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wa-mā ʾafāʾa llāhu ʿalā rasūlihī minhum fa-mā ʾawjaftum ʿalayhi min khaylin wa-lā rikābin wa-lākinna llāha yusalliṭu rusulahū ʿalā man yashāʾu wa-llāhu ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīrun
The spoils that Allah gave to His Apostle from them, you did not spur any horse for its sake, nor any riding camel, but Allah makes His apostles prevail over whomever He wishes, and Allah has power over all things.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Hashr - Verse 6
The Arabic word afa’ derives from f-a-’ ("return") and is cognate with fay’ ("return") but it connotes the property and booties seized without bloodshed and expedition and put at the disposal of the leader of the Muslim community. The sense "return" may allude that such property returns or is restored to the original possessor, namely friends of God Almighty, since God Almighty has created all the Bounties in this world for believers preceded by His Messengers and although others own them by religious or civil law, but they originally belong to these noble figures.
The Arabic verbal form awjaftum denotes galloping on horse or camel back. The Arabic words khayl and rikab denote "horse" and "camel" respectively. The property falling into the share of Muslims fall into the following categories: booties falling into the hand of Muslims in battlefields which belong to warriors; the property fallen into the share of Muslims without engagement termed fay’ whose law is stipulated in the blessed Verse in question; the property, e.g. uncultivated lands, mountains, reed beds, and rivers, which as per the blessed Verse falls without engagement into the disposal of the Noble Prophet (S) rather than warriors and such property will be distributed upon the Noble Prophet's discretion amongst certain groups of people.
Islamic injunctions are based on wisdom according to which warriors the booties in battlefields but what is accrued without toil belongs to the Divinely appointed guide. It is in this vein that the blessed Verse is saying that what God Almighty returned to His Messenger had not been fallen into the share of warriors through galloping on horse and camel back;
Such property is to be totally falls into the disposal of the head of the Muslim community which will be distributed amongst Muslims based on Divine Injunctions and his discretion. The blessed Verse closes by saying that triumphs are not always owing to the battles fought by Muslims, but God Almighty makes His Messengers conquer whoever He wills;
In other words, conquering powerful enemies like Banu Nadhir Jews were owing to Assistance from the Unseen such that Muslims may know that God Almighty is Omnipotent since He may disgrace and humiliate a powerful people and make them be conquered by a limited number of people and transfer all the opportunities from one group to another. Thus, Muslims may learn Divine Admonitions in such battlefields as well as notice the tokens of veracity of the Noble Prophet's (S) Call, and devotion to and reliance on the Pure Essence of God Almighty in the course of their life.