He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

The inhabitants of two villages are hostile to one another over matters of belief. A man disputed with another over some sheep he had lost and said, “Nothing but your life will compensate for this.” The latter was then found murdered, and the traces of blood were nearer the village from which the accused came. A man also mentioned his killing to him?

He replied:

If the slain person’s heirs swear fifty oaths that the man who disputed with him was his killer, judgment is rendered granting them the right to have him executed in retaliation and absolving everyone else. The hostility and dispute between the two, the threat to kill him, the traces of blood and other such circumstances constitute presumptive evidence of guilt and indications that this accused man was the killer. If, alongside this evidence, they swear the legally prescribed oaths of the fifty-oath procedure, they become entitled to have the accused executed in retaliation, and he is placed entirely in their custody. This accords with the judgment of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning the man killed at Khaybar. No liability for the killing falls upon the inhabitants of the locality, whether under the customary practice of the governing authorities or under Islamic law.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

Two men were suspected of a killing, detained and subjected to painful punishment. One confessed, implicating both himself and his companion, while the other neither confessed nor admitted anything. Is the former’s statement to be accepted or not?