765 – ʿYaʿlā ibn Umayyah (may Allah be pleased with him) related: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me, ‘When my emissaries come to you, give them thirty coats of mail.’ I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, is this a loan for which I am financially liable, or a loan that will simply be returned?’ He replied, ‘Rather, it is a loan that will be returned.’ ” It was recorded by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it authentic. (1)
Degree of authenticity
The ḥadīth is sound when all of its transmission lines are considered together.
Al-Takhlīṣ states: Abū Dāwūd transmitted it through the narration of Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah. It was also reported by Aḥmad, al-Nasāʾī and al-Ḥākim, who supplied a supporting narration from Ibn ʿAbbās with the wording: “Rather, it is a loan that will be returned.” Al-Bayhaqī transmitted it from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad on the authority of Umayyah ibn Ṣafwān in mursal form, and al-Ḥākim narrated it from Jābir.
Ibn Ḥazm and Ibn al-Qaṭṭān considered the chains defective; Ibn Ḥazm added: “The best of them is the report of Yaʿlā ibn Umayyah,” meaning the one preserved by Abū Dāwūd.
Additional reports exist: one from Ibn ʿUmar with al-Bazzār, which is weak, and another from Anas with al-Ṭabarānī, likewise weak.
I say: al-Albānī collected and arranged the various chains and concluded, “The isnād is irregular, yet the ḥadīth is supported by two corroborating narrations.
- From Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, transmitted by al-Ḥākim, who graded its chain authentic, a judgment with which al-Dhahabī agreed.
- From Ibn ʿAbbās; al-Ḥākim also graded its chain authentic, and al-Dhahabī concurred.”