‘Alqama b. Wa’il told on his father’s authority that a man from Hadramaut and man from Kinda came to the Prophet, the Hadrami saying, ‘‘Messenger of God, this man has seized land belonging to me,” and the Kindi saying, “It is my land and in my possession; he has no right to it.” The Prophet asked the Hadrami if he had any proof, but he replied that he had none, so he told him that he could have the other swear an oath. He replied, “Messenger of God, the man is a reprobate who would swear to anything and stick at nothing,” but he told him that that was his only recourse. The man went off to take an oath, and when he turned his back God’s Messenger said, “If he swears about his property to take it unjustly he will certainly find God turning away from him when he meets Him.”
Umm Salama reported God’s Messenger as saying, “I am only a human being and you bring your disputes to me, some perhaps being more eloquent in their plea than others, so that I give judgment on their behalf according to what I hear from them. Therefore whatever I decide for anyone which by right belongs to his brother he must not take, for I am granting him only a portion of hell.”
