The Seal of Prophets - His Personality and Character — Page 26
26 The Seal of Prophets the society of being a man of absolute justice. Even when there were feuds between Muslims and Jews, or Muslims and idolaters, they would seek his judgement. In one case it is reported that a piece of land was disputed between a Muslim and a Jew. They approached the Holy Prophet sa and asked him to decide the matter. The Holy Prophet sa first asked the Muslim claimant to provide proof. The Muslim said that he had no witnesses but was telling the truth on his word of honour. The Holy Prophet sa ignored him and asked the respondent to swear in the name of God if the land belonged to him. The Muslim protested and said: “0 Prophet of God, he will swear falsely. It is trivial for him to be untruthful for a piece of land”. The Holy Prophet sa replied: “There is no other way to decide this matter, if he swears then the land would be his”. And that is exactly what happened. Once a small trade party visited Khaiber, an area occupied by a Jewish clan by the name of Bani-Nazeer. These people were earlier expelled from Medina and were rehabilitated there; but that is a different story. This place had become a Jewish stronghold from then on. When the trade party from among the Muslims visited Khaiber, one of them was murdered. They returned to the Holy Prophet sa and asked that the responsibility for the murder should be placed on Jews of that area, and blood money imposed on them as a group. The Holy Prophet sa said: “Do you have any proof of this man being murdered by a Jew?” They replied: “There is no witness but it has to be one of them, nobody else lives there. ” The Holy Prophet sa said: “The only available course is that the Jews must swear their innocence. ” The Jews did that and were acquitted of the murder. However, by the order of the Holy Prophet sa , the aggrieved were paid blood money from the state treasury. We see in him kindness