I say: His teacher, ʿAbd al-Karīm—namely, Ibn Abī al-Mukhāriq al-Baṣrī—is weak as well.

As for Saʿīd ibn Yazīd, he appears to be Abū Salamah al-Azdī al-Baṣrī. Ibn Maʿīn declared him trustworthy, while Abū Ḥātim said: “Acceptable.”

Legal implications of the hadith:

I say: Perhaps the man concerning whom this severe warning was given had done something besides merely leaving behind two or three dinars. For such a matter does not render a person deserving of Hellfire, by scholarly consensus. Do you not see the Prophet’s saying to Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, may Allah be pleased with him:

“It is better for you to leave your heirs wealthy than to leave them begging from people.”

Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, and documented in al-Irwāʾ (3/416–417).

And when the man from Najd asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “Am I obligated to do anything beyond these?” he replied:

“No, unless you voluntarily do more.”

It was reported by the two Shaykhs and documented in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd (415). There are many similar reports in the Sunnah. Among Imam al-Bukhārī’s chapter headings in his Ṣaḥīḥ is:

“Chapter: Whatever zakat has been paid on is not hoarded treasure, in view of the Prophet’s saying: ‘No charity is due on less than five awsuq …’”

See Fatḥ al-Bārī (3/271–273).

Accordingly, perhaps the man had failed to fulfil some of the obligations connected with the rights due on wealth, such as spending on one’s dependants, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or feigning poverty—as in the mursal report of ʿAlqamah al-Muzanī, who said: