Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 10975

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: Allah Almighty revealed this verse: "And whoever does not judge by what Allah Almighty has revealed, then it is they who are the disbelievers." (And then He said:) "It is they who are the wrongdoers." (And then He said:) "It is they who are the defiantly disobedient." The narrator says: Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) stated that Allah Almighty revealed these verses concerning two groups of the Jews. In the Days of Ignorance, one of these groups had overpowered the other; then it was agreed between them, and they made peace on the condition that for anyone killed by the dominant group, the blood money would be fifty wasq, and for anyone killed by the subdued group, the blood money would be one hundred wasq. They kept to this until the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Madinah. At the arrival of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), both groups were in this same situation, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had not yet gained authority over them as a state; they were living through the period of the truce. During this time a man of the lesser group killed a man of the dominant group, so the dominant group sent a message to the lesser group: "Send us one hundred wasq." The weaker group said: "Can there ever be any good in this, when the people of both sides have one religion, one lineage and one city, that the blood money of one of them should be half the blood money of the other? We only gave you this because we wanted to protect ourselves from you and were afraid of you. Now that Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has come, we will not pay you this." War was about to break out between these groups when they agreed to make the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the arbiter between them. Then the dominant group mentioned this and said: "By Allah! Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) will not give you from them double what he gives them from you. And these people have spoken rightly that they did that because of our dominance and their fear. So you should send someone to Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) who will tell you what his opinion is. If he gives the ruling you want, then make him the arbiter; and if he does not give you that ruling, then keep away from it and do not make him the arbiter." They sent some hypocrites to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) so that those hypocrites could tell them the opinion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When that person came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah Almighty informed His Messenger of their whole affair and of their intention, and concerning this Allah Almighty revealed this verse: "O Messenger! Let not those who hasten into disbelief grieve you; these are the people who said: 'We believe,' saying it with their mouths." This verse continues up to this saying of Allah Almighty: "And whoever does not judge by what Allah Almighty has revealed, then it is they who are the defiantly disobedient." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said about these two groups: "By Allah! The ruling has been revealed, and it is these very people whom Allah Almighty meant."
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Abu Dawud recorded part of this report.
Ahmad recorded it, and al-Tabarani recorded something similar. Its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Rahman bin Abi al-Zinad, who is da'if (weak), though he has been declared trustworthy; the rest of Ahmad's narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).