1248 – Sahl ibn Ḥunayf reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever helps a fighter in the cause of Allah, or a debtor in straitened circumstances, or a contracted slave who is unable to pay the price for his freedom, Allah will shade him on the Day when there is no shade except His.” Related by Aḥmad; al-Ḥākim declared it authentic. (1)
Hadith grading
The report is ḥasan (sound).
Its wording—apart from the clause concerning the contracted slave—is found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs.
Ibn Ḥajar states in al-Talkhīṣ: “Al-Ḥākim narrated it from Sahl ibn Ḥunayf with the wording …,” then he quoted the ḥadith, and al-Bayhaqī transmitted it from him as well.
The author comments: “Al-Ḥākim pronounced it ṣaḥīḥ.” Al-Dhahabī is silent about it in one place, while in another he remarks: “Its chain contains ʿAmr ibn Thābit, a Rāfiḍī who has been abandoned.” Al-Suyūṭī marked it as sound in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr. Al-Manāwī said that its chain is ḥasan, and al-Ḥākim also narrated it through a route that does not include ʿAmr ibn Thābit; that chain is ḥasan.
Vocabulary
• ghariman fī ʿusratihi (a debtor in hardship): debtors are of two kinds:
- One who assumed debt to reconcile people. For him, hardship is not a prerequisite for assistance.
- One who incurred debt for his own needs. He is helped only if he is impoverished and unable to settle his debt or fine.