Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: There were two women, each of them had a son. A wolf came and took away one of the sons. So both women came to Dawud (peace be upon him) for judgment. He decided in favor of the elder woman regarding the child. Then both of them left. Sulaiman (peace be upon him) called them and said: Bring me a knife so that I may divide this child between these two women. Upon hearing this, the younger woman said: May Allah have mercy on you, he is the son of the elder woman, do not cut him, give him to her. Hearing this, Sulaiman (peace be upon him) decided in her favor. Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah! That day we learned that a knife is also called "sikkeen"; we used to call it "mudiyyah".
Hadith Referenceالفتح الربانی / بيان قصص أنبياء الله عليهم السلام / 10404
Hadith Gradingمحدثین:صحیح
Hadith Takhrij«أخرجه البخاري: 3427، 6769، ومسلم: 1720، (انظر مسند أحمد ترقيم الرسالة: 8280 ترقیم بيت الأفكار الدولية: 8263»
Brief Explanation
Benefits: … SubhanAllah! What wisdom Sulayman (alayhis salam) possessed. At this point, there is no room for the question as to why Dawud (alayhis salam) ruled in favor of the elder woman and why Sulayman (alayhis salam) changed that decision. This is because Dawud (alayhis salam) must have ruled in favor of the elder woman based on certain indications and causes, and in light of predominant conjecture (zann ghalib), he must have considered that to be the truth. However, in the light of his Shari‘ah, there would have been scope for Sulayman (alayhis salam) to judge the matter anew, and thus he (alayhis salam) employed an excellent stratagem, through which the reality of the matter became clear. Consider the following hadith:
It is narrated from the wife of the Messenger, Sayyidah Umm Salamah (radi Allahu anha), that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) heard the sound of a dispute at the door of his chamber. So he (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) came to them and said: “Indeed, I am only a human being, and the disputants come to me. It may be that one of you is more eloquent than the other, so I think him to be truthful and thus I judge in his favor. So, if I judge in favor of someone for a right belonging to a Muslim, then it is only a piece of the Fire; let him take it or leave it.” (Sahih Bukhari: 2278, Sahih Muslim: 3231)
From this blessed hadith, it is understood that it is possible that the actual reality of the case may remain hidden from you (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), because you (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) are to judge based on apparent evidence and indications.