English Translation

It was narrated from Hanash bin al-Mu`tamir that `Hadrat Ali (may Allah be well pleased with him) was in Yemen and they dug a trap for a lion. One man came and fell into it; he grabbed onto another, who grabbed onto another, who grabbed onto another, until there were four of them. The lion wounded them, and some of them died in the pit and some of them were taken out and then died. They disputed about that until they took up arms (against one another). `Hadrat Ali (may Allah be well pleased with him) came to them and said: “Woe to you! Would you kill two hundred people for four men? Come and I will judge between you, if you accept it (all well and good), otherwise refer the matter to the Noble Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).” He ruled that one quarter of the diyah should be given for the first one, one third of the diyah for the second one, half of the diyah for the third one and the complete diyah for the fourth one. Some of them accepted it and some of them did not like it. And he imposed the diyah on the tribes of the people who had crowded one another in that place. So they referred the matter to the Noble Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). Bahz said: Hammad said: I think he said: He was reclining, then he sat up and said: “I shall judge between you.” Then he was told that Hadrat 'Ali (may Allah be well pleased with him) had issued such and such a verdict, and he approved of it, `Affan said: `I shall judge between you.”