The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 63
II - Brief Note on Islāmic Equality 63 “The Holy Prophet sa dispatched a party of companions towards the coast of the sea, and appointed his beloved companion, Abū ‘Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrāḥ ra as the leader of this Sariyyah. This party was composed of 300 companions. The narrator states that we left for this expedition, but since we lost our way, our food supply began to fall short en-route. Upon this, Abū ‘Ubaidah ordered that all the people gather their individual supplies of food. All of this food equalled two containers. After this, Abū ‘Ubaidah would have small portions of food distributed to us from this supply, until this supply became so little that ultimately our daily ration reached a mere one date per person. ” 1 From this narration the fundamental principle derived is that in extreme circumstances individual food supplies may be transferred to the national storehouse. Similarly, there is another narration: ْ قَال َ النَّبِی ُّ صَلَّی اللّٰه ُ عَلَیْه ِ وَسَلَّم َ اَن َّ الْاَشْعَرِیِّیْن َ اِذَا اَرْمَلُوْا فِی الْغَزْو ِ اَو ْ قَل َّ طَعَام ُ عِیَالِھِم ٍ بِالْمَدِیْنَة ِ جَمَعُوْا مَا كَان َ عِنْدَھُم ْ فِی ْ ثَوْب ٍ وَاحِد ٍ ثُم َّ اقْتَسَمُوه ُ بَیْنَھُم ْ فِی ْ اِنَاء ٍ وَاحِد ْ بِالسَّوِیَّة ِ فَھُم ْ مِنِّی ْ وَاَنَا مِنْھُم “The Holy Prophet sa used to say, ‘It is the way of the Ash‘ar tribe that when they are faced with a food shortage on journey, or the food supply of their family and children becomes short at home, in such a case, they gather the food supply of all the people to one place. Then they equally distribute this food supply amongst all the people according to an equal measure. It is these people who possess a true relationship with me and I have a true relationship with them. ” 2 The lofty and magnificent spirit which these words express need no explanation. It is unfortunate, however, that the world has not given due regard to this magnificent benefactor of the people. In summary, with relevance to the distribution of wealth, Islām has accepted four basic principles: 1 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābul-Maghāzī, Bābu Ghazwati Saifil-Baḥri. . . , Ḥadīth No. 4360 2 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābush-Shirkati Fiṭ-Ṭa‘āmi Wan-Nahdi. . . , Ḥadīth No. 2486