1000 – Bahz ibn Ḥakīm narrated, from his father, from his grandfather (may Allah be pleased with him): “I asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, whom should I treat with the greatest dutifulness?’ He replied, ‘Your mother.’ I said, ‘Then who?’ He answered, ‘Your mother.’ I said, ‘Then who?’ He replied, ‘Your mother.’ I said, ‘Then who?’ He said, ‘Your father; then the nearest of kin, and then the next nearest.’” It was recorded by Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan (sound). ⦗1⦘

Degree of authenticity:
The ḥadith is ḥasan. It was transmitted by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Bukhārī in al-Adab al-Mufrad, al-Ḥākim, and al-Bayhaqī. Al-Tirmidhī said, “A ḥasan ḥadith,” while al-Ḥākim declared its chain authentic and al-Dhahabī agreed. It has a corroborating report from the narration of al-Miqdām, recorded by al-Bayhaqī with a ḥasan chain.

Vocabulary:
• a-barru: to treat someone—especially one’s parents—with excellence and continued kindness.

Points derived from the two ḥadiths:
1 – Both narrations indicate the obligation of providing maintenance to one’s relatives in the ascending and descending lines, to one’s wife, and to one’s servant or slave.
2 – They show that if a person possesses enough to cover his own needs and those of his dependants, he must support them all according to his means; if his resources are insufficient, he begins with those most entitled.
3 – The order of priority starts with oneself, then one’s wife, for her maintenance is given in exchange for marital rights.
4 – After the wife comes the servant or slave, for his maintenance, like the wife’s, is obligatory whether the owner is affluent or straitened, and so he is commanded