1613 — “Indeed, alms are not lawful for us, and the freed clients of a people are counted among them.”

It was recorded by Abu Dawud (1/262), al-Nasa’i (1/366), al-Tirmidhi (1/128), al-Hakim (1/404), and Ahmad (6/10 and 390), through several routes from Shuʿbah, who said: Al-Hakam narrated to us from Ibn Abi Rafiʿ, from Abu Rafiʿ—may Allah be pleased with him—that the Prophet sent a man of Banu Makhzum to collect the alms. He said to Abu Rafiʿ, “Accompany me, so that you may receive some of it.” He replied, “Not until I go to the Messenger of Allah and ask him.” So he went to the Prophet and asked him, and he mentioned it.

Al-Tirmidhi said: “A good, authentic hadith.” Al-Hakim said: “Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs.” Al-Dhahabi concurred with him, and they were correct. Ibn Abi Layla also corroborated him in reporting it from al-Hakam ibn ʿUtaybah. It was recorded by al-Tahawi (1/299) and also by Ahmad (6/8).

Abu Dawud’s wording places the latter sentence before the former, as will follow. The second sentence was recorded by al-Bukhari (4/290) in a hadith attributed to the Prophet, narrated from Anas. It has many supporting reports, including one from Maymun—or Mihran—attributed to the Prophet, with the wording: “We, the People of the Household, have been forbidden from accepting alms; our freed clients are counted among us, and we do not consume alms.” Ahmad recorded it (4/34–35). In al-Jamiʿ, al-Suyuti attributed it to al-Tabarani’s al-Muʿjam al-Awsat, from Ibn ʿUmar, with the wording: