3068 - Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Mahrī narrated to us: Ibn Wahb informed us: Sabrah ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Juhanī narrated to me, from his father, from his grandfather:

That the Prophet ﷺ alighted at the site of the mosque beneath a lotus tree, and stayed there for three days. Then he set out for Tabūk, and the Juhaynah tribe caught up with him at al-Raḥbah. He said...

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= Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī in *Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah*. Also Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Asadī according to al-Ṭabarānī (7280), and Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ according to Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī in *Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah* — all four of them, from Abān, from ʿUthmān ibn Abī Ḥāzim, from Ṣakhr. And Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan, in his narration, paired with ʿUthmān, Kathīr ibn Abī Ḥāzim. We have not found a biographical entry for this Kathīr in the sources available to us.

Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī also narrated it, from Abān, from Ṣakhr and Maʿmar and several others, from Abū Ḥāzim, from his father Ṣakhr. Ibn Qāniʿ likewise transmitted it in *Muʿjam al-Ṣaḥābah* 2/20–21. Thus it appears in the printed edition of *Muʿjam al-Ṣaḥābah*, and al-Baghawī said likewise, as Ibn Ḥajar reported from him in *al-Iṣābah* 3/416. However, al-Mizzī said in *Tuḥfat al-Ashrāf* (4851): Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī narrated it from Abān, from Ṣakhr, and Maʿmar and several others narrated it from Abān, from ʿUthmān ibn Abī Ḥāzim, from Ṣakhr ibn al-ʿAylah — thus making it a separate, disconnected chain!

See also *Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah* by Abū Nuʿaym al-Aṣbahānī, *Tuḥfat al-Ashrāf* by al-Mizzī 4/160, *al-Iṣābah* by Ibn Ḥajar 3/416, and *Usd al-Ghābah* by Ibn al-Athīr 3/12–13.

Al-Khaṭṭābī said: It is likely that his command to him to return the water to them was only by way of seeking to put his own heart at ease regarding it, and for that reason the trace of shyness appeared on his face. The underlying principle is that when a disbeliever flees from his property, it becomes spoils of war (fayʾ). Once it becomes fayʾ and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has taken possession of it and then given it to Ṣakhr, his ownership of it does not transfer back to them by virtue of their subsequent conversion to Islam. Rather, he sought to put Ṣakhr's heart at ease about it, then returned it to them as a gesture of reconciliation (taʾalluf) toward them for Islam and as an encouragement to them in the religion. And Allah knows best. As for the return of the woman, it is possible that it was on this same basis, just as he did with the captives of Hawāzin after seeking to put the hearts of the warriors at ease about them. It is also possible that the matter concerning her was different, because the people had surrendered on the basis of the judgment of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so the captives, lives, and property were held in abeyance pending whatever Allah would show him regarding them. He ﷺ then saw fit that the woman be returned and not taken captive.