have any evidence, the dākhil must swear an oath consonant with his claim, and the disputed property is awarded to him, because his physical possession strengthens his case.
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If, however, each of the two litigants brings evidence that the item belongs to him—as in this hadith—the scholars have differed over whose evidence is given precedence, and accordingly who receives the item.
• The majority of scholars—including the three leading imams—hold that it goes to the dākhil, the one in possession, on the basis of the following considerations:
– the present hadith;
– in addition to his evidence, the dākhil enjoys the added advantage of actual possession;
– consequently, his side is stronger than that of the other claimant. -
Granting precedence to the outside claimant’s (khārij) evidence is the well-known position within the school of Imam Ahmad and is one of his distinct rulings.
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The first opinion, that of the majority, is the stronger view. It was therefore adopted by a number of our scholars, among them Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh, Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz—the former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia—and Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Saʿdī, one of the scholars of Saudi Arabia and author of many beneficial works. Allah knows best.