Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 249
— Part II 244 usurper and as such the Holy Prophet sa warned that if the usurped property is not returned to the rightful owner, despite his decision against him, the usurper will be held answerable before God for this crime. The following incident further supports this. During the course of a journey, the Holy Prophet sa and his followers had set up camp when the armament of a Muslim was stolen. Word got out and the Holy Prophet sa ordered a search of the entire camp. The theft had actually been committed by a Muslim, but when the search began he placed the armaments with the belongings of a Jew. The Holy Prophet sa was about to pronounce punishment on the Jew, when the following verse was revealed: … And be you not a disputer for the faithless. (S u rah al-Nis a ’; Ch. 4: V. 106) The Holy Prophet sa immediately realised the message that God was conveying to him, i. e. although the Jew appeared to be the culprit, in reality it was the Muslim who had committed the crime and not the Jew. The Holy Prophet sa ordered a further investigation and the real culprit was eventually caught. 42 The import of this verse clearly indicates that according to Islamic principles of evidence the religion of the witness is irrelevant, and it is also