"We were in a Roman city, when a large column of Romans came out to us. So about the same number or more of the Muslims went towards them. The commander of the people of Egypt was 'Uqbah bin 'Amir, and the commenter of the (our) group was Fadalah bin 'Ubaid. One man among the Muslims reached the Roman line until he entered amidst them, so the people started screaming: 'Subhan Allah! He has thrown himself into destruction!' Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari said: 'O you people! You give this interpretation for this Ayah, while this Ayah was only revealed about us, the people among the Ansar, when Allah made Islam might, and increased its supporters. Some of us secretly said to each other, outside of the presence of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "Our wealth has been ruined, and Allah has strengthened Islam, and increased its supporters, so if we tend to our wealth then what we lost of it shall be revitalized for us." So Allah, Blessed and Most High, revealed to His Prophet (ﷺ), rebuking what we said: 'And spend in the cause of Allah, and do not throw yourselves into destruction. (2:195)' So the destruction was tending to the wealth and maintaining it.' Abu Ayyub did not cease traveling in Allah's cause, until he was buried in the land of the Romans."
Jami` at-Tirmidhi Book 47, Hadith 24
Yahya said from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that Bushayr ibn Yasar
informed him that Abdullah ibn Sahl al-Ansari and Muhayyisa ibn Masud
went out to Khaybar, and they separated on their various businesses
and Abdullah ibn Sahl was killed. Muhayyisa, and his brother Huwayyisa
and Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sahl went to the Prophet, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, and Abd ar-Rahman began to speak before his
brother. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "The older first, the older first.
Therefore
Huwayyisa and then Muhayyisa spoke and mentioned the affair of
Abdullah ibn Sahl. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, said to them, "Do you swear with fifty oaths and
claim the blood-money of your companion or the life of the murderer?"
They said, "Messenger of Allah, we did not see it and we were not
present." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "Will you acquit the jews for fifty oaths?' They said,
"Messenger of Allah, how can we accept the oaths of a people who are
kafirun?"
Yahya ibn Said said, "Bushayr ibn Yasar claimed
that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
paid the blood-money from his own property."
Malik said, "The
generally agreed on way of doing things in our community and that
which I heard from whoever I am content with, concerning the oath of
qasama, and upon which the past and present imams agree, is that those
who claim revenge begin with the oaths and swear. The oath for revenge
is only obligatory in two situations. Either the slain person says,
'My blood is against so-and-so,' or the relatives entitled to the
blood bring a partial proof of it that is not irrefutable against the
one who is the object of the blood-claim. This obliges taking an oath
on the part of those who claim the blood against those who are the
object of the blood-claim. With us, swearing is only obliged in these
two situations."
Malik said, "That is the sunna in which
there is no dispute with us and which is still the behaviour of the
people. The people who claim blood begin the swearings, whether it is
an intentional killing or an accident."
Malik said, "The
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began
with Banu Harith in the case of the killing of their kinsman murdered
at Khaybar."
Malik said, "If those who make the claim swear,
they deserve the blood of their kinsman and whoever they swear against
is slain. Only one man can be killed in the qasama. Two cannot be
killed in it. Fifty men from the blood-relatives must swear fifty
oaths. If their number is less or some of them draw back, they can
repeat their oaths, unless one of the relatives of the murdered man
who deserves blood and who is permitted to pardon it, draws back. If
one of these draws back, there is no way to revenge."
Yahya
said that Malik said, "The oaths can be made by those of them who
remain if one of them draws back who is not permitted to pardon. If
one of the blood-relatives draws back who is permitted to pardon, even
if he is only one, more oaths can not be made after that by the blood-
relatives. If that occurs, the oaths can be on behalf of the one
against whom the claim is made. So fifty of the men of his people
swear fifty oaths. If there are not fifty men, more oaths can be made
by those of them who already swore. If there is only the defendant, he
swears fifty oaths and is acquitted."
Yahya said that Malik
said, "One distinguishes between swearing for blood and oaths for
one's rights. When a man has a money-claim against another man, he
seeks to verify his due. When a man wants to kill another man, he does
not kill him in the midst of people. He keeps to a place away from
people. Had there only been swearing in cases where there is a clear
proof and had one acted in it as one acts about one's rights (i.e.
needing witnesses), the right of blood retribution would have been
lost and people would have been swift to take advantage of it when
they learned of the decision on it. However, the relatives of the
murdered man were allowed to initiate swearing so that people might
restrain themselves from blood and the murderer might beware lest he
was put into a situation like that (i.e. qasama) by the statement of
the murdered man.' "
Yahya said, "Malik said about a people
of whom a certain number are suspected of murder and the relatives of
the murdered man ask them to take oaths and they are numerous, so they
ask that each man swears fifty oaths on his own behalf. The oaths are
not divided out between them according to their number and they are
not acquitted unless each man among them swears fifty oaths on his own
behalf."
Malik said, "This is the best I have heard about the
matter."
He said, "Swearing goes to the paternal relatives of
the slain. They are the blood-relatives who swear against the killer
and by whose swearing he is killed."
Muwatta Malik Book 44, Hadith 2