“its chain of transmission is authentic,” and al-Dhahabī concurred.

Ahmad also related it (nos. 4181 and 4174) through the route of Abū l-Tiyāḥ, from Ibn al-Akhram—a man of the Tayyiʾ tribe—from Ibn Masʿūd, traced back to the Prophet with the wording: “He forbade tabaqur—undue amassing—in family and wealth.”

Abū Ḥamzah corroborated it, saying, “I heard a man from Tayyiʾ narrate from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh, traced back to the Prophet with this wording.” Al-Baghawī cited it in “Hadith ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd” (6/20/2), adding “from his father” in the chain; this is the correct form, for Shumr’s narration is likewise.

It has further support from a report of Layth, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, traced back to the Prophet with the first wording. Al-Maḥāmilī included it in al-Amālī (69/2), and its chain is ḥasan as corroborative evidence.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ also quoted it with the first wording, stating it definitively in his commentary on the hadith of Anas mentioned earlier, and then said:

“Al-Qurṭubī remarked: One reconciles it with the main hadith by understanding this report as referring to amassing and becoming preoccupied with it to the detriment of religious duties, whereas the main hadith concerns acquiring property only for sufficiency or for the benefit of the Muslims and the advantages that follow from it.”

I say: What strengthens this reconciliation is the second wording from Ibn Masʿūd, for tabaqur means amassing and expanding. Allah knows best.

Know that this very accumulation which leads to neglect of the obligations—among them striving in the path of Allah—is what is meant by the “destruction” in His saying, “And do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction” (Qurʾān 2:195). It was for this that the verse was revealed, contrary to what many people imagine; for