Al-Bayhaqī said: “ʿAbd al-Wahhāb—that is, Ibn ʿAṭāʾ—said: ‘This means that he says: It is yours for ten if paid in cash, and for twenty on deferred payment.’”

Imām Ibn Qutaybah explained it in Gharīb al-Ḥadīth (1/18), saying: “Among the prohibited sales are two stipulations in a single sale: namely, for a man to buy an item on two months’ credit for two dinars, or on three months’ credit for three dinars. This has the same meaning as two sales in a single sale.”

The hadith in this concise wording is authentic, for it has been narrated on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAmr; both are documented in al-Irwāʾ (5/150–151). Perhaps Ibn Masʿūd’s statement also falls under the meaning of the hadith: “A transaction involving two bargains is ribā (prohibited interest or usurious gain).” It was narrated by ʿAbd al-Razzāq in al-Muṣannaf (8/138–139), Ibn Abī Shaybah as well (6/199), Ibn Ḥibbān (163 and 1111), and al-Ṭabarānī (41/1). Its chain of transmission is authentic. There is, however, disagreement as to whether ʿAbd al-Raḥmān heard from his father, Ibn Masʿūd; a number of scholars have affirmed that he did, and an affirmation takes precedence over a denial.

Aḥmad also narrated it (1/393), as did Ibn Ḥibbān in another version (1112), with the wording: “Two transactions in a single transaction are not valid”—Ibn Ḥibbān’s wording is: “Two transactions in a single transaction are not lawful”—“and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘May Allah curse the one who consumes ribā, the one who pays it, its witness, and its scribe.’” Its chain of transmission is likewise authentic.

Ibn Naṣr likewise narrated it in al-Sunnah (54). One narration adds: “For a man to say: ‘If it is paid in cash, then it is such-and-such; but if it is deferred, then it is such-and-such.’” This is also a narration of Aḥmad (1/398), who regarded it as a statement of Simāk, who narrated from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān