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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-lslamic 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.”