Abū al-Yusr and ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal

The next example: Abū al-Yusr, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), said: I was with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) at Khaybar one day, when some sheep belonging to one of the Yahūd came, making for their fortress — the sheep were going into the fortress, and we were besieging that fortress. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saw these sheep, and the Muslims apparently were hungry. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: who will feed us from these sheep? Abū al-Yusr said: I will, O Messenger of Allah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: then go ahead. He said: so I set off running like a ẓalīm.

Al-ẓalīm is the name the Arabs gave to the male ostrich. The ostrich used to live in the Arabian Peninsula; it was native to the Arabian Peninsula, but it has become extinct. Allah knows when — but we do not hear from any of our forefathers that they saw any ostriches, so it must have been a while since they became extinct. But there is a lot of poetry and there are many stories from old Arabia that talk about the ostrich. They used to eat the eggs of the ostrich, and they also used to eat its flesh, and it is ḥalāl. And the feathers of the ostrich were very expensive, and fighters, the knights, used to decorate their armour with ostrich feathers. It may be known that Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (may Allah be pleased with him) had an ostrich feather at the Battle of Uḥud — and at Badr, too, he had an ostrich feather on his chest, decorating his chest. And the ostrich is very fast: they say the speed of an ostrich can reach between sixty-five and eighty kilometres per hour. That is pretty fast. So this Companion said, I set off running like an ostrich — meaning he was very fast.

He said: when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saw me running off, he said: O Allah, let us enjoy him. So I reached the sheep when the first of them had already entered the fortress — so he was only able to catch the last of them — and I took two sheep from the last of them, and I held them under my arms, and then I came back running as if I had nothing with me. Subḥān Allāh: running while holding two of these sheep, and he says he was so light in his running, as if he had nothing with him — until I dropped them at the feet of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). They slaughtered them and ate them; they had a feast. And Abū al-Yusr was one of the last of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to die. Why? Because of the duʿāʾ of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): O Allah, let us enjoy him. Abū al-Yusr, when he mentioned this hadith, would cry. He would say: they enjoyed me, by my life, until I was the last of them to die. He was somewhat sad that he was the one left behind, while all of his friends and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had passed away before him.

Then there is the incident that occurred with ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal (may Allah be pleased with him), one of the Companions. When they opened one of the fortresses at Khaybar, they found dried fat — fat of animals; they would cut it into pieces and dry it in the sun for future use. There was a sack filled with this dried fat, and ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal grabbed it, put it on his shoulder, and started walking with it towards his company, to feed on it; they must have been quite hungry, and without sufficient food. Now, the man responsible for dividing the booty saw ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal walking away with the sack. So he walked up to him, took hold of the sack at one end, and tried to pull it away, saying: give it to me, so that it can be divided among the Muslims — according to the rules and regulations for dividing the booty. ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal refused, so they were pulling: ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal pulling at one end, and this other Companion pulling at the other end, and arguing between them. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saw this and smiled, and then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told the man responsible for the ghanīmah: just let him go; leave it; let him take it; just let him have it. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was laughing at ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal. ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal said: I was quite embarrassed by that — having this incident happen in front of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was quite embarrassing — but I took it away to my companions, and we ate it all.

The scholars derive from this the ruling that one is allowed to eat food from the ghanīmah on the spot, but not to take anything away. Gold, silver, weapons, clothes and all the other valuables need to be put in with the ghanīmah, and they need to be divided, and the punishment for taking from the ghanīmah is very severe. However, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) allowed ʿAbdullāh ibn Mughaffal to have this because, as the scholars have derived the ruling, food is an exception: one is allowed to eat, but not to take anything away. All you can eat, just like a buffet — all you can eat, but you are not allowed to take anything out of the restaurant.