Hence, one learns that whenever a person wishes to perform an act of obedience he should free his heart and body for it, approach it eagerly, and carry it out calmly, with tranquility and an open breast.

After that, the prophet set out on campaign. He encamped with his people after the ‘Asr prayer, and night was fast approaching. He feared that if darkness descended the victory would slip away, so he began addressing the sun: “You are under command, and I am under command.” The command governing the sun is a cosmic decree, whereas his is a prescriptive, legal command. He was commanded to fight in Allah’s cause, while the sun is commanded to travel exactly as Allah has ordered. Allah says, “And the sun runs its course toward its appointed place—that is the determination of the Almighty, the All-Knowing” (Yasin 36:38). From the moment Allah created it, the sun has moved precisely as ordered: it never advances, lags behind, descends, or rises of its own accord.

He then said, “O Allah, hold it back for us,” and Allah held the sun back so that it did not set at its usual time. The prophet fought, conquered, and gathered abundant spoils.

In earlier communities, however, spoils of war were not lawful for the combatants; the permissibility of booty is a distinction granted exclusively to this nation, praise be to Allah. Those previous peoples would collect the booty, whereupon a fire would descend from heaven and consume it. On this occasion the booty was assembled, yet no fire came down to devour it. The prophet therefore declared, “Among you there is ghulul (illicit appropriation from the spoils).”

He ordered that one man from every tribe step forward and pledge to him that there was no ghulul. They pledged, but the hand of one of them clung to the prophet’s hand. When that happened he said, “The ghulul is among you”—meaning that tribe. He then commanded every individual of that tribe to pledge him one by one; the hands of two or three of them stuck to his, whereupon he said: