the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, addressed the people when he conquered Mecca, saying: “Allah kept the elephant from Mecca and gave His Messenger and the Muslims power over it. It was not made lawful for anyone before me, nor will it be lawful for anyone after me. It was made lawful for me only for an hour of the day.”

According to another version: “If anyone claims permission to fight on the grounds that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, fought there, tell him: ‘Allah made it lawful for His Messenger, but He has not made it lawful for you.’”

The two Sahīh collections also report that he said: “The spoils of war have been made lawful for us, but they were not lawful for anyone before us.”

And in the words of