entitled to that wealth. Allah therefore permitted His servants to kill them and seize their wealth. It thus became fay’—wealth that Allah restored to His believing servants, for they were the ones entitled to it. Indeed, any wealth taken from the disbelievers may be called fay’, including spoils of war.

As the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said regarding the spoils of Hunayn:

“I have no share in what Allah has restored to you except the one-fifth, and the one-fifth is returned to you.” (1)

But when Allah Most High said:

“Whatever Allah restored to His Messenger from them, you did not spur on any horses or camels to obtain it”

[Surah al-Hashr: 6]

and said:

“Whatever Allah restored to His Messenger from the people of the towns”

[Surah al-Hashr: 7]

the term fay’, when used without qualification, came to denote wealth taken from the disbelievers without fighting.

The majority of scholars hold that no one-fifth share is taken from fay’. This is the position of Mālik, Abū Hanīfa, and Ahmad, and it was the position of all the early generations without exception. Al-Shāfiʿī, al-Khiraqī, and those of Ahmad’s companions who agreed with them held that a one-fifth share must be taken. The majority position is correct, for the established practices of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and his caliphs show that they never took a one-fifth share from fay’. The property of Banū al-Nadīr constituted the first fay’, yet the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—did not take a fifth from it. He did, however, take a fifth from the spoils of Badr, from Khaybar, and from the spoils of Hunayn.

Likewise, the caliphs after him did not take a fifth of the poll-tax or land-tax revenues.

The disagreement arose because the wording of the verse concerning the one-fifth share and that of the verse concerning fay’ was the same, and so people differed in their understanding of the Quran. One group held that the verse concerning the one-fifth share requires it to be divided equally among the five categories. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and Dāwūd