Judgments (Ahkaam)

Abū Mūsā reported that a man became Muslim and then became a Jew. Muʿādh ibn Jabal came while Abū Mūsā was there and asked, “What is this?” He was told, “He became Muslim and then became a Jew.” Muʿādh said, “I will not sit down until I kill him—the judgment of God and His Messenger.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakra said: Abū Bakra wrote to his son, who was in Sijistān, instructing him not to judge between two people while angry. He said, “I heard the Prophet say, ‘No judge should ever judge between two people while angry.’”

Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī said: A man came to the Messenger of God and said, “Messenger of God, by God, I am late for the dawn prayer because so-and-so makes it too long for us.” Abū Masʿūd said: I never saw the Prophet more angry in an admonition than he was that day. He said, “People, some of you drive others away. Whoever among you leads the people in prayer should make it brief, for among them are the elderly, the weak, and those with needs.”

Sālim reported that ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar told him that he had divorced his wife while she was menstruating. ʿUmar mentioned this to the Prophet, and the Messenger of God became angry about it. He said, “He should take her back and keep her until she becomes pure; then she menstruates and becomes pure again. If he then wishes to divorce her, let him divorce her.”

ʿĀʾisha reported that Hind bint ʿUtba ibn Rabīʿa came and said, “Messenger of God, by God, there was no household on the face of the earth whose humiliation I wanted more than that of your household. Today, there is no household on the face of the earth whose honor I want more than that of your household.”

Then she said, “Abū Sufyān is a miser. Would I be at fault if I fed our dependents from what belongs to him?” He said, “You are not at fault if you feed them in a reasonable manner.”

Anas ibn Mālik said: When the Prophet wished to write to the Romans, he was told, “They read only letters that are sealed.” So the Prophet made a silver signet ring. It is as if I can see its gleam. Its inscription was: “Muḥammad, Messenger of God.”

Al-Sāʾib ibn Yazīd, the son of Namir’s sister, reported that Ḥuwayṭib ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā told him that ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Saʿdī had told him: He came to ʿUmar during his caliphate. ʿUmar said to him, “Have I not been told that you take on some public duties, but dislike being given the payment for them?” I said, “Yes.” He asked, “Then what do you want?” I said, “I have horses and slaves and am well off. I want my payment to be charity for the Muslims.”

ʿUmar said, “Do not do that. I once wanted what you want. The Messenger of God would give me a grant, and I would say, ‘Give it to someone poorer than me.’ Then one time he gave me money, and I said, ‘Give it to someone poorer than me.’ The Prophet said, ‘Take it, make it your own, and give charity from it. Whatever of this wealth comes to you while you are neither coveting it nor asking for it, take it; otherwise, do not let your soul pursue it.’”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar reported that he heard ʿUmar say: The Prophet would give me a grant, and I would say, “Give it to someone poorer than me.” Then one time he gave me money, and I said, “Give it to someone poorer than me.” The Prophet said, “Take it, make it your own, and give charity from it. Whatever of this wealth comes to you while you are not coveting it or asking for it, take it; but whatever does not come to you in that way, do not let your soul pursue it.”

Sahl ibn Saʿd said: “I witnessed the two who invoked mutual curses, when I was fifteen years old, being separated from one another.”

Sahl, a man of Banū Sāʿida, reported that a man from the Anṣār came to the Prophet and said, “What do you think of a man who finds another man with his wife? Should he kill him?” They then performed mutual imprecation in the mosque, and I was present.

Abū Hurayra said: A man came to the Messenger of God while he was in the mosque, called out to him, and said, “Messenger of God, I have committed adultery.” He turned away from him. When the man had testified against himself four times, the Prophet said, “Are you insane?” He said, “No.” The Prophet said, “Take him and stone him.”

Ibn Shihāb said: Someone who heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh told me that he said, “I was among those who stoned him at the prayer ground.” Yūnus, Maʿmar, and Ibn Jurayj transmitted it from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salama, from Jābir, from the Prophet, concerning stoning.

Umm Salama reported that the Messenger of God said: “I am only a human being, and you bring your disputes to me. Perhaps some of you are more persuasive in presenting their case than others, so I may rule in their favor according to what I hear. If I rule in someone’s favor regarding a right that belongs to his brother, let him not take it, for I am only cutting off for him a piece of Fire.”

