What is the legal status of a Muslim's property seized by non-Muslims and recovered after the division of spoils?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Jihad
Primary text
If the property is recovered after it has been distributed among the army, there are two established positions. The first is that the owner has the right to reclaim it by paying the price assigned to it during the division, which is the position of Abu Hanifa, Al-Thawri, Al-Awza'i, and Malik. This is supported by the Hadith concerning a man who found his camel after it was distributed, being told to take it by paying its value. The rationale is to prevent the owner from being deprived of his property or the buyer from losing the price paid. The second established position, held by 'Umar, 'Ali, Salman bin Rabi'ah, 'Ata, Al-Nakha'i, and Al-Layth, is that the owner has no right to it whatsoever once it has been divided. This view relies upon a narration from Ibn 'Umar stating the Prophet, peace be upon him, said that if property is found after division, the owner has no claim upon it.
Supporting text
Al-Shafi'i holds that the owner retains the right to reclaim the property both before and after division, requiring that the buyer be compensated for his price from the general public treasury (*al-masalih*) because the property never truly left the owner's domain. The position that the owner has no right after division is asserted by Ahmad, who rejects the third possibility (reclaiming it by paying value) as an invalid innovation that contradicts established scholarly consensus on the two main possibilities.