Business Transactions

Jabir said the Prophet (ﷺ) owed him a debt and gave him something extra when he paid it. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

‘Abdallah b. Abu Rabi'a said the Prophet (ﷺ) borrowed forty thousand* from him, and when revenue came in he paid it to him saying, “God most high bless your family and your property! The only reward for a loan is commendation and repayment.” *The text mentions the number. It probably means dirhams. Nasa’i transmitted it.

'Imran b. Husain reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When anyone has something due to him from another he will be credited with sadaqa for every day he allows the other to postpone payment.” Ahmad transmitted it.

Sa'd b. al-Atwal said:

My brother died leaving three hundred dinars and some young children, and I wanted to use them for their maintenance, but God’s Messenger said to me, “Your brother is im-prisoned by his debt, so pay it on his behalf.” I went and did so, and returned to tell God’s Messenger that I had done it and that there remained only a woman who claimed two dinars but had no proof she could show. He replied, “Give them to her, for she is speaking the truth.” Ahmad transmitted it.

Muhammad b. ‘Abdallah b. Jahsh said:

When we were sitting in the courtyard of the mosque where the biers were laid down and God’s Messenger was sitting in the midst of us, he raised his eyes to the sky and looked, then lowering his eyes and putting his hand on his forehead he said, “Glory be to God, Glory be to God! What severity has come down!” We said nothing all day and night and experienced nothing but good till the morning. Then I asked God’s Messenger what the severity was which had come down, and he replied, “It has to do with debts. By Him in whose hand Muhammad’s soul is, if a man were to be killed in God’s path then come to life, be killed again in God’s path then come to life, and be killed once more in God’s path then come to life owing a debt, he would not enter paradise till his debt was paid.” Ahmad transmitted it, and there is something to the same effect in <i>Sharh as-sunna</i>.

Zuhra b. Ma'bad said his grandfather 'Abdallah b. Hisham would take him out to the market and buy grain, and Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn az- Zubair would meet him and say to him, “Take us into partnership, for the Prophet (ﷺ) has invoked a blessing on you then he would take them into partnership. He would often make a profit of a camel-load* and send it to the house. ‘Abdallah b. Hisham had been taken by his mother to the Prophet (ﷺ) who passed his hand over his head and invoked a blessing on him. Bukhari transmitted it. * Another explanation is that this means he made enough profit to buy a camel with its load' Cf. <i>Mirqat</i>, iii, 344.

Abu Huraira told that the Ansar asked the Prophet (ﷺ) to divide the palm-trees between them and their brethren, but he replied, “No; save us the trouble of maintenance and we shall share the fruit with you.” They said, “We hear and we obey." Bukhari transmitted it.

‘Urwa b. Abul Ja‘d al-Bariqi said that God’s Messenger gave him a dinar to buy a sheep for him. He bought two sheep for him, sold one of them for a dinar and brought him a sheep and dinar. So God’s Messenger invoked a blessing on him in his business dealings, and he was such that if he had bought dust he would have made a profit from it. Bukhari transmitted it.

Abu Huraira traced to the Prophet (ﷺ) the statement that God who is great and glorious says, “I make a third with two partners as long as one of them does not cheat the other, but when he cheats him I depart from them." Abu Dawud transmitted it and Razin added, “and the devil comes."

He reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “Place trust in him who trusts you, but do not cheat him who cheats you.” Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud and Darimi transmitted it.

Jabir said he intended to go to Khaibar, so he went to the Prophet, gave him a salutation and told him of his purpose. He replied, “When you come to my agent take fifteen camel-loads from him, and if he desires a sign from you put your hand on his collar-bone*”. *This was evidently a pre-arranged sign to show that the Messenger was genuine. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Suhaib reported God's Messenger as saying, “There are three things which contain blessing:

A business transaction with a time specified, muqarada* and mixing wheat and barley for one’s household but not for sale.” Ibn Majah transmitted it. * Giving someone some property to trade with, the profit being shared between the two, but any loss falling on the property.

Hakim b. Hizam said God's Messenger sent him with a dinar to buy a sacrificial animal for him. He bought a sheep for a dinar, sold it for two, came back, bought a sacrificial animal for a dinar, and brought it along with the extra dinar which he had gained. God’s Messenger gave the dinar as <i>sadaqa</i> and asked a blessing on him in his trading. Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Sa'id b. Zaid reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone takes a span of land unjustly, its extent taken from seven earths will be tied round his neck on the day of resurrection.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn ‘Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “No one must milk a man’s animal without his permission. Would any of you like his upper chamber to be entered, his treasury broken into, and his food taken away? The udders of their animals store up their food for them.” Muslim transmitted it.

Anas said that when the Prophet (ﷺ) was with one of his wives one of the mothers of the faithful sent a bowl containing food and the one in whose house he was struck the servant’s hand with the result that the bowl fell and was broken in pieces. The Prophet (ﷺ) collected the pieces of the bowl, then began to collect in it the food it had contained, saying, “Your mother is jealous.” He then detained the servant till a bowl was produced by the one in whose house he was, gave the sound bowl to the one whose bowl had been broken and kept the broken one in the house of the one who broke it. Bukhari transmitted it.

‘Abdallah b. Yazid said that the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade spoliation[1] and mutilation[2]. Bukhari transmitted it. 1. Either taking some of the spoil in battle before the division of the booty has been made, or appropriating anything belonging to a Muslim. 2. The reference here may simply be to cutting off certain parts of animals, but it can apply to human beings as well.

Jabir said that in the time of God’s Messenger there was a solar eclipse on the day his son Ibrahim died, and he led the people in a prayer of six <i>rak'as</i> with four <i>sajdas</i>, finishing when the sun came out of the eclipse. He then said, “There is nothing you have been promised which I have not seen during this prayer of mine. Hell was brought, and that was when you saw me draw back from fear that some of its heat might strike me. I saw in it, dragging his entrails in hell, the owner of the crooked stick who used to steal from pilgrims with his crooked stick saying, if it was noticed, that the article had accidentally attached itself to the stick, but going off with it if it was not noticed. I also saw the woman who possessed a cat which she tied up and did not feed or allow it to go and eat of the creeping things on the ground with the result that it died of hunger. Then paradise was brought, and that was when you saw me go forward and stand in my place and stretch out my hand meaning to take some of its fruit that you might look at it; but I thought it better not to do so.” Muslim transmitted it.

Qatada told of hearing Anas say that when there was an alarm in Medina the Prophet (ﷺ) borrowed from Abu Talha a horse called al-Mandub which he rode. When he returned he said, “I did not see anything, and I found that the horse could run as speedily as a great river.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Sa'id b. Zaid reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, “If anyone makes barren land fertile it belongs to him, but no right pertains to one who plants wrongfully in land another has brought into cultivation*”. Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it, and Malik transmitted it in <i>mursal</i> form on the authority of ‘Urwa. Tirmidhi said this is a <i>hasan gharib</i> tradition. *<i>'Irq zalim</i>, the literal translation would be “a wrongful root.” The translation given above represents the general sense of the phrase.