1133 – ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: “The properties of Banū al-Naḍīr were part of what Allah restored to His Messenger—wealth over which the Muslims had not urged on horse or riding camel—so it belonged exclusively to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. From it he would provide his family’s maintenance for a full year, and whatever remained he devoted to mounts and weaponry as preparation in the path of Allah.” Agreed upon. (1)
Vocabulary of the ḥadīth
• Banū al-Naḍīr: A Jewish tribe that lived in its village near Madinah. When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived, he concluded a pact with them, but they broke it and betrayed him, even plotting to kill him. He therefore besieged them until they consented to leave the city with their lives spared, while their property became fayʾ (booty obtained without fighting).
• afāʾa (He restored): from the verb afāʾa–yufīʾu, derived from fayʾ (return). It denotes wealth that comes into Muslim hands from the unbelievers without warfare; it is called fayʾ as though it had originally been the Muslims’ and then “returned” to them. Hence the post-meridian shade is also called fayʾ, because it “returns” from west to east.
• lam yūjaf ʿalayhi al-muslimūn: ijāf means to urge an animal to swift movement; one says, “So-and-so awjafa his mount,” meaning he spurred it on.
• khayl: a collective noun for horses; it has no singular form of the same root.
• rikāb: with a kasrah on the rāʾ and a fatḥah on the kāf, followed by an alif and then a bāʾ; it refers to camels.