The ḥadīth of the man who borrowed a thousand dinars from his companion and repaid them

Imām Aḥmad said:
Yūnus ibn Muḥammad narrated to us, al-Layth narrated to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Hurmuz, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who related:

“A man from the Children of Israel asked another of them to lend him a thousand dinars. The lender said, ‘Bring me witnesses so that I may have them testify.’ He replied, ‘Allah is sufficient as a Witness.’ The lender said, ‘Bring me a guarantor.’ He replied, ‘Allah is sufficient as a Guarantor.’ The man said, ‘You have spoken the truth,’ and he handed over the money for a set term.

“The borrower then travelled by sea, took care of his business, and when the appointed time drew near he searched for a ship to return to his creditor but could find none. So he took a piece of wood, hollowed it out, placed inside it the thousand dinars together with a note for its owner, and sealed the opening. He carried the block to the sea and said:

‘O Allah, You know that I borrowed a thousand dinars from so-and-so. He asked me for a guarantor and I said, “Allah is sufficient as a Guarantor,” and he was satisfied. He asked me for witnesses and I said, “Allah is sufficient as a Witness,” and he was satisfied. I have exerted myself to find a vessel to send him what he entrusted to me but have found none, so I leave it in Your care.’

“He then cast it into the sea until it disappeared, and turned back while continuing to look for a ship to take him home.

“Meanwhile, the man who had advanced the loan went out hoping that a ship might arrive with his money. He came upon the piece of wood, took it home as firewood, and when he split it open he found the money and the note. Sometime later the borrower arrived, bringing another thousand dinars, and said, ‘By Allah, I have never ceased striving to find a ship to bring you your money, but I found none before the one on which I came.’

“The lender asked, ‘Did you send me anything?’ He replied, ‘Did I not tell you that I found no ship before this one?’

“The lender said, ‘Allah has already delivered on your behalf what you sent in the piece of wood. Take your thousand back, then, and go with blessing.’”

This is how Imām Aḥmad recorded it with a continuous chain (1). Al-Bukhārī quoted it decisively in several places of his Ṣaḥīḥ (2) from al-Layth ibn Saʿd, and in some of them he furnished it with a continuous chain through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ, the scribe of al-Layth, from us (3). It is remarkable that al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār narrated it in his Musnad from al-Ḥasan ibn Mudrak, from Yaḥyā ibn Ḥammād, from Abū ʿAwānah, from ʿUmar ibn Salamah, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ in a similar wording, and then said: “It is not transmitted except through this route with this chain.”