Trusted Testimony?!
I’m reading through the Qu’ran one last time this year and wanted to follow along with a Tafsir. I discovered Quran Garden which was just the sort of thing I was looking for. Something was said early in the course which I found jaw-dropping:
Historically, as the Quran was being collected and written down in its book form, two rules were implemented for writing down each verse. The first rule required that two people who had memorized the verse were present, and the second rule required that the verse was also found written down by one of the Prophet’s companions. These two conditions were met for each and every verse in the Quran except for one. This one verse was found written down; however, it was only memorized by one companion. So, according to the rules, this verse should have been excluded from the Book.
But here comes an incident that shows the wisdom and mercy of God Almighty. This particular verse was memorized by a man named خزيمة (Khuzaima), and no one else. The scribe who was writing down the Quran remembered that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, “Whomever Khuzaima testified for, it should suffice.” The Prophet had given Khuzaima’s testimony the weight of two testimonies. This was based on an event that happened while he, peace be upon him, was alive. The Prophet had borrowed money from a man and then repaid him the debt. After some time, the man came back to the Prophet asking for his money back. The Prophet told the man that he had already repaid him the debt in full. So this man asked the Prophet to bring forward a witness who saw the transaction. However, no one was with the Prophet at the time he repaid the debt. This is when Khuzaima came forward and said, “I was present when the Prophet repaid you the money.” After the man left, the Prophet turned to Khuzaima and said, “I know you were not present when I repaid my debt, no one was there. How could you say that you were with me?” Khuzaima looked at the Prophet and said, “How can I believe you in all the revelations you brought from the heavens, and then disbelieve you about a few coins?” Khuzaima, through his wisdom, saw that the Prophet, the most honest and truthful man he knew, could not be dishonest about a small worldly matter when he was honest in delivering God’s message. When the Prophet saw Khuzaima’s deep understanding and belief, he was delighted and said, “Whomever Khuzaima testified for, it should suffice.”
This is bizarre logic! Muhammad declared Khuzaima to always offer trustworthy testimony because he knew for a fact that he was a liar!
