104 chapter three
met” (Qur"àn 8:41). In this distribution, the warrior would keep four
fifths of what he gained in the battle and pay the Prophet, or the
state, one fifth which would be distributed among Muslims as above.
As for the Fai"and Anfàl, the distribution has also been ordained in
the Qur"àn (8:1, 59:6–8), as mentioned previously with no need for
repetition (see state finance in the previous chapter).
Muslim warriors, therefore, demanded the implementation of the
Qur"ànic rules regarding the distribution of conquered Iraqi and
Syrian land. They claimed the right to four fifths of the spoils, includ-
ing land, with one fifth to be paid to the state—the Ghanìmahdis-
tribution. Umar disagreed. He differentiated between two types of
spoils: mobile and immobile. For mobile spoils the Qur"ànic rules
were to be applied; one fifth to the state and the rest to the war-
rior. But for immobile spoils, particularly those of land, they were
to become the property of the state. With the right of ownership
resting with the state, the land would remain in the hands of the
original holders who would utilise them and be liable for the pay-
ment of land tax, “Kharàj”. Caliph Umar’s council was divided.
Some found merit in what the caliph suggested but others viewed
the proposal as violating the Qur"ànic rules. The opposing members
of the council insisted that Muslim soldiers in Syria and Iraq should
have the right to their specified shares of all spoils, including land,
as specified in the Qur"àn. Their argument carried conviction. The
issue was concluded when ten noble members of the Supporters,
Ansàrs,five from each of the two main tribes, were invited to the
debate by Umar to discuss the views of each party and Caliph Umar
put his points of view as follows (Abù-Yusuf ):
Firstly, economic reasons
(1) Assigning the conquered land to Muslim soldiers might turn
Islamic society into a feudalistic society, which Umar opposed strongly.
He might seem to have diverted in this issue from the practice of
the Prophet who distributed some conquered lands (for example those
of Khayber) to Muslims during his life. But the land distributed by
the Prophet was very small and not comparable to that of the new
conquests.
Even further, a story is told that when a Muslim purchased a
piece of land on the bank of Euphrates, Umar ordered him to return
it to its previous holder and to get his money back: “these are the
owners of the land (pointing to Muslims), did you ask them if you