الصَّفِيّ

الصَّفِيّ

In language safi is the pure part of anything, and istasfa means to choose. As a term it is a thing chosen from the booty before division, such as a slave-girl, a slave, a garment or a sword. The majority hold that the safi belonged to the Prophet alone; no dissenter is known except Abu Thawr, who held that the imam may take it in the manner the Prophet took it and give it the place of the Prophet's share of the fifth of the fifth. Ibn al-Mundhir says no one preceded Abu Thawr in this view. The Prophet's letter to the Banu Zuhayr ibn Uqaysh, with its mention of the fifth and the Prophet's chosen share, and the report of 'A'isha that Safiyya was from the safi, are cited. Its end after the Prophet is established by the consensus of the nation, since Abu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthman and later rulers did not take it. ^{1 2}