, and the words I love most are those that are truest. So choose one of the two: either the property or the captives. I had waited for you.’ The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had waited for them for ten-odd nights after returning from al-Tā’if. When it became clear to them that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—would return only one of the two, they said, ‘Then we choose our captives.’

The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—stood among the Muslims and praised Allah as He deserves, then said, ‘To proceed: your brothers have come to us in repentance, and I have decided to return their captives to them. Whoever among you wishes to give them up willingly may do so. Whoever wishes to retain his claim to his share until we compensate him from the first spoils Allah grants us may do so.’

The people said, ‘We willingly agree to this, O Messenger of Allah.’ The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘We cannot tell which of you has consented and which has not. Go back until your representatives report your decision to us.’ The people went back, and their representatives spoke to them. Then the representatives returned to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and informed him that they had willingly agreed and given their consent.”

This authentic hadith establishes that he took the women of Hawāzin captive—although they were Arabs—and distributed them among those entitled to the spoils, so that they became their slaves. Afterwards, he sought to obtain them back from their owners, either as a voluntary donation or in exchange for compensation.

A hadith also reports that he freed them, as in the report of ‘Umar: while he was observing a devotional retreat, he learned that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had freed the captives, so he freed a slave woman in his possession.

The Muslims used to have intercourse with these captive women by right of ownership, as in the case of the captives taken at Awtās, who were among the captives of Hawāzin. Concerning them, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“A pregnant woman must not be approached sexually until she gives birth, nor a woman who is not pregnant until she has undergone one menstrual period to establish that she is not pregnant.”