Explanation of the words of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "

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The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
These are three hadiths in the chapter on the prohibition of injustice and the obligation of returning injustices to their owners. The first is from Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

I am only a human being like you, and you bring your disputes to me. Perhaps some of you will be more eloquent in presenting his case than others, so I will rule in his favor based on what I hear. Whoever I rule in favor of regarding a right of his brother with something, I am only cutting off a piece of the Fire for him.

إنما أنا بشر مثلكم، وإنكم تختصمون إلي ولعل بعضكم أن يكون ألحن بحجته من بعض فأقضي له بنحو ما أسمع، فمن قضيت له من حق أخيه بشيء فإنما أقتطع له قطعة من النار

In this hadith, there is evidence that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) is a human being like us, not an angel from the angels. Rather, he is a human being to whom befalls what befalls humans by virtue of human nature. So he (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) gets hungry, gets thirsty, gets cold, gets hot, sleeps, wakes up, eats, drinks, remembers, forgets, knows, and is ignorant of some things, just like humans completely.

Ibrahim b. Suwaid-reported: 'Alqama led us in the noon prayer and be offered five rak'ahs; when the prayer was complete, the people said to him: Abu Shibl, you have offered five rak'ahs. He said: No, I have not done that. They said: Yes (you said five rak'ahs). He (the narrator) said: And I was sitting in a corner among people and I was just a boy. I (also) said: Yes, you have offered five (rak'ahs). He said to me: O, one-eyed, do you say the same thing? I said: Yes. Upon this he turned (his face) and performed two prostrations and then gave salutations, and then reported 'Abdullah as saying: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) led us in prayer and offered five rak'ahs. And as he turned away the people began to whisper amongst themselves. He (the Holy Prophet) said: What is the matter with you? They said: Has the prayer been extended? He said: No. They said: You have in fact said five rak'ahs. He (the Holy Prophet) then turned his back (and faced the Qibla) and performed two prostrations and then gave salutations and further said: Verily I am a human being like you, I forget just as you forget. Ibn Numair made this addition:" When any one of you forgets, he must perform two prostrations."

إنما أنا بشر مثلكم

Sahih Muslim 572j

And so Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded him to announce this to the people, saying:

Say, "I am only a man like you, to whom has been revealed that your god is one God.

قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُكُمْ يُوحَى إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَا إِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ

[Al-Kahf 18:110]

So he is not a god to be worshipped, nor a Lord who benefits and harms. Rather, he (peace and blessings be upon him) does not possess for himself any benefit or harm. And with this, all the doubts of those who cling to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), calling upon him, worshipping him, or hoping for him to remove harm or hoping for him to bring good, are cut off. For he (peace and blessings be upon him) does not possess that.

⁽²¹⁾ Say, "Indeed, I do not possess for you [the power of] harm or right direction." ⁽²²⁾ Say, "Indeed, there will never protect me from Allah anyone [if I should disobey], nor will I find in other than Him a refuge.

قُلْ إِنِّي لا أَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرّاً وَلا رَشَداً * قُلْ إِنِّي لَنْ يُجِيرَنِي مِنَ اللَّهِ أَحَدٌ وَلَنْ أَجِدَ مِنْ دُونِهِ مُلْتَحَداً

[Al-Jinn 72:21-22]

If Allah willed to strike me with evil, no one could protect me from it.

But [I have for you] only notification from Allah, and His messages

إلا بلاغاً من الله ورسالاته

[Al-Jinn 72:23]

And in His saying:

إنما أنا بشر مثلكم

Sahih Muslim 572j

is a preparation for His saying:

And you come to me to dispute

وإنكم تختصمون إلي

meaning, if I am a human being like you, then I do not know who among you is in the right and who is in the wrong.

you come to me to dispute

تختصمون إلي

Meaning: you bring your disputes to me, so some of you may be more eloquent than others, more eloquent in argument, meaning more articulate and stronger in speech. It is said: So-and-so is a debater, and so-and-so is one who argues, who is stronger than others in argument. As Allah the Exalted said:

so he said, 'Entrust her to me,' and he overpowered me in speech."

