His uncle, who was one of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, narrated to him that the Prophet ﷺ bought a horse from an Arabi. The Prophet ﷺ asked him to follow him so he could pay him the price of the horse. The Prophet ﷺ walked quickly, while the Arabi lagged behind. Some men began stopping the Arabi and bargaining with him over the horse, not realizing that the Prophet ﷺ had already purchased it. The Arabi then called out to the Messenger of Allah, saying, "If you want to buy this horse, do so. Otherwise, I will sell it to someone else."When the Prophet ﷺ heard the Arabi's call, he stood up and said, "Have I not already bought it from you?"The Arabi replied, "No, by Allah, I did not sell it to you."The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes indeed, I have bought it from you."The Arabi began saying, "Bring forward a witness."Khuzayma bin Thabit said, "I bear witness that you sold it to him."The Prophet ﷺ turned to Khuzayma and asked, "On what basis do you bear witness?"He replied, "On the basis of believing you, Messenger of Allah."So the Prophet ﷺ made the testimony of Khuzayma equal to the testimony of two men.
أن عمه حدثه، وهو من أصحاب النبي ﷺ أن النبي ﷺ ابتاع فرسا من أعرابي، فاستتبعه النبي ﷺ ليقضيه ثمن فرسه، وأسرع النبي ﷺ المشي، وأبطأ الأعرابي، فطفق رجال يعترضون الأعرابي فيساومونه بالفرس، ولا يشعرون أن النبي ﷺ ابتاعه، فنادى الأعرابي رسول الله ﷺ فقال: إن كنت مبتاعا هذا الفرس، وإلا بعثه. فقام النبي ﷺ حين سمع نداء الأعرابي فقال: أوليس قد ابتعته منك؟ قال الأعرابي: لا، والله ما بعتك. فقال النبي ﷺ: بلى قد ابتعته منك فطفق الأعرابي يقول: هلم شهيدا. فقال خزيمة بن ثابت: أنا أشهد أنك قد بايعته. فأقبل النبي ﷺ على خزيمة فقال: بم تشهد؟ فقال: بتصديقك يا رسول الله. فجعل النبي ﷺ شهادة خزيمة بشهادة رجلين.
Narrated by Abu Dawud (3607), Nasai (4647), Ahmad (21883), Hakim (2/17-18), and Bayhaqi (10/145-146), all through various routes from Zuhri, who was informed by Umara bin Khuzayma, and he related it. Hakim said, "This is a hadith sahih in its chain of transmission, and its narrators are the narrators of the two sahihs, all trustworthy. Umara bin Khuzayma also heard this hadith from his father."Something of similar meaning has come from Anas bin Malik, who said, the two tribes of the Ansar, Aws and Khazraj, boasted against one another. Aws said, "We have four men the like of whom you do not have among you. Among us is one whom the bees protected, Aasim bin Thabit bin Abu Al-Aqlah. Among us is one whose testimony was accepted as equal to the testimony of two men, Khuzayma bin Thabit. Among us is one washed by the angels, Hanzala bin Rahib. And among us is one for whom the Throne shook, Saad bin Muaz."The Khazraj said, "Among us are four who collected the Quran, and no one else shared that with them, Muaz bin Jabal, Ubayy bin Kaab, Zayd bin Thabit, and Abu Zayd." Anas was then asked, "Who is Abu Zayd?" He said, "One of my paternal uncles."This was narrated by Abu Yaala (2953) and Bazzar in Kashf Astar (2802), both from the hadith of Abdul-Wahhab bin Ata, who said, Saeed narrated to us, from Qatada, from Anas, and he related it. The wording given is that of Bazzar, and its chain of transmission is sahih. Haythami said in Majma (10/41), "Its narrators are the narrators of the sahih."In this hadith is evidence that this special distinction belonged to Khuzayma bin Thabit alone, and no one else can be compared to him in this regard, no matter how great their truthfulness and trustworthiness. Nor can it be used as a basis for the analogy that a judge may rule based on his own knowledge and on the testimony of a single witness, as the Prophet ﷺ ruled in that case, for he was truthful and righteous in his claim.