Al-W¥^idÏ's Asb¥b al-Nuz‰l - The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies ...

Asbab al-Nuzul
And so we will give you your due’. The Khazraj said: ‘This is something you did in the pre-Islamic period
because you were greater in number and we were few. Today, we are brothers and our religion is the same
as yours. You do not have any merit over us’. The hypocrites said: ‘‘Let us go to Abu Burdah al-Aslami,
the soothsayer, to judge between us. The Muslims said: ‘No, but rather let us go to the Prophet, Allah
bless him and give him peace’. The hypocrites refused and went instead to Abu Burdah to judge between
them. Abu Burdah said to them: ‘Increase the bribe!’ They said: ‘We will give you ten awsuq!’ He said:
‘I will take a hundred as my blood money, for I fear if I judge in favour of the man from Banu’l-Nadir,
Banu Qurayzah will kill me; and if I judge in favour of the man from Banu Qurayzah, Banu’l-Nadir will
kill me’. When they refused to give him more than ten awsuq, he refused to judge between them. Allah,
exalted is He, then revealed this verse and the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, called the
soothsayer of Aslam to embrace Islam. He refused to do so and left. The Prophet, Allah bless him and
give him peace, said to the two sons of the soothsayer: ‘Go after your father, for if he goes beyond suchand-such
limit he will never accept Islam’. They caught up with him and kept persuading him until he
went back and embraced Islam. The Prophet, Allah, bless him and give him peace, commanded a crier
to go round and cry: ‘The soothsayer of Aslam has embraced Islam’ ”. 31
(But nay, by thy Lord, they will not believe (in truth) until they make thee judge of what is in dispute
between them…) [4:65].
This was revealed about al-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam and his adversary Hatib ibn Abi Balta‘ah, and it was
also said that his adversary was Tha‘labah ibn Hatib.
Abu Sa‘id ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Hamdan informed us> Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ibn Malik> ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad
ibn Hanbal> his father> Abu’l-Yaman> Shu‘ayb> al-Zuhri> ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr> his father that
he used to relate that he once went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, to settle a dispute
he had with one of the Helpers who had participated in the Battle of Badr regarding a water conduit
which they both used to water their land. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to al-
Zubayr: “Water your land first and then let the water flow to your neighbour”. The Helper got angry and
said: “O Messenger of Allah! You judged in this way because he is the son of your maternal aunt”. 32 Upon
hearing this, the face of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, flushed. He then
said to al-Zubayr: “Water your land and then block the water until it goes back to its source”. In this way
the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, gave al-Zubayr his full right. His first command
to al-Zubayr was made because he wanted to make it easy on both al-Zubayr and the Helper. But
when the Helper protested against the judgement of the Messenger of Allah, he gave al-Zubayr his full
right as he deserved this judgement in the first place. 33
Said ‘Urwah: “By Allah, I do not think that this verse (But nay, by thy Lord, they will not believe (in truth)
until they make thee judge of what is in dispute between them and find within themselves no dislike of that
which thou decidest, and submit with full submission) was revealed about other than this incident”. This
was narrated by Bukhari> ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd Allah> Muhammad ibn Ja‘far> Ma‘mar, and also by Muslim>
Qutaybah> al-Layth and both al-Layth and Ma‘mar related it from al-Zuhri.
Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hamid informed us> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-
Hafiz> Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani> Ahmad ibn Hammad ibn
Zughbah> Hamid ibn Yahya ibn Hani’ al-Balkhi> Sufyan> ‘Amr ibn Dinar> Abu Salamah> Umm Salamah
who related that al-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam had a dispute with a man and the Messenger of Allah, Allah
bless him and give him peace, judged in his favour. The man said that he judged in his favour because
he was his cousin. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (But nay, by thy Lord, they will not believe…). 34
31
Tabari, :153-154.
32
The mother of al-Zubayr is Safiyyah bint ‘Abd al-Muttalib.
33
Durr, :584; Tabari, :158.
34
Tabari, :159.
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