The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The poor person is not the one who is sent away with a date or two, or a meal or two. Rather, the poor person is the one who does not ask anything from people, and whose condition goes unnoticed so that no one gives to him."
قال رسول الله ﷺ: ليس المسكين الذي ترده التمرة والتمرتان والأكلة والأكلتان، ولكن المسكين الذي لا يسأل الناس شيئا ولا يفطنون به فيعطونه.
Abu Dawud (1631) narrated it through several routes from Jareer, from Amash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah, and he related it. He also narrated it from Musaddad, Ubaydullah bin Umar, and Abu Kamil, with the same meaning, who said, Abdul-Wahid bin Ziyad narrated to us, Maamar narrated to us, from Zuhri, from Abu Salama, from Abu Hurairah, similarly. It contains his saying, "Rather, the poor person is the one who refrains from asking." Musaddad added in his narration, "who has nothing to make him self-sufficient, who does not ask and whose need is not known so that he could be given charity, that is the deprived one." Musaddad did not mention "the one who refrains from asking."Abu Dawud said, "This hadith was narrated by Muhammad bin Thawr and Abdul-Razzaq from Maamar, and they made 'the deprived one' part of Zuhri's own words, and that is more correct."I say, both chains are sahih. Nasai (2574) also narrated it through the route of Abdul-Ala, who said, Muhammad narrated to us with his chain, but he did not mention "that is the deprived one." It becomes clear from Abu Dawud's statement, and from what Nasai and others have recorded, that the phrase "that is the deprived one" is not part of the Prophet's words, but rather is Zuhri's own statement. This is supported by what Ahmad (7539) narrated from Abdul-Ala bin Abdul-Ala, from Maamar, with the same chain, similarly, at the end of which Zuhri said, "and that is the deprived one." Nasai narrated it in his Sughra (2573), and in his Kubra (2365), through the route of Abdul-Ala, with the same chain, without the phrase "and that is the deprived one."The hadith of Abu Hurairah was narrated by the two Shaykhs, Bukhari and Muslim, through several routes, some of which have already been mentioned, and none of them mentioned this addition.On this subject there is also what has been narrated from Abdullah bin Masud, attributed to the Prophet, "The poor person is not one who goes around begging, nor the one who is turned away with a date or two dates, or a mouthful or two mouthfuls of food, but rather the poor person is the one who refrains from asking people for anything, and whose situation is not recognized so that he could be given charity." This was narrated by Imam Ahmad (3636, 4260) and Abu Yaala (5118), both from the hadith of Ibrahim bin Muslim Hijri, from Abu Ahwas, from Abdullah, and he related it.Its chain is daif because of Ibrahim bin Muslim Hijri, who is Abu Ishaq. Ibn Adi said, "They only criticized him for narrating so extensively from Abu Ahwas, from Abdullah, though most of it is sound." Others said he used to raise the status of narrations, and they weakened him.As for Hafiz Haythami's statement in al-Majmu (3/92), "Ahmad narrated it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih," the correct view is that this Ibrahim Hijri is not among the narrators of the Sahih.