“Truthful, though he may have erred.” Ibn Lahiʿah also followed him in narrating it from Yazid ibn Abi Habib, with a similar wording: “Should I then give it in charity on her behalf?” He asked, “Did your mother instruct you to do so?” The man replied, “No.” He said: “Then keep your mother’s jewelry for yourself.” Ahmad narrated it (4/157).

He then narrated it through Rushdayn: “ʿAmr ibn al-Harith and al-Hasan ibn Thawban told me, from Yazid ibn Abi Habib,” in an abbreviated form. I say: This hadith likewise belongs among Ibn Lahiʿah’s authentic narrations, due to the corroborating reports mentioned above.

Regarding the jurisprudence of the hadith: Know that its apparent meaning indicates that a child may not give charity on behalf of his mother if she did not leave such instructions. Yet explicit hadiths have been reported to the contrary, including the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbas: Saʿd ibn ʿUbadah said, “O Messenger of Allah, my mother died while I was away from her. Would it benefit her if I gave something in charity on her behalf?” He replied, “Yes.” It is cited in Ahkam al-Janaʾiz (p. 172) and Sahih Abi Dawud (2566), and other hadiths of similar meaning are mentioned there.

I say: Perhaps these reports may be reconciled by understanding this questioner to have been poor and in need; hence, he instructed him to retain his property. This is supported by the fact that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not answer his question—“Would it benefit her if I gave charity on her behalf?”—by saying, for example, “No.” Rather, he told him, “Keep your property for yourself,” meaning because he needed it. This is what appears to me. And Allah knows best.