Ali—may Allah be pleased with him—was unaware of many times more than that from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—including matters of which he remained unaware until his death.

It may further be said:

Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—attained such a degree of knowledge, justice, and compassion for children that he (1) would not allot a stipend to a young child (2) until the child had been weaned (3). He would say, “Milk is sufficient for him.” Then he heard a woman forcing her son to be weaned so that a stipend would be allotted to him. The following morning, he proclaimed among the people: “The Commander of the Faithful shall allot stipends to both weaned children and nursing infants” (4). The nursing infant suffered because his mother forced him to be weaned, not through any act of his own. Nevertheless, Umar decided to allot stipends to nursing infants so that people would refrain from harming them (5). Such was his benevolence toward the children of the Muslims.

There is no doubt that whenever punishment can be confined to the offender without extending beyond him, this is what must be done (6). Yet if the harm caused by leaving the offender unpunished is greater than the harm involved in punishment falling upon someone who committed no offense, the greater of the two harms is averted by accepting the lesser—just as “the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—bombarded the people of Tā'if with a catapult” (7), even though the catapult might strike women and children.