for those are his Companions—peace and blessings be upon him—who were publicly testified to be the best of people, and foremost among them the ten who were given glad tidings of Paradise. They used to serve themselves; not one of them was waited upon by others even a fraction of the service lavished on the people we are speaking about by their students and devotees. How astonishing, then, when they possess no explicit text to justify such conduct! For that reason I say: this analogy is invalid from the outset. May Allah Most High guide us all to the path of humility and right conduct.

86 – “Whoever grants respite to an insolvent debtor will receive a charity for every day before the debt falls due; and if, when it becomes due, he still grants respite, he will receive twice that amount of charity for every day.”

Ahmad (5/360) recorded it from Sulayman ibn Buraidah, from his father, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “Whoever grants respite to an insolvent debtor will have charity equal to it for every day.” He continued: Then I heard him say, “Whoever grants respite to an insolvent debtor will have charity equal to it for every day.” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, I heard you say, ‘Whoever grants respite to an insolvent debtor will have charity equal to it for every day,’ and then I heard you say, ‘Whoever grants respite to an insolvent debtor will have charity twice its amount for every day.’” He replied, “He receives a charity for every day before the debt falls due; but once it becomes due and he still grants respite, he receives charity twice its amount for every day.”

I say: Its chain is sound; its transmitters are trustworthy and cited as authorities in Sahih Muslim.

Later I came across it in al-Mustadrak (2/29), where al-Hakim said, “Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs,” and al-Dhahabi concurred. They were mistaken, however, because al-Bukhari did not transmit anything from this Sulayman; rather, the one who