Mukhtasar Muslim

´Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that` he (peace be upon him) said: Two women were walking with their children when a wolf came and took away the child of one of them. One said to the other, "It took your son." The other said, "It took your son." Eventually, both came to Sayyiduna Dawud (peace be upon him) for judgment. He gave the child to the elder woman (perhaps because the child resembled her, or in their law preference was given to the elder in such a case, or the child was in her hands). Then both came to Sayyiduna Sulaiman (peace be upon him) and related the whole matter to him. He said, "Bring me a knife so that I may cut the child into two pieces and give each of you a part." (The intention was not to actually cut the child, but to discover the real mother.) So the younger woman said, "May Allah have mercy on you, do not do so; he is the son of the elder." Sayyiduna Sulaiman (peace be upon him) then gave the child to the younger woman. (Thus, Sayyiduna Sulaiman (peace be upon him) gave a ruling contrary to Sayyiduna Dawud (peace be upon him), because both were mujtahids and prophets, and it is permissible for one mujtahid to differ from another. In ijtihadi matters, it is not correct to break a ruling, but perhaps Sayyiduna Dawud (peace be upon him) had not finalized the judgment, or it was only in the form of a fatwa.) Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: In this hadith, I heard the word "sikkeen" (knife) for the first time that day, otherwise we used to say "madiyah."