In sum, this addition—“directly above the Kaʿbah”—is established through its combined chains, while the original hadith is more authentic. And Allah knows best.
- Allah, Most High, says: “A vow brings the son of Adam nothing that I have not decreed for him; rather, it is something by which I draw out from the miser what he would not give Me out of miserliness.” In another version: “What he had not given Me before.”
Imam Ahmad recorded it in al-Musnad (2/242): Sufyan narrated to us from Abu al-Zinad, from al-Aʿraj, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it.
I say: This is an authentic chain according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. They both recorded it in their Sahih collections, as did Abu Dawud and others, through other chains from Abu al-Zinad; however, they did not present it as a sacred hadith. I have cited its wording, sources, and chains in Irwaʾ al-Ghalil (2650).
Al-Nasaʾi also narrated it (2/142), in abbreviated form, through another route from Sufyan.
It is also supported by Hammam ibn Munabbih’s narration from Abu Hurayrah.
Ibn al-Jarud recorded it in al-Muntaqa (932), as did Ahmad (2/314), through an authentic chain meeting their criteria. Neither of them recorded it through this route, nor with the wording of a sacred hadith.
The hadith has a third route with the wording:
“Do not make vows, for a vow does nothing to avert divine decree; rather, it merely draws something out of the miser.”
Muslim recorded it, and al-Tirmidhi declared it authentic.
Legal implications of the hadith:
Taken together, the various wordings of the hadith indicate that making a vow is not prescribed; rather, it is disliked. The apparent import of the prohibition in some of its routes is that it is forbidden, and this was held by some scholars. Yet Allah’s statement, “By means of it I draw out from the miser,”