Usamah bin Zaid related that they received the news of the manifest victory shortly after Ruqaiyah,  the
Prophet ’s daughter, and the wife of ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan had been committed to earth. She had been  terminally ill and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) had asked ‘Uthman to stay in Madinah and look  after  her.
Before leaving the scene of the battle, dispute concerning the spoils of war arose among the Muslim  warriors, as the rule relating to their distribution had not yet been legislated. When the difference  grew  wider, the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) suspended any solution whereof until the
Revelation  was sent down.
‘Ubadah bin As-Samit said: “We went out with the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) and I  witnessed Badr with him. The battle started and Allâh, the Exalted, defeated the enemy. Some of the
Muslims sought and pursued the enemy, some were intent on collecting the spoils from the enemy  camp, and others were guarding the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) and were on the alert for  any emergency or surprise attack. When night came and the Muslims gathered together, those who  had  collected the booty said: “We collected it, so no one else has any right to it.” Those who had pursued  the enemy said: “You do not have more right to it than we do; we held the enemy at bay and then  defeated them.” As for the men who had been guarding the Prophet (Peace be upon him), they also  made similar claims to the spoils.
At that very time, a Qur’ânic verse was revealed saying:
“They ask you O Muhammad (Peace be upon him) about the spoils of war. Say: ‘The spoils are  for Allâh and the Messenger.’ So fear Allâh and adjust all matters of difference among you, and  obey Allâh and His Messenger Muhammad (Peace be upon him) , if you are believers.” 8:1
On their way back to Madinah, at a large sand hill, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) divided the spoils  equally among the fighters after he had taken Al-Khums (one-fifth). When they reached As-Safra’, he  ordered that two of the prisoners should be killed. They were An-Nadr bin Al-Harith and ‘Uqbah bin Abi
Muait, because they had persecuted the Muslims in Makkah, and harboured deep hatred towards Allâh  and His Messenger (Peace be upon him). In a nutshell, they were criminals of war in modern  terminology, and their execution was an awesome lesson to oppressors. ‘Uqbah forgot his pride and  cried out, “Who will look after my children O Messenger of Allâh?” The Prophet (Peace be upon him)  answered, “The fire (of Hell). ” Did ‘Uqbah not remember the day when he had thrown the entrails of  a  sheep onto the head of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) while he was prostrating himself in prayer,  and Fatimah had come and washed it off him? He had also strangled the Prophet (Peace be upon him)  with his cloak if it had not been for Abu Bakr to intervene and release the Prophet (Peace be upon  him).
The heads of both criminals were struck off by ‘Ali bin Abi Talib.
At Ar-Rawhâ’, a suburb of Madinah, the Muslim army was received by the joyous Madinese who had  come to congratulate the Prophet (Peace be upon him) on the manifest victory that Allâh had granted  him. Usaid bin Hudair, acting as a mouthpiece of the other true believers, after entertaining Allâh’s  praise, he excused himself for not having joined them on grounds that the Prophet ’s intention was  presumably, an errand aiming to intercept a caravan of camels only, he added that if it had occurred  to  him that it would be real war, he would have never tarried. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) assured
Usaid that he had believed him.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) now entered Madinah as a man to be counted for in a new  dimension
— the military field. In consequence, a large number of the people of Madinah embraced Islam, which  added a lot to the strength, power and moral standing of the true religion.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) exhorted the Muslims to treat the prisoners so well to such an  extent  that the captors used to give the captives their bread (the more valued part of the meal) and keep the  dates for themselves.
Prisoners of war constituted a problem awaiting resolution because it was a new phenomenon in the  history of Islam. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) consulted Abu Bakr and ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab as to  what he should do with the prisoners. Abu Bakr suggested that he should ransom them, explaining