The Book of Oaths, Muharibin, Qasas (Retaliation), and Diyat (Blood Money)
كتاب القسامة والمحاربين والقصاص والديات
Chapter 1: Qasamah (Oaths)
Show regard for the greatness of the old, or he said: Let the eldest begin speaking. Then they (Huwayyisa and Muhayyisa) spoke about the matter of their companion (murder of their cousin, 'Abdullah b. Sahl). Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Let fifty (persons) among you take oath for levelling the charge (of murder) against a person amongst them, and he would be surrendered to you. They said: We have not witnessed this matter ourselves. How can we then take oath? He (the Holy Prophet) said: The Jews will exonerate themselves by the oaths of fifty of them. They said: Messenger of Allah, they are non-believing people. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) paid the blood wit for him. Sahl said: As one day I entered the fold a she-camel amongst those camels hit me with its leg.
This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Sahl b. Abu Hathma through another chain of transmitters.
Allah's Messenger (may peace be him) did not approve of his blood go waste. He paid blood-wit of one hundred camels of Sadaqa.
By Allah, it is you who have killed him. They said: By Allah, we have not killed him. He then came to his people, and made mention of that to them. Then came he and his brother Huwayyisa, and he was older than he, and 'Abd al-Rahman b. Sahl. Then Muhayyisa went to speak, and it was he who had accompanied ('Abdullah) to Khaibar, whereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to Muhayyisa: Observe greatness of the great (he meant the seniority of age). Then Huwayyisa spoke and then Muhayyisa also spoke. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: They should either pay blood-wit for your companion, or be prepared for war. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) wrote about it to them (to the Jews). They wrote: Verily, by Allah, we have not killed him. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to Huwayyisa and Muhayyisa and Abd al-Rahman: Are you prepared to take oath in order to entitle yourselves for the blood-wit of your companion? They said: No. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Then the Jews will take oath (of their innocence). They said: They are not Muslims. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), however, himself paid the blood-wit to them and sent to them one hundred camels until they entered into their houses, Sahl said: One red she-camel among them kicked me.
Chapter 2: The ruling on Muharibin and Apostates
There came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) some ponple from 'Uraina. They embraced Islam and swore allegiance to him and there had spread at that time pleurisy. The rest of the hadith is the same (but with this addition):" There were by his (the Prophet's) side about twenty young men of the Ansar; he sent them (behind) them (culprits), and he also sent along with them one expert in following the track so that he might trace their footprints."
Anas reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) pierced their eyes because they had pierced the eyes of the shepherds.
Chapter 4: If a person attacks another person's life and limb, and the other defends himself and kills him or injures him, there is no penalty on him
'Imran b. Husain reported that a person bit the hand of a person. He withdrew his hand and his foretooth or foreteeth fell down. He (the man who lost his teeth) referred the matter to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and he said, What do you want me to do? Do you ask me that I should order him to put his hand in your mouth, and you should bite it as the camel bites? (If you want retaliation, then the only way out is) that you put your hand in his mouth (allow him) to bite that and then draw it away.
I participated in the expedition to Tabuk with Allah's Apostle (ﷺ). And Ya'la used to say: That was the most weighty of my deeds, in my opinion. Safwan said that Ya'la had stated: I had a servant; he quarrelled with another person, and the one bit the hand of the other. ('Ata' said that Safwan had told him which one had bitten the hand of the other.) So he whose hand was bitten drew ill from (the mouth) of the one who had bitten it and (in this scuffle) one of his foreteeth was also drawn out. They both came to Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) and he declared his (claim for the compensation of) tooth as invalid.
Chapter 6: When it is permissible to shed the blood of a muslim
This hadith has been narrated on the authority of A'mash.
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up and said: By Him besides Whom there is no god but He, the blood of a Muslim who bears the testimony that there is no god but Allah, and I am His Messenger, may be lawfully shed only in case of three persons: the one who abandons Islam, and deserts the community [Ahmad, one of the narrators, is doubtful whether the Prophet (ﷺ) used the word li'l-jama'ah or al-jama'ah), and the married adulterer, and life for life.
Chapter 10: A confession to murder is valid and the heir of the victim is entitled to Qisas, but it is recommended to ask him to let him go
While I was sitting in the company of Allah's Apostle (ﷺ), a person came there dragging another one with the help of a strap and said: Allah's Messenger, this man has killed my brother. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to him: Did you kill him? And the other man said: (In case he did not make a confession of this, I shall brine, a witness against him). He (the murderer) said: Yes, I have killed him. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Why did you kill him? He said: I and he won striking down the leaves of a tree and he abused me and enraged me, and to I struck his head with an axe and killed him, whereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Have you anything with you to pay blood-wit on your behalf? He said: I do not possess any property but this robe of mine and this axe of mine. He (the Holy, Prophet) said: Do you think your people will pay ransom for you? He said: I am more insignificant among my people than this (that I would not be able to get this benefit from my tribe). He (the Holy Prophet) threw the strap towards him (the claimant of the blood-wit) saying: Take away your man. The man took him away, and as he returned, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: If he kills him, he will be like him. He returned and said: Allah's Messenger, it has reached me that you have said that" If he killed him, he would be like him." I caught hold of him according to your command, whereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Don't you like that he should take upon him (the burden) of your sin and the sin of your companion (your brother)? He said: Allah's Apostle, why not? The Messenger of Allah (may peace be. upon him) said: If it is so, then let it be. He threw away the strap (around the offender) and set him free.
Chapter 11: The Diyah for a fetus; and the Diyah for accidental killing and the ambiguous killing must be paid by the shahiqilah of the killer
He made her son and those who were with them her heirs. Someone said: Why should we pay blood-wit? And he did not name Hamal b. Malik.
Should we pay indemnity for one who, neither ate, nor drank, nor made any noise, who was just like a nonentity? Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) remarked: He speaks rhymed phrases like the people of the desert. He did impose indemnity upon them.
A woman killed her fellow-wife with a tent-pole. Her case was brought to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), and he gave judgment that blood-wit should be paid by the relatives (of the offender) on the father's side. And as she was pregnant, he decided regarding her unborn child that a male or a female slave of good quality be given. Some of her offender's) relatives said: Should we make compensation for one who never ate, nor drank, nor made any noise, who was like a nonentity? Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: He was talking rhymed phrases like the rhymed phrases of desert Arabs.
Mansur transmitted this hadith with a slight variation of words.
Chapter 1: Qasamah (Oaths)
You take fifty oaths and you are entitled to blood-wit of (one) slain among you (or your companion). They said: Messenger of Allah, we neither saw (with our own eyes this murder) nor were we present there. Thereupon (Allah's Messenger is reported to have said): Then the Jews will exonerate themselves by taking fifty oaths. They said: Allah's Messenger, how can we accept the oath of unbelieving people? Bushair said that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) paid the blood-wit himself.
Chapter 3: Confirmation of Qisas in the case of killing with a rock and other sharp or heavy objects, and the killing of a man for a woman
" He (commanded) to crush his head between two stones."
This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Ayyub with the same chain of transmitters.
Chapter 4: If a person attacks another person's life and limb, and the other defends himself and kills him or injures him, there is no penalty on him
This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Ya'la.
Did you intend to bite his hand, as the camel bites?