I lent Alqama two thousand dirhams. When his stipend came out, I said to him, "Pay me back."He said, "Grant me a delay until next year."I refused and took the money from him.Later, I came to him and he said, "You have caused me distress, and yet you have withheld from me."I said, "Yes, this is your own doing."He asked, "What have I done?"I replied, "You yourself narrated to me from Ibn Masud that the Prophet ﷺ said, 'A loan ranks as half of charity.'"He said, "Yes, that is so."He said, "Then take it now."
أسلفت علقمة ألفي درهم، فلما خرج عطاؤه قلت له: أقضني. قال: أخرني إلى قابل، فأبيت عليه فأخذتها. قال: فأتيته بعد قال: برحت بي وقد منعتني. فقلت: نعم، هو عملك. قال: وما شأني؟ قلت: إنك حدثتني عن ابن مسعود أن النبي ﷺ قال: إن السلف يجري مجرى شطر الصدقة. قال: نعم، فهو كذاك. قال: فخذ الآن.
Ahmad (3911) and Abu Yaala (5366) both narrated it through the hadith of Affan, who said, Hammad narrated to us, Ata bin Saaib informed us, from Ibn Adhnan, who said, then he mentioned it. Ata bin Saaib's memory became mixed up in his later years, but Hammad heard from him before this mixing occurred. It is also corroborated in Ibn Majah (2430), which contains a fuller story. There is disagreement about Ibn Adhnan's name, some say his name was Sulaym, others say Abdul-Rahman, and others say something else. Ibn Hajar discussed his biography at length in al-Tajil (1435), and no one deemed him trustworthy except Ibn Hibban, but he is corroborated through other routes.Among them is what Ibn Hibban narrated in his Sahih (5040) and Bayhaqi (5/353–354), both through the hadith of Yahya bin Main, who said, Mutamir bin Sulayman narrated to us, who said, I read to Fudayl Abu Muaz, from Abu Hurayz, that Ibrahim told him, that Aswad bin Yazid used to borrow from a merchant, and when his stipend came, he would pay him back. Aswad said to him, "If you wish, I could delay paying you, since we have obligations owed against this stipend." The merchant said to him, "I will not do that." So Aswad paid him five hundred dirhams, and when the merchant had taken them, he said to Aswad, "Here, take it back." Aswad said to him, "I asked you this before and you refused." The merchant said to him, "I heard you telling us, on the authority of Abdullah bin Masud, that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ used to say, 'Whoever lends to Allah twice will have the reward equivalent to one of them, as though he had given it as charity.'" This wording is from Ibn Hibban.Bayhaqi said, this was narrated uniquely by Abdullah bin Husayn Abu Hurayz, the judge of Sijistan, who is not strong. However, he is not problematic when used as corroboration for the basic substance of the hadith.