Al-Hashr (The Exile)

7. What Allah gave as booty to His Messenger from the people of the townships, it is for Allah, His Messenger, the kindred, the orphans, the poor, and the stranded such that it may not become a fortune used by the rich among you. And whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain [from it] and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Severe in chastisement.

The blessed Verse provides an exposition regarding the use of booties mentioned in the preceding Verse by formulating a general rule as per which what God Almighty restored to His Messenger (S) from the inhabitants of such townships belongs to God Almighty, His Messenger, his kindred, orphans, the poor, and the stranded;

(“What Allah gave as booty to His Messenger from the people of the townships, it is for Allah, His Messenger, the kindred, the orphans, the poor, and the stranded”).

In other words, such property does not resemble war booties solely one fifths of which fall into the share of the Noble Prophet (S) and the needy and four fifths of which belong to warriors.

In like manner, when the preceding Verse is saying that all such property belongs to Allah's Messenger (S) it does not intend to say that the Noble Prophet (S) uses the same for his own benefit, but since he is the head of the Islamic state and he is particularly the protector and guardian of the rights of the needy, he uses the same to their benefits.

Generally speaking, the blessed Verse enumerates six uses for fay’:

1. Allah's share since He is evidently the Possessor of all things though He is Needless of anyone or anything. It is a legislative relation whose purport is that other groups may not feel any inferiority but regard themselves on a par with Allah in this respect and thereby they may not lose their prestige in public.

2. The Noble Prophet's (S) share through which his personal needs as well as the requirements of his station and the people's expectations from him may be met.

3. The share of the Noble Prophet's kindred by which that of his relatives and Banu Hashim is being intended since they are not allowed to receive the alms-tax (zakah) which is regarded as the property shared by all Muslims.¹

It would be basically meaningless had the word kindred designated all people, since it would unexceptionally include all Muslims since all people are relatives. Qur’an exegetes disagree on the conditions of need and poverty in being kindred, but the evidence attested in the close of the blessed Verse in question and the following blessed Verse substantiates such conditions.

4-6. The shares of orphans, the poor, and the stranded. Exegetes also disagree on the identity of such people since they are not unanimous regarding whether they should be from Banu Hashim or all the orphans, the poor, and the stranded. The majority of Sunni Qur’an exegetes and jurisprudents maintain that the injunction applies to all people.

However, different traditions have been narrated from Ahl al-Bayt in this respect some of which designate that these three shares belong to the orphans, the poor, and the stranded from Banu Hashim. Nevertheless, some of such traditions explicitly reflect that the injunction applies to all people. In this vein, it is narrated from Imam Baqir (as) that the shares of Allah's Messenger (S) and the kindred belonged to them and they share with people the remainder of the shares.²

The blessed Verses 8 and 9 provide an exposition for the blessed Verse in question as per which this share does not belong to Banu Hashim, since the contextual meaning makes a reference to all the poor from Meccan Emigrants (muhajirun) and Helpers (ansar).

Furthermore, Qur’an exegetes have reported that following the disobedience of Banu Nadhir, the Noble Prophet (S) distributed their property amongst the Meccan Emigrants who generally led a hard life in Medina and three people from Helpers who were in dire need to the same.

It substantiates the general application of the contextual meaning of the blessed Verse in question and even if certain traditions be inconsistent with the same, the contextual meaning of the blessed Verse should be taken into account.³

The blessed Verse proceeds to treat of the reason behind such well-measured distribution, saying that the reason behind such distribution is that such abundant property be not used by the rich amongst you and the needy be not thereby deprived of the same;

(“such that it may not become a fortune used by the rich among you. And whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain [from it] and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Severe in chastisement”).

Some Qur’an exegetes make mention of an occasion of Revelation for the blessed Verse in question to which reference was made above according to which following the defeat of Banu Nadhir, a number of Muslim notables came unto the Noble Prophet (S) asking him to take his own share as well as one fourths of the booties and leave the rest unto them so that they may distribute them amongst themselves as it was the common practice of pre-Islamic Arabs.

Then, the blessed Verse was revealed warning them against leaving them at the disposal of the affluent.

The blessed Verse reflects a fundamental principle of Islamic economy according to which despite respecting private ownership, the property is not supposed to be at the disposal of a limited number of people.

