A Muslim man was on his deathbed here in Daquqa and could not find any Muslims to witness his will, so he had two men from the People of the Book witness it.The two men came to Kufa, went to Abu Musa al-Ashari, and informed him of what had happened, bringing with them the deceased's estate and his will.Al-Ashari said, "This is a matter that has not occurred since the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."He then made them swear an oath after the afternoon prayer, by Allah, that they had not betrayed the trust, lied, altered anything, concealed anything, or changed anything, and that this was indeed the man's will and his estate. Then he upheld their testimony.
أن رجلا من المسلمين حضرته الوفاة بدقوقاء هذه، ولم يجد أحدا من المسلمين يشهده على وصيته. فأشهد رجلين من أهل الكتاب. فقدما الكوفة. فأتيا أبا موسى الأشعري فأخبراه. وقدما بتركته ووصيته. فقال الأشعري: هذا أمر لم يكن بعد الذي كان في عهد رسول الله ﷺ. فأحلفهما بعد العصر بالله ما خانا، ولا كذبا، ولا بدلا، كتما ولا غيرا، وإنها لوصية الرجل، وتركته. فأمضى شهادتهما.
Abu Dawud (3605) narrated it, and Bayhaqi (10/165) narrated it through his route, from Ziyad bin Ayub, who said, Hushaym narrated to us, Zakariya informed us, from Shaybi, and he mentioned it. Its isnad is sahih. Shaybi is Amir bin Shurahbil, who heard from a group of companions, and none of the scholars said that he did not hear from Abu Musa Ashari.Daqouqa, with a fatha on the plain dal, a damma on the qaf, and a maqsura alif, is a town between Baghdad and Irbil.Tirmidhi (3059) also narrated it, from Hasan bin Ahmad bin Abu Shuayb Harrani, who said, Muhammad bin Salama Harrani narrated to us, who said, Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated to us, from Abu Nadr, from Bazan, the freed slave of Umm Hani, from Ibn Abbas, from Tamim Dari, concerning this verse, "O you who believe, let there be witnessing among you when death approaches one of you" [Maidah 5:106].He said, No one is free of this except me and Adi bin Bada. We were both Christians who used to travel to Syria before Islam. We went to Syria for our trade, and a freed slave of Banu Sahm came to us, called Budayl bin Abu Maryam, with some merchandise, and with him was a silver cup which he intended for the king, and which was the main part of his merchandise. He fell ill and made a bequest to us, instructing us to deliver to his family what he left behind.Tamim said, When he died, we took that cup and sold it for a thousand dirhams, then Adi bin Bada and I divided it between us. When we came to his family, we handed over to them what we had with us, and they found the cup missing. They asked us about it, and we said, He left nothing but this, and he gave us nothing else.Tamim said, When I embraced Islam, after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had come to Madinah, I felt troubled about this, so I went to his family, told them what had happened, and paid them five hundred dirhams, informing them that my companion had a similar amount with him. They brought him before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who asked them for proof. They found none, so he ordered that he be made to swear an oath by whatever was held sacred among the people of his religion. He swore, and then Allah revealed, "O you who believe, let there be witnessing among you when death approaches one of you" [Maidah 5:106], up to His words, "or fear that other oaths will be taken after their oaths" [Maidah 5:108].Then Amr bin As and another man stood and swore an oath, and so the five hundred dirhams were taken back from Adi bin Bada.Tirmidhi said, This is an isolated hadith, and its isnad is not sahih. Abu Nadr, from whom Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated this hadith, is in my view Muhammad bin Saaib Kalbi, whose kunya was Abu Nadr. The scholars of hadith abandoned him, and he was the author of a tafsir. I heard Muhammad bin Ismail say, Muhammad bin Saaib Kalbi's kunya was Abu Nadr. We do not know of any narration from Salim Abu Nadr Madini from Abu Salih, the freed slave of Umm Hani. Something of this has been narrated from Ibn Abbas in brief form, through a different route.As for His saying, "or two others from outside you" [Maidah 5:106], it means from outside your religion. This is what Ahmad said, and it is the position of Abu Musa Ashari, Shurayh, Ibrahim Nakhai, Uzai, and others.Those who did not hold this view interpreted the verse to mean from outside your tribe, because it is usually the case in a bequest that the one making it calls upon his relatives and clan to witness it rather than strangers. Allah knows best.As for matters other than bequests, the position of the majority of scholars is that the testimony of non-Muslim subjects against a Muslim is invalid. As for the testimony of non-Muslim subjects against one another, it is permissible even if their religions differ.It has been narrated from Jabir bin Abdullah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ permitted the testimony of the People of the Book against one another. Ibn Majah (2374) narrated it, and its isnad includes Mujalid bin Saeed, who is daif.Some scholars said that the testimony of a Jew against a Christian, and the testimony of a Christian against a Jew, is not accepted, based on His words, "So We caused enmity and hatred between them" [Maidah 5:14].