Taking Oaths

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Sahl b. Abu Hathma through another chain of transmitters.

It was narrated from Yahya, from Bushair bin Yasa, from Sahl bin Abi Hathmah who said - and I think he said: and from Rafi bin Khadij, the two of them said - :"Abdullah bin Sahl bin Zaid and Muhayysah bin Mas'ud went out until when they reached Khaibar, they went their separate ways. Then Muhayysah found 'Abdullah bin Sahl slain, so he buried him. Then he came to the Mesenger of Allah, along with Huwayysah bin Mas'ud and 'Abdur-Rahman bin Sahl, who was the youngest of them, 'Abdur-Rahman started to speak before his two companions, but the Messenger of Allah said to him: "Let the clear speak first." So he fell silent and his two companions spoke, then he spoke with them. They told the Messenger of Allah about the killing of 'Abdullah bin Sahl, and he said to them: "Will you swear fifty oaths, then you will receive compensation, or be entitled to retaliate?" They said: "How can we swear an oath when we did not witness what happened?" he said: "Then can the Jews swear fifty oaths declaring their innocence?" They said: "How can we accept the oath of a disbelieving people?" When the Messenger of Allah saw that, he paid the blood money (himself).

Ibn 'Abbas Narrated from:

The first instance of Qasamah during the Jahiliyyah involved a man from Banu Hashim who was employed by a man from Quraish, from another branch of the tribe. He went out with him, driving his camels and another man from Banu Hashim passed by them. The leather rope of that man's bag broke, so he said (to the hired worker): 'Help me by giving me a rope with which to tie the handle of my bag, lest the camels run away from me. 'So he gave him a rope and he tied his bag with it.When they halted, all the camels' legs were hobbled except one camel. The one who had hired him said: 'Why is his camel, out of all of them, not hobbled? He said: 'There is no rope for it. He said: 'Where is its rope? He said: A man from Banu Hashim passed by and the leather rope of his bag had broken, and he asked me to help him; he said: Help me by giving me a rope with which to tie the handle of my bag lest the camels run away from me, so I gave him a rope. " He struck him with a stick, which led to his death.Then a man from Yemen passed by him (the man from Banu Hashim, (the man from Banu Hashim, just before he died) and he (the Hashimi man) said: 'Are you going to attend the Pilgrimage? He said: 'I do not think I will attend it, but perhaps I will attend it.' He said: 'Will you convey a message from me once in your lifetime? He said: 'Yes. 'He said: 'If you attend the pilgrimage, then call out, O family of Quraish! If they respond, then call out, O family of Hashim! If they respond, then ask for Abu Talib, and tell him that so and so killed me for a rope.' Then the hired worker died. When the one who had hired him cam, Abu Talib went to him and said: 'What happened to our companion? He said: 'He fell sick and I took good care of him, but he died, so I stopped and buried him.' He said: 'He deserved that from you. 'Some time passed, then the Yemeni man who had been asked to convey the message arrived at the time of the pilgrimage. He said: 'O family of Quraish! And they said: 'Here is Quraish.' He said: 'O family of Banu Hashim! They said: 'Here is Banu Hashim.' He said" 'Where is Abu Talib? He said: 'Here is Abu Talib.' He said: 'so and so asked me to convey a message to you, that so and so killed him for a camel's rope.' Abu Talib went to him and said" 'Choose one of three alternatives that we are offering you. If you wish, you may give us one hundred camels, because you killed our companion by mistake: or if you wish, fifty of your men may swear an oath that you did not kill him; or if you wish, we will kill you in retaliation. 'He went to his people and told them about that, and they said: 'We will swear the oath.' Then a woman from Banu Hashim, who was married to one of their men and had born him a child, came to Abu Talib and said:' O Abu Talib, I wish that my son, who is one of these fifty men, should be excused from having to take the oath., So the excused him. Then one of the men came to him and said: 'O Abu Talib, you want fifty men to take the oath in lieu of one hundred camels, which means that each man may give two camels instead, so here are two camels; take them from me, and do not make me take the oath.' So he accepted them, and did not make him take the oath. Then forty-eight men came and took the oath." Ibn 'Abbas said: "By the One in Whose hand is my soul, by the time a year has passed, none of those forty-eight men remained alive."

'Amr bin Shu'aib Narrated from:

Huwayyisah and Muhayyisah, the sons of Mas'ud, and 'Abdullah and 'Abdur-Rahman the sons of Sahl, went out to search for food in Khaibar. 'Abdullah was attacked and killed, and mention of that was made to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He said: “Will you swear an oath and establish your right to blood money?” They said: “O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), how can we swear an oath when we did not witness anything?” He said: “Do you want the Jews to swear that they are innocent?” They said: “O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), then they will kill us too.” So the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) paid the blood money himself.

'Amr bin Shu'aib Narrated from:

The younger son of Muhayysah was found slain one morning at the gate of one morning at the gates of Khaibar. The Messenger of Allah said: "Bring two witnesses to (say) who killed him, and he will hand him over to you." He said: "O Messenger of Allah, where shall I get two witnesses? He was found slain in the morning at their gates."He said: "Will you swear fifty oaths?" He said: "O Messenger of Allah, how can I swear concerning something I do not know?" The Messenger of Allah said: "Then will you accept fifty oaths from them?" He said: "O Messenger of Allah, how can we accept their oaths when they are Jews?" So the Messenger of Allah told them (the Jews) to pay the Diyah and he would help them with half."

Ibn Shihab Narrated from:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) decided (according to Qasama) between the persons of Ansar (and yours) about a slain (Muslim) for which they made claim against the Jews

Rafi' bin Khadij Narrated from:

A man of the Ansar was killed at Khaybar and his relatives went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and mentioned that to him. He asked: Have you two witnesses who can testify to the murderer of your friend? They replied: Messenger of Allah! there was not a single Muslim present, but only Jews who sometimes have the audacity to do even greater crimes than this. He said: Then choose fifty of them and demand that they take an oath; but they refused and the Prophet (ﷺ) paid the blood-wit himself.

