As soon as the victory was won, the division of the booty was near to causing serious quarrels among the Faithful. Each man desired to keep to himself all he had plundered. Those who had fought without thinking of stripping the dead, put in a claim, saying to their comrades who wanted to keep that which they had taken: 'Had it not been for us, ye would have been unable to seize any booty at all.' Finally, the men of the rear-guard also complained: 'If we had not considered the Prophet's safety above all things, we should have fought with you and pillaged as ye did.' The debate seemed to be turning out badly when a Revelation put an end to the dispute: "They will question Thee about the spoils. Say: The spoils are Allah's and The Apostle's." (The Qur'an, viii, 1.)
Back again in Al-Madinah, Mohammad divided the booty with the most scrupulous fairness, and gave out that not only the rearguard should receive their share, but also a few of the Faithful who had remained in the city to uphold the cause of Islam during the absence of their chief.
Thus did Mohammad succeed in contenting everybody. So far as he was concerned, he only took the same share as a common soldier; but it was settled that in future the fifth part of the booty "should belong to Allah and to the Apostle and to the near of kin and to orphans, and to the poor and to the wayfarer." (The Qur'an, viii, 42.)
The Makkans were joyfully celebrating the return of the great caravan that had caused them such immense anxiety, when the remains of the routed army began to straggle back.
At first, the citizens refused to believe such dire disaster, so great had been their confidence in the superiority of the numbers and equipment of their soldiers. The fugitives were considered to be cowards deserting before the battle had begun.
But when doubt was no longer possible, profound consternation overtook Allah's enemies. The fury of Abu Lahab, the real organiser of the expedition, was inconceivable. In his presence, one of the fugitives told of the miracles he had witnessed and which, in his opinion, were an excuse for the defeat. 'The Mussulmans, assuredly, were granted supernatural succour, for I saw, with my own eyes, in the whirling tempest, many warriors gifted with superhuman strength, wearing white tunics, mounted on dapple-grey horses, and fighting side by side with our enemies.'—'By Allah! verily, they were angels!' exclaimed one of those present, Abu Rafiah, a servant of Abbas, Mohammad's uncle.
Abu Lahab, enraged at the impression of terror produced by this story and the remarks that had followed, hurled himself on Abu-Rafiah, threw him down and beat him unmercifully in the most savage fashion. 'Art thou not ashamed thus to profit by the master's absence to strike his serving-man?' the wife of Abbas, revolted at the sight, shouted to Abu Lahab. Catching up a spear, she struck him in the face with it, and drew blood. The punishment was so well deserved that no one protested. Abu Lahab, humiliated in the eyes of all, hastened to hide his shame and rage in the most secluded part of his dwelling. Not being in the best of health just then, he could not master the exasperation he felt. His blood was turned; the whole of his body broke out in reddish pustules, known as "adsah", and he was carried off in less than a week.
As for Abu Sufyan and his wife, Hind, in despair at the death of their son, Hanzalah, and debased by the defeat, they showed themselves conspicuously as being athirst for vengeance. Abu Sufyan exercised his authority by prohibiting all show of grief. 'Weep not for your dead,' he proclaimed. 'Do not give way to the usual funereal lamentations. Let poets be careful not to compose elegies. O Makkans! avoid causing the joy of our foes by the sight of your sadness. Let only one thought absorb your minds—that of vengeance!'
He took a solemn oath to abstain from going near his wife or making use of his perfumes until the day when striking revenge should bring balm to his heart.
The effect of the Prophet's victory spread far and wide among all the tribes of Arabia. The tidings crossed the seas; the Prophet having despatched an emissary to the Najashi of Abyssinia, to announce the result of the battle and to inform all the Believers, who had taken refuge at this monarch's court, that they would be in safety behind the walls of Al-Madinah, at Mohammad's side.