The bankrupt

Abd al-Rahman bin al-Baylamani narrates: I was in Egypt, and a man said to me: "Shall I not direct you to one of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?" I said: "Yes!" He pointed out a man to me. I went to him and asked: "Who are you?" He told me: "I am Surraq (thief)." I said: "Subhan Allah! You have taken this name, although you are a companion of the Messenger of Allah?" He said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave me this name, and I will never give it up." I asked: "Why did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) name you Surraq?" He said: A man from the desert came with two camels, and I bought both camels from him. I said: "Come along, and I will pay you." I entered my house, went out from the back and went away. I sold both camels and met my own need with them. I stayed in hiding until I thought that the Bedouin must have left by now. One day I came out, and that Bedouin was still staying there. He seized me, brought me before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and told him the whole situation. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Why did you do what you did?" I said: "I used their price for my own need, O Messenger of Allah!" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Pay him." I said: "O Messenger of Allah! I have nothing." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You are Surraq. O Bedouin! Take him away and sell him, until you get your right in full." People began to bargain with that man. He asked: "What do you want?" They said: "We want either to buy him from you or to ransom him from you." He said: "By Allah, none of you is in greater need of him than I am. Go! I have set you free."
At-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain contains a narrator, Muslim bin Khalid al-Zanji, whom Yahya bin Ma'in and Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy), while a group called him da'if (weak).

Abd al-Rahman al-Qayni narrates: Sayyiduna Surraq (may Allah be pleased with him) bought wheat from a man who knew Surah al-Baqarah, and he took the wheat and went into hiding. Then that man caught him and brought him to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Sell Surraq!" The narrator says: I set out with him, and the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) bargained with me for three days; then I thought it fitting, and I set him free.
At-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain contains a narrator, Ibn Lahi'ah, whose narrations are hasan (good), and the rest of the narrators of this narration are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) placed a restriction on the wealth of Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him), and sold that wealth to settle the debt that Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) owed.
At-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Ibrahim bin Mu'awiyah al-Ziyadi, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who was one of the three whose repentance Allah Almighty accepted, narrates: Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) took on a great deal of debt in the blessed time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), until that debt became equal to his wealth. Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) was one of the righteous among the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Since I accepted Islam, I resolved that I would not be miserly with any wealth that came into my ownership. So I spent my wealth on various affairs of Islam, and now a great deal of debt remains upon me. Please call my creditors and ask them to be lenient. If they are lenient with me, well and good; and if they do not agree, then give my wealth to them." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called his creditors and put before them the proposal that they be lenient with him. They said: "We love our wealth." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) handed over all of Sayyiduna Mu'adh's wealth to them. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) to a part of Yemen so that he could meet his need. Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) obtained a great deal of wealth from Yemen through his office of government. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) was in Yemen. Some people of Yemen apostatised, and Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) and the various governors of Yemen appointed by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) fought them until they entered Islam. Then, during the caliphate of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) came (to Madinah) with a great deal of wealth. Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) came to him and said: "You have brought a great deal of wealth. My view is that you should go to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr and obtain this wealth from him; if he declares it lawful for you, that will be good for you; otherwise, hand it over to him." Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Umar! You know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me only so that he might give me the opportunity to meet my need; this was at the time when he had given my wealth to my creditors. Now I will not hand over anything of what I have brought to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), unless he asks me for it; if he asks me for it, I will hand it over to him, and if he does not take anything, I will keep it with me." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "I only intended good for you and for myself." Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) got up and left. When Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) had got up and left, Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) called him back and said: "I accept what you say. I saw a dream; had I not seen it, I would not have accepted what you said. I saw in a dream that I was drowning in a large round pit, and I saw that you took hold of my hand and rescued me from it. Come with me to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)." These two went and came to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) spoke to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) in the same way he had spoken with Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), concerning his creditors and concerning the intention of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) told him that he had brought wealth from Yemen, to the extent that he even told him that this stick too was part of what he had brought. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Mu'adh! All of that wealth is yours." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) turned to Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "O Mu'adh! Now the matter has become good." So Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) became one of the wealthiest of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) was the first person to obtain wealth through an office of government. Ibn Shihab says: So this sunnah was established concerning Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took his wealth into his control, and he did not order it to be sold; and in the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) there is an excellent example.
At-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Ibn Lahi'ah, about whom there has been criticism, and his narrations are hasan (good); the rest of the narrators of this narration are the narrators of the Sahih, except that Ibn Shihab stated that it is reported from the son of Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), from his father, without naming that son. In the Sahih there is more than one narration like this, and no weak narrator is known among the children of Sayyiduna Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him); and Allah knows best.

The son of Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) was a handsome, generous young man, one of the best of his people. Whoever asked him for anything, he would give it to him, until he took on so much debt that it locked up his wealth. He spoke to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asking him to talk to his creditors. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did so, but his creditors did not forgive anything at all. If anyone were ever let off because of someone speaking on his behalf, Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) would have been let off because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke for him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called him, had his wealth sold and made payments to his creditors, and Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) was left in a state in which he had no wealth. Then, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had performed Hajj, he sent Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) to Yemen so that he could meet his need. The narrator says: The first person who acquired this wealth was Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him). He came from Yemen to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had already passed away.
At-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir as a mursal narration, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.