Ghanima (spoils of war)

For Muhammad Rashid Rida, the ghanima is what Muslims take of movable property in a war against unbelievers by force. A fifth of it is set aside: its share belongs to God and the Messenger, to the near kin, the orphans, the needy and the traveller; the rest goes to those who fought for it. ^{1 2}

Rida sets out the views of the linguists and jurists on the difference between the ghanima and the fay, the nafl and the salab, and then prefers a legal definition: the ghanima is what is taken through fighting, and the fay is what is taken from the property of combatants without the coercion of war, which according to the majority is for the general public interest of Muslims. ¹

Rida describes the nafl as a special gift to a fighter from the ghanima over and above his share, and the salab as what is stripped from a slain enemy on the battlefield, and the safi, which the Prophet ﷺ could set aside for himself. He notes that al-Shafi'i limited the salab to weapons of war. ¹

According to Rida, the majority hold that the verse on the fifth was revealed at the battle of Badr, and that the division of the spoils began there. Rida sets out the disagreement of the historians: some said the ruling was established on the day of Qurayza, and others said it was not clearly stated until the spoils of Hunayn. Ibn Ishaq related a report about the expedition of Abdullah ibn Jahsh (may God be pleased with him) two months before Badr. Rida presents al-Subki's view that the surah of al-Anfal was revealed about Badr and its spoils, then notes what appears to him: that the verse on dividing the spoils came after the spoils had been shared equally. He presents Ibn Hajar's view that the verse of al-Anfal explained the destination of the fifth, not the origin of its legitimacy. ²

Rida gives the report of Ali about the old she-camel from the fifth, and holds that it shows the spoils of Badr included a fifth. He presents Ibn Hajar's attempt to reconcile the two reports. ²