I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as part of the delegation from Kindah, and he asked me, "Do you have any children?"I replied, "A boy was born to me from the daughter of Jamd while I was on my way to you, and I would have preferred that in his place there was enough food to satisfy the people."He said, "Do not say that. There is comfort for the eyes in them, and reward when they are taken. And even if you say that, they are indeed a cause of cowardice and a cause of grief, they are indeed a cause of cowardice and a cause of grief."
قدمت على رسول الله ﷺ في وفد كندة، فقال لي: هل لك من ولد؟ قلت: غلام ولد لي في مخرجي إليك من ابنة جمد، ولوددت أن مكانه شبع القوم، قال: لا تقولن ذلك، فان فيهم قرة عين وأجرا إذا قبضوا، ثم لئن قلت ذاك، إنهم لمجبنة محزنة إنهم لمجبنة محزنة.
Ahmad (21840) and Tabarani in Al-Kabir (1/207) both narrated it through the route of Hushaym, who said, our informant was Mujalid, from Shaybi, who said, Ashath bin Qays narrated to us, saying, then he related it. The wording given is that of Ahmad, and Tabarani's wording is similar, with the addition, "a cause of miserliness."Mujalid is Ibn Saeed Hamdani, who had undergone change in the latter part of his life, but Hushaym was among the earliest of his companions, as Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi stated, and for this reason his hadith here is graded hasan.Tabarani also narrated it through the route of Ibn Lahia, from Harith bin Yazid, from Ali bin Rabah, from Ashath, in a similar but abridged form. This chain contains Ibn Lahia, about whom there is well-known discussion.