فَقَالَ أَكْفِلْنِيهَا وَعَزَّنِي فِي الْخِطَابِ

[Sad 38:23]

meaning, he overpowered me in speech and dispute. So here, “more eloquent” means clearer, more articulate, and more apparent. This is observed; you find two people bringing a case to a judge, one of them has a tongue, clarity, argument, and strength of debate, and the other is less so, even if the truth is with the latter. The judge rules in favor of the first. For this reason, he said:

I only judge based on what I hear

وإنما أقضي بنحو ما أسمع

And in his saying:

I judge based on what I hear

أقضي بنحو ما أسمع

there is a great leeway for judges that they are not burdened with anything that is hidden from them. They rule according to the evidence before them. If they err, they have a reward, and if they hit the mark, they have two rewards, and they are not burdened with anything beyond that. Rather, it is not permissible for them to rule contrary to the apparent, because if they ruled contrary to the apparent, that would lead to chaos, confusion, and suspicion, and it would be said that the judge ruled contrary to the apparent for some reason. For this reason, it is obligatory for the judge to rule by the apparent, and Allah (Mighty and Majestic) takes care of the hidden. So if a person claims a hundred riyals against another, and the claimant brings two witnesses, the judge must rule that the hundred is established in the liability of the defendant, even if he is in doubt about the witnesses. However, in the case of doubt, he must investigate. But if no apparent defect is found, he must rule, even if it is his strong suspicion that the matter is otherwise, due to his saying:

I only judge based on what I hear

إنما أقضي بنحو مما أسمع

But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) threatened the one who is ruled in favor of without right, saying:

If I cut off for him something from his brother's right, then I am only cutting off for him a piece of the Fire

فإن اقتطعت له شيئًا من حق أخيه فإنما أقتطع له جمرة من النار

meaning, the judge’s ruling does not make the forbidden permissible. The judge’s ruling does not make the forbidden permissible. So if the judges rule in favor of the one in the wrong based on the apparent claim, that does not make what he was ruled in favor of permissible for him. Rather, he increases in sin because he reached the falsehood through a false path, so he is greater [in sin] than the one who took it by other means. And in this hadith is a severe warning against the judge’s ruling other than what is before him of documents, no matter what the matter is, even if it is his closest relative. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed on whether it is permissible for the judge to rule by his knowledge or not? It was said: It is not permissible, because he said:

I only judge according to what I hear.

إنما أقضي بنحو ما أسمع

And because if he ruled by his knowledge, that would lead to suspicion, because knowledge is not something apparent that people know, so they would rule for him based on it. And some scholars said: Rather, he rules by his knowledge. And others said: Rather, he suspends [his ruling] if the evidence reaches what contradicts his knowledge. And the most correct is that he does not rule by his knowledge except in specific issues. These are when he rules by his knowledge based on the argument of the disputants in the court of judgment. For example, two people bring a case to him, and one of them admits the right, then during the deliberation and back-and-forth, he denies what he admitted first. Here, the judge may rule by his knowledge because it is his knowledge in the court of judgment. And the second is if the matter is well-known, such as it is well-known that this property, for example, was endowed for the Muslims for a year, and it is well-known among people, or it is well-known that it is the property of so-and-so. Here, he may rule by his knowledge because suspicion is absent in this case, and the judge is not suspected of anything, and no one can dare to rule by his knowledge while being wrong, based on the fact that it is a well-known matter. And this opinion is the correct detailed ruling in this. Otherwise, the obligation is that the judgment be according to the apparent, not according to the judge’s knowledge. But if something comes contrary to his knowledge, let him transfer the case to another judge, and he will be one of the witnesses. He will be a witness. For example, a person claims a hundred riyals against another, the defendant denies it, and the judge has knowledge of the establishment of the hundred on the defendant. He does not rule by his knowledge here, nor does he rule contrary to his knowledge. Rather, he says: I will transfer it to another judge, and I am a witness for you, O claimant. The case is transferred to another judge, and then this judge becomes a witness, and he rules by the oath of the claimant and the testimony of the judge. And success is from Allah.
The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) quoted “From Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

I am only a human being, and you people (opponents) come to me with your cases

إنما أنا بشر، وإنكم تختصمون إلي

Sahih al-Bukhari 7169

.”
And from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

A faithful believer remains at liberty regarding his religion unless he kills somebody unlawfully.

لن يزال المؤمن في فسحة من دينه ما لم يصب دماً حراماً

Sahih al-Bukhari 6862

Narrated by al-Bukhari.
And from Khawlah bint ‘Amir al-Ansariyyah, who is the wife of Hamzah (may Allah be pleased with them both), she said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:

Some people spend Allah's Wealth (i.e. Muslim's wealth) in an unjust manner; such people will be put in the (Hell) Fire on the Day of Resurrection.

إن رجالاً يتخوضون في مال الله بغير حق فلهم النار يوم القيامة

Sahih al-Bukhari 3118

Narrated by al-Bukhari.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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