As for the distribution of those spoils, a number of scholars disagreed with Abū ʿUbayd on the matter—among them al-Bukhārī and Ibn Jarīr. We have already made clear his error in our Tafsīr and in the foregoing discussion; Allah knows best.

The deed committed by Ḥamzah and his companions—may Allah be pleased with them—took place before wine had been forbidden. In fact, Ḥamzah was martyred at the Battle of Uḥud, as will be mentioned, and that was prior to the Qur’anic prohibition of intoxicants; Allah knows best.

Some jurists cite this ḥadīth as evidence that the words of an intoxicated person are legally void: they carry no weight in matters of divorce, acknowledgement, or anything else. This is the position held by a group of scholars and is set forth in the book al-Aḥkām.

Imām Aḥmad reported: Sufyān narrated to us, from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from his father, from a man who heard ʿAlī say: “I wanted to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for his daughter’s hand in marriage. I said to myself, ‘I have nothing—how could I?’ Then I remembered his kindness and generosity, so I proposed to him. He asked, ‘Do you have anything?’ I replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Where is the Ḥuṭamiyyah coat of mail I gave you on such-and-such a day?’ I answered, ‘It is with me.’ He said, ‘Give it to me,’ so I handed it over.” Aḥmad recorded this in his Musnad, though one narrator in the chain is unnamed.

Abū Dāwūd said: Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ṭāliqānī told us, ʿAbdah related to us, Saʿīd, from Ayyūb, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “When ʿAlī married Fāṭimah—may Allah be pleased with them both—the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘Give her something.’ He replied, ‘I possess nothing.’ The Prophet asked, ‘Where is your Ḥuṭamiyyah coat of mail?’”

Al-Nasāʾī transmitted the same report through Hārūn ibn Isḥāq, ʿAbdah ibn Sulaymān, Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah, and Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī.

Abū Dāwūd also said: Kathīr ibn ʿUbayd al-Ḥimṣī narrated to us, Abū Ḥaywah, from Shuʿayb ibn Abī Ḥamzah, from Ghaylān ibn Anas of Ḥimṣ, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Thawbān, from a Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that when ʿAlī married Fāṭimah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and wished to consummate the marriage, the Prophet withheld permission until he gave her something. ʿAlī said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I possess nothing.’ The Prophet replied, ‘Give her your coat of mail.’ So he did, and only then did he consummate the marriage.