source entry
- HadeethEnc · 3288 ↗
Original Arabic wording
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه مرفوعًا: «غَزَا نَبِيٌّ مِن الأَنبِيَاء -صلوات الله وسلامه عليهم- فقال لقومه: لاَ يَتبَعَنِّي رجُل مَلَك بُضْعَ امرَأَةٍ وَهُوَ يُرِيدُ أنْ يَبنِي بِهَا وَلَمَّا يَبْنِ بِهَا، وَلاَ أحَدٌ بَنَى بُيُوتًا لم يَرفَع سُقُوفَهَا، ولاَ أَحَدٌ اشتَرَى غَنَمًا أو خَلِفَات وهو يَنتظِرُ أَولاَدَها، فَغَزَا فَدَنَا مِنَ القَريَةِ صَلاةَ العَصر أو قَرِيباً مِن ذلك، فَقَال للشَّمسِ: إِنَّك مَأمُورَة وأَنَا مَأمُور، اللَّهُمَّ احْبِسْهَا عَلَينَا، فَحُبِسَتْ حَتَّى فَتَحَ الله عليه، فَجَمَع الغَنَائِم فَجَاءَت -يعني النار- لِتَأكُلَهَا فَلَم تَطعَمها، فقال: إِنَّ فِيكُم غُلُولاً، فَليُبَايعنِي مِنْ كُلِّ قَبِيلَة رجل، فَلَزِقَت يد رجل بِيَدِهِ فقال: فِيكُم الغُلُول فلتبايعني قبيلتك، فلزقت يد رجلين أو ثلاثة بيده، فقال: فيكم الغلول، فَجَاؤوا بِرَأس مثل رأس بَقَرَةٍ من الذَّهَب، فَوَضَعَهَا فجاءت النَّارُ فَأَكَلَتهَا، فَلَم تَحِلَّ الغَنَائِم لأحَدٍ قَبلَنَا، ثُمَّ أَحَلَّ الله لَنَا الغَنَائِم لَمَّا رَأَى ضَعفَنَا وَعَجزَنَا فَأَحَلَّهَا لَنَا».Understand this hadith
The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) recounts the story of one of the prophets (peace be upon them) who set forth to fight a people against whom he was commanded to make Jihad. However, that prophet forbade from marching with him anyone who had married a woman but had not yet consummated his marriage with her or who had built a house but had not yet raised its roof or who had purchased sheep or pregnant she-camels and was waiting for them to give birth. That is because those people would be preoccupied with those concerns: the married man is preoccupied with his bride whom he has not yet consummated his marriage with and he longs for her. Likewise, the one who built a house and has not yet raised its roof is preoccupied with his house that he wishes to live in with his family. Also, the owner of pregnant she-camels and sheep is preoccupied with them and is waiting for them to give birth. Performing Jihad requires that the person be completely unoccupied, having no concern except fighting in the cause of Allah. Then, this prophet set out for battle, approaching his destination after midday with the night approaching. So, he feared that if darkness fell, he would not be able to achieve victory. He addressed the sun, saying: "You are subservient to Allah and so am I." But the sun's command is a universal command, while his command is a legislative one. He is commanded to fight in the cause of Allah, and the sun is commanded to move as Allah, the Exalted, has commanded it; Allah says: {And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term. That is the decree of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing} [Sūrat Yāsīn: 38]. Ever since Allah created the sun, it has been moving as it was commanded, neither advancing nor delaying nor changing its altitude. The prophet said: "O Allah, hold it back (from setting) for us." So Allah held the sun back and it did not disappear at its normal time until that prophet conquered the village and gained many spoils of war. In previous nations, the spoils of war were not lawful for the army; rather, the lawfulness of spoils is one of the distinct characteristics of this (Muslim) nation, and all praise is due to Allah. As for the previous nations, they used to gather all the spoils, and if Allah accepted them, a fire would come down from the sky and devour them. Hence, the spoils were gathered, but the fire did not descend upon them or devour them. This prophet then said: "There is some misappropriation of the spoils." Then he commanded that each tribe present one person to pledge allegiance to him, proving that his tribe had not been dishonest with regard to the booty. When they gave him their pledge of allegiance, the hand of one of them stuck to the prophet's hand. Thereupon, he said: "Your tribe is the source of misappropriation." Then he commanded that each person from that tribe pledge allegiance individually, and the hands of two or three men stuck to his, whereupon he said: "You are the misappropriators." Then they brought it out, and they had hidden an amount of gold as big as the size of a bull's head. When the gold was brought and placed with the spoils, the fire devoured them.
References (original Arabic)
بهجة الناظرين شرح رياض الصالحين، لسليم الهلالي، ط1، دار ابن الجوزي، الدمام، 1415هـ. رياض الصالحين، للنووي، ط1، تحقيق: ماهر ياسين الفحل، دار ابن كثير، دمشق، بيروت، 1428هـ. رياض الصالحين، ط4، تحقيق: عصام هادي، وزارة الأوقاف والشؤون الإسلامية القطرية، دار الريان، بيروت، 1428هـ. كنوز رياض الصالحين، مجموعة من الباحثين برئاسة حمد بن ناصر العمار، ط1، كنوز إشبيليا، الرياض، 1430هـ. شرح رياض الصالحين، للشيخ ابن عثيمين، دار الوطن للنشر، الرياض، 1426هـ. صحيح البخاري، تحقيق: محمد زهير بن ناصر الناصر، ط1، دار طوق النجاة (مصورة عن السلطانية بإضافة ترقيم: محمد فؤاد عبد الباقي)، 1422هـ. صحيح مسلم، تحقيق: محمد فؤاد عبد الباقي، دار إحياء التراث العربي، بيروت. نزهة المتقين شرح رياض الصالحين، لمجموعة من الباحثين، ط14، مؤسسة الرسالة، 1407هـ.
