Anas told that eighty Meccans came down armed from the mountain of at-Tan‘im against God’s Messenger intending to take him and his companions unawares, but he took them captive without fighting and spared them. A version says he set them free and God most high sent down, “He it is who averted their hands from you and your hands from them in the valley of Mecca” (Al-Qur’an; 48:24). Muslim transmitted it.

Qatada told that Anas b. Malik mentioned to him on the authority of Abu Talha that at the battle of Badr God’s prophet ordered twenty-four of the strong men of Quraish to be cast into one of the wells of Badr cased with stones which was corrupt and corrupting. When he prevailed over an enemy he stayed three nights on the field of battle; and when the third day came at Badr he ordered his riding-beast to be saddled. He then walked followed by his companions till he came to the mouth of the well, when he began to call them by their names and their fathers’ names, saying, “So and so son of so and so, so and so son of so and so, does it please you that you obeyed God and His Messenger? We have found what our Lord promised us to be true. Have you found what your Lord promised you to be true?” ‘Umar said, “Messenger of God, what you are addressing are only bodies without spirits.” The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, “By Him in whose hand Muhammad's soul is, you cannot hear what I say better than they.” A version has, “You cannot hear better than they, but they cannot answer.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) Bukhari added that Qatada said God brought them to life and made them hear what he said by way of rebuke, humiliation, revenge, and to produce grief and repentance.

‘Ali reported God's Messenger as saying that Gabriel came down to him and said to him, “Give them (i.e. your companions) their choice regarding the prisoners at Badr whether they should be killed or ransomed on condition that a like number of them should be killed the following year.” They replied, “We shall accept ransom and have some of us killed.” Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a gharib tradition.

Umm Hani' daughter of Abu Talib said: I went to God’s Messenger in the year of the Conquest and found him bathing while his daughter Fatima was screening him with a garment. I gave a salutation and he asked who was there, then when I told him I was Umm Hani’ daughter of Abu Talib he said, “Welcome, Umm Hani’.” After he finished his bathing he got up and prayed eight rak'as wrapped in a garment, and when he was done I said, “Messenger of God, my mother’s son ‘Ali has asserted that he is going to kill a man to whom I have given protection, so and so the son of Hubaira.” He replied, “We have given protection to those to whom you have granted it, Umm Hani'.” She said that that was in the forenoon. (Bukhari and Muslim.) In a version by Tirmidhi she said, “I have given protection to two of my husband’s male relatives,” and God’s Messenger replied, “We have given security to those to whom you have given it.”

