and we searched for them but could not find them.” He said:

The Bedouin said, “What treachery!” The people rebuked him, saying, “May Allah kill you! Would the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, act treacherously?!” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Leave him be, for one who has a right is entitled to speak.”

Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, returned and said: “O Abdullah, we purchased camels from you, thinking that we had what we had stipulated for you; but we searched for it and could not find it.” The Bedouin said, “What treachery!” The people rebuked him and said, “May Allah kill you! Would the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, act treacherously?!” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Leave him be, for one who has a right is entitled to speak.”

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, repeated this two or three times. When he saw that the man did not understand him, he said to one of his Companions: “Go to Khawlah bint Hakim ibn Umayyah and say to her: ‘The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, says to you: If you have a wasq of al-Dhakhirah dates, lend it to us until we repay you, if Allah wills.’” The man went to her, then returned and said: “She says: ‘Yes, I have it, O Messenger of Allah. Send someone to collect it.’” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to the man: “Go with him and give him in full what is due to him.” So he went with him and paid him in full what was due to him.

She said: The Bedouin passed by the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, while he was sitting among his Companions, and said: “May Allah reward you well. You have paid me in full and treated me well.” She said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then said the words quoted above.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the two Sahihs, apart from Ibn Ishaq—namely, Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar, the author of the Prophetic biography. His hadith is good when he explicitly states that he heard the narration, as he has done here, as you can see. Thus, the hadith is established, and all praise is due to Allah.

Al-Haythami said (4/140): “Ahmad and al-Bazzar narrated it, and Ahmad’s chain is authentic!” Shaykh al-Azami quoted this from him in his annotations to al-Kashf and endorsed it! And that is among the things that indicate