A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "I am ruined."The Prophet ﷺ asked, "What has ruined you?"The man replied, "I had relations with my wife during Ramadan."The Prophet ﷺ asked, "Can you find a slave to free?"He said, "No."The Prophet ﷺ asked, "Are you able to fast two consecutive months?"He said, "No."The Prophet ﷺ asked, "Are you able to feed sixty poor people?"He said, "No."The Prophet ﷺ said, "Sit down."Then a large basket of dates was brought to the Prophet ﷺ (the araq is a large basket), and he said, "Give this in charity."The man said, "To someone poorer than us? There is no one between the two lava plains of Madinah poorer than we are."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ laughed, and in another narration by Mura, he smiled until his eye-teeth showed, and said, "Feed it to your family."
حدثنا سفيان عن الزهري عن حميد بن عبد الرحمن
رجل أتى النبي ﷺ فقال هلكت قال وما أهلكك قال وقعت على امرأتي في رمضان فقال أتجد رقبة قال لا قال تستطيع أن تصوم شهرين متتابعين قال لا قال تستطيع تطعم ستين مسكينا قال لا قال اجلس فأتي النبي ﷺ بعرق فيه تمر والعرق المكتل الضخم قال تصدق بهذا قال على أفقر منا ما بين لابتيها أفقر منا قال فضحك رسول الله ﷺ وقال أطعمه أهلك وقال مرة فتبسم حتى بدت أنيابه وقال أطعمه عيالك
Its isnad is sahih, though there is a difficulty in it. I am able to conclude, indeed to assert with certainty, that it is an error made by the copyists, as I will explain in the takhrij, Allah willing.Bukhari (11:516-517), Muslim (1:306), Abu Dawud (2390) [2:286 Awn al-Mabud], Tirmidhi (45-46), Ibn Majah (1671), Ibn Jarud in Muntaqa (196-197), Daraqutni (251), and Bayhaqi (4:221) all narrated it, all of them through Sufyan bin Uyayna, Ahmad's teacher in this isnad, from Zuhri, from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman, from Abu Hurairah, with similar wording, at length and in brief. Indeed, Bukhari's narration (11:516) from Ibn Madini states, "Sufyan narrated to us, from Zuhri." He said, "I heard it from his own mouth," from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman.So all these narrations agree that Sufyan bin Uyayna narrated it from Zuhri, from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman. The version established here in the three manuscripts of Musnad, which reads "Sufyan from Zuhri from Abdul-Rahman," is, in my view, an error made by the early copyists, which has been passed down through the copies of Musnad. I do not think this occurred to the earlier scholars of hadith, for had it done so, they would have pointed it out, either by explaining that it was a mistake, or by explaining that it was another narration from Sufyan.Indeed, many of them, especially Ibn Hajar, pointed to Ibn Uyayna's narration regarding a difference in some of the wording in the text of the hadith. Had this discrepancy in the isnad been before them, they would have pointed it out and not disregarded it. In fact, they confined the disagreement in its isnad, regarding Zuhri, to whether it was from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman or from Abu Salama bin Abdul-Rahman, as we will mention, Allah willing.Malik narrated it in Muwatta (296-297), with similar wording, from Ibn Shihab [that is, Zuhri], from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman bin Awf, from Abu Hurairah. Likewise, Ahmad narrated it in Musnad (10698), as did Muslim (1:307), Darimi (2:11), Abu Dawud (2392), Daraqutni (251), and Bayhaqi (4:225), all of them through Malik.Likewise, Layth bin Saad narrated it from Zuhri, from Humayd, from Abu Hurairah, found in Bukhari (12:117), Muslim (1:307), and Bayhaqi (4:222). Likewise, Mamar narrated it from Zuhri, found in Ahmad's Musnad (7772), Bukhari (5:164, 11:517), Muslim (1:307), Abu Dawud (2391), and Bayhaqi (4:222-223). Likewise, Ibn Jurayj narrated it from Zuhri, found in Ahmad (7678), Muslim (1:307), and Bayhaqi (4:225). Likewise, Mansur narrated it from Zuhri, found in Bukhari (4:151), Muslim (1:307), Daraqutni (251-252), and Bayhaqi (4:221-222).Likewise, Shuayb narrated it from Zuhri, found in Bukhari (4:149-150), where Ibn Hajar gave it a thorough commentary in Fath al-Bari, and in Bayhaqi (4:224). Likewise, Uzai narrated it from Zuhri, found in Bukhari (10:457), Daraqutni (242), and Bayhaqi (4:224). Likewise, Ibrahim bin Saad narrated it from Zuhri, found in Bukhari (9:450, 10:420) and Darimi (2:11). Likewise, Abu