Abū Qatāda said: On the day of Ḥunayn, the Messenger of God said, “Whoever has evidence that he killed a man has the right to that man’s spoils.” I stood up to seek evidence concerning a man I had killed, but I saw no one who could testify for me, so I sat down. Then I thought of something and brought the matter to the Messenger of God. One of the men sitting with him said, “The weapon of the man he is describing is with me.” He said, “Satisfy him with it.” Abū Bakr said, “No! Would you give it to a weakling from Quraysh and leave a lion among the lions of God, fighting for God and His Messenger?” The Messenger of God then ordered that it be handed over to me. I bought sheep with it, and that was the first wealth I accumulated.

ʿAbd Allāh reported from al-Layth: The Prophet stood up and handed it over to me.

The people of the Ḥijāz said: A judge does not rule on the basis of his own knowledge, whether he witnessed something during his term of office or before it. According to some of them, if a litigant admits in court that another person has a right against him, the judge does not rule against him until he calls two witnesses to hear the admission. Some people of Iraq said: Whatever the judge hears or sees in court, he may rule on; what occurs outside court, he may rule on only with two witnesses. Others among them said: Rather, he may rule on it, because he is entrusted with the task, and the purpose of testimony is to know the truth—his own knowledge is greater than testimony from others. Some said that he may rule on the basis of his own knowledge in matters of property, but not in other matters.

Al-Qāsim said: A judge should not enforce a ruling on the basis of his own knowledge without other people’s knowledge, even though his knowledge is greater than another person’s testimony. That would expose him to suspicion among the Muslims and cause them to entertain doubts. The Prophet disliked suspicion and said, “This is Ṣafiyya.”

ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn reported that Ṣafiyya bint Ḥuyayy came to the Prophet. When she left, he set out with her. Two men from the Anṣār passed by, so he called them and said, “This is Ṣafiyya.” They said, “Glory be to God!” He said, “Satan flows through the human being as blood flows.”

Shuʿayb, Ibn Musāfir, Ibn Abī ʿAtīq, and Isḥāq ibn Yaḥyā transmitted it from al-Zuhrī, from ʿAlī—meaning ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn—from Ṣafiyya, from the Prophet.

Abū Mūsā reported that the Prophet sent him and Muʿādh ibn Jabal to Yemen and said, “Make things easy, do not make them difficult; give glad tidings, do not drive people away; and cooperate.”

Abū Mūsā said to him, “In our land, bitʿ is made.” The Prophet said, “Every intoxicant is forbidden.”

Al-Naḍr, Abū Dāwūd, Yazīd ibn Hārūn, and Wakīʿ transmitted it from Shuʿba, from Saʿīd, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet.

Abū Mūsā reported that the Prophet said: “Free the captive and accept the invitation.”

Abū Ḥumayd al-Sāʿidī said: The Prophet appointed a man from Banū Asad, called Ibn al-Utbiyya, to collect alms. When he returned, he said, “This is for you, and this was given to me as a gift.” The Prophet stood on the pulpit—Sufyān also said that he ascended the pulpit—praised God, and said:

“What is the matter with a collector whom we send out, who returns and says, ‘This is for you, and this is for me’? Why did he not sit in his father’s and mother’s house and see whether he would be given a gift or not? By the One in whose hand is my soul, he will bring whatever he took on the Day of Resurrection, carrying it on his neck: if it is a camel, it will grunt; if a cow, it will low; and if a sheep, it will bleat.”

Then he raised his hands until we saw the whiteness of his armpits and said three times, “Have I conveyed the message?”

Sufyān said: Al-Zuhrī related it to us. Hishām added, from his father, from Abū Ḥumayd: “My ears heard it and my eyes saw it. Ask Zayd ibn Thābit, for he heard it with me.” Al-Zuhrī did not say, “My ears heard it.”

“Khuwār” means a sound; “juʾār,” from “you cry out,” is like the sound of a cow.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar reported: Sālim, the client of Abū Ḥudhayfa, used to lead the earliest Emigrants and the Companions of the Prophet in prayer at the mosque of Qubāʾ. Among them were Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, Abū Salama, Zayd, and ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿa.

ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr reported that Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam and al-Miswar ibn Makhrama told him that, when the Muslims consented to the freeing of the captives of Hawāzin, the Messenger of God said, “I do not know which of you has consented and which has not. So return, and let your leaders convey your decision to us.”

The people returned, their leaders spoke with them, and they came back to the Messenger of God and informed him that the people had willingly consented.