All in all, although this wording is unusual, the abundance of its supporting chains lends it considerable strength, and Allah knows best. For that reason al-Manāwī said in Fayḍ al-Qadīr: “In short, all of its routes contain someone who is weak or abandoned, yet when combined they raise the report to the rank of ḥasan.”

Glossary of the ḥadīth:
– “Before his sweat dries”: this is not meant literally; rather, it is an exhortation to hasten in giving him the wage that corresponds to his labor and exertion.
– “His sweat”: the verb ʿariqa/yaʿraqu ʿaraqan (Form I) means that a man’s skin perspires; such a man is described as ʿarqān. The noun ʿaraq (with two fathas) is the moisture that oozes from the skin’s pores through specialized glands.

Points derived from the ḥadīth:
1 – It is obligatory to pay a hired worker his wage once he has completed the task for which he was engaged.
2 – One must hurry to pay him, for he worked only because he needs the wage and his soul yearns to receive the compensation for his effort. Delaying his due is one of the most serious forms of procrastination and among the worst kinds of injustice.
3 – The ḥadīth allows the use of emphatic language to encourage good deeds or deter evil, a style found in many texts.
4 – Withholding a worker’s wage incurs Allah’s anger to the point that He Himself becomes the adversary of the one who hires a laborer, takes full benefit from him, yet fails to pay him, as stated in the previously cited ḥadīth.
5 – Paying wages is part of fulfilling covenants and contracts; Allah the Exalted says, “O you who believe, fulfil your contracts” (Q 5:1). It is also a facet of the trust that Allah commands us to discharge in His words, “Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due” (Q 4:58).
6 – Allah, exalted is He, has commanded the giving of rights and forbidden devouring people’s wealth unjustly, but He—