720 – ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed the briber and the one who takes the bribe.” Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, who declared it sound (1).

Authenticity:
The hadith is ṣaḥīḥ. Al-Talḵīṣ records that it was also transmitted by al-Ṭabarānī and that al-Nasāʾī regarded it as strong. Al-Ḥākim narrated it as marfūʿ through ʿAṭāʾ from Ibn ʿAbbās, saying, “Its chain is sound,” and al-Dhahabī concurred. Al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan, while al-Haythamī said, “Its narrators are trustworthy.” Imām Aḥmad added in his Musnad: “and the middleman (al-rāʾish).” Al-Ḥāfiẓ noted that it has supporting reports from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, Abū Hurayrah, Thawbān, ʿĀʾishah, and Umm Salamah.

Vocabulary:
• al-rāshī: the person who offers money in order to annul a rightful claim or obtain something illegitimate; derived from rashā, the rope lowered into a well to draw water.
• al-rishwah (bribe): with either a kasrah or a ḍammah on the rāʾ; one says rashā yarshū rashwan, “he gave a bribe.” It is money paid to achieve something unlawful.
• al-murtashī: the recipient of the bribe, namely the judge or official.
• al-rāʾish: the intermediary who conveys the bribe from giver to taker.