Muwatta 2104

Malik transmits from Yahya ibn Said, from Said ibn al-Musayyab, that a Muslim and a Jew disputed before Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him). Umar judged that the right was with the Jew, and ruled for him. The Jew said: by God, you have judged with the truth. Umar struck him with his whip, then said: how do you know? The Jew said: we find that there is no judge who judges with the truth except that on his right is an angel and on his left an angel, guiding him and giving him success in the truth as long as he is with the truth; when he abandons the truth, they leave him. The editor notes Ibn Abd al-Barr's remark that prophets know the unseen only what they are told of it. ¹

Belongs to the Muwatta, Book of Judgments. Source: the Muwatta. Mentions Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi, Malik ibn Anas, Yahya ibn Said al-Ansari, Said ibn al-Musayyab, Umar ibn al-Khattab. Built on in the chapters on judgment (qada).