Ibn Mas'ud told that when Ibn an-Nawwaha and Ibn Uthal, Musailima’s messengers, came to the Prophet (ﷺ) he asked them whether they testified that he was God’s Messenger. On their replying, "We testify that Musailima is God’s messenger,” he said, "I believe in God and His Messenger. If it was my custom to kill a messenger I would kill you.” ‘Abdallah (i.e. Ibn Mas'ud) said that the sunna that a messenger should not be killed then came into force. Ahmad transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, "Spoils were not lawful for anyone before us, that being because God saw our weakness and incapacity and made them allowable for us.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Qatada said: We went out with God’s Messenger in the year of Hunain, and when the armies met, the Muslims suffered a reverse. I saw one of the polytheists getting the better of one of the Muslims, so I struck him with my sword from behind on his shoulder-blade and cut his coat of mail. He came at me and closed with me, so that I felt death was near, but he was overtaken by death and let me go. I then caught up on ‘Umar b. al-Khattab and asked him what was the matter with the people, to which he replied that it was what God had commanded.1 Then they returned and the Prophet (ﷺ) sat down and said, "If anyone kills a man and can prove it he will get his spoil.” I said, "Who will testify for me?” and then sat down. The Prophet (ﷺ) said the same again and I said, "Who will testify for me?”2 and then sat down. Again the Prophet (ﷺ) said the same and I stood up He asked, "What is the matter with you, Qatada?” and when I informed him a man said, "He has spoken the truth. I have his spoil, so make him agreeable to take something in exchange.” Abu Bakr said, “In that case I swear by God that he did not do so. One of God’s heroes3 does not fight for God and His Messenger and then give you his spoil.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said he had spoken the truth and told the man to hand it over to me. He did so, and I bought a garden among the B. Salima. This was the first property I acquired in the Islamic period. 1. He wondered why the Muslims had fled from the enemy, and 'Umar replied that it was what God had decreed. 2. There is doubt as to whether Abu Qatada spoke aloud the first two times, or inwardly. In the translation I have kept strictly to the wording in the Arabic. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn ‘Umar told that God’s Messenger allotted three portions for a man and his horse, one for him and two for his horse. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn ‘Umar told that God's Messenger used to give to some of the detachments he sent out booty for themselves in particular apart from the division made to the whole army. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He said: God’s Messenger gave us booty apart from our share of the fifth, and I got a sharif, which is a very old camel. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira told that God's Messenger stood up among them one day and mentioned dishonesty regarding spoil, treating it and everything connected with it as a serious matter. He then said, “Let me not find any of you coming on the day of resurrection with a camel rumbling on his neck and asking me to rescue him,* for I shall say that I can do nothing for him as I have given him full instruction. Let me not find any of you coming on the day of resurrection with a horse whinnying on his neck and asking me to rescue him, for I shall say that I can do nothing for him as I have given him full instruction. Let me not find any of you coming on the day of resurrection with a sheep bleating on his neck and asking me to rescue him, for I shall say that I can do nothing for him as I have given him full instruction. Let me not find any of you coming on the day of resurrection with a soul shouting on his neck asking me to rescue him, for I shall say that I can do nothing for him as I have given him full instruction. Let me not find any of you coming on the day of resurrection with patches flapping on his neck and asking me to rescue him, for I shall say that I can do nothing for him as I have given him full instruction. Let me not find any of you coming on the day of resurrection with gold and silver on his neck asking me to rescue him, for I shall say that I can do nothing for him as I have given him full instruction. *Here and in the following phrases the man seeks to be rescued from the thing about which he was dishonest, it being tied to his neck. (Bukhari and Muslim, this being Muslim’s wording which is more complete.)

He told that a man presented God’s Messenger with a slave called Mid'am, and while Mid'am was unsaddling a camel belonging to God’s Messenger he was struck by a random arrow which killed him. The people said, “Congratulations to him! He will go to paradise;” but God’s Messenger said, “Not at all. By Him in whose hand my soul is, the cloak he took on the day of Khaibar from the spoils which was not among the shares divided will blaze with fire upon him.” When the people heard that, a man brought a sandal-strap, or two sandal-straps, to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, “A sandal-strap of fire,” or, “Two sandal-straps of fire.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

‘Abdallah b. Mughaffal said: On the day of Khaibar I got a skin of fat, and when I decided not to give anyone any of it that day I turned round and saw God’s Messenger smiling at me. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Mujammi' b. Jariya said: Khaibar was divided among those who had been at al-Hudaibiya, and God’s Messenger divided it into eighteen portions. The army was one thousand five hundred of which three hundred were cavalry, and he gave two shares to a horseman and one to a footman. Abu Dawud transmitted it, saying Ibn ‘Umar’s tradition1 is sounder, and it is the one which is followed. The error in the tradition of Mujammi’ was because he said three hundred horsemen when there were only two hundred. Habib b. Maslama al-Fihri said he saw the Prophet (ﷺ) give a quarter of the spoil on the outward journey and a third on the return journey.2 1. I have available two editions of Abu Dawud’s Sunan (Cairo, 1280 and 1348 A .H.). Both give Ibn Mu'awiya in place of Ibn 'Umar. See Jihad, 144. 2. This tradition and the following one are explained as referring to a section of the army which comes in contact with the enemy. The greater amount granted them when this happens on the return journey is because there is more difficulty and danger in fighting after having gone through the campaign. The second tradition is more explicit by making it clear that the fifth was deducted. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Abu Musa al-Ash'ari said: We arrived just at the moment when God’s Messenger had conquered Khaibar and he appointed us a portion (or he said he gave us some of it). He allotted nothing to anyone who was not present at the conquest of Khaibar, giving shares only to those who were present with him, except for those who were in our ship,* Ja'far and his companions to whom he appointed something along with them. *The party to which reference is made is that of people who had emigrated from Mecca to Abyssinia and were now returning. Aba Dawud transmitted it.

