The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was brought some fresh, juicy dates and asked, "Where did you get these?"They replied, "We had some dry dates, so we exchanged two measures of them for one measure of these."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Return them to their owner, sell your dates for cash, and then buy these dates with the money."
أن رسول الله ﷺ أتي بتمر ريان، فقال: أنى لكم هذا؟ فقالوا: كان عندنا تمر بعل، فبعنا صاعين بصاع، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: ردوه على صاحبه، فبيعوه بعين، ثم ابتاعوا التمر.
No references are available.
Reported by Bazzar (6886) and Tabarani in Awsat - Majma Bahrayn (2027), both through the route of Rawh bin Ubada, who said, Abu Fadl Kathir bin Yasar narrated to us, Thabit Bunani narrated to us, Anas bin Malik narrated to us, and he mentioned it. The wording given here is that of Tabarani. Its chain is hasan because of Abu Fadl Kathir bin Yasar, from whom a group of narrators reported, whom Ibn Hibban mentioned in Thiqat, and whom Saeed bin Amir praised favorably, as Bukhari mentioned in Tarikh al-Kabir (7/213). Haythami said in Majma (4/113), "Tabarani reported it in Awsat, and its chain is hasan."A similar report has been narrated with the same meaning from Abdullah bin Umar, who said, a guest came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so he said to Bilal, "Bring us some food." Bilal went and exchanged two saa of dates for one saa of good dates, since their dates were of poor quality. The Prophet ﷺ was pleased with the dates, and asked, "Where did these dates come from?" Bilal told him that he had exchanged two saa for one saa. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Give us back our own dates."This is reported by Imam Ahmad (4728), Abu Yaala (5710), and Tabarani in Kabir (1028), all of them from the hadith of Abu Dahqana, who said, I was sitting with Abdullah bin Umar, and he mentioned the hadith. Abu Dahqana is not known, who he is. Bukhari mentioned him in Tarikh al-Kabir, and Ibn Abu Hatim mentioned him in Jarh wa Tadil, but neither of them said anything about him. Ibn Hibban simply mentioned him in Thiqat, and Haythami relied on this, saying in Majma (4/112), "The men of Ahmad are thiqat."