Judgments (Ahkaam)

Anas reported: The Prophet came out on a cold morning while the Emigrants and the Helpers were digging the trench. He said, “O God, the true good is the good of the Hereafter; so forgive the Helpers and the Emigrants.” They answered, “We are the ones who pledged to Muḥammad that we would strive as long as we live.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar said: When we pledged to the Messenger of God to listen and obey, he would say to us, “As much as you are able.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār said: I was present with Ibn ʿUmar when the people united around ʿAbd al-Malik. He wrote: “I acknowledge listening and obedience to ʿAbd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful, according to the practice of God and the practice of His Messenger, as much as I am able; and my sons have made the same acknowledgment.”

Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh said: “I pledged to the Prophet that I would listen and obey. He dictated to me, ‘As much as you are able,’ and [that I would give] sincere counsel to every Muslim.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār said: When the people pledged allegiance to ʿAbd al-Malik, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar wrote to him: “To ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful: I acknowledge listening and obedience to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful, according to the practice of God and the practice of His Messenger, as much as I am able. My sons have made the same acknowledgment.”

Yazīd said: I asked Salama, “What did you pledge to the Prophet on the day of al-Ḥudaybiyya?” He said, “To die.”

Al-Miswar ibn Makhrama reported: The group whom ʿUmar had appointed gathered and consulted one another. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said to them, “I will not compete with you for this authority. But if you wish, I will choose one of you for you.” They entrusted the matter to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. When they put their decision in his hands, the people turned to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, consulting him during those nights, until the night before the morning when we pledged allegiance to ʿUthmān. Al-Miswar said:

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān came to me late in the night and knocked on the door until I woke. He said, “I see you were asleep. By God, I have hardly slept at all tonight. Go and summon al-Zubayr and Saʿd.” I summoned them for him, and he consulted them. Then he called me and said, “Summon ʿAlī.” I summoned him, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān spoke privately with him until the night had grown very late. ʿAlī then left him, still hopeful. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān had been apprehensive about something from ʿAlī. Then he said, “Summon ʿUthmān.” I summoned him, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān spoke privately with him until the caller to dawn prayer separated them.

After ʿAbd al-Raḥmān led the people in the dawn prayer, the group gathered by the pulpit. He sent for those of the Emigrants and Helpers who were present, and for the commanders of the army divisions who had accompanied ʿUmar on that pilgrimage. When they had gathered, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bore witness to the faith and then said, “Now then, ʿAlī, I have considered the people’s affairs and have not found them regarding anyone as equal to ʿUthmān. So do not give them a way against yourself.”

ʿAlī said, “I pledge allegiance to you on the basis of the practice of God, His Messenger, and the two caliphs after him.” ʿAbd al-Raḥmān pledged allegiance to him, and the people pledged allegiance: the Emigrants, the Helpers, the commanders of the army divisions, and the Muslims.

Salama said: “We pledged allegiance to the Prophet beneath the tree. He said to me, ‘Salama, will you not pledge allegiance?’ I said, ‘Messenger of God, I already pledged the first time.’ He said, ‘And the second time too.’”

Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh reported that a Bedouin pledged allegiance to the Messenger of God to accept Islam. He was afflicted by a fever and said, “Release me from my pledge.” The Prophet refused. He came again and said, “Release me from my pledge,” but the Prophet refused. So the man left. The Messenger of God said, “Medina is like a blacksmith’s bellows: it removes its impurities and makes its good pure.”

Zuhra ibn Maʿbad reported from his grandfather ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hishām, who had met the Prophet: His mother, Zaynab bint Ḥumayd, took him to the Messenger of God and said, “Messenger of God, accept his pledge.” The Prophet said, “He is still young.” He stroked his head and prayed for him. ʿAbd Allāh used to offer one sheep in sacrifice on behalf of his entire household.

Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh reported: A Bedouin pledged allegiance to the Messenger of God to accept Islam, then was afflicted by a fever in Medina. He came to the Messenger of God and said, “Messenger of God, release me from my pledge.” The Messenger of God refused. He came again and said, “Release me from my pledge,” but the Messenger of God refused. He came a third time and said, “Release me from my pledge,” but the Messenger of God refused. The Bedouin then left. The Messenger of God said, “Medina is like a blacksmith’s bellows: it removes its impurities and makes its good pure.”

