3049 — “Return it to its owner”—meaning the ripe dates—“then sell it”—meaning the inferior dates—“for cash, and then buy dates.”

Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Awsat (1/75/2/1393): Ahmad narrated to us; he said: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Tasnim narrated to us; he said: Ruh ibn ʿUbadah narrated to us; he said: Abu al-Fadl Kathir ibn Yasar narrated to us; he said: Thabit al-Bunani narrated to us; he said: Anas ibn Malik narrated to us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was brought some ripe dates, and he asked:

“Where did you get these?”

They replied, “We had dates from rain-fed palms, so we sold two measures for one measure.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said ...

He then cited it.

Al-Bazzar also recorded it in his Musnad (2/108/1317): Muhammad ibn Maʿmar narrated to us; Ruh ibn ʿUbadah narrated it likewise, but without the words, “for cash, and then ...” Al-Tabarani said:

“No one narrated it from Thabit except Kathir Abu al-Fadl; Ruh alone narrated it from him.”

I say: He is trustworthy and among the narrators of both al-Bukhari and Muslim, as is Thabit. As for Kathir ibn Yasar Abu al-Fadl, a group of trustworthy narrators reported from him, as stated in al-Hafiz’s Tahdhib; and Ibn Hibban listed him in al-Thiqat (5/331 and 7/350). Thus, the chain is authentic.

I then found that al-Bukhari recorded the hadith in Kathir’s biographical entry in al-Tarikh (4/1/214), through the route of ʿAbdullah ibn Abi al-Aswad: “Ruh ibn ʿUbadah narrated to us; Kathir ibn Yasar Abu al-Fadl narrated to us”—ʿAbdullah said, “Saʿid ibn ʿAmir spoke highly of him”—“Thabit informed us,” transmitting the same report.