The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to be occupied with many matters, so whenever a migrant arrived to see him, he would assign him to one of us to teach him the Quran. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ assigned a man to me, and he stayed with me in my house, where I would feed him the same evening meal as my family. I taught him the Quran.Then he left to return to his people, and he felt that he owed me something, so he gifted me a bow. I had never seen finer wood or better curvature in any bow.I went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and asked, "What do you think of this, Messenger of Allah?"He replied, "It is a burning ember between your shoulders, whether you sling it across yourself or hang it around your neck."
كان رسول الله ﷺ يشغل، فإذا قدم رجل مهاجر على رسول الله ﷺ دفعه إلى رجل منا يعلمه القرآن، فدفع إلي رسول الله ﷺ رجلا، فكان معي في البيت، أعشيه عشاء أهل البيت، فكنت أقرئه القرآن، فانصرف انصرافة إلى أهله، فرأى أن عليه حقا، فأهدى إلى قوسا لم أر أجود منها عودا، ولا أحسن منها عطفا، فأتيت رسول الله ﷺ، فقلت: ما ترى يا رسول الله فيها؟ قال: جمرة بين كتفيك تقلدتها، أو تعلقتها.
Reported by Abu Dawud (3417), Ahmad (22766), and Hakim (3/356), all through the route of Bishr bin Abdullah, that is, Ibn Bashar Sulami, who said, Ubada bin Nusai narrated to me, from Junada bin Abu Umaya, from Ubada bin Samit. He said, and he mentioned it. The wording is Ahmad's. Abu Dawud referred to the chain that follows. Hakim said, sahih isnad. I say, it contains Bishr bin Abdullah Sulami, whom no one but Ibn Hibban declared trustworthy, except that he has a corroborating narration.Reported by Abu Dawud (3416), and through his route Bayhaqi (6/125), Ibn Majah (2157), Ahmad (22689), and Hakim (2/41), all from the hadith of Mughira bin Ziyad, from Ubada bin Nusai, from Aswad bin Thalaba, from Ubada bin Samit, who said, I taught some of the people of the Suffa the Book and the Quran, and a man gave me a bow as a gift. I said, I will surely go to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and ask him about it. So I went to him and said, "Messenger of Allah, a man among those I was teaching the Book and the Quran to gave me a bow as a gift. It is not wealth, and I shoot with it for the sake of Allah." He said, "If you would like to be encircled with a ring of fire, then accept it."This chain contains Mughira bin Ziyad, who is Abu Hashim Mawsili. He was declared trustworthy by Waki, Yahya bin Main, Ajli, and others, while Imam Ahmad, Bukhari, Abu Hatim, and others criticized him. However, he has a corroborating narration, as you have seen.Ali bin Madini said, "Its whole isnad is well known except for Aswad bin Thalaba, for we do not know of any other hadith from him besides this one." Bayhaqi mentioned this.I say, Aswad bin Thalaba is unknown, as stated in Taqrib, except that he has a corroborating narration in the first chain, and the hadith is hasan by combining its two routes.As for Bayhaqi's statement, "This is a hadith that is disputed regarding Ubada bin Nusai, as you can see," there is room for question in this, because this disagreement does not cause harm, since one of its two routes strengthens the other.Ibn Abdul-Barr said, "This is a hadith well known among the people of knowledge, because it has been narrated from Ubada through two channels."