Al-Bukhārī states (1): Al-Layth ibn Saʿd related to me, saying, “Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd narrated to me from ʿUmar ibn Kathīr ibn Aflaḥ, from Abū Muḥammad, the freedman of Abū Qatādah, that Abū Qatādah said:

‘On the Day of Ḥunayn I noticed a Muslim fighting an idolater, while another idolater was circling behind him to kill him. I hurried toward the one who was stalking him. He lifted his hand to strike me, so I struck his hand and severed it. He then seized me and squeezed me so hard that I feared for my life; but he let go, slackened, and I pushed him away and killed him. The Muslims had retreated, and I retreated with them. In the crowd I came upon ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and asked, “What is happening to the people?” He replied, “It is Allah’s decree.” The people then regrouped around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ proclaimed:

“Whoever can produce proof that he has killed an enemy combatant shall have his spoils.”

I stood up to seek evidence for the man I had killed, but I found no one to testify for me, so I sat down. Then I reconsidered and mentioned the matter to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. One of those sitting with him said, “The weapons of the man he speaks of are with me; compensate me for them.” Abū Bakr exclaimed, “Never! Shall a little man from Quraysh take them and leave aside a lion of the lions of Allah who fought for Allah and His Messenger?”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ thereupon rose and handed the spoils to me. I used them to buy a flock of sheep, and that was the first property I ever acquired in Islam.’

Al-Bukhārī records this report elsewhere, and Muslim likewise transmits it—both through Qutaybah, from al-Layth ibn Saʿd. Earlier we cited the narration of Nāfiʿ Abū Ghālib from Anas, in which these very words are ascribed to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. It is possible that he spoke them in support of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, assisting and agreeing with him, or that the narrator became confused; Allah knows best.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī (2) relates: Al-Ḥākim informed us, al-Aṣamm informed us, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār informed us, from Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, who said: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar narrated to me, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jābir, from his father Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, on the Day of Ḥunayn, when he saw what he saw of the people, said:

“O ʿAbbās, call out: O Assembly of the Anṣār! O Companions of the Tree!”

They answered him, “At your service! At your service!” A man would try to turn his camel but could not; instead he would sling his coat of mail across his neck, take up his sword and bow, and head for the voice until a hundred of them had gathered around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He reviewed the ranks and they fought. At first the summons was directed to the Anṣār, and later specifically to the Khazraj; they were renowned for their steadfastness in battle.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then leaned forward from his mount, looked at the clash of the armies, and said:

“Now the furnace is at its hottest!”

By Allah, the people had barely returned when the captives were already bound before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Allah killed whom He willed of them, routed whom He willed, and granted the Messenger of Allah ﷺ their wealth and their children.

Ibn Luhayʿah also narrated—from Abū al-Aswad, from ʿUrwah—and Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah mentioned in his Maghāzī (3) that when Allah granted His Messenger the conquest of Mecca and gladdened his eye thereby, he set out against Hawāzin, and the people of Mecca went out with him, leaving not a single person behind, mounted or on foot, even the women coming out—still upon disbelief—as onlookers, hoping for the spoils, and