The old man said: O’ Prophet of God!

The old man said: O’ Prophet of God! This youth entered my garden, spoilt my trees and ate my grapes without my permission. Turning to the youth, Dawood (peace be upon him) questioned: What do you have to say? The youth confessed to having done so without the old man’s permission. At that moment God revealed to Dawood (peace be upon him): If you were to pass judgment according to the ruling of the hereafter, the Bani Israel would never accept it; (for) O’ Dawood!

This garden belongs to the father of this youth. This old man had entered the garden, killed the youth’s father and stole forty thousand dirhams that belonged to them, which he has buried in the corner of the garden. So hand a sword to the youth and ask him to behead the old man as retaliation for the murder of his father, then hand over the garden to him and ask him to dig the garden at such and such location and extract the property which belongs to him.

Prophet Dawood (peace be upon him) proceeded to execute the judgment as commanded to him by God, the Exalted.[^5] The Jew and the Imam in the Presence of the Judge Imam Ali (peace be upon him) had been sitting in the mosque of Kufah when Abdullah Ibn Qufl, a Jew belonging to the tribe of Tameem, passed by him (peace be upon him) carrying a coat of mail.

As soon as the Imam’s (peace be upon him) eyes fell upon the coat of mail, he exclaimed: This belonged to Talhah Ibn Abdullah and had come into my possession as my share of the booty in the battle of Basrah. This is treachery (on the part of the Jew). The Jew agreed to accompany the Imam (peace be upon him) before the judge, who in reality had been appointed by the Imam (peace be upon him) himself.

Both of them approached the judge whose name was Shuraih.[^6] When the Imam (peace be upon him) put forth his claim, Shuraih said: Present witnesses to testify and corroborate your claim.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him) brought his son Hasan (peace be upon him) as his witness, but Shuraih said: The testimony of one person is not sufficient (according to one narration, he refused to accept the testimony of a son in favour of his father).[^7] The Imam (peace be upon him) then presented his slave Qanbar as his witness but Shuraih said: I shall not issue a verdict based upon the testimony of a slave.