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Al-Mughni by Ibn Qudama - Edited by Al-Turki
Volume 13 · Page 69The fifth section

Translation · EN

Abu Thawr, Dawud, and Ibn al-Mundhir said: The spoils belong to every killer, based on the generality of the report and the argument from this hadith of Salamah. Our evidence is that Ibn Mas'ud finished off Abu Jahl, yet the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not give him his spoils. He also ordered the killing of 'Uqbah ibn Abi (31) Mu'ayt and al-Nadr ibn al-Harith by execution (sabr), and did not give their spoils to those who killed them. He also killed the Banu Qurayzah by execution (32), and did not give their spoils to those who killed them. He only granted the spoils to one who killed an opponent in single combat, or who spared the Muslims from his evil and risked his own life in killing him. As for the fugitive after the war has ended, he has already spared the Muslims the evil of himself, and his killer did not risk his life in killing him; therefore, he is not entitled to his spoils, just like the captive. As for the one killed by Salamah, he was retreating to his group. Likewise, whoever is killed while the war is ongoing, even if (33) he is fleeing, he is retreating to his group and returning to the fight, so he resembles one who attacks, for war consists of retreating and attacking. Once this is established, it is not a condition for being entitled to the spoils that the single combat be by permission of the commander, because among all those for whom a ruling for the spoils was made during the era of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), there is no one among them who has been reported to us as having been given permission for the single combat, while the generality of the report dictates the entitlement of the spoils to every killer, except for the one excluded by evidence.

Chapter Five: The spoils are not subject to the one-fifth (khums) tax. This is narrated from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. This is also the position of al-Shafi'i, Ibn al-Mundhir, and Ibn Jarir. Ibn 'Abbas said: It is subject to the one-fifth tax (34). This is also the position of al-Awza'i and Makhul, based on the generality of the Almighty's saying: {And know that anything you take as booty, then for Allah is one-fifth thereof} (35). Ishaq said: If the Imam considers the spoils to be excessive, he may tax it by one-fifth, and that is up to him, based on what Ibn Sirin narrated: That al-Bara' ibn Malik engaged in single combat with a Marzuban (Persian commander) of the Zarah in Bahrain. He stabbed him and broke his spine, then took his bracelets and his spoils. When 'Umar prayed the Dhuhr prayer, he went to Abu Talhah in his house and said: "We used not to tax the spoils, but the spoils of al-Bara' have reached a large amount, and I am taxing them by one-fifth." Thus, the first spoils taxed by one-fifth in Islam were the spoils of al-Bara'. Sa'id recorded it in "al-Sunan" (36). It states therein that the spoils of al-Bara' reached thirty thousand.

Notes

(31) Omitted from: Original, M. (32) See what preceded on page 46. (33) In M: "that". (34) Recorded by al-Bayhaqi, in: The Chapter on What Has Been Related Regarding Taxing the Spoils by One-Fifth, from the Book of the Division of Spoils and Booty. Al-Sunan al-Kubra 6/312. And by Ibn Abi Shaybah, in: The Chapter on One Who Assigned the Spoils to the Killer, from the Book of Jihad. Al-Musannaf 12/374. And by Abu 'Ubayd, in: Al-Amwal 304. (35) Surah al-Anfal 41.

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