However, it does not intend to say that we may legislate laws of our own and thereby seize the property of a certain group and leave them at the disposal of another group, but it reflects that in case Islamic laws concerning the acquisition of property as well as the taxes like one-fifths tax (khums), alms-tax (zakah), and tributes and the laws of the Muslim public treasury (bayt al-mal) and war booties be properly attended to, public interests will be met and Muslim community will not be polarized into a minority of the affluent and a majority of the poor.

Thus the blessed Verse closes:

“And whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain [from it] and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Severe in chastisement.”

It is worthy of note that the blessed Verse was revealed regarding the distribution of the booties acquired from Banu Nadhir, but the general context implies an injunction applicable to all the spheres of Muslims' lives as per which it is incumbent upon Muslims to obey the Noble Prophet's (S) commands in terms of the Islamic state as well as economic and devotional issues. The blessed Verse also warns the disobedient against severe torments.

In this vein, it would be of interest to make a reference in passing to the tragic account of Fadak, a prospering village located in the vicinity of Medina, 14 km from Khaybar.

It was in the seventh year after the Noble Prophet's (S) migration (hijra) to Medina that the strongholds at Khaybar fell one after the other and the central power of the Jews collapsed as a consequence of which the inhabitants of the village surrendered to the Noble Prophet of the Islamic faith (S) and handed over half of their orchards and land lots to the Noble Prophet (S) and kept the rest for themselves and assumed the responsibility to cultivate the lands transferred to the Noble Prophet (S) but received some remuneration for their work on them.

The blessed Verse in question reflects that the property belonged to the Noble Prophet (S) and the property or its proceeds could be used by him. Then, the Noble Prophet (S) transferred the property to his daughter, Hadhrat Fatima The account has been narrated by many Shi‘i and Sunni Qur’an exegetes.

For instance, see the exegetic work titled Durr al-Manthur, vol. 4, p. 177, where it is narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas that when the blessed Verse:⁴

“Therefore give unto the kindred his due and to the poor and to the stranded. That is best for those who seek Allah's Countenance and it is they who shall find deliverance”

was revealed, he gave it to his daughter, Fatima , as a gift.

It is mentioned in Kanz al-‘Ummal⁵ , on the margin of Ahmad ibn Hanbal's Musnad that concerning the question of the observation of blood ties (sila rahim) it is narrated on the authority of Abu Sa‘id Khudri that upon the Revelation of the blessed Verse in question, the Noble Prophet (S) summoned Fatima saying:

“O Fatima, Fadak belongs to you.”

In his historical work, Hakim Nayshaburi reports the same account.⁶ In his commentary on Nahj al-Balagha, Ibn Abi al-Hadid provides a detailed account of Fadak.⁷ The account is to be found in many other sources.

Following the sad demise of the Noble Prophet of Islam (S), certain people thought that possessing such economic means by Imam ‘Ali's (as) wife, Fatima , could intervene with their political power and thereby decided to fully seclude Imam ‘Ali's (as) adherents.

It was in this vein that they resorted to the fabricated tradition:

“We Prophets will not leave any inheritance”

and confiscated Fatima's property. It was against the law to ask for evidence and testimony for some property in someone's possession. However, Hadhrat Fatima produced testimony to the effect that the Noble Prophet (S) had transferred Fadak to her as a gift, but they ignored the testimony.

Later when each of the caliphs desired to show their respect to the Ahl al-Bayt, they restored Fadak to them, but it was shortly confiscated once more later on. Such instances of restoration and confiscation repeatedly occurred under Umayyad and ‘Abbasid caliphs.

The account of Fadak and the ensuing incidents in the early history of Islam and in later times are amongst the most tragic and admonishing events of the history of Islam which deserve precise studies that may reveal different occurrences in the history of Islam.

It is worthy of note that in his well-known work titled Sahih Muslim, the Sunni traditionist, Muslim ibn Hajjaj Qushayri Nayshaburi provides a detailed account of Hadhrat Fatima's claim to be the rightful owner of Fadak before the First Caliph, Abu Bakr, and narrates from ‘À’isha that following the refusal of the Caliph to restore Fadak to her, she refused to talk to him to her last day.⁸