among a further group of those who narrated from him, but did not mention any narrator criticism or accreditation concerning him. Ibn Hibban included him in al-Thiqat (The Trustworthy Narrators) (1/43) and cited this hadith under his entry. Al-Ajlah—Abd Allah al-Kindi—is truthful, as stated in al-Taqrib.
1719 — “It angers me that I cannot find anything to give him. Whoever among you asks while possessing an uqiyyah, or its equivalent, has begged importunately.”
Malik recorded it (2/999/11), and from him Abu Dawud (1627) and al-Nasai (1/363), through Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ata ibn Yasar, from a man of Banu Asad, who said: “My family and I settled at Baqi al-Gharqad. My family said to me, ‘Go to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and ask him for something for us to eat,’ and they began mentioning their various needs. So I went to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and found a man with him asking him for something. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was saying, ‘I have nothing to give you.’ The man turned away from him angrily, saying, ‘By my life, you give to whomever you wish!’ The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said …” He then cited the hadith.
The man of Banu Asad said: “I said, ‘A milch-camel of ours is better than an uqiyyah’”—Malik said: “An uqiyyah is forty dirhams”—“so I returned without asking him. Afterwards, barley and raisins came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he distributed some of them among us, until Allah made us self-sufficient.”
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission, and the unknown identity of a Companion does not detract from it. Sufyan also followed Zayd ibn Aslam in narrating it in abbreviated form, with the wording: “Whoever asks while possessing an uqiyyah, or its equivalent, has begged importunately.” Ahmad recorded it (4/36 and 5/430), as did Abu Ubayd in al-Gharib (Rare Expressions) (f. 31/2). Ahmad (4/138) also records it through another chain, from Abd al-Hamid ibn Jafar, from his father, from a man of Muzaynah, whose mother said to him: