He heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "The likeness of the miser and the generous spender is that of two men wearing iron coats of mail reaching from their breasts to their collarbones. As for the generous spender, whenever he spends, the coat expands and stretches over his skin until it covers his fingertips and erases his footprints. As for the miser, whenever he intends to spend anything, every ring of the coat clings to its place. He tries to widen it, but it will not widen."
أنه سمع رسول الله ﷺ يقول: مثل البخيل والمنفق كمثل رجلين عليهما جبتان من حديد من نديهما إلى تراقيهما، فأما المنفق فلا ينفق إلا سبغت أو وفرت على جلده حتى تخفي بنانه وتعفو أثره. وأما البخيل فلا يريد أن ينفق شيئا إلا لزقت كل حلقة مكانها فهو يوسعها ولا تتسع.
Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Zakat (1443), and Muslim in the Book of Zakat (1021), both from the route of Abu Zinad, from Araj, that he heard Abu Hurairah, and he related it. The wording given here is Bukhari's. In Muslim's wording, coming through the route of Ibn Jurayj, from Hasan bin Muslim, from Tawus, from Abu Hurairah, it reads, "When the miser wants to give, it shrinks upon him, and every ring takes its place, until it covers his fingertips and erases his trace."Abu Hurairah said, "He tries to widen it, but it will not widen."From Abu Hurairah's statement, it can be understood that he is explaining the miser's condition in failing to widen his cloak or armor. His words, "until it covers his fingertips and erases his trace," describe the one who gives charity and spends, not the miser, as one might assume from the flow of the wording. It appears that a transposition occurred here, for the meaning of "erases his trace" is that the trace of his walking is erased because the garment fully covers him and is complete, which is a metaphor for the growth of wealth through charity and spending, while the miser is the opposite of that.In the Sahihayn, Bukhari (5797) and Muslim, coming through the route of Ibrahim bin Nafi, from Hasan bin Muslim, from Tawus, from Abu Hurairah, he said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave a parable of the miser and the one who gives charity, likening them to two men wearing two coats of armor made of iron, in Bukhari's version "two cloaks," which were fastened tightly around their chests and collarbones. Whenever the one who gives charity gave something in charity, it would loosen on him until it covered his fingertips and erased his trace, while whenever the miser intended to give charity, it would shrink and every ring would take its place.Abu Hurairah said, "I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ pointing with his finger at his collar. If only you could see him trying to widen it, but it would not widen."Ibn Jurayj, although trustworthy, was known to practice tadlis, and here he did not state his source explicitly. I nearly attributed the error to him, but then I found that Nasai (2547) narrated it from Muhammad bin Mansur, from Sufyan bin Uyayna, from Ibn Jurayj, with the correct wording. So the transposition occurred through one of the narrators, without specifying which one.A useful note, Ibn Hajar said, "What is meant by this hadith is that when the generous person intends to give in charity, his chest opens up for it and his soul is pleased, so he becomes generous in spending. But when the miser considers giving in charity, his soul withholds, his chest tightens, and his hands contract." See Fath al-Bari (3/306).