One day a Nabi passed a stream. He performed wudu’ in the stream and ascended a nearby hill to pray namaaz. He saw that a man mounted on horseback approached the stream and drank from it. The man then turned around and left, but forgot a bag full of dirhams.
After he left, a shepherd came by. Hetook the bag of dirhams and went away. Soon after, a frail andaged man, burdened with a load of wood on his shoulders came to the stream and stayed backfor some rest. Seeing this, the Nabi felt that had the bag of money been found by this old man, it would have been much more appropriate.
As he was contemplating this, the horseman returned and began to demand the bag of money from the old man. He denied taking the money, but the rider remained adamant, and ultimately killed the elderly man in his anger.
The Nabi was completely taken aback by this turn of events. “Oh Allah” he beseeched, “Please enlighten me, what is your wisdom in this incident and where is your justice in all this?”
Whereupon Allah Ta´ala revealed to him, ‘Many yearsago, the father of this old man had killed the horseman’s father. Similarly,the shepherd’s father was owed this exact amount of dirhamsby the horseman’s father. Due to this series of events, all debts were paid, and qisaas (retribution) was meted out. Indeed Allah Ta´ala is the most just