English translation
6899. Narrated Abū Qilāba: Once ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul-‘Azīz 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-Qasāma?”(1) They said, “We say that it is lawful to depend on Al-Qasāma in Al-Qisāsh(2), as the previous Muslim caliphs carried out Al-Qisāsh depending on it.” Then he said to me, “O Abū Qilāba! 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 Ḥums, would you cut off his hand, though they did not see him?” He replied, “No.” I said, “By Allāh, Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ never killed anyone except in one of the following three situations: (1) A person who killed somebody (a case of intentional murder), is to be killed (in Al-Qisāsh), (2) a married person who committed illegal sexual intercourse, and (3) a man who
fought against Allāh and His Messenger and deserted Islām and became an apostate.” Then the people said, “Didn’t Anas bin Mālik narrate that Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ cut off the hands of the thieves, branded their eyes and then threw them in the sun (to die)?” I said, “I shall tell you the narration of Anas. Anas said: “Eight persons from the tribe of ‘Ukl came to Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ and gave the Bai’a (pledge) for Islām (became Muslim). The climate of the place (Al-Madīna) did not suit them, so they became sick and complained about that to Allāh’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 Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ and took away all the camels. This news reached Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ, so he sent (men) to follow their traces and they were captured and brought (to the Prophet ﷺ). 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 Islām, committed murder and theft.” Then ‘Anbasa bin Sa’īd said, “By Allāh, 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 Allāh, these people are in welfare as long as this Sheikh (Abū Qilāba) is among them.” I added, “Indeed in this event there has been a Sunna (legal way) set by Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ.”
The narrator added: Some Anṣārī 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 lying in a pool of blood. They returned to Allāh's Messenger ﷺ and said to him, "O Allāh's Messenger, we have found our companion who had talked with us and gone out before us, swimming in blood (killed)." Allāh'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-Anṣār, "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-Islāmic Period of Ignorance. Then at a place called Al-Baṭḥā' (near Makkah), 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 (tribe) swear that they had not repudiated him." So forty-nine of them took the oath and then a person belonging to them came from Shām 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-Qasāma) 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."
(The narrator) further said, " 'Abdul Mālik bin Marwān sentenced a man to death in Al-Qišās (equality in punishment) for murder, basing his judgement on Al-Qasāma, but later on he regretted that judgement and ordered that the names of the fifty persons who had taken the oath (Al-Qasāma), be erased from the register, and he exiled them in Shām."
