770 – ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr said: A man from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ related, “Two men brought a dispute before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ over a piece of land. One of them had planted date-palms in it, while the land belonged to the other. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ruled that the land was to go to its owner, ordered the one who had planted the palms to remove them, and said, ‘A wrongful root has no right.’” Abū Dāwūd transmitted the report, and its chain of transmission is sound (ḥasan). The closing words are also found in the Sunan collections through the route of ʿUrwa from Saʿīd ibn Zayd. Scholars have differed over whether the report is connected or mursal and over the identity of the Companion involved. (1)
Hadith grading:
The ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ (authentic).
Al-Ḥāfiẓ stated in al-Talkhīṣ: It was narrated by al-Nasāʾī and al-Tirmidhī; al-Tirmidhī judged it defective because of its being mursal, and al-Dāraqutnī likewise preferred the mursal version. Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī also narrated it from ʿĀʾisha, but that chain contains Zamʿa, who is weak. Ibn Abī Shayba reported it through Kathīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf, from his father, from his grandfather, and al-Bukhārī cited it in suspended form, saying, “It is reported from ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf.” The ḥadīth, however, is strengthened by multiple routes: it is narrated from Saʿīd ibn Zayd, ʿĀʾisha, Samura ibn Jundab, ʿUbāda ibn al-Ṣāmit, an unnamed Companion, and others.
- The narration of Saʿīd: Abū Dāwūd—and after him al-Bayhaqī—recorded it, as did al-Tirmidhī, who said, “A ḥasan gharīb ḥadīth.” This chain is connected: Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, from his father, from Saʿīd ibn Zayd, from the Prophet ﷺ.