Thus, since they had colluded over them, it was possible for them to agree upon falsehood concerning them.

A large group of people may agree in denying matters known by necessity through collusion: either through deliberate lying(1) or through an error in belief. But for them to agree in denying matters known by necessity without(2) either of these is impossible(3).

[Section: The Means by Which a Transmitted Report Is Known to Be False]

A Section

On the means by which a transmitted report is known to be false.

One such means is that something is transmitted which contradicts what is known through recurrent and widespread transmission. For example, we know that Musaylimah the Liar claimed prophethood and was followed by many groups from Banū Hanīfah, who thereby became apostates because they believed in this lying pretender to prophethood; that Abū Lu’lu’ah, Umar’s killer, was a Zoroastrian unbeliever; that Abū al-Hurmuzān was a Zoroastrian who embraced Islam; that Abū Bakr led the people in prayer throughout the illness of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and stood in for him as their imam because of his illness; and that Abū Bakr (4) and Umar were buried in Aishah’s chamber together with the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The same applies to what is known about the Prophet’s military campaigns—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in which fighting occurred, such as Badr, then Uhud, then the Trench, then Khaybar, then the conquest of Mecca, and then the campaign of al-Tā’if; those in which no fighting occurred, such as the expedition to Tabūk and others; and the portions of the Quran that were revealed