Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) hired himself out to Khadījah bint Khuwaylid for two journeys to Jarash, receiving a young she-camel for each journey.” Al-Hākim said: “Its chain of transmission is sound.”
It states in al-Nihāyah (1): “Jurash, pronounced with u after the j and a after the r, is one of the districts of Yemen. Pronounced with a after both consonants, Jarash is a town in Syria.”
I say: If the hadith is authentic, it can only refer to Jarash in Syria, pronounced with a. But it is not authentic, for this al-Rabī‘ ibn Badr is ‘Ulaylah, whom the leading hadith scholars judged weak. Al-Nasā’ī, al-Dāraqutnī, and al-Azdī (2) said: “Rejected as a narrator” (3). It seems that al-Hākim mistook him for al-Rabī‘ ibn Badr, the client of Talhah ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh (4).
He (peace and blessings be upon him) also entered into business partnerships. When his partner came to him, he asked: “Do you not recognize me?” He replied: “You were my partner, and what an excellent partner you were! You neither quarreled nor argued” (5).
(1) In al-Nihāya fī Gharīb al-Hadīth (1/261).
(2) See Ibn ‘Adī, al-Kāmil (4/507–508); Mawsū‘at Aqwāl al-Dāraqutnī (1/255); and Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (9/65).
(3) ك and ع read: “matrūk al-hadīth (a narrator whose hadiths are rejected).”
(4) The passage beginning “Al-Hākim also reported…” and ending here is absent from ج and was added in the margin of ص. This, too, was therefore a later addition by the author.
(5) Reported by Ahmad (15500), Abū Dāwūd (4836), and Ibn Abī ‘Āsim in al-Āhād wa-l-Mathānī (692), on the authority of al-Sā’ib ibn Abī al-Sā’ib al-Makhzūmī. The reports differ greatly as to the Companion concerned. Abū Hātim discussed these discrepancies in his son’s al-‘Ilal (350), summarizing them as follows: “Whoever says, ‘From ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Sā’ib,’ means ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Sā’ib ibn Abī al-Sā’ib. Whoever says, ‘Qays ibn al-Sā’ib,’ apparently means the brother of ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Sā’ib. Whoever says, ‘Al-Sā’ib ibn Abī al-Sā’ib,’ apparently means the father of ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Sā’ib. These three are Mujāhid’s patrons.” He also said: “‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Sā’ib was not of the older generation; he was a youth during the Prophet’s lifetime, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The partnership was more likely with his father. Allah knows best.” The chain of transmission of al-Sā’ib’s hadith includes Ibrāhīm ibn Muhājir, who has some weakness and whose transmission of this report was not corroborated by another narrator. See also the commentary on al-Musnad.