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Musnad Ahmad 268

I gave a horse for the sake of Allah, but its owner neglected it. I thought that he would sell it for a cheap price, but I said to myself, not until I ask the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa…

Umarnarrated it
Sahihgraded sahih by the Encyclopedia
6names in the chain
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حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ زَيْدِ بْنِ أَسْلَمَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ

رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ حَمَلْتُ عَلَى فَرَسٍ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَأَضَاعَهُ صَاحِبُهُ فَأَرَدْتُ أَنْ أَبْتَاعَهُ وَظَنَنْتُ أَنَّهُ بَائِعُهُ بِرُخْصٍ فَقُلْتُ حَتَّى أَسْأَلَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَالَ: لَا تَبْتَعْهُ وَإِنْ أَعْطَاكَهُ بِدِرْهَمٍ فَإِنَّ الَّذِي يَعُودُ فِي صَدَقَتِهِ فَكَالْكَلْبِ يَعُودُ فِي قَيْئِهِ

I gave a horse for the sake of Allah, but its owner neglected it. I thought that he would sell it for a cheap price, but I said to myself, not until I ask the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) about that. He said: “Do not buy it even if he gives it to you for a dirham, for the one who takes back his charity is like the dog that goes back to its vomit.”

Musnad Ahmad 268, Book 2, Musnad `Umar b. al-Khattab (ra), Hadith 191. 1 min read

What it means

‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) helped a man to fight in the cause of Allah by giving him a horse. However, the man did not look after the horse and did not care for it properly; he exhausted the horse until it grew weak and emaciated. So ‘Umar wanted to buy the horse back from the man, thinking that it would be cheap due to its miserable condition.

As he was unsure about buying it back, he consulted the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) first to clear his doubts. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbade him from buying it back, even for a meager price, as he had given the horse for Allah's sake. One should not follow up on donations or feel attached to them.

The person who received the donation may feel obliged to sell it back to the donor for a low price. In this case, the donor will receive back part of his charity at no price. Also, when charity is given, it takes with it one's bad deeds, so one should not take them back and should not look back. Buying back one's charity is like retracting one's charity, despite the price paid.

From the Encyclopedia of Translated Prophetic Hadiths, hadeethenc.com.

The chain

Who passed it on, from Imam Ahmad back to the one who was there.

  1. 1Imam AhmadCompiler, died 241 AH
  2. 2Abd ar-Rahman ibn MahdiTold us, Third generation, died 198 AH
  3. 3Malik ibn AnasFrom, Third generation, died 178 AH
  4. 4Zayd ibn AslamFrom, Successor, died 135 AH
  5. 5AslamFrom, Successor, died 80 AH
  6. 6Umar ibn al-KhattabFrom, Companion, died 23 AH

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