The Messenger of Allah ﷺ conquered Khaybar on the condition that the land would belong to him, along with everything yellow and white. The people of Khaybar said, "We know the land better than you, so leave it to us in exchange for half of the produce, with the other half for you." He granted them this arrangement.When the time came to harvest the date palms, he sent Abdullah bin Rawaha to them, who estimated the yield of the palms. This is what the people of Madinah call kharṣ.He said, "On this tree there is such and such."They said, "You have estimated too much against us, Ibn Rawaha!"He replied, "Then I will take charge of estimating the palms myself, and I will give you half of what I said."They said, "This is justice, and by it the heavens and the earth stand firm. We are content to take it according to what you said."
افتتح رسول الله ﷺ خيبر واشترط أن له الأرض وكل صفراء وبيضاء. قال أهل خيبر: نحن أعلم بالأرض منكم فأعطناها على أن لكم نصف الثمرة ولنا نصف، فزعم أنه أعطاهم على ذلك فلما كان حين يصرم النخل بعث إليهم عبد الله ابن رواحة فحزر عليهم النخل- وهو الذي يسميه أهل المدينة الخرص- فقال: في ذه كذا وكذا قالوا: أكثرت علينا يا ابن رواحة! فقال: فأنا ألي حزر النخل وأعطيكم نصف الذي قلت. قالوا: هذا الحق وبه تقوم السماء والأرض قد رضينا أن نأخذه بالذي قلت.
Abu Dawud (3410) and Ibn Majah (1820) both narrated it from the hadith of Umar bin Ayub, from Jafar bin Barqan, from Maymun bin Mihran, from Miqsam, from Ibn Abbas, and he related it.Its chain is hasan on account of Umar bin Ayub Abdi Mawsili, who is "truthful but has misgivings," and his teacher Jafar bin Barqan Abu Abdullah Raqqi, who is "truthful but errs in the hadith of Zuhri." Ibn Main and Ibn Saad both affirmed his reliability, while Nasai criticized him.As for "kharṣ" (estimation), it comes from the verb kharasa yakhrisu, following the pattern of nasara yansuru, and it means to estimate a palm tree, that is, to gauge how much fresh dates it will yield once dried, so that the amount to be taken from it at harvest time, whether for the tithe or otherwise, may be known.