Tribute, Spoils, and Rulership (Kitab Al-Kharaj, Wal-Fai' Wal-Imarah)

A man reported from Bakr bin Wa’il on the authority of his maternal uncle as saying, I said “Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) may I levy tithe on my people.?” He replied “Tithes are to be levied on Jews and Christians.”

Narrated A man of Banu Taghlib: Harb ibn Ubaydullah ibn Umayr ath-Thaqafi told on the authority of his grandfather, a man of Banu Taghlib: I came to the Prophet (ﷺ), embraced Islam, and he taught me Islam. He also taught me how I should take sadaqah from my people who had become Muslim. I then returned to him and said: Messenger of Allah, I remembered whatever you taught me except the sadaqah. Should I levy tithe on them? He replied: No, tithes are to be levied on Christians and Jews.

Narrated Al-Irbad ibn Sariyah as-Sulami: We alighted with the Prophet (ﷺ) at Khaybar, and he had his companions with him. The chief of Khaybar was a defiant and abominable man. He came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: Is it proper for you, Muhammad, that you slaughter our donkeys, eat our fruit, and beat our women? The Prophet (ﷺ) became angry and said: Ibn Awf, ride your horse, and call loudly: Beware, Paradise is lawful only for a believer, and that they (the people) should gather for prayer. They gathered and the Prophet (ﷺ) led them in prayer, stood up and said: Does any of you, while reclining on his couch, imagine that Allah has prohibited only that which is to be found in this Qur'an? By Allah, I have preached, commanded and prohibited various matters as numerous as that which is found in the Qur'an, or more numerous. Allah has not permitted you to enter the houses of the people of the Book without permission, or beat their women, or eat their fruits when they give you that which is imposed on them.

Narrated A man of Juhaynah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Probably you will fight with a people, you will dominate them, and they will save themselves and their children by their property. The version of Sa'id has You will then conclude peace with them. The agreed version goes: Then do no take anything from them more than that, for it is not proper for you.

Narrated A number of Companions of the Prophet: Safwan reported from a number of Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) on the authority of their fathers who were relatives of each other. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Beware, if anyone wrongs a contracting man, or diminishes his right, or forces him to work beyond his capacity, or takes from him anything without his consent, I shall plead for him on the Day of Judgment.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Jizyah is not to be levied on a Muslim.

Muhammad bin Kathir said “Sufyan was asked to explain the tradition mentioned above.” He said “When he embraces Islam, no jizyah will be levied on him.”

Narrated Abdullah al-Hawzani: I met Bilal, the Mu'adhdhin of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) at Aleppo, and said: Bilal, tell me, what was the financial position of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)? He said: He had nothing. It was I who managed it on his behalf since the day Allah made him Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) until he died. When a Muslim man came to him and he found him naked, he ordered me (to clothe him). I would go, borrow (some money), and purchase a cloak for him. I would then clothe him and feed him. A man from the polytheists met me and said: I am well off, Bilal. Do not borrow money from anyone except me. So I did accordingly. One day when I performed ablution and stood up to make call to prayer, the same polytheist came along with a body of merchants. When he saw me, he said: O Abyssinian. I said: I am at your service. He met me with unpleasant looks and said harsh words to me. He asked me: Do you know how many days remain in the completion of this month? I replied: The time is near. He said: Only four days remain in the completion of this month. I shall then take that which is due from you (i.e. loan), and then shall return you to tend the sheep as you did before. I began to think in my mind what people think in their minds (on such occasions). When I offered the night prayer, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) returned to his family. I sought permission from him and he gave me permission. I said: Messenger of Allah, may my parents be sacrificed for you, the polytheist from whom I used to borrow money said to me such-and-such. Neither you nor I have anything to pay him for me, and he will disgrace me. So give me permission to run away to some of those tribes who have recently embraced Islam until Allah gives His Apostle (ﷺ) something with which he can pay (the debt) for me. So I came out and reached my house. I placed my sword, waterskin (or sheath), shoes and shield near my head. When dawn broke, I intended to be on my way. All of a sudden I saw a man running towards me and calling: Bilal, return to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). So I went till I reached him. I found four mounts kneeling on the ground with loads on them. I sought permission. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to me: Be glad, Allah has made arrangements for the payment (of your debt). He then asked: Have you not seen the four mounts kneeling on the ground? I replied: Yes. He said: You may have these mounts and what they have on them. There are clothes and food on them, presented to me by the ruler of Fadak. Take them away and pay off your debt. I did so. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition. I then went to the mosque and found that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was sitting there. I greeted him. He asked: What benefit did you have from your property? I replied: Allah Most High paid everything which was due from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Nothing remains now. He asked: Did anything remain (from that property)? I said: Yes. He said: Look, if you can give me some comfort from it, for I shall not visit any member of my family until you give me some comfort from it. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) offered the night prayer, he called me and said: What is the position of that which you had with you (i.e. property)? I said: I still have it, no one came to me. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) passed the night in the mosque. He then narrated the rest of the tradition. Next day when he offered the night prayer, he called me and asked: What is the position of that which you had (i.e. the rest of the property)? I replied: Allah has given you comfort from it, Messenger of Allah. He said: Allah is Most Great, and praised Allah, fearing lest he should die while it was with him. I then followed him until he came to his wives and greeted each one of them and finally he came to his place where he had to pass the night. This is all for which you asked me.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Mu’awiyah through a different chain of narrators to the same effect as narrated by Abu Taubah. This version has “I have nothing to pay from me. The Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) thereupon kept silence and this displeased me.”

