640 – Muhammad ibn Yazid al-Adami narrated to me; Asbat narrated to us, from ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Thabit, who said:

It was reported to al-Sha‘bi that Iyas ibn Mu‘awiyah did not consider the testimony of children to be of any value. Al-Sha‘bi responded:

Masruq told me that he was once in the presence of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib—may Allah be pleased with him—when five boys came to him. They had been dunking one another in the water and had caused one of their companions to drown. They said, “We were six of us playing in the water, and one of us drowned. Three of us testify that the other two drowned him, while the other two testify that the three of them drowned him.” ‘Ali assigned to the two boys three-fifths of the blood money, and to the three boys one-fifth of the blood money.