Abū Hurayra reported that the Messenger of God said: “There are three whom God will not speak to on the Day of Resurrection, nor purify, and for whom there will be a painful punishment: a man who has surplus water beside a road and withholds it from a traveler; a man who pledges allegiance to a leader only for worldly gain, so that if he gives him what he wants, he keeps faith with him, but if he does not, he does not keep faith with him; and a man who sells a commodity to another after the afternoon prayer, then swears by God that he was offered such-and-such for it, and the buyer believes him and buys it, although he was not offered that much for it.”

ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit said: The Messenger of God said to us while we were gathered, “Will you pledge to me that you will not associate anything with God, steal, commit adultery, kill your children, bring a slanderous fabrication that you have devised between your hands and feet, or disobey in what is right? Whoever among you fulfills this pledge will have his reward with God. Whoever commits any of these acts and is punished for it in this world, that will be an expiation for him. Whoever commits any of them and God conceals it, his affair rests with God: if He wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him.” So we pledged to him on those terms.

ʿĀʾisha said: The Prophet accepted women’s pledges by speaking, using this verse: “They will not associate anything with God.” She said, “The Messenger of God’s hand never touched the hand of a woman, except a woman under his ownership.”

Umm ʿAṭiyya said: “We pledged allegiance to the Prophet, and he recited to me, ‘They will not associate anything with God,’ and forbade us to wail [over the dead]. One of the women withdrew her hand and said, ‘So-and-so helped me wail, and I want to repay her.’ He said nothing. The woman then returned.”

No woman kept the pledge except Umm Sulaym, Umm al-ʿAlāʾ, and the daughter of Abū Ṣabra, Muʿādh’s wife—or, according to another wording, the daughter of Abū Ṣabra and Muʿādh’s wife.

Jābir said: A Bedouin came to the Prophet and said, “Accept my pledge to Islam.” He accepted his pledge to Islam. The next day the man came with a fever and said, “Release me.” The Prophet refused. When the man turned away, the Prophet said, “Medina is like a blacksmith’s bellows: it removes its impurities and makes its good pure.”

Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad said: ʿĀʾisha said, “Oh, my head!” The Messenger of God said, “That would be all right if it happened while I was alive, so that I could ask forgiveness for you and pray for you.” ʿĀʾisha said, “What a calamity! By God, I think you want me to die. If that happened, you would spend the rest of your day with one of your wives.”

The Prophet said, “Rather, my head! I had thought—or intended—to send for Abū Bakr and his son and make a bequest, lest people speak—or wish for something.” Then I said, “God refuses, and the believers will repel it”—or, “God will repel it, and the believers will refuse it.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar said: ʿUmar was asked, “Will you appoint a successor?” He said, “If I appoint one, someone better than me—Abū Bakr—appointed a successor. If I leave the matter, someone better than me—the Messenger of God—left it.” They praised him, and he said, “I am hopeful yet apprehensive. I wish I could come through this with nothing for me and nothing against me, without having to bear its responsibility alive or dead.”

Anas ibn Mālik said: I heard ʿUmar’s final sermon, delivered after he sat on the pulpit. It was the day after the Messenger of God died. ʿUmar bore witness to the faith while Abū Bakr remained silent. ʿUmar said:

“I had hoped that the Messenger of God would live to continue guiding us”—meaning, to be the last of them. “But if Muḥammad has died, God has placed among you a light by which you may be guided, just as God guided Muḥammad. Abū Bakr, the Companion of the Messenger of God and the second of the two, is the person most entitled among the Muslims to take charge of your affairs. So stand and pledge allegiance to him.”

Some people had pledged allegiance to him earlier at the portico of Banū Sāʿida, while the general pledge took place on the pulpit.

Al-Zuhrī reported from Anas ibn Mālik: I heard ʿUmar say to Abū Bakr that day, “Climb the pulpit.” ʿUmar kept urging him until he climbed the pulpit, and the people at large pledged allegiance to him.

Muḥammad ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim reported from his father: A woman came to the Prophet and spoke with him about something. He told her to come back to him. She said, “Messenger of God, what if I come and do not find you?” It was as though she meant that he might die. He said, “If you do not find me, then go to Abū Bakr.”