(They ask thee (O Muhammad) of the spoils of war. Say: The spoils of war belong to Allah and the messenger…) [8:1]. Abu Sa‘id al-Nasruyiyy informed us> Abu Bakr al-Qati‘i> ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal> his father> Abu Mu‘awiyah> Abu Ishaq al-Shaybani> Muhammad ibn ‘Ubayd Allah al-Thaqafi> Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas who said: “On the day of Badr my brother ‘Umayr was killed and I killed Sa‘id ibn al-‘As and took his sword which was named al-Kifah. I went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and he told me to go and put the sword with the captured booty which was still undivided. I went back in a state which only Allah knew as a result of the killing of my brother and the loss of my spoil. I did not go very far when Surah al-Anfal was revealed. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, called me and said: ‘Go and take back your sword!’ ”. ‘Ikrimah reported that Ibn ‘Abbas said: “On the day of Badr, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: ‘Whoever does such-and-such will get such-and-such’. And so the younger men went and the old remained under the banners. When it was time to divide the booty, those younger men came to ask for their share, but the old said: ‘Do not exclude us, for we were under the banners, and if you had been defeated, we would have been a shield for you’. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (They ask thee (O Muhammad) of the spoils of war. Say: The spoils of war belong to Allah and the messenger…), and the booty was divided on them in equal shares”. Abu Bakr ibn al-Harith informed us> ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ja‘far> Abu Yahya> Sahl ibn ‘Uthman> Yahya ibn Abi Za’idah> Ibn Abi al-Zinad> ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith> Sulayman ibn Musa ibn al-Ashdaq> Makhul> Abu Salam al-Bahili> Abu Umamah al-Bahili> ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit who said: “When the enemy was defeated on the day of Badr, a group of men followed them to exterminate them, while one group surrounded the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, [to protect him] and another group seized the booty and spoils. When Allah banished the enemy and those who went after came back, they said: ‘The booty belongs to us, we have chased the enemy and it is through us that Allah has defeated and banished them’.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
