The Key of the Kaʿbah, and a Judgement for a Jew

From verse 60 — this was revealed on account of a specific incident, a very interesting and very telling one. As said, the whole thrust is that Islam speaks of fairness and balance, whoever the party may be. If there is a case between a Muslim and a non-Muslim, and the Muslim is in the wrong, judgement must be given for the non-Muslim. That is exactly what happened here.

There is a famous story concerning ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah. His family, and ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah in particular, held charge of the key of the Kaʿbah, a very prestigious position: one family was in charge of the water, another of the ḥujjāj, and one of the key. He was not a Muslim at the conquest, at the taking of Makkah; he was not a Muslim. Initially the key had been taken from him — some of the soldiers, some of the Muslims, had taken it from him. But the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: no, give it back to him; that is their right. Give it to them. And subḥān Allāh, on seeing this justice, ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) became a Muslim. He became a Muslim.

There is another story here: a Muslim in name — in reality a munāfiq, a hypocrite — had a case against a Jewish man, a Jew of Madīnah Munawwarah. They brought their case to the Prophet (peace be upon him), and the Prophet (peace be upon him), in his justice, ruled in favour of the Jewish man — not because the other was a munāfiq, but because the truth lay with the Jewish man. This man claimed to be a Muslim and the other was a Jew; yet he gave judgement to the Jew, because it was his right. This naturally began to create a great stir, for the munāfiq would seize on anything to spread rumours.

What happened was that this munāfiq then went to the house of ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) and said to him: I want you to judge between us; I have a case. ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), not knowing that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had already given judgement, said: what is the case? What is the story? He was about to relate it when the Jewish man said: yā ʿUmar, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has already judged between us, in my favour. ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: wait. He went into his house — he had been outside; he went into his house — brought out a sword, and finished the man off. Not the Jew: the munāfiq, the one who called himself a Muslim.

At first sight it appears haphazard, arbitrary. In those days, however, taking a man's head off was no great matter. That does not justify it; but they carried their swords almost everywhere, and were in constant skirmishes. Life was cheap in many cases. Islam came to do away with that. The justification here — and anyone reading it for the first time may ask: how do you do that? — is that this person, according to Islam, like anyone who goes against the command of the Prophet (peace be upon him), especially before his face and in that manner, had thereby apostatised; and apostasy carries the penalty of death. That is exactly what ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) did in that case. It is not something one does at home here. It was something done in Madīnah Munawwarah, in a very particular way, and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) knew what he was about.