86 chapter two
- As the spoils were gained in a Holy war,jihàd, which was ordained
by God, determined by Him and conducted by His Messenger it
was conceivable that God and His Messenger be assigned a share
of the spoils; God’s share to be spent on social welfare purposes
and the Prophet’s share to be spent on himself and his kinsfolk. - The orphans had and deserved a special mention in the distrib-
ution of Fai", which was not the case in the Zakàh distribution.
This was necessary because of the inevitable consequences of war
on the loss of human life and the associated consequences for the
orphans left behind. There would inevitably be an increase in the
number of orphans in the community.
By implication, if the state still required funds to finance needs other
than those mentioned in the Fai"verses it would have to seek other
alternative sources.
The source, which was denoted to the state during the Prophet’s
time by the force of the Revelation, continued to be a source of
revenue to the state during the Rightly Guided Caliphate and the
dynastic caliphate. But that continued only when the state remained
strong and able to conduct military expeditions.
One-fifth of the Ghanìmah, spoils of war
Ghanìmah, technically differentiated from Fai", was the spoils of war
that were gained during actual combat in military operations. By
contrast to Fai", warriors were entitled to the spoils of war, Ghanìmah,
as they used their skills and effort, and they risked their lives in com-
bat. However, the state was entitled to a share which was prescribed
in the Qur"àn as one-fifth, which could be viewed as tax, “Know
that to God, His Messenger shall belong one-fifth of your spoils”,
(Qur"àn 8:41). Furthermore, the verse specifies how the state share,
or the revenue from this tax, should be spent, “Know that to God,
His Messenger, the Messenger’s kinsfolk, the orphans, the needy, and
the wayfarers, shall belong one-fifth of your spoils: if you truly believe
in God and what We revealed to our servant on the day of victory,
the day when the two armies met”, (Qur"àn 8:41). The revenue
should therefore be spent in this particular manner as specified in
the verse. Notably, apart from specifying the share of the Emigrants
in the Fai", the way the revenue from the one-fifth of the Ghanìmah
and the revenue from the Fai"are spent is exactly the same. On the
other hand the comparison between the distribution of the Zakàh