1134 – It is related from Muʿādh b. Jabal (Allah be pleased with him): “We campaigned with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at Khaybar and captured some sheep. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ allotted a portion of them among us and placed the rest with the general spoils.” Recorded by Abū Dāwūd, whose transmitters in this chain are unobjectionable. (1)

Hadith grading
The ḥadith is ḥasan (sound). The author remarks, “its transmitters are unobjectionable.” Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī says, citing Ibn al-Qaṭṭān, “its transmitters are trustworthy.”

Vocabulary
• ghanaman (sheep): a collective noun with no singular of the same form; it covers both sheep and goats and can be pluralised as aghnām or ghunūm.
• ṭāʾifah (portion): a group of people or a part cut from something, which is the sense intended here.
• maghnam (booty): from the verb ghanima, with the plural maghānim; likewise ghanīmah, plural ghanāʾim. Abū ʿUbayd defines ghanīmah as property taken from the idolaters by force while battle is in progress.

Points derived from the ḥadith
1 – The report demonstrates that the commander of an expedition may grant some combatants an extra share of the spoils and then return the remainder to the common booty for distribution among the whole army.
2 – Such discretionary awards depend on the commander’s ijtihād: if he sees a benefit he grants them, and if he finds no benefit he refrains, for this is a preference given to part of the army over the rest,