English Translation

Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami and Abu Bakr ibn al-Harith informed us: Ali ibn Umar al-Hafiz narrated to us: Abu Bakr al-Naysaburi narrated to us: Bahr ibn Nasr narrated to us: Ibn Wahb narrated to us: Ibn Lahi'ah and Yahya ibn Ayyub informed me from Aqil ibn Khalid that Sa'id ibn Sulayman ibn Zayd ibn Thabit narrated from his father from his grandfather Zayd ibn Thabit that Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) sought permission to visit him one day. He permitted him entry while his head was being combed by his slave girl. He pulled his head away. Umar said: 'Let her comb your hair.' He said: 'O Commander of the Faithful, had you sent for me, I would have come to you.' Umar said: 'The need is mine. I came to you to examine the matter of the grandfather.' Zayd said: 'No, by Allah, what does he say about it?' Umar said: 'It is not revelation that we must increase or decrease. It is merely our opinion. If your opinion agrees with mine, you follow it; otherwise, there is no obligation upon you.' Zayd refused, so Umar left angry, saying: 'I came to you thinking you would resolve my need.' Then he visited him again at the same time, and kept pressing him until Zayd said: 'I will write it down for you.' He wrote it on a piece of saddle and gave the analogy of a tree that grew on a single trunk, from which a branch emerged, and from that branch another branch grew. The trunk waters the branch. If the first branch is cut, the water returns to the second branch; and if the second is cut, the water returns to the first. He brought this to Umar, who addressed the people and read the piece of saddle to them, then said: 'Zayd ibn Thabit has given a ruling about the grandfather, and I have implemented it.' He said this was the first grandfather case, where Umar had wanted to take all the wealth of his grandson's inheritance excluding the siblings, but Umar then divided it.