It was recorded by Ahmad (4/118 and 5/274 and 274–275) and Ibn Abi ʿAsim in al-Sunnah (1118 and 1119—in my critical edition). This al-Qasim is unknown, as I have explained in Takhrij al-Sunnah. Thus, his saying “Abu Masʿud” in place of “Ibn Masʿud” is an error on their part that carries no weight.

“Yulḥā” means: it is peeled. This hadith is one of the signs of his prophethood, for the caliphate remained among Quraysh for several centuries. Then their state declined because of their disobedience to their Lord and their following of their whims. Allah consequently empowered against them non-Arabs who wrested authority from their hands, and the Muslims were thereafter humiliated—except as Allah wills. Therefore, if Muslims are sincere in striving to restore the Islamic state, they must repent to their Lord, return to their religion, and follow the rulings of their sacred law. This includes the fact that the caliphate belongs to Quraysh, subject to the conditions well known in the books of hadith and jurisprudence. They must not allow their own opinions, whims, or the practices upon which they found their fathers and grandfathers to govern them; otherwise, they will remain under the rule of others. Allah has spoken the truth: “Indeed, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.” And the final outcome belongs to those mindful of Allah.

1553 — “A loan is equivalent to half a charitable gift.”

Ahmad (1/412) and Abu Yaʿla (3/1298, in the photographic edition of al-Kutub) recorded it through Hammad ibn Salamah, who said: ʿAtaʾ ibn al-Saʾib informed us from Ibn Adhnan, who said: “I loaned ʿAlqamah two thousand dirhams. When his stipend was paid, I said to him, ‘Repay me.’ He said, ‘Give me until next year.’ So I went to him and took them. Later, I came to him, and he said, ‘You have treated me harshly, although you refused me.’ I said, ‘Yes; it is your own doing.’ He said, ‘What has that to do with me?’ I said, ‘You narrated to me from Ibn Masʿud that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said’”—then he cited the hadith. He said, ‘Yes, it is indeed so. Then take it now.’”