to the Ansār when they complained to him about their slain kinsman, ‘Abdullāh ibn Sahl, who had been killed at Khaybar. His brother ‘Abd al-Rahmān and his paternal cousins Huwayyisa and Muhayyisa came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Muhayyisa had been with him at Khaybar. He said:

‘Will you swear fifty oaths and thereby establish your right over your kinsman’s killer?’

They replied, ‘How can we swear when we neither witnessed nor saw what happened?’

He said, ‘Then the Jews can clear themselves of your accusation by swearing fifty oaths.’

They replied, ‘How can we accept the oaths of people who are unbelievers?’”

This was reported by all the compilers of the Sahīh and Sunan collections, including al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasā’ī. In one narration in the two Sahīh collections, he said:

“Fifty of you shall swear oaths against a man from among them, and he will be handed over to you, bound.”

It is also established in Sahīh Muslim, on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbās, that:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ruled on the basis of one witness and an oath.”

Al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah reported this from Jābir, while Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Mājah reported it from Abū Hurayrah. It has also been narrated from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through many other routes. These hadiths are the most authentic and widely known reports narrated from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on this subject. Ibn ‘Abbās himself narrates from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that “he ruled on the basis of an oath together with a witness”; the Prophet gave one ruling in some claims and the other ruling in others.

As for the hadith commonly quoted by jurists:

“Proof is incumbent upon the claimant, and an oath upon the one who denies the claim,”

this too has been narrated. However, its chain of transmission does not match the others in authenticity and renown, nor was it reported by most compilers of the well-known Sunan collections. None of the scholars of the Muslim community applied it without qualification except a group of jurists from Kufa, such as Abū Hanīfah and others, for they