Narrated Iyad ibn Himar: I presented a she-camel to the Prophet (ﷺ). He asked: Have you embraced Islam? I replied: No. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: I have been prohibited to accept the present of polytheists.

Narrated Alqamah ibn Wa'il: The Prophet (ﷺ) bestowed land in Hadramawt as fief.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by ‘Alqamah bin Wa’il through a different chain of narrators.”

Narrated Amr ibn Hurayth: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) demarcated a house with a bow at Medina for me. He said: I shall give you more. I shall give you more.

Narrated Rabi'ah ibn AbuAbdurRahman: Rabi'ah reported on the authority of more than one person saying: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) assigned as a fief to Bilal ibn al-Harith al-Muzani the mines of al-Qabaliyyah which is in the neighbourhood of al-Fur', and only zakat is levied on those mines up to the present day.

Narrated Amr ibn Awf al-Muzani: The Prophet (ﷺ) assigned as a fief to Bilal ibn al-Muzani the mines of al-Qabaliyyah both which lay on the upper side and which lay on the lower side, and (the land) which was suitable for cultivation at Quds. He did not give him (the land which involved) the right of a Muslim. The Prophet (ﷺ) wrote a document for him. It goes: "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. This is what the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) assigned to Bilal ibn Harith al-Muzani. He gave him the mines of al-Qabaliyyah, both which lay on the upper side and which lay on the lower side, and (the land) which is suitable for cultivation at Quds. He did not give him the right of any Muslim."Abu Uwais said: A similar tradition has been narrated to me by Thawr b. Zaid, client of Banu al-Dail b. Bakr b. Kinahah from 'Ikrimah on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas.

Narrated Amr ibn Awf al-Muzani: The Prophet (ﷺ) assigned as a fief to Bilal ibn Harith al-Muzani the mines of al-Qabaliyyah, both those which lay on the upper side those and which lay on the lower side. The narrator, Ibn an-Nadr, added: "also Jars and Dhat an-Nusub." The agreed version reads: "and (the land) which is suitable for cultivation at Quds". He did not assign to Bilal ibn al-Harith the right of any Muslim. The Prophet (ﷺ) wrote a document to him: "This is what the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) assigned to Bilal ibn al-Harith al-Muzani. He gave him the mines of al-Qabaliyyah both those which lay on the upper and lower side, and that which is fit for cultivation at Quds. He did not give him the right of any Muslim." The narrator AbuUways said: A similar tradition has been transmitted to me by Thawr ibn Zayd from Ikrimah on the authority of Ibn Abbas from the Prophet (ﷺ). Ibn an-Nadr added: Ubayy ibn Ka'b wrote it.

Narrated Abyad ibn Hammal: Abyad went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and asked him for assigning him (the mines of) salt as fief. (The narrator Ibn al-Mutawakkil said: which was in Ma'arib.) So he assigned it to him as a fief. When he returned, a man in the meeting asked: Do you know what you have assigned him as a fief? You have assigned him the perennial spring water. So he took it back from him. He asked him about protecting land which had arak trees growing in it. He replied: He could have such as was beyond the region where the hoofs (of camels) went.The narrator Ibn al-Mutwakkil said: "that is the camel hoofs."

Muhammad bin Al hasan Al Mukhzumi said “The sentence “that which is not reached by the Camel hoofs” means that the Camels eat (the arak trees) within the reach of their heads. So the land (where the arak trees are growing) may be protected beyond such a region.

Narrated Abyad ibn Hammal: He asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for giving him some land which had arak trees growing in it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: There is no (permission for) protecting a land which has arak trees growing in it. He said: These arak trees are within the boundaries of my field. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There is no (permission for) protecting a land which has arak trees growing in it. The narrator Faraj said: By the phrase 'within the boundaries of my field' he meant the land which had crop growing in it and was surrounded on four sides.

