Once `Umar bin `Abdul `Aziz sat on his throne in the courtyard of his house so that the people migh
gather before him. Then he admitted them and (when they came in), he said, "What do you think o
Al-Qasama?" They said, "We say that it is lawful to depend on Al-Qasama in Qisas, as the previou
Muslim Caliphs carried out Qisas depending on it." Then he said to me, "O Abu Qilaba! What do yo
say about it?" He let me appear before the people and I said, "O Chief of the Believers! You have th
chiefs of the army staff and the nobles of the Arabs. If fifty of them testified that a married man ha
committed illegal sexual intercourse in Damascus but they had not seen him (doing so), would yo
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 wh
committed illegal sexual intercourse and (3) a man who fought against Allah and His Apostle an
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 th
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 t
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and gave the Pledge of allegiance for Islam (became Muslim). The climate of th
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' mil
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 th
camels. This news reached Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) , so he sent (men) to follow their traces and they wer
captured and brought (to the Prophet). He then ordered to cut their hands and feet, and their eyes wer
branded with heated pieces of iron, and then he threw them in the sun till they died." I said, "What ca
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, "
'Anbasa! You deny my narration?" 'Anbasa said, "No, but you have related the narration in the way i
should be related. By Allah, these people are in welfare as long as this Sheikh (Abu Qilaba) is amon
them." I added, "Indeed in this event there has been a tradition set by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). The narrato
added: Some Ansari people came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and discussed some matters with him, a man fro
amongst them went out and was murdered. Those people went out after him, and behold, thei
companion was swimming in blood. They returned to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said to him, "O Allah'
Apostle, we have found our companion who had talked with us and gone out before us, swimming i
blood (killed)." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went out and asked them, "Whom do you suspect or whom do yo
think has killed him?" They said, "We think that the Jews have killed him." The Prophet (ﷺ) sent for th
Jews and asked them, "Did you kill this (person)?" They replied, "No." He asked the Al-Ansars, "D
you agree that I let fifty Jews take an oath that they have not killed him?" They said, "It matters littl
for the Jews to kill us all and then take false oaths." He said, "Then would you like to receive the Diy
after fifty of you have taken an oath (that the Jews have killed your man)?" They said, "We will no
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-lslamic period o
Ignorance
Then, at a place called Al-Batha' (near Mecca), the man attacked a Yemenite family at night to stea
from them, but a. man from the family noticed him and struck him with his sword and killed him. Th
tribe of Hudhail came and captured the Yemenite and brought him to `Umar during the Hajj seaso
and said, "He has killed our companion." The Yemenite said, "But these people had repudiated hi
(i.e., their companion)." `Umar said, "Let fifty persons of Hudhail swear that they had not repudiate
him." So forty-nine of them took the oath and then a person belonging to them, came from Sham an
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 th
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 th
mountain, and the cave collapsed on those fifty men who took the false oath, and all of them die
except the two persons who had shaken hands with each other. They escaped death but a stone fell o
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 ordere
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." - Hadith Al Bukhari 6899 (islam)
Book 87, Hadith 38
Vol. 9, Book 83, Hadith 37
