1193 – Usāmah ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever has a favor done for him and says to its doer, ‘May Allah reward you with goodness,’ has indeed expressed the fullest praise.” Related by al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it authentic (1).

• Degree of the hadith:
  The report is ḥasan (good).
  Al-Albānī said: In al-Firdaws by al-Daylamī it is narrated by al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Ḥibbān from Usāmah ibn Zayd, and al-Suyūṭī signaled its soundness.
  Al-Tirmidhī stated in his Jāmiʿ: “ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ gharīb.”
  Both al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Ḥibbān authenticated it, and al-Manāwī said: “Its chain is sound.”
  It has a supporting narration from Abū Hurayrah, recorded by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Duʿāʾ; in its chain is Yūsuf ibn ʿUbaydah, who is weak.

• Lessons drawn from the hadith:

1. The one who initiates a kindness enjoys merit and a favor over the recipient—whether the kindness is material or intangible—for initiating beneficence indicates a noble soul and a love of goodness.
2. Good manners, complete chivalry, and noble reciprocation require the beneficiary to recompense the benefactor for his kindness and not neglect or ignore him; to do otherwise is ingratitude and dull-heartedness.
3. If the beneficiary cannot find any material means with which to repay the benefactor, let him supplicate