A Response to the Claim That Prophet Muhammad Wrote the Spoils Verses to Become Rich

Prophet Muhammad, by virtue of his marriage to Khadija, was already a very rich and powerful man. Why would someone whose aim is wealth make acts of worship such as ”infaq, zakat, sadaqah” a condition? You may say he could gather more followers by appearing charitable. Then why, according to Surah Al-Baqarah verse 219, would he say give as infaq all that is left over from need? Why would he say do not pile up and hoard property? In this commanded system, property is spent in the way of Allah. It is said that it should be given to the orphan, the poor, the stranded traveller, the near and distant neighbour, and relatives. What is Prophet Muhammad’s interest here? Whereas these verses weigh heavily on the ego of many people. And those who avoid doing this may draw away from him and he may lose power in this sense.

In one verse it says the spoils are Allah’s and His resul’s. Let us go into a little detail… Nebi means prophet and is the person who receives the Book. Resul, on the other hand, is his identity, with the title of Nebi, at the moment he conveys that Book to people. At moments when he is not performing the duty of conveying, he is not resul but Nebi. Therefore, it is not said in the verse that what is referred to as spoils belongs to the Nebi who is a human being. If you examine the verses in which Allah and His resul occur together, taking these definitions into account, it is understood very clearly that, through the attribute of the one who conveys, obedience, spoils… belong to Allah. So what would Allah do with spoils? What is meant here is that the owner of property is Allah, Allahu alem. It is Allah who created all spoils on earth and in heaven. And in any case, all of the surplus beyond need of the wealth that belongs to Allah and that He gives to His servants must be distributed in the way Allah has made known. Even if there had been a share for the prophet in his identity as Nebi and not as resul, he could not have kept this property in his hands anyway, as the ruling of the verses requires…