Section: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib’s Consummation of Marriage with Fāṭimah, the Daughter of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)

This took place in the second year after the Battle of Badr, as related by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Through the isnād of al-Zuhrī—-from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, from his father al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—-the latter said:

“I owned a she-camel that had fallen to my lot among the spoils on the Day of Badr, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had given me another she-camel from the one-fifth (khums) that Allah had granted him that day. When I resolved to marry Fāṭimah, the daughter of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I arranged with a goldsmith from Banū Qaynuqāʿ to travel with me to collect some sweet-smelling rushes (iḍkhir). I intended to sell them to the craftsmen and use the proceeds for the wedding feast.

While I was loading my two she-camels with saddle-pads, sacks, and ropes—and the animals were kneeling beside the dwelling of an Anṣārī man—after I had finished my preparations I returned to find both she-camels with their humps severed, their flanks slit open, and portions of their livers removed. I could not hold back my tears at the sight.

I asked, ‘Who has done this?’

They replied, ‘Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. He is in that house, drinking with some of the Anṣār; a singing-girl is with him and his companions.’

In her song she had chanted:

“O Hamzah, for noble deeds be bold!”

So Ḥamzah sprang to a sword, lopped off their humps, slit their flanks, and took some of their livers.

ʿAlī continued: I went straight in to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who was accompanied by Zayd ibn Ḥārithah. The Prophet saw from my face what I had experienced and said, ‘What is the matter with you?’

I replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, never have I seen the like of today. Ḥamzah attacked my two she-camels, cut off their humps, slit their flanks, and there he is in a house with his drinking companions.’

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called for his cloak, put it on, and set out on foot; Zayd ibn Ḥārithah and I followed him until we reached the house where Ḥamzah was. He asked permission to enter, and it was granted. The Prophet began to censure Ḥamzah for what he had done. Ḥamzah, however, was drunk, his eyes bloodshot. He looked at the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then slowly raised his gaze to his knees, then up to his face, and said, ‘You are nothing but slaves of my father!’

Realizing that he was intoxicated, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stepped back on his heels and withdrew; we went out with him.

This is the wording recorded by al-Bukhārī in the Book of Military Expeditions. He relates the incident elsewhere in his Ṣaḥīḥ with several variant phrasings.

The report is evidence for what we stated earlier: the spoils of Badr were indeed subjected to the khums, contrary to what Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām claimed in his book “al-Amwāl,” namely that the ruling on the one-fifth was revealed only later.