Abū al-Khalīl (1) narrates from Zayd ibn Arqam that several men had intercourse with the same woman during a single period of purity. ʿAlī said to two of them, “Are you willing to waive your claim in this matter?” They replied, “No.” He then turned to the other two and asked the same, and they also said, “No.” ʿAlī said, “You are quarrelling partners. I will therefore cast lots among you; whichever of you the lot falls upon, I shall obligate him to pay two-thirds of the blood money and attribute the child to him.” When this was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ, he said, “I know nothing except what ʿAlī has ruled.”

Aḥmad (3) said: Surayj ibn al-Nuʿmān (4) narrated to us; Hushaym narrated to us; al-Ajlaḥ reported to us, from al-Shaʿbī, from Abū al-Khalīl, from Zayd ibn Arqam: While ʿAlī was in Yemen, three men were brought to him, all claiming the same child. He drew lots among them, held the one on whom the lot fell liable for two-thirds of the blood money, and ascribed the child to him. Zayd ibn Arqam continued: “I went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and informed him of ʿAlī’s ruling, and he laughed until his molars became visible.”

Abū Dāwūd (5) transmitted it from Musaddad, from Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān; and al-Nasāʾī (6) from ʿAlī ibn Ḥujar, from ʿAlī ibn Mushir—both through al-Ajlaḥ ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from ʿĀmir al-Shaʿbī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Khalīl. Al-Nasāʾī adds—in his version—“ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Khalīl, from Zayd ibn Arqam,” who said: “I was with the Prophet ﷺ when a man from Yemen arrived and said, ‘Three men came to ʿAlī disputing over a child; they had all lain with a woman during the same purity period.’” He related the story as above and added, “The Prophet ﷺ laughed.”

Both Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī also reported it—from Shuʿbah, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from al-Shaʿbī, from Abū al-Khalīl (or Ibn al-Khalīl), from ʿAlī—in mursal form, not attributing it directly to the Prophet.

Imām Aḥmad (8) likewise recorded it through ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Sufyān al-Thawrī, from al-Ajlaḥ, from al-Shaʿbī, from ʿAbd Khayr, from Zayd ibn Arqam, with wording similar to what has been cited above.