SECTION ON LAWSUITS · 7 – THE JUDGE RENDERING AN ERRONEOUS JUDGMENT
3583 – It is narrated from Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I am only a human being. You bring your disputes to me. Perhaps one of you is more eloquent in presenting his argument than the other, and I judge according to what I hear from him. So, if I judge in favor of someone, granting him something that belongs to his brother, let him not take anything from it. For, in reality, I am giving him a piece of the Fire.” [322]
EXPLANATION
Judges rule in cases brought before them according to the evidence. Sometimes, the party who is in the wrong, knowing he is in the wrong, presents evidence as if he were right. He may even produce two witnesses. The judge, looking at the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses, may rule in favor of the one who is actually in the wrong. The judge’s ruling does not make the wrongdoer the rightful owner. Since the judge rules according to outward appearances, there is also an inner aspect and reality to the case. What truly matters is this reality. One should not, knowingly, consume what is unlawful just because the judge has ruled in his favor; he should not fall into the forbidden. For, the right given to him unjustly is a piece cut from the Fire.
3584 – It is narrated from Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said: Two people came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) disputing over their inheritance. Neither of them had any evidence apart from their own claims. Thereupon, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) reminded them of the meaning of the previous hadith. Both of them wept, and each said to the other, “My right is with you.” The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to both of them: “Since you have made this mutual absolution between yourselves, divide the property, observe justice in what you divide, then draw lots, and then mutually absolve one another.”
EXPLANATION
This noble hadith shows several methods: 1 – To divide the property that cannot be agreed upon according to one’s own judgment. 2 – To ensure that what is divided is equivalent for both parties. 3 – To draw lots. 4 – To mutually absolve each other.
3585 – ʿAbdullah ibn Rafiʿ said: I heard that Umm Salama narrated from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) a hadith similar to the one mentioned earlier. In that narration, she said: Two people were disputing over their inheritance and some old belongings. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “In matters regarding which no revelation has come to me, I judge between you according to my own opinion.”
3586 – According to a narration from Ibn Shihab (may Allah be pleased with him), ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) said from the pulpit: O people, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) would be correct in the judgments he gave according to his own opinion, for Allah the Exalted would show him the truth. However, our judgments according to our own opinions are nothing but conjecture and effort.
3587 – Muʿādh ibn Muʿādh said: Abū ʿUthmān al-Shāmī narrated (the previously mentioned hadith) to me. I do not think I have seen anyone more virtuous than him, that is, al-Shāmī Ḥārith ibn ʿUthmān.