779 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that “the Messenger of Allah ﷺ contracted with the people of Khaybar, granting them half of whatever the land produced in fruit or grain.” Agreed upon.

Another wording in al-Bukhārī and Muslim states: “They asked him to let them remain there on the condition that they would undertake its cultivation and receive one-half of the produce. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘We allow you to stay on that basis for as long as we wish.’ They remained until ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) expelled them.”

Muslim also relates: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ handed over the date-palms and farmland of Khaybar to its Jews on condition that they cultivate it at their own expense and that half of its yield be theirs.” ⦗1⦘

Vocabulary of the ḥadith
• ʿāmala: from ʿamila – yaʿmalu – ʿamalan, ‘to act, to work.’ Al-Kulliyyāt notes that ʿamal (work) includes the deeds of both heart and limbs. Al-Muḥīṭ adds that muʿāmalah, in the dialect of the Hijaz, refers to musāqāt (crop-sharing), which is what is meant here.

• bi-shaṭr: with a voiced sh, a silent ṭ, ending in r. It carries several meanings; here it means ‘one half.’ It can also denote ‘a portion,’ hence ‘some of it.’ Plural: ashṭār, shuṭūr.

• min thamar: with a thāʾ (th). What is intended is the fruit of date-palms, for the trees of Khaybar were date-palms.

• fa-qarrū: from qarra fī ’l-makān – yaqirru – qarāran, ‘to settle, to remain.’ Al-Muḥīṭ says: “qarrara al-ʿāmil ʿalā ʿamalihi” means to leave a worker fixed in his position.

• ajlāhum: from jalā ʿan al-balad – jalāʾan (with a fatḥa and an extended vowel), meaning ‘to depart from a place’; likewise, “jalā al-qawmu ʿan …” means ‘the people were driven out of …’