‘Amr b. Shu'aib, on his father’s authority, said his grandfather told that, the Prophet (ﷺ) approached a camel, and taking a hair from its hump said, “O people, I get nothing of this booty, not even this (meanwhile raising his finger), but the fifth, and the fifth is returned to you, so hand over threads and needles." A man got up with a ball of hair in his hand and said, “I took this to repair the cloth under a pack-saddle." The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, “You can have what belongs to me and to the B. ‘Abd al-Muttalib," but the man said, "If it produces the result I now realise,* I have no desire for it," and he threw it away. *Literally "If it reaches what I see." Abu Dawud transmitted it.

‘Abdar-Rahman b. ‘Auf said: When I stood in the rank at the battle of Badr I looked to my right and my left, and when I saw that I was between two young men of the Ansar I wished that I had been between men who were stronger than they. One of them pinched me and said, "Do you know Abu Jahl, uncle?" and I replied, "Yes, but what do you want with him, nephew?” He said, “I have been told that he reviles God's Messenger. By Him in whose hand my soul is, if I see him I shall not leave him till the one of us who is to die first dies.” I was astonished at that, and then the other pinched me and said the same to me. Before long I saw Abu Jahl going round among the people and I said, “Look, this is the man about whom you were asking.” They then hastened to him with their swords and struck him till they killed him, after which they went to God’s Messenger and informed him. He asked which of them had killed him and they both claimed to have done so. He then asked if they had wiped their swords, and when they replied that they had not he looked at the swords and said, “Both of you killed him.” God’s Messenger then decided that what was taken from him should go to Mu'adh b. ‘Amr b. al-Jamuh. The two men were Mu'adh b. ‘Amr b. al-Jamah and Mu'adh b. ‘Afra’.* *’Afra’ was his mother. His father was al-Harith. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Anas reported God’s Messenger as saying at the battle of Badr, “Who will find out for us what has happened to Abu Jahl?” Ibn Mas'ud went and. found that the two sons of ‘Afra,’ had struck him till he was almost dead, so he seized him by his beard and said, “Are you Abu Jahl?” He replied, “Have you killed more than a man?” In a version he said, “I wish someone other than a tiller of the ground had killed me.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Sa‘d b. Abu Waqqas said: While I was sitting God’s Messenger gave a company something but omitted the one who was most attractive to me. I therefore got up and said, ‘Why have you omitted so and so? I swear by God that I consider him to be a believer.” God’s Messenger replied, “No, a Muslim.” Sa'd mentioned that three times and he gave him the same reply, then said, “I give a man something although I like someone else better, from fear he may be thrown face downwards in hell.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) In a version by both of them Zuhri said be considered that Islam is the attestation of belief and faith is good action.

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “A prophet who went out on an expedition told his people that no man should follow him who had married a woman with whom he wished to cohabit but had not yet done so, or who had built houses on which he had not yet put the roofs, or who had bought sheep or pregnant she-camels and was expecting them to produce young. He then went on the expedition and approached the town at the time of the afternoon prayer or thereabouts. He then told the sun that both it and he were under command and prayed God to keep it back for them, so it was kept back till God gave him victory. He collected the spoils and it (meaning fire) came to devour them, but did not do so. Saying that there was dishonesty about spoil among them he told them that a man from every tribe must swear allegiance to him, and when a man’s hand stuck in his he said there was dishonesty about spoil among them. They brought him a head of gold like a cow’s head an when he had laid it down the fire came and devoured the spoil.* A version has, "Spoils were not allowable to anyone before us .Then God allowed spoils to us. He saw our weakness and incapacity and allowed them to us.” *This tradition combines elements of the story of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still (Joshua, 10:12) and the story of Achan’s sin (Joshua, 7:10 ff ). (Bukhari and Muslim.)