✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
✔ Preference for Reconciliation of Hearts (تالیفِ قلب) in War Booty Distribution
If deemed appropriate, preference may be given to new Muslims in war booty as a means of winning their hearts.
❶ Narration of Anas (رضی اللہ عنہ)
Hazrat Anas (رضی اللہ عنہ) reported:
When Makkah was conquered, the Prophet ﷺ distributed the war booty among the Quraysh. Upon seeing this, the Ansar remarked:
“This is indeed strange! Our swords are still dripping with their blood, and yet our spoils of war are being returned to them.”
When this statement reached the Prophet ﷺ, he gathered the Ansar and asked:
“What is this that I have heard from you?”
They replied:
“It is exactly as you have heard.”
They spoke the truth, as they were not liars. So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
أَما تَرْضَوْنَ أَنْ يَرْجِعَ النَّاسُ بِالدُّنْيَا إِلَى بُيُوتِهِمْ وَتَرْجِعُونَ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ إِلَى بُيُوتِكُمْ؟
“Are you not pleased that people return to their homes with worldly goods, while you return with the Messenger of Allah to your homes?”
They said:
“Indeed, we are pleased.”
In another narration, the wording is as follows:
إِنِّي أُعْطِي رِجَالًا حَدِيثِي عَهْدٍ بِكُفْرٍ أَتَأَلَّفُهُمْ، أَمَا تَرْضَوْنَ أَنْ يَذْهَبَ النَّاسُ بِالْأَمْوَالِ وَتَذْهَبُونَ بِالنَّبِيِّ إِلَى رِحَالِكُمْ؟
“I am giving to certain men who are newly out of disbelief, to win their hearts. Are you not pleased that others take the wealth and you take the Prophet to your homes?”
Another narration states that Hazrat Anas (رضی اللہ عنہ) reported:
The Prophet ﷺ distributed the spoils among the nobles of Quraysh to win their hearts, while leaving out the Ansar and the Muhajirun.
📚 [Bukhari: 3146, 3147, 3528, 3778 – Book of the Merits of the Ansar; Book of Obligatory Khums – Chapter: What the Prophet ﷺ gave to those whose hearts were to be reconciled; Muslim: 1059; Ahmad: 3/169]
❷ Narration of Ibn Mas’ud (رضی اللہ عنہ)
Hazrat Ibn Mas‘ud (رضی اللہ عنہ) narrated:
When the Prophet ﷺ preferred certain individuals in the distribution of war booty, he gave 100 camels to Aqra bin Habis (رضی اللہ عنہ) and a similar amount to ‘Uyaynah, and likewise gave preference to the Arab nobles on that day.
Upon this, a man remarked:
“There is no justice in this distribution, nor was Allah’s pleasure intended.”
The narrator says:
“I said, I will definitely inform the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this.”
So I approached the Prophet ﷺ and informed him, to which he replied:
“If Allah and His Messenger do not do justice, then who will?”
📚 [Ahmad: 1/380; Bukhari: 3405; Muslim: 1062]
❀ Names of Those Preferred for Reconciliation of Hearts
The following individuals from among the Arabs and Quraysh were preferred on that day for the purpose of تالیفِ قلب (reconciliation of hearts):
- Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
- Suhail ibn Amr
- Huwaytib ibn Abd al-‘Uzza
- Hakim ibn Hizam
- Abu Sannabil ibn Ba’takak
- Safwan ibn Umayyah
- ‘Abdur Rahman ibn Yarbou‘
- ‘Uyaynah ibn Hisn al-Fazari
- Aqra‘ ibn Habis al-Taymi
- ‘Amr ibn Ahtam al-Tamimi
- ‘Abbas ibn Mirdas al-Aslami
- Malik ibn ‘Awf al-Nasri
- ‘Ala’ ibn Harithah al-Thaqafi
and others.
📚 [Nayl al-Awtar: 5/50–51; Fath al-Bari: 8/370; Maghazi al-Waqidi: 3/935; Sirah Ibn Hisham: 4/150]
✔ Ruling by al-Shawkani (رحمه الله)
Shawkani (رحمه الله) states:
These Ahadith clearly prove that a ruler may, in view of reconciliation of hearts or greater benefit, give preference to certain individuals over others in the distribution of war booty.
📚 [Nayl al-Awtar: 5/51]
