Hadith #271

Arabic Text

English Translation

Sufyān informed us, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who heard Bushayr ibn Yasār — the freed slave of Banū Ḥārithah. Sufyān said: This is the hadith of Ibn Ḥathmah, reporting from Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathmah: ʿAbdullāh ibn Sahl from the Anṣār was found murdered in a well of the wells of Khaybar. His brother ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sahl and his two paternal uncles Ḥuwayyiṣah and Muḥayyiṣah came to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān began to speak, and the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Let the elder speak first.' So one of the uncles — either Ḥuwayyiṣah or Muḥayyiṣah (Sufyān said: I forgot which of them was the elder) — spoke and said: 'O Messenger of Allāh, we found ʿAbdullāh killed in a well of the wells of Khaybar.' Then he mentioned the Jews and their evil and enmity. He said: 'Let fifty of you swear that the Jews killed him.' They said: 'How can we swear about something we did not witness?' He said: 'Then the Jews will clear themselves with fifty oaths that they did not kill him.' They said: 'How can we accept the oaths of polytheists?' So the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ paid the blood-money from his own funds. 'A young she-camel from it kicked me.' It was said to Sufyān: 'Is it in the hadith: "and you establish your claim to the blood of your companion"?' He said: 'That is it.'