He said...

He said: "Praise be to God Who has created among us, the family (ahl al-bayt), one who can judge according to the practice and method of David in judging." In that he was referring to judgement according to inspiration (ilham) which would have been taken in the sense of revelation (wahy) and the sending down of a text for it if there had been any explanation of such (an occurrence ever having taken place).

Among the cases brought before him, peace be on him, while he was in Yemen, is the report of (the case in which) a pit was dug for a lion. It fell into it and the people gathered round to look at it. One man was standing on the edge of the pit. His foot slipped and he hung on to another man. That man hung on to a third, and the third to a fourth. They all fell into the pit and were all killed.

He, peace be on him, gave the judgement that the first was the prey of the lion and he (and his family) were responsible for the payment of a third of the blood-price for the second. Similarly the second (and his family) were responsible for the payment of a…