Ammar bin Shu'ayth bin Abdullah bin Zubayb (may Allah have mercy on him) said: My father narrated to me; he said: I heard my grandfather Zubayb (may Allah be pleased with him) say: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent an army towards Banu al-Anbar. They seized them at a well near al-Ta'if and drove them to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I rode and reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ahead of them, and greeted him with salam (and said): Your army came to us and seized us, although we had already become Muslims before that and had also clipped the ears of our livestock. When Banu al-Anbar arrived, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: "Do you have any proof that you had become Muslims before these days?" I said: Yes. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "What is your proof?" I said: Samurah, a man from Banu al-Anbar, and I named another man. The other man testified, but Samurah refused to testify. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "He has refused to testify; now will you swear an oath along with your (other) witness?" I said: Yes. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) asked me to take an oath, and I swore by Allah that we had become Muslims on such-and-such a day and had clipped the ears of our animals. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Go and divide their wealth with them by halves, and do not touch their children. Were it not that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, does not like effort to go to waste, we would not have taken from you even a hobbling rope." Zubayb (may Allah be pleased with him) said: My mother called me and said: This man has taken my rug. So I went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Hold him." So I seized him by his collar and stood with him in our place. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw the two of us standing and said: "What do you intend to do with your captive?" So I let him go from my hand. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up and said to the man: "Return to him his mother's rug that you took from her." He said: O Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it has gone out of my hands. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took the man's sword and gave it to me, and said (to a man): "Go and give him some sa' of grain." The narrator says: He gave me a few sa' of barley.
"Khadramna" (we clipped the ears): this was done to distinguish the property of a Muslim from that of a disbeliever.
Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: In this hadith an oath along with a witness is applied in matters other than property, except that its chain is not strong.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الشهادات / 20665