Narrated Sakhr ibn al-Ayla al-Ahmasi: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) raided Thaqif. When Sakhr heard this, he proceeded on his horse along with some horsemen to support the Prophet (ﷺ). He found the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) had returned and he did not conquer (Ta'if). On that day Sakhr made a covenant with Allah and had His protection that he would not depart from that fortress until they (the inhabitants) surrendered to the command of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He did not leave them until they had surrendered to the command of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Sakhr then wrote to him: To proceed: Thaqif have surrendered to your command, Messenger of Allah, and I am on my way to them. They have horses with them. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then ordered prayers to be offered in congregation. He then prayed for Ahmas ten times: O Allah, send blessings the horses and the men of Ahmas. The people came and Mughirah ibn Shu'bah said to him: Prophet of Allah, Sakhr took my paternal aunt while she embraced Islam like other Muslims. He called him and said: Sakhr, when people embrace Islam, they have security of their blood and property. Give back to Mughirah his paternal aunt. So he returned his aunt to him and asked the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ): What about Banu Sulaym who have run away for (fear of) Islam and left that water? He said: Prophet of Allah, allow me and my people to settle there. He said: Yes. So he allowed him to settle there. Banu Sulaym then embraced Islam, and they came to Sakhr. They asked him to return their water to them. But he refused. So they came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: Prophet of Allah, we embraced Islam and came to Sakhr so that he might return our water to us. But he has refused. He (the Prophet) then came to him and said: When people embrace Islam, they secure their properties and blood. Return to the people their water. He said: Yes, Prophet of Allah. I saw that the face of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was reddening at that moment, being ashamed of taking back from him the slave-girl and the water.

Narrated Saburah ibn Ma'bad al-Juhani: The Prophet (ﷺ) alighted at a place where a mosque has been built under a large tree. He tarried there for three days, and then proceeded to Tabuk. Juhaynah met him on a wide plain. He asked them: who are the people of Dhul-Marwah? They replied: Banu Rifa'ah of Juhaynah. He said: I have given this (land) to Banu Rifa'ah as a fief. Therefore, they divided it. Some of them sold (their share) and others retained and worked on it. (Sub-narrator Ibn Wahab said: I then asked AbdulAziz about this tradition. He narrated a part of it to me and did not narrate it in full.

Narrated Asma' daughter of AbuBakr: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) assigned to az-Zubayr palm-trees as a fief.

Narrated Qaylah bint Makhramah: Abdullah ibn Hasan al-Anbari said: My grandmothers, Safiyyah and Duhaybah, narrated to me, that hey were the daughters of Ulaybah and were nourished by Qaylah, daughter of Makhramah. She was the grandmother of their father. She reported to them, saying: We came upon the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). My companion, Hurayth ibn Hassan, came to him as a delegate from Bakr ibn Wa'il. He took the oath of allegiance of Islam for himself and for his people. He then said: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), write a document for us, giving us the land lying between us and Banu Tamim at ad-Dahna' to the effect that not one of them will cross it in our direction except a traveller or a passer-by. He said: Write down ad-Dahna' for them, boy. When I saw that he passed orders to give it to him, I became anxious, for it was my native land and my home. I said: Messenger of Allah, he did not ask you for a true border when he asked you. This land of Dahna' is a place where the camels have their home, and it is a pasture for the sheep. The women of Banu Tamim and their children are beyond it. He said: Stop, boy! A poor woman spoke the truth: a Muslim is a brother of a Muslim. Each one of them may benefit from water and trees, and they should cooperate with each other against Satan.

Narrated Asmar ibn Mudarris: I came to the Prophet (ﷺ), and took the oath of allegiance to him. He said: If anyone reaches a water which has not been approached before by any Muslim, it belongs to him. The people, therefore, went out running and marking (on the land).

Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar: The Prophet (ﷺ) gave az-Zubayr the land as a fief up to the reach of his horse when he runs. He, therefore, made his horse run until it stopped. He then threw his flog. Thereupon he said: Give him (the land) up to the point where his flog has reached.

Narrated Sa'id ibn Zayd: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone brings barren land into cultivation, it belongs to him, and the unjust vein has no right.

Narrated Urwah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone brings barren land into cultivation, it belong to him. He then transmitted a similar tradition mentioned above (No. 3067).He ('Urwah) said: One who transmitted this tradition to me said that two persons brought their dispute to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). One of them grew palm trees in the land of the other. He decided to return the land to its owner of the palm-trees to remove his palm-trees. He said: I saw when their roots were being struck with axes. The trees were fully grown up, but they were removed from there.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Ibn Ishaq through a different chain of narrators and to the same effect. Instead of the phrase “one who transmitted this tradition to me” this version has “A man from among the Companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) and probably he was Abu Sa’id Al Khudri. I saw the man striking at the roots of the palm trees.”

Narrated Urwah: I testify that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) decided that the land is the land of Allah, and the servants are the servants of Allah. If anyone brings barren land into cultivation, he has more right to it. This tradition has been transmitted to us from the Prophet (ﷺ) by those who transmitted the traditions about prayer from him.

Narrated Samurah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone surrounds a land with a wall, it belongs to him.