rather, he and those whom he supports receive from Allah’s wealth only what is needed for their maintenance. The remainder of Allah’s wealth is spent on what Allah and His Messenger love. His relatives receive reasonable allocations from the khums (the one-fifth share of war booty). Fayʾ revenues, from which allocations are made for the various public interests of the Muslims, are not restricted to specified categories of recipients as zakat is.

Regarding the allocation made for his relatives, one view is that their entitlement ceased upon his death, as Abū Hanīfa holds. Another is that it belongs to the relatives of whoever assumes authority after him, in accordance with the report narrated from him:

“Whatever provision Allah grants a prophet passes to whoever assumes authority after him.”

This is the view of Abū Thawr and others. It has also been said that this was the basis on which ʿUthmān made allocations to Banū Umayya. Another view is that it belongs permanently to the relatives of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Among those who hold the latter view, some say that its amount is fixed by the revealed law at one-fifth of the khums. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī and the well-known position reported from Ahmad.

Another view is that the khums and fayʾ are to be spent in the interests of the Muslims according to the ruler’s judgment, rather than divided into fixed, equal portions. This is the view of Mālik and others. It is also reported from Ahmad that he treated one-fifth of zakat as fayʾ. This view is supported by the Quran, the Sunnah, and the practice of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. A detailed discussion of these matters belongs elsewhere.

The point here is that although some Quranic verses were occasioned by events among the Arabs, their rulings are general, encompassing whatever falls within the wording of those verses