When God’s Messenger divided the portion of the relatives among the B. Hashim and the B. al-Muttalib, ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan and I came to him and said, "Messenger of God, these are our brethren of the B. Hashim whose superiority we do not deny because of the position in which God has placed you in relation to them, but tell us about our brethren of the B. al-Muttalib to whom you have given something while omitting us though our relationship is the same as theirs."* God’s Messenger replied, "The B. Hashim and the B. al- Muttalib are one body like this," and he intertwined his fingers.
* Cf. Chapter 8a
Shafi'i transmitted it, and there is something to the same effect in the version of Abu Dawud and Nasa'i. It says, "I and the B. al-Muttalib have not been separate in the pre-Islamic or in the Islamic period and they and we are one," intertwining his fingers.
God’s Messenger led us in prayer facing a camel which had been taken in booty, and when he had given the salutation he took a hair from the camel’s side and said, "I have no right to as much as this of your booty, but only to the fifth, and the fifth is returned to you."
When I stood in the rank at the battle of Badr I looked to my right and my left, and when I saw that I was between two young men of the Ansar I wished that I had been between men who were stronger than they. One of them pinched me and said, "Do you know Abu Jahl, uncle?" and I replied, "Yes, but what do you want with him, nephew?” He said, “I have been told that he reviles God's Messenger. By Him in whose hand my soul is, if I see him I shall not leave him till the one of us who is to die first dies.” I was astonished at that, and then the other pinched me and said the same to me. Before long I saw Abu Jahl going round among the people and I said, “Look, this is the man about whom you were asking.” They then hastened to him with their swords and struck him till they killed him, after which they went to God’s Messenger and informed him. He asked which of them had killed him and they both claimed to have done so. He then asked if they had wiped their swords, and when they replied that they had not he looked at the swords and said, “Both of you killed him.” God’s Messenger then decided that what was taken from him should go to Mu'adh b. ‘Amr b. al-Jamuh. The two men were Mu'adh b. ‘Amr b. al-Jamah and Mu'adh b. ‘Afra’.*
‘Amr b. Shu'aib, on his father’s authority, said his grandfather told that, the Prophet approached a camel, and taking a hair from its hump said, “O people, I get nothing of this booty, not even this (meanwhile raising his finger), but the fifth, and the fifth is returned to you, so hand over threads and needles." A man got up with a ball of hair in his hand and said, “I took this to repair the cloth under a pack-saddle." The Prophet replied, “You can have what belongs to me and to the B. ‘Abd al-Muttalib," but the man said, "If it produces the result I now realise,* I have no desire for it," and he threw it away.
