A beggar came to Adi bin Hatim asking him for help to buy a servant, or to contribute toward the price of one. Adi said, "I have nothing to give you except my coat of mail and my helmet. I will write to my family instructing them to hand it over to you."The man was not satisfied with this. Adi became angry and said, "By Allah, I will give you nothing at all."Then the man relented and accepted the offer. Adi said, "By Allah, were it not that I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'Whoever swears an oath, then sees something more pious than it, let him pursue what is more pious,' I would not have broken my oath."
جاء سائل إلى عدي بن حاتم، فسأله نفقة في ثمن خادم أو في بعض ثمن خادم، فقال: ليس عندي ما أعطيك إلا درعي ومغفري، فأكتب إلى أهلي أن يعطوكها، قال: فلم يرض، فغضب عدي، فقال: أما والله لا أعطيك شيئا، ثم إن الرجل رضي، فقال: أما والله لولا أني سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: من حلف على يمين ثم رأى أتقى الله منها، فليأت التقوى ما حنثت يميني.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Oaths and Vows (15:1651) from Qutayba bin Saeed, who said, Jareer narrated to us, from Abdul-Aziz bin Rafi, from Tamim bin Tarafa, and he related it.The hadith of Adi bin Hatim has been reported with different wordings, one of which was mentioned above. Another version states, "Whoever swears an oath and then sees something better than it, let him do what is better and abandon his oath," meaning that the breaking of the oath comes before the expiation. Another version states, "When one of you swears an oath and then sees something better than it, let him pay its expiation and do what is better," meaning that the expiation comes before the breaking of the oath.Another version relates that a man came to Adi bin Hatim asking him for a hundred dirhams. He said, "You ask me for a hundred dirhams when I am the son of Hatim? By Allah, I will not give it to you." Then he said, "Were it not that I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'Whoever swears an oath and then sees something better than it, let him do what is better,'" meaning that the breaking of the oath comes before the expiation.His statement, "You ask me for a hundred dirhams when I am the son of Hatim," means that he considered this request too small, saying to him in effect, you ask me for this small thing when I am the son of Hatim, and the children of Hatim are known for giving generously. Then he said, "You shall have four hundred from my allotment."This hadith differs from the first hadith, in which he showed his poverty and said, "I have nothing to give you except my coat of mail and my helmet." So perhaps these are two separate incidents from two different occasions.In the hadith of Adi bin Hatim bin Abdullah bin Abdullah Tai, both the placing of the expiation before and the placing of it after the breaking of the oath are combined, and this is the view held by the majority of the scholars.