787 – Abu Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever hires a laborer must specify for him his wage.” It was transmitted by ʿAbd al-Razzāq, whose chain contains a break, and al-Bayhaqī supplied a connected chain through Abū Ḥanīfah (1).

• Degree of the hadith:
  The report is weak. In al-Talkhīs it is stated: al-Bayhaqī narrated it from Abū Hurayrah, and he also narrated it through Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī from Abū Saʿīd, but that chain is broken. It appears with Aḥmad and Abū Dāwūd among the mursal reports via another route, and with al-Nasāʾī but not traced back to the Prophet. End quote. Abū Zurʿah said: The mawqūf version is the sound one. Nonetheless, scholarly consensus affirms that the consideration in a hire contract must be known.

• Vocabulary of the hadith:
  – “fa-liyusamm” (“let him specify”): derived from tasmiya, meaning he must determine and clarify the wage so that it is not unknown, thereby preventing dispute and litigation. In some copies of Subul al-Salām it reads “fa-liyutim” (“let him complete”) his wage, i.e., let him give it in full without any deduction.

• Lessons derived from the hadith:
  1 – The hadith indicates the obligation to know the exact wage, for ignorance of it between employer and employee leads to dispute and strife, which Islam forbids.
  2 – Just as the wage must be known, the benefit stipulated in the contract must likewise be known, for it is one of the two exchanged considerations; therefore, knowledge of it is a prerequisite.