An-Nu’man ibn Bashir: “Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children”
An-Nu'man ibn Bashir: "Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children"
An-Nu'man ibn Bashir: "Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children"
Years later, An-Nu'man ibn Bashir stood on the pulpit and told the people about something that had happened when he was a young boy — a gift from his father, and a lesson he never forgot.
In the first telling of the incident, An-Nu'man says:
"My father gave me a gift but `Amra bint Rawaha (my mother) said that she would not agree to it unless he made Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as a witness to it."
So his father went to the Prophet ﷺ and explained:
"I have given a gift to my son from `Amra bint Rawaha, but she ordered me to make you as a witness to it, O Allah's Messenger!"
The Prophet ﷺ did not simply witness the gift. He asked a question first:
"Have you given (the like of it) to everyone of your sons?"
The father answered that he had not. Then the Prophet ﷺ said:
> «فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ، وَاعْدِلُوا بَيْنَ أَوْلاَدِكُمْ»
"Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children."
And the result? An-Nu'man tells us himself:
"My father then returned and took back his gift."
The same incident is told again with its own details. In this telling, the mother asked the father for the gift, and he gave it after some hesitation. She still wanted the Prophet ﷺ as a witness, so the father held the young boy by the hand and took him along:
"He said to the Prophet, "His mother, bint Rawaha, requested me to give this boy a gift." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Do you have other sons besides him?" He said, "Yes." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Do not make me a witness for injustice.""
> «لاَ تُشْهِدْنِي عَلَى جَوْرٍ»
And Ash-Shu'bi's narration in the same record carries the words:
"I will not become a witness for injustice."
There is a third, shorter telling. In it, the gift itself is named — it was a slave:
"Narrated An-Nu`man bin Bashir: that his father took him to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said, "I have given this son of mine a slave." The Prophet asked, "Have you given all your sons the like?" He replied in the negative. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Take back your gift then.""
> «فَارْجِعْهُ»
Three tellings, one household, one small boy holding his father's hand — and a question from the Prophet ﷺ that changed everything: what about the other children?
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🌿 Stop and Think About This Scene
The father came only to ask for a witness. He did not expect to be questioned. Yet the Prophet ﷺ looked past the gift in front of him to the children who were not in the room, and asked about their rights. The gift was real, the father was generous, the mother was careful — and still something was missing, and the Prophet ﷺ saw it at once.
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❤️ The Greatest Lesson
In the words of the first telling: "Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children." Love for one child is not a reason to wrong another. Justice inside the home matters to Allah — enough that the Prophet ﷺ refused to witness an unfair gift.
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📚 Important Lessons From This Hadith
1. The Prophet ﷺ asked about all the children before witnessing a gift to one of them: "Have you given (the like of it) to everyone of your sons?"
2. Fairness between children is tied to fearing Allah: "Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children."
3. The Prophet ﷺ called the one-sided gift injustice and refused to witness it: "Do not make me a witness for injustice."
4. The father obeyed immediately and took the gift back: "My father then returned and took back his gift."
5. An-Nu'man's mother wanted the matter witnessed properly — a reminder to settle family gifts openly and clearly.
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🏠 How Can We Apply This Hadith in Our Daily Lives?
When we give our children gifts — money, a phone, a treat — we can pause and ask the Prophet's ﷺ question: have I given the like of it to the others? If one child needs something extra for a genuine reason, we can balance it fairly and explain with love, not favour one in secret. And when we are asked to approve something unfair, we can remember the words: "I will not become a witness for injustice."
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🌹 The Most Beautiful Message
A little boy walked in holding a gift and walked out holding a lesson the whole ummah still learns from. The Prophet ﷺ would not let any child be raised on favouritism. In his teaching there are no forgotten children — every son counts, every daughter counts, and justice begins at home.
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📖 Authentic Reference
Sahih al-Bukhari 2587 — Chapter: The witnesses for the gifts — Grade: Sahih — Sahih al-Bukhari 2587
Sahih al-Bukhari 2650 — Chapter: Do not be a witness for injustice, if asked for that — Grade: Sahih — Sahih al-Bukhari 2650
Sahih al-Bukhari 2586 — Chapter: Giving gifts to one's sons — Grade: Sahih — Sahih al-Bukhari 2586