The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 385
PT. 7 R. 15. AL-MĀ'IDAH CH. 5 يَوْمَ يَجْمَعُ اللهُ الرُّسُلَ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَا Think of the day when. 110 b b "Allah will assemble the أجِبْتُمْ قَالُوا لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِنَّكَ Messengers and say, “What reply a7:7; 28:66. guilty of perjury, then they can state on oath that their statement is truer than that of the two witnesses, and in that case the qāḍī or judge, if satisfied, will give his decree in their favour. An incident is reported to have occurred in the days of the Holy Prophet which throws some light on the verses under comment. A Muslim who died away from home entrusted his goods to two men before his death and asked them to deliver the same to his heirs at Medina. On receiving the goods, the heirs found that a silver bowl was missing. The two men were thereupon called upon to explain the loss of the bowl, but they denied all knowledge of it on oath. Later, the heirs of the deceased person happened to see the bowl with some persons at Mecca who told them that it had been sold to them by the two men to whom the deceased had entrusted his property. Thereupon the two men were again summoned, and in their presence the heirs of the deceased stated on oath that the bowl was theirs, whereupon it was handed over to them (Manthūr). The Prayer mentioned in 5:107 above may be any Prayer but preferably it should be the 'Asr or late afternoon Prayer, because it was after 825 this Prayer that the Holy Prophet summoned the two witnesses to whom reference has been made above and who were believed to have stolen the silver bowl. The time after Prayer has been chosen with a view to inspiring witnesses with ideas of piety and God-fearingness and inclining their minds to truthfulness. If the witnesses be non-Muslims, then they may be called upon to swear after the time of their own worship, so that the solemnity of the hour may incline them to make a true statement, because the worship of God is calculated to exercise a purifying influence on the human mind, and men fresh from Prayer are expected to fear God and make a true statement. The word (the two, who were in a better position) occurring in 5:108 above is the dual of which means more competent or more worthy. It refers to the first two witnesses and signifies that these two were in a better position to give true evidence, being the persons who were with the deceased at the time of his death and in whose presence the will was made and to whom the property was entrusted to be handed over to the heirs of the deceased. The expression also serves as a sort of