2 of 4 · 2 AH · after Badr · Madinah
Al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib رضي الله عنه
"Not a Single Dirham"
Al-'Abbas went out with Quraysh to Badr and was taken prisoner. Some men of the Ansar, who were related to him through his grandmother, asked the Prophet ﷺ to let them waive the ransom of "our nephew al-'Abbas". The Prophet ﷺ replied: "Do not leave out a single dirham of it" (Sahih al-Bukhari 2537).
The Prophet ﷺ would not let his own uncle be favoured over the other captives. Al-'Abbas paid ransom for himself and for his nephews.
Years later, when a great sum arrived from Bahrain, al-'Abbas came and said he had ransomed himself and 'Aqil at Badr, and asked for a share. The Prophet ﷺ told him to take, and he heaped up more than he could lift (Sahih al-Bukhari 421). What he lost by justice, he was given back by generosity.
The Prophet ﷺ refused to favour his own family in justice, and was generous to them in giving.
Where might you be tempted to bend a rule for someone close to you?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2537 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 421 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-NabawiyyahHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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