Labīd—on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī—reported:
When the Messenger of God ﷺ obtained the spoils on the Day of Ḥunayn, he allotted to those whose hearts were being reconciled from Quraysh and the rest of the Arabs whatever portion he allotted; yet the Anṣār received nothing at all, great or small. That clan of the Anṣār felt a grievance within themselves, and one of them even said, “By God, the Messenger of God ﷺ has now turned to his own people!”
Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah went to the Messenger of God ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of God, this group of the Anṣār have taken something to heart against you.”
He asked, “Over what?”
Saʿd replied, “Because of the way you distributed these spoils to your kinsmen and the other Arabs, while they themselves received nothing.”
The Messenger of God ﷺ said, “And where do you stand in this, O Saʿd?”
He answered, “I am but one of my people.”
The Prophet ﷺ then said, “Gather your people for me in this enclosure; when they have assembled, inform me.”
Saʿd went out, called them aloud, and gathered them in that enclosure. Some men of the Muhājirūn came and he allowed them to enter; others arrived, but he turned them back. When no one from the Anṣār remained absent, he returned and said, “O Messenger of God, the people of the Anṣār have gathered for you as you commanded.”
The Messenger of God ﷺ came out, stood before them as a speaker, praised God and extolled Him as He deserves, and then said:
“O company of the Anṣār! Did I not come to you astray, and God guided you? Destitute, and God enriched you? Enemies, and God joined your hearts together?”
They replied, “Indeed.”
The Messenger of God ﷺ continued, “Will you not answer me, O company of the Anṣār?”
They said, “What shall we say, O Messenger of God? With what shall we answer you? The grace belongs to God and His Messenger.”
He said, “By God, had you wished you could have said—and you would have spoken the truth and been believed—‘You came to us banished, and we sheltered you; poor, and we supported you; afraid, and we granted you safety; abandoned, and we aided you.’”
They responded, “The grace belongs to God and His Messenger.”
The Messenger of God ﷺ then said:
“Have you felt something in your hearts, O company of the Anṣār, over a paltry share of this worldly life with which I sought to win over a people who have only recently embraced Islam, while I left you to the portion God has allotted you of Islam itself? Are you not content, O company of the Anṣār, that people return to their tents with sheep and camels while you return with the Messenger of God to your tents? By Him in whose hand is my soul, if mankind were to take a valley and the Anṣār another valley, I would take the valley of the Anṣār. Were it not for the Emigration, I would have been a man of the Anṣār. O God, have mercy on the Anṣār, the children of the Anṣār, and the children of the children of the Anṣār.”
Abū Saʿīd said: The people wept until their beards were drenched, and they declared, “We are satisfied with God and His Messenger as our share.” Then he left, and they dispersed.
Imām Aḥmad likewise transmitted it (1) through the narration of Ibn Isḥāq; no author of the canonical collections related it through this chain, and it is sound.
Imām Aḥmad also narrated it (2) from Yaḥyā ibn Bukayr, from al-Faḍl ibn Marzūq, from ʿAṭiyyah ibn Saʿd al-ʿAwfī, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī:
A man from the Anṣār said to his companions, “By God, I used to tell you that once matters became stable he would favor others over you.” They rebuked him harshly. The report reached the Messenger of God ﷺ, so he came to them and said certain things