3566 — Ibrahim ibn al-Mustamir al-ʿUsfuri narrated to us, Ḥabbān ibn Hilāl narrated to us, Hammām narrated to us, from Qatādah, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, from Ṣafwān ibn Yaʿlā, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to me: "When my messengers come to you, give them thirty coats of mail and thirty camels." He said: I said: "O Messenger of Allah, is it a loan with liability, or a loan to be returned?" He said: "Rather, to be returned."

Abū Dāwūd said: Ḥabbān is the maternal uncle of Hilāl al-Raʾy.

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People have differed regarding liability for borrowed property. It is reported from ʿAlī and Ibn Masʿūd, may Allah be pleased with them both, that liability is dropped. Shurayḥ, al-Ḥasan, and Ibrāhīm said: there is no liability for it. This is the view adopted by Sufyān al-Thawrī, the people of opinion, and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh.

It is reported from Ibn ʿAbbās and Abū Hurayrah that they both said: it is subject to liability. This is the view of ʿAṭāʾ, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. Mālik ibn Anas said: that whose destruction is apparent, such as animals and the like, is not subject to liability, while that whose destruction is hidden, such as garments and the like, is subject to liability.

We say: Ibn Qudāmah in al-Mughnī 7/341 has contradicted al-Khaṭṭābī in attributing the view of no liability for borrowed property to Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, for Ibn Qudāmah mentioned Isḥāq among those who hold it subject to liability, and the correct view is that of Ibn Qudāmah, for Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr al-Kawsaj mentioned in his Masāʾil (2561) that Isḥāq holds the same view as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.

Ibn Qudāmah also added an important qualification that al-Khaṭṭābī did not mention for the second group who hold no liability, namely that the loss of the borrowed property not be due to transgression on the part of the borrower — and this is an extremely important qualification.

(1) Its chain of transmission is sound. Qatādah: he is Ibn Diʿāmah, and Hammām: he is Ibn Yaḥyā al-ʿAwadhī.
It was also recorded by al-Nasāʾī in al-Kubrā (5744) and (5745) via the chain of Ḥabbān ibn Hilāl, with this chain of transmission.
It is found in Musnad Aḥmad (17950) and Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (4720).
See also what preceded at number 3562.

(2) This statement of Abū Dāwūd we have established from the margin of (H), and it is indicated there that it is from the transmissions of Abū ʿĪsā al-Ramlī and Ibn al-Aʿrābī.