Sulayman ibn Yasar Narrated from:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) retained (the practice) of Qasama as it was in the pre-Islamic days.

Abu Qilaba Narrated from:

Once `Umar bin `Abdul `Aziz sat on his throne in the courtyard of his house so that the people might gather before him. Then he admitted them and (when they came in), he said, "What do you think of Al-Qasama?" They said, "We say that it is lawful to depend on Al-Qasama in Qisas, as the previous Muslim Caliphs carried out Qisas depending on it." Then he said to me, "O Abu Qilaba! What do you say about it?"He let me appear before the people and I said, "O Chief of the Believers! You have the chiefs of the army staff and the nobles of the Arabs. If fifty of them testified that a married man had committed illegal sexual intercourse in Damascus but they had not seen him (doing so), would you stone him?" He said, "No." I said, "If fifty of them testified that a man had committed theft in Hums, would you cut off his hand though they did not see him?" He replied, "No."I said, "By Allah, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) never killed anyone except in one of the following three situations: (1) A person who killed somebody unjustly, was killed (in Qisas,) (2) a married person who committed illegal sexual intercourse and (3) a man who fought against Allah and His Apostle and deserted Islam and became an apostate." Then the people said, "Didn't Anas bin Malik narrate that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) cut off the hands of the thieves, branded their eyes and then, threw them in the sun?" I said, "I shall tell you the narration of Anas.Anas said: "Eight persons from the tribe of `Ukl came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and gave the Pledge of allegiance for Islam (became Muslim). The climate of the place (Medina) did not suit them, so they became sick and complained about that to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). He said (to them), "Won't you go out with the shepherd of our camels and drink of the camels' milk and urine (as medicine)?" They said, "Yes." So they went out and drank the camels' milk and urine, and after they became healthy, they killed the shepherd of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and took away all the camels.This news reached Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), so he sent (men) to follow their traces and they were captured and brought (to the Prophet). He then ordered to cut their hands and feet, and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron, and then he threw them in the sun till they died."I said, "What can be worse than what those people did? They deserted Islam, committed murder and theft." Then 'Anbasa bin Sa`id said, "By Allah, I never heard a narration like this of today." I said, "O 'Anbasa! You deny my narration?" 'Anbasa said, "No, but you have related the narration in the way it should be related. By Allah, these people are in welfare as long as this Sheikh (Abu Qilaba) is among them." I added, "Indeed in this event there has been a tradition set by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ).The narrator added: Some Ansari people came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and discussed some matters with him, a man from amongst them went out and was murdered. Those people went out after him, and behold, their companion was swimming in blood. They returned to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said to him, "O Allah's Apostle, we have found our companion who had talked with us and gone out before us, swimming in blood (killed)." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went out and asked them, "Whom do you suspect or whom do you think has killed him?" They said, "We think that the Jews have killed him."The Prophet (ﷺ) sent for the Jews and asked them, "Did you kill this (person)?" They replied, "No." He asked the Al-Ansars, "Do you agree that I let fifty Jews take an oath that they have not killed him?" They said, "It matters little for the Jews to kill us all and then take false oaths." He said, "Then would you like to receive the Diya after fifty of you have taken an oath (that the Jews have killed your man)?" They said, "We will not take the oath." Then the Prophet (ﷺ) himself paid them the Diya (Blood-money)."The narrator added, "The tribe of Hudhail repudiated one of their men (for his evil conduct) in the Pre-Islamic period of Ignorance. Then, at a place called Al-Batha' (near Mecca), the man attacked a Yemenite family at night to steal from them, but a. man from the family noticed him and struck him with his sword and killed him.The tribe of Hudhail came and captured the Yemenite and brought him to `Umar during the Hajj season and said, "He has killed our companion." The Yemenite said, "But these people had repudiated him (i.e., their companion)." `Umar said, "Let fifty persons of Hudhail swear that they had not repudiated him." So forty-nine of them took the oath and then a person belonging to them, came from Sham and they requested him to swear similarly, but he paid one-thousand Dirhams instead of taking the oath. They called another man instead of him and the new man shook hands with the brother of the deceased.Some people said, "We and those fifty men who had taken false oaths (Al-Qasama) set out, and when they reached a place called Nakhlah, it started raining so they entered a cave in the mountain, and the cave collapsed on those fifty men who took the false oath, and all of them died except the two persons who had shaken hands with each other. They escaped death but a stone fell on the leg of the brother of the deceased and broke it, whereupon he survived for one year and then died."I further said, "`Abdul Malik bin Marwan sentenced a man to death in Qisas (equality in punishment) for murder, basing his judgment on Al-Qasama, but later on he regretted that judgment and ordered that the names of the fifty persons who had taken the oath (Al-Qasama), be erased from the register, and he exiled them in Sham."

Sahl bin Abi Hathmah Narrated from:

A number of people from his tribe went to Khaibar and dispersed, and then they found one of them murdered. They said to the people with whom the corpse had been found, "You have killed our companion!" Those people said, "Neither have we killed him, nor do we know his killer."The bereaved group went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! We went to Khaibar and found one of us murdered." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Let the older among you come forward and speak." Then the Prophet (ﷺ) said, to them, "Bring your proof against the killer." They said "We have no proof." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Then they (the defendants) will take an oath." They said, "We do not accept the oaths of the Jews."Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) did not like that the Blood-money of the killed one be lost without compensation, so he paid one-hundred camels out of the camels of Zakat (to the relatives of the deceased) as Diya (Blood-money).