Hadithcore
Sahih al-Bukhari, 1430
sahih

Narrated `Uqba bin Al-Harith:

Once the Prophet (ﷺ) offered the `Asr prayer and then hurriedly went to his house and returned immediately. I (or somebody else) asked him (as to what was the matter) and he said, "I left at home a piece of gold which was from the charity and I disliked to let it remain a night in my house, so I got it distributed . "

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَاصِمٍ، عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ سَعِيدٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي مُلَيْكَةَ، أَنَّ عُقْبَةَ بْنَ الْحَارِثِ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ حَدَّثَهُ قَالَ صَلَّى بِنَا النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم الْعَصْرَ، فَأَسْرَعَ ثُمَّ دَخَلَ الْبَيْتَ، فَلَمْ يَلْبَثْ أَنْ خَرَجَ، فَقُلْتُ أَوْ قِيلَ لَهُ فَقَالَ ‏

‏ كُنْتُ خَلَّفْتُ فِي الْبَيْتِ تِبْرًا مِنَ الصَّدَقَةِ، فَكَرِهْتُ أَنْ أُبَيِّتَهُ فَقَسَمْتُهُ ‏

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References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 24, Hadith 33
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Vol. 2, Book 24, Hadith 510 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
It is necessary for the believing person to hasten and engage in good deeds because pitfalls may happen and thus hinder him from performing good deeds, and death can strike at any moment, and procrastination is not condemned and not praiseworthy. In this hadeeth, ʿUqbah ibn al-Haarith (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet ﷺ was with them for the late afternoon prayer (ʿAsr), and right after he ﷺ concluded his prayer, he ﷺ rushed to get up from his place and went to his home. “It did not take him long...”, is an allusion for hurriedly departing from his house. Then, his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) asked him about what prompted this haste; to which the Prophet ﷺ explained to them that he ﷺ had left a tibr - which is a portion of gold before it is wrought - at his house, and this tibr was for charity. Then he ﷺ related that he disliked letting it remain at his house at night; and for that reason, he ﷺ hurried to divide it up for those who were in need. It was said: the reason he ﷺhurried to distribute the almsis that he feared that whoever had a right to that piece of tibr would be in need of it, and [by delaying it] his right would have been held back from him that night. The Prophetﷺwas benevolent and merciful to the believers; so, heﷺ clarified the matter to his nation,in order that they follow his example and imitate him ﷺ. From the other benefits that we can conclude from this hadeeth is that it highlights that the ruler and the scholar ought to hasten to meet the needs of the peopleand responded to them. And lastly, it shows the permissibility for the imamto leave immediately after the prayer without sitting down [after the prayer]..
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