The spoils of war were not made lawful for any people before us, then Allah made the spoils of war lawful for us when He saw our weakness and helplessness, so He made them lawful for us

Explanation

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) recounts the story of one of the prophets (peace be upon them) who set forth to fight a people against whom he was commanded to make Jihad. However, that prophet forbade from marching with him anyone who had married a woman but had not yet consummated his marriage with her or who had built a house but had not yet raised its roof or who had purchased sheep or pregnant she-camels and was waiting for them to give birth. That is because those people would be preoccupied with those concerns: the married man is preoccupied with his bride whom he has not yet consummated his marriage with and he longs for her. Likewise, the one who built a house and has not yet raised its roof is preoccupied with his house that he wishes to live in with his family. Also, the owner of pregnant she-camels and sheep is preoccupied with them and is waiting for them to give birth. Performing Jihad requires that the person be completely unoccupied, having no concern except fighting in the cause of Allah. Then, this prophet set out for battle, approaching his destination after midday with the night approaching. So, he feared that if darkness fell, he would not be able to achieve victory. He addressed the sun, saying: "You are subservient to Allah and so am I." But the sun's command is a universal command, while his command is a legislative one. He is commanded to fight in the cause of Allah, and the sun is commanded to move as Allah, the Exalted, has commanded it; Allah says: {And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term. That is the decree of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing} [Sūrat Yāsīn: 38]. Ever since Allah created the sun, it has been moving as it was commanded, neither advancing nor delaying nor changing its altitude. The prophet said: "O Allah, hold it back (from setting) for us." So Allah held the sun back and it did not disappear at its normal time until that prophet conquered the village and gained many spoils of war. In previous nations, the spoils of war were not lawful for the army; rather, the lawfulness of spoils is one of the distinct characteristics of this (Muslim) nation, and all praise is due to Allah. As for the previous nations, they used to gather all the spoils, and if Allah accepted them, a fire would come down from the sky and devour them. Hence, the spoils were gathered, but the fire did not descend upon them or devour them. This prophet then said: "There is some misappropriation of the spoils." Then he commanded that each tribe present one person to pledge allegiance to him, proving that his tribe had not been dishonest with regard to the booty. When they gave him their pledge of allegiance, the hand of one of them stuck to the prophet's hand. Thereupon, he said: "Your tribe is the source of misappropriation." Then he commanded that each person from that tribe pledge allegiance individually, and the hands of two or three men stuck to his, whereupon he said: "You are the misappropriators." Then they brought it out, and they had hidden an amount of gold as big as the size of a bull's head. When the gold was brought and placed with the spoils, the fire devoured them.

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