Encyclopedia of Prophetic Hadiths

Regarding the statement of Allah, the Exalted and Majestic: {And whoever intends to deviate therein by evildoing, We will cause him to taste a painful punishment} [Surat al-Hajj: 25], he said: "If a man intended to commit deviation in it while being in Adan of Abyan (a city in Yemen), Allah would make him taste a painful punishment."

Indeed, Allah Almighty revealed: {Whoever does not judge according to what Allah has revealed, it is they who are the disbelievers} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 44] and {It is they who are the wrongdoers} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 45] and {It is they who are the rebellious} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 47] He said: Ibn ‘Abbās said: Allah revealed these verses regarding two groups from among the Jews. One group had overpowered the other in the pre-Islamic period, and they had agreed that if a person from the powerful tribe killed one from the weaker tribe, the Diyyah (blood money) would be fifty Wasqs, but if a person from the weaker tribe killed one from the stronger tribe, the Diyyah would be one hundred Wasqs. They remained upon this until the Prophet (ﷺ) came to Madīnah. Both tribes humbled themselves due to the arrival of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)—while he had not yet gained authority over them and was still in a state of truce with them. Then it happened that a person from the weaker tribe killed someone from the stronger one. The stronger tribe demanded: Pay us one hundred Wasqs. The weaker tribe replied: How can that be? Our religion and lineage are one, and we live in the same land. How can the blood money of some of us be half that of others? We only gave you this before out of fear and submission to your might. But now that Muhammad has come, we will no longer pay this. A war nearly erupted between them, but they agreed to appoint the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as their judge. The stronger tribe said: By Allah, Muhammad will not let you be given from them double of what he gives them from you. They have spoken the truth—they only gave us this out of fear and submission to our dominance. So send someone secretly to find out what Muhammad will decide. If he gives you the judgment you want, then appoint him as judge; otherwise, beware and do not let him judge between you. So they sent some hypocrites to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to spy and find out his opinion. When they came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), Allah revealed to His Messenger all that they had planned and intended. Then Allah Almighty revealed: {O Messenger, do not grieve for those who rush to disbelief – those who say with their mouths, “We believe”} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 41] until His saying: {Whoever does not judge according to what Allah has revealed, it is they who are the rebellious.} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 47] Then he said: By Allah, these verses were revealed concerning them, and it was them that Allah Almighty meant.