810 – Ibn ʿUmar reports that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever gives a gift retains the strongest claim to it so long as he has not yet been recompensed for it.” Al-Ḥākim narrated the report and declared it sound, yet the version that is reliably preserved from Ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of ʿUmar, stops at ʿUmar’s own statement. (1)

Grade of the report
The report is sound as a mawqūf statement of ʿUmar. Ibn Ḥajar says in al-Talkhīṣ: “It is related from ʿUmar, and it is also related as a marfūʿ report, but the latter is a mistake.” Al-Ḥākim and Ibn Ḥazm nevertheless judged the marfūʿ wording authentic.

Mālik records the mawqūf version in the Muwaṭṭaʾ (2/754) with an authentic chain: “Whoever gives a gift out of kinship ties or as an act of charity may not take it back; but whoever gives a gift intending recompense remains the owner of his gift and may reclaim it if he is not satisfied with the return.”

Vocabulary
• “Whoever gives a gift” (wahaba hiba): the verb wahaba—forms yahabu, hiba, wahban—means to transfer something without compensation. The noun hiba (gift) originally began with a wāw; when the wāw was dropped, the hāʾ was inserted to compensate. In legal usage it signifies transferring ownership of property without consideration.

Points derived from the report
1 – It was mentioned earlier that gifts are of two kinds:
The first is a gift offered purely for reward in the Hereafter while also seeking affection and harmony, as in the ḥadith: “Exchange gifts and you will love one another.” This is the basic type of gift; once the recipient has taken possession of it, the giver is not permitted to take it back.