(And of them is he who made a covenant with Allah…) [9:75]. Abu'l-Hasan Muhammad ibn al-Fadl informed us> Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ja'far ibn Matar> Abu 'Imran Musa ibn Sahl al-Jawni> Hisham ibn 'Ammar> Muhammad ibn Shu'ayb> Mu'adh ibn Rifa'ah al-Salami> Abu 'Abd al-Malik 'Ali ibn Yazid> al-Qasim ibn 'Abd al-Rahman> Abu Umamah al-Bahili said: “One day Tha'labah ibn Hatib al-Ansari went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, pray that Allah provides me with wealth'. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: 'Woe to you! A little for which you give thanks is better than plenty which you cannot bear'. Another time, he said to him: 'Do you not like to be like the Prophet of Allah. By Him in whose Hand is my soul, if I wanted mountains would flow with gold and silver for me'. Tha'labah said: 'By Him Who sent you with the truth, if you pray that Allah provides me with wealth, I will give each one his due'. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, then prayed: 'O Allah, give Tha'labah wealth!' Tha'labah then acquired some sheep and they multiplied like worms until Medina became too small to contain all his sheep. He left Medina and settled in one of its valleys. At that point, he only prayed Zuhr and 'Asr in congregation but not the other prescribed prayers. Then his sheep multiplied even more and he stopped praying in congregation altogether except for the Friday prayer. His sheep kept multiplying like worms until he finally stopped praying even the Friday prayer. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, asked about him and when they told him that his sheep had multiplied so much that he had to leave Medina and stopped praying in congregation, he said: 'Woe unto Tha'labah', he said it thrice. Then Allah, glorious and majestic is He, revealed (Take alms of their wealth, wherewith thou mayst purify them) [9:103] and He also revealed the obligation of Zakah. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, sent two men, one from Juhaynah and one from Banu Salim, to collect Zakat, and wrote for them instructions how to collect it.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
