The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The best charity is that given out of surplus wealth. Begin with those whom you are responsible to support, and the upper hand is better than the lower hand."
قال رسول الله ﷺ: أفضل الصدقة عن ظهر غنى، وابدأ بمن تعول واليد العليا خير من اليد السفلى.
Imam Ahmad (14531) narrated it from Rawh, who said, Ibn Jurayj narrated to us, Abu Zubayr informed me that he heard Jabir bin Abdullah, and he mentioned it. Its chain is sahih. Ibn Hibban also transmitted it through this same route in his Sahih (3345), except that he did not mention the third portion of the hadith.It was also narrated from Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari, who said, "We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when a man came to him with something like an egg made of gold and said, 'Messenger of Allah, I obtained this from a mine, so take it, it is charity, I own nothing else.' The Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned away from him. Then the man came to him from his right side and said the same thing, but he turned away from him. Then he came to him from his left side, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned away from him. Then he came to him from behind, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took it and threw it at him, and had it struck him it would have hurt him or wounded him."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said, "One of you brings what he owns and says, 'This is charity,' then sits around asking people for help. The best charity is that which is given out of surplus wealth." In another version, "Take your wealth back from us, we have no need of it."Abu Dawud (1673) narrated it from Musa bin Ismail, who said, Hammad narrated to us, from Muhammad bin Ishaq, from Asim bin Umar bin Qatada, from Mahmud bin Labeed, from Jabir bin Abdullah, and he mentioned it. The second narration (1674) comes through the route of Ibn Idris, from Ibn Ishaq, with his chain.Ibn Khuzayma (2441), Ibn Hibban (3372), and Hakim (1/413) graded it sahih, and Hakim said, "Sahih according to the criterion of Muslim." I say, that is based on Hakim's own methodology, otherwise Muhammad bin Ishaq does not meet the criterion of Muslim, and moreover he did not state explicitly that he heard it.