ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal narrated: “On the day of Khaybar a leather sack filled with suet was lowered down to us. I clung to it and declared, ‘I am not giving anyone a single morsel of it.’ Then I turned around and there was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, smiling.”
Imām Aḥmad reports: ʿAffān related to us; Shuʿbah related to us from Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal, who said: “We were besieging one of the forts of Khaybar when a sack containing suet was thrown down to us. I went to take it, but when I saw the Prophet ﷺ I felt shy.” This version is recorded by both authors of the Ṣaḥīḥ through Shuʿbah’s chain; Muslim likewise narrates it from Shaybān ibn Farrūkh, from Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah, with a similar wording.
Ibn Isḥāq adds—on the authority of a trustworthy informant—from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal al-Muzanī: “From the spoils of Khaybar I obtained a sack of suet. I slung it across my neck and headed toward my tent and companions. The officer in charge of the booty met me, grabbed one side of the sack and said, ‘Hand it over so that we may divide it among the Muslims.’ I replied, ‘By Allah, I will not give it to you,’ and we began tugging at it back and forth. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw us and laughed, then said to the officer, ‘[May you lose your father!] Leave him with it.’ So he let go, and I carried it to my tent where my companions and I ate it.”
Most jurists cite this ḥadīth against Imām Mālik’s view that the suet of animals slaughtered by Jews—which was forbidden to them—is likewise unlawful for Muslims. They argue that Allah, exalted is He, says: “The food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you” (Qurʾān 5:5), and that such suet would therefore be permissible. This inference, however, is open to discussion, for the suet in question may have been from something already lawful to them. Allah knows best.
Scholars have also used this narration to argue that edible provisions taken as booty are not subject to the khums (one-fifth levy). Supporting this is the report recorded by Imām Abū Dāwūd: Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us; Abū Muʿāwiyah related to us; [Abū] Isḥāq al-Shaybānī related to us from Muḥammad ibn Abī Mājilad, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā, who said: “I asked, ‘Did you apply the khums to food during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?’ He replied, ‘We captured food on the day of Khaybar; each man would come, take what sufficed him, and leave.’” Abū Dāwūd alone records this report, and its chain is sound (ḥasan).