ভূমিকা

Say: ‘Anfal’, belong to Allah and the Messenger; so be in awe of Allah, and set aright the relations between yourselves, and obey Allah and His Messenger if you do believe’.”*** The Arabic word /su’ al (question) and its derivations have been mentioned about 130 times in the Qur'an, where the Arabic phrase /yas' alunaka/ (they ask you) is found in its 15 occurrences. The Arabic term /' anfal/ is the plural form of /nafl/ with the sense of ‘excessive’ and ‘remission’.

A gracious man who remits very much is called in Arabic /nufil/.The progeny which was remitted to Abraham (as) has been counted as a superervogation. The Qur'an says: “And We gave him Isac, and Jacob, as a further gift…” (Surah Al-‘Anbiya, No. 21, verse 72).

In technical terminology of the Islamic jurisprudence, the meaning of the Arabic word ‘anfal’ encompasses: natural resources’ public wealth, the spoils of war, the wealth whose owner is unknown, like a land whose owner has left it out, the properties of the heirless dead, forests, valleys, reed-beds, unprofitable lands, mines, and so on. According to what the history denotes, when the Battle of Badr was ended, there remained some spoils of war for the Muslims.

The opinions were divided that what should be done with the spoils, to whom they belonged, and who were the first that had precedence. Then, the Prophet of Allah (S) himself began dividing the spoils of the war. He gave them to all concerning persons justly and equally in order to remove the undue discriminations of the Age of Ignorance, and to support the oppressed, though some individuals were annoyed of that equality.

Since the Surah is wholly about the Battle of Badr, this verse refers to the spoils of war, too, but it does not exclusively belong to it.[^1] Explanations 1- Public wealth should be in the authority of the most sacred and the most beloved persons. “They ask you about ‘Anfal’.