Ali's judgment on the men who fell into a lion pit in Yemen

قضاء علي في الأربعة الذين تدافعوا عند زبية الأسد

631 CE · 10 AH

Yemen

While Ali was in Yemen, four men fell one upon another into a pit dug for a lion; the lion killed them, and their kin took up arms. Ali ruled that the first gets a quarter of the blood-money, the second a third, the third a half and the fourth the full diyya, and sent the parties to the Prophet ﷺ when they refused.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Arabia
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In time

620630640
The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate

Law and courtsCrime and punishment

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موجز

بينما كان علي في اليمن قضى في واقعة زبية الأسد: سقط أربعة رجال في حفرة حفرها قوم لصيد الأسد، فتعلق بعضهم ببعض، فجرحهم الأسد فماتوا، فأخرج أولياؤهم السلاح يريدون القتال 1.

الحكم

قضى علي بأن تُجمع الديات من قبائل الذين حفروا البئر، فللأول ربع الدية لأنه هلك من قومه، وللثاني ثلثها، وللثالث نصفها، وللرابع الدية كاملة 2. وقال لهم: «تريدون أن تتقاتلوا ورسول الله حي؟ إني أقضي بينكم قضاء، فإن رضيتم فهو القضاء، وإلا حجز بعضكم عن بعض حتى تأتوا النبي» 2.

ما لم يتضح

يذكر الكتاب أن القوم أبوا أن يرضوا فأتوا النبي، لكن الصفحة مشوشة في النسخة التي قرئت هنا، ولا يتضح منها الحكم النهائي 2.

السند

يروي الكتاب الخبر عن حنش عن علي من كتاب فضائل الصحابة، ويصفه بأن إسناده حسن 2.

ملاحظات للباحثين
  • يضع الكتاب الواقعة في باب ولاية علي باليمن تحت سنة 10هـ دون شهر.
  • الحكم بالتقسيط على أربعة أنصبة يعرضه الكتاب دون تفصيل فقهي مقارن.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Occurred at
Yemen
Part of
Ali ibn Abi Talib's expeditions to Yemen (twice)

People and things also explored

Ali's judgment on three men who lay with one woman in one purity· Ali ibn Abi Talib's expeditions to Yemen (twice)· The complaint of Ali's troops after Yemen and the Prophet's words: do not complain of Ali· Ali's counsel in Umar's judgments· Ali flogs the poet al-Najashi al-Harithi for drinking wine in Ramadan· Ali frees two men who each confessed to one killing and pays the diya from the treasury· Ali's rulings on the apostate and the zindiq, and the ways he killed them· Ali's judgment on a slap over a debased dirham in Kufa

Sources

  1. Asma al-Matalib fi Sirat Ali ibn Abi Talib, vol. 1 — Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi , p.114-115
  2. Asma al-Matalib fi Sirat Ali ibn Abi Talib, vol. 1 — Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi , p.115
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ali's judgment on the men who fell into a lion pit in Yemen”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/ali-judgment-lion-pit-yemen/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Ali's judgment on three men who lay with one woman in one purity

Three men lay with one woman in the same purity period in Yemen. Ali asked two at a time whether they claimed the child, and when neither would, he drew lots and gave the child to the one the lot named, with two-thirds of the diyya. The Prophet laughed and approved; the book notes that the men's act may have been before their Islam.