802 – Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “It is not lawful for a Muslim man to give a gift and then take it back, except a father regarding what he gives his child.” Recorded by Aḥmad and the four Sunan compilers, and judged authentic by al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Ḥibbān, and al-Ḥākim. ⦗1⦘

Degree of authenticity
The ḥadith is ṣaḥīḥ (sound). Ibn Ḥajar states in At-Talḵīṣ that it was transmitted by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, Ibn Ḥibbān, and al-Ḥākim through the narration of Ṭāwūs from Ibn ʿAbbās. Al-Shāfiʿī also related it from Ṭāwūs as a mursal report and said, “Had its chain been connected, we would have followed it.” Ibn Ḥajar adds that al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Ḥibbān, and al-Ḥākim declared it authentic, and al-Dhahabī agreed with them.

Lessons drawn from the two ḥadiths
1 – It is forbidden to reclaim a gift or an act of charity. Doing so betrays a base disposition and moral meanness, proving that the giver’s heart is still attached to what he parted with and that he did not give it with an open, generous soul.
2 – The Prophet used an extremely repugnant and disgusting analogy—one that represents the height of ugliness, baseness, and vileness—in order to dissuade people from this contemptible trait.
3 – Islam calls to noble character and lofty qualities, and it warns against trivial and lowly matters; it is, therefore, a religion of perfection and elevation.
4 – The majority of scholars exclude from this prohibition the case of a father who takes back what he has given his child, for he