Uways narrated it from Zuhri, found in Daraqutni (251) and Bayhaqi (4:226).Likewise, Muhammad bin Abu Hafsa narrated it from Zuhri, found in Ahmad (10699) and Daraqutni (252). But in Musnad's narration there it appears as "from Muhammad bin Abdul-Rahman," which is an error, the correct form being Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman. Likewise, Yunus narrated it from Zuhri, found in Bayhaqi (4:224). Likewise, Ibrahim bin Amir narrated it from Zuhri, found in Ahmad, as mentioned earlier in the section on the narrations of Abdullah bin Amr (6944), and in Bayhaqi (4:226).All of these narrated it from Zuhri, from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman bin Awf, from Abu Hurairah, and others followed them whose narrations we have not come across, but which the imams and scholars of hadith have mentioned in their books. Among them is Arak bin Malik Ghifari, a Successor senior to Zuhri, though he sometimes narrates from him, in the manner of elders narrating from their juniors. His corroborating narration is mentioned by Abu Dawud, Ibn Jarud, Daraqutni, and Bayhaqi. Among them also are Ismail bin Umaya and Yahya bin Saeed Ansari, mentioned by Ibn Jarud and Daraqutni. Daraqutni (251) also mentions a group, including Abdullah bin Abu Bakr, Fulayh bin Sulayman, Umar bin Uthman Makhzumi, Musa bin Uqba, and others. Bayhaqi (4:224) also mentions a group, including Ibn Abu Dhib, Muhammad bin Ishaq, Abdul-Rahman bin Khalid bin Musafir, Abdul-Rahman bin Namir, Abdullah bin Isa, and others.But Hisham bin Saad Madani differed from them. Bayhaqi (4:226) said, "Hisham bin Saad narrated it from Zuhri, but he differed from the group in his isnad, saying, from Abu Salama, from Abu Hurairah." Likewise, Daraqutni pointed to this discrepancy (252). Hisham bin Saad's narration was reported by Abu Dawud (2393) and Daraqutni (243), both through Ibn Abu Fudayk, and Daraqutni also reported it again (252) through Abu Amir Aqadi, and Bayhaqi (4:226-227) through Hasan bin Hafs Isbahani, all three of them from Hisham bin Saad, from Zuhri, from Abu Salama bin Abdul-Rahman, from Abu Hurairah.Hisham bin Saad's reliability was established earlier (213), but he was not a precise memorizer of hadith, as Imam Ahmad described him. They specifically criticized him for this very hadith. Were it not for that, we would say it is possible that Zuhri heard it from the two brothers, Humayd and Abu Salama, the sons of Abdul-Rahman bin Awf.In Tahdhib (11:40-41), in his biography, it states that Ibn Adi reported hadiths from him, including his hadith from Zuhri, from Abu Salama, from Abu Hurairah, "A man came to the Prophet ﷺ having broken his fast in Ramadan, and he said to him, 'Free a slave,'" and so on. And another time he said, "from Zuhri, from Anas." It was said, "Both narrations are mistaken, for the reliable narrators reported it from Zuhri, from Humayd, from Abu Hurairah, and Hisham differed from the people in this."Khalili said, "The scholars of hadith rejected his hadith regarding the man who had relations in Ramadan, narrated from Zuhri, from Abu Salama." They said, "Zuhri narrated it only from Humayd."Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari (4:149), "His saying, 'Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman informed me,' means the son of Awf. Thus the companions of Zuhri concurred on this. I have gathered more than forty individuals among them in a separate section on the routes of this hadith." [He then mentioned some of them.] Then he said, "Hisham bin Saad differed from them, narrating it from Zuhri, from Abu Salama, from Abu Hurairah, reported by Abu Dawud and others." Bazzar, Ibn Khuzayma, and Abu Awana said, "Hisham bin Saad erred in it."Despite all this evidence, which comes close to reaching the level of certainty for one versed in this precise discipline, I was not able to go ahead and change what is established in the manuscripts of Musnad in this isnad. So I have recorded in it, "from Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman," which is, in my view, the correct reading, instead of the error found in the manuscripts, "from Abdul-Rahman." For transmission is a trust, and who knows, perhaps we will find other evidence that Zuhri narrated it from another teacher besides Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman, as we have already explained (6944).