Where the story is told

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned a man of Banu Israel who asked another man of Banu Israel for a loan of a thousand dinars. The full text is in Sahih al-Bukhari 2291. Sahih al-Bukhari 1498, 2063, 2734 and 6261 quote parts of the same narration in other chapters.

The loan, the witness and the guarantor

The lender said: bring me witnesses so that I can call them to witness. The borrower said: Allah is sufficient as a witness. The lender said: then bring me a guarantor. The borrower said: Allah is sufficient as a guarantor. The lender said: you have spoken the truth. And he gave him the money for a fixed term.

The sea, the log and the dua

The borrower travelled by sea and finished his business. Then he looked for a ship to bring him back by the agreed time, and he could not find one. So he took a piece of wood and hollowed it out, put in it a thousand dinars and a letter to the lender, and sealed the place.

He came to the sea and said, in the meaning of his words: O Allah, You know that I borrowed a thousand dinars from so-and-so. He asked me for a guarantor and I said that Allah is sufficient, and he was pleased with You. He asked me for a witness and I said that Allah is sufficient, and he was pleased with You. I tried hard to find a ship to send him his money and I could not, and I entrust it to You.

His dua is plain and honest. He tells Allah the whole matter: what he borrowed, what he promised, what he tried and what he could not do, and then he leaves the rest to Him.

Then he threw the wood into the sea until it went in, and went away. He was still looking for a ship to take him home.

The lender and the borrower meet

The lender went out to look whether a ship had come with his money. He found the piece of wood, took it home for his family as firewood, and when he split it he found the money and the letter.

Later the borrower arrived with a thousand dinars and said: by Allah, I kept trying to find a ship to bring you your money, and I did not find one before the ship I came on. The lender asked: did you send me anything? He said: I am telling you that I found no ship before this one.

The lender said: Allah has delivered on your behalf what you sent in the wood, so take your thousand dinars and go on your way, rightly guided.

Both men acted in good faith. The borrower did not claim anything he did not know, and the lender accepted his word.

What the story does not tell us

The hadith does not give the names of the two men, their city, the length of the term, or how the wood reached the lender's shore. We should not add details that the Prophet ﷺ did not mention.

The story reports an event among two men of Banu Israel. The Quran's guidance to write down debts and to bring witnesses (Quran 2:282) stays as it is for us.

Lessons from this story

  • Trust in Allah goes together with effort. The borrower searched for a ship first, and only when he could do nothing more did he entrust his payment to Allah.
  • A debt is a serious matter. He was determined to repay on time, and he arrived with a second thousand dinars even though he had already sent one.
  • Keep your word. The two men were true to what they said, and the lender accepted the borrower's pledge in good faith.
  • Honesty pays. The borrower did not claim that the money had reached the lender, since he did not know. He only said that he found no ship earlier.
  • Allah helps those who sincerely rely on Him. The lender said that Allah had delivered the payment on the borrower's behalf.

General information for learning, not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a qualified scholar.

Sources