(1) The reference here is to the words of Allah Most High: “And [remember] David and Solomon, when they rendered judgment concerning the field in which the people’s sheep had grazed at night; We were witness to their judgment. We gave Solomon understanding of the matter...” [Surah al-Anbiyā, 78–79]. In his commentary on these two verses, Ibn Kathīr cited what al-Tabarī narrated from Ibn Masʿūd and Ibn ʿAbbās. He then quoted a report transmitted by Ibn Abī Hātim through his chain from Masrūq, who said: “The field in which the sheep grazed at night was a vineyard. The sheep grazed there and ate every leaf and every bunch of grapes. The matter was brought before David, who awarded the sheep to the vineyard owners. Solomon said, ‘No. Rather, the sheep should be taken and handed over to the vineyard owners, so that they may have their milk and benefit from them. The vineyard should be handed over to the sheep owners, who must repair and tend it until it returns to the condition it was in on the night the sheep grazed there. The sheep should then be returned to their owners and the vineyard to its owners.’ This was likewise the view of Shurayh, Murra, Mujāhid, Qatāda, Ibn Zayd, and others.” Regarding the phrase “the people’s sheep grazed in it at night,” Ibn Qutayba states in *Tafsīr Gharīb al-Quran* (p. 287): “They grazed there at night.” (2) M: “the enclosed garden.” (3) The hadith is transmitted through Harām ibn Muhayyisa from his father, and through Harām ibn Muhayyisa from al-Barā ibn ʿĀzib—may Allah be pleased with him—and is found in: *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, 3/403–4 (Book of Sales and Leases, “Chapter: Livestock That Damage a People’s Crops,” hadith nos. 3569–70); *Sunan Ibn Mājah*, 2/781 (Book of Legal Judgments, “Chapter: The Ruling Concerning Damage Caused by Livestock”); and *al-Muwatta*, 2/747–48 (Book of Judgments, “Chapter: Judgments Concerning Harmful Animals and Livestock Guarded at Pasture”). The editor—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: ‘Mālik and the other students of Ibn Shihāb narrated it from him in this form as a *mursal* report. This hadith is among the *mursal* reports of trustworthy transmitters. The people of the Hijaz and a group of the people of Iraq received it with acceptance, and the practice of the people of Medina was based upon it.’ I say: Abū Dāwūd transmitted it with a continuous chain in ...” The hadith is also found in *al-Musnad* (al-Halabī ed.), 4/295; 5/435–36, 437.