Where the story is told

The Prophet ﷺ told this story, and Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated it. It is found in Sahih al-Bukhari (3472) and Sahih Muslim (1721). The two versions are almost the same, with one small difference in wording that is mentioned below.

It is not a story from the Quran. The Prophet ﷺ does not say when or where it happened, or which community the men belonged to.

The story step by step

A man bought a piece of property, which was land, from another man. After the sale, the buyer found a jar of gold in the land he had bought.

He went to the seller and said, in the meaning of the hadith: take your gold from me, for I only bought the land from you and I did not buy the gold.

The seller answered that he had sold him the land and everything in it. So each man was trying to hand the gold to the other, and neither wanted to take what he felt was not his.

They took the matter to a third man to judge between them. He asked whether they had children. One said that he had a boy, and the other said that he had a girl. The third man advised them to marry the boy to the girl, to spend on them from the gold, and to give charity.

There is a small difference in wording between the two books. Sahih al-Bukhari has the advice to spend on the two young people from it, and Sahih Muslim has the advice to spend on yourselves from it. In both, the advice also includes giving charity.

What the hadith does not tell us

The hadith gives no names, no place, no date and no amount of gold. It does not say how the third man was chosen, or whether he was a judge or simply a respected person. It only says that they took the dispute to "a man". It also does not say what happened after his advice.

We should not fill in these gaps. Scholars discuss the rules about finding buried wealth in their books of fiqh, and they differ on some points. This page tells the story as it was reported and does not give a ruling.

Honesty and blessing in trade

The Prophet ﷺ taught in another hadith (Sahih al-Bukhari 2079, Sahih Muslim 1532) that when the buyer and the seller are truthful and make things clear, their sale is blessed for them, but if they hide something and lie, the blessing of their sale is wiped out.

The Quran also tells believers not to consume one another's wealth unjustly (Quran 2:188). In this story both men are so careful about this that each one prefers to let go of the gold rather than take something that might not be his.

  • The buyer did not treat the discovery as a lucky find to keep quietly.
  • The seller did not take back more than the price he had agreed to.
  • The third man found a solution that helped both families and also reached the poor through charity.

Lessons from this story

  • Honesty in buying and selling matters even when no one would ever know. The buyer could have kept the gold in silence, but he chose to tell the seller.
  • Contentment frees the heart. The seller was satisfied with what he had been paid and did not want an unexpected gain.
  • Scrupulousness means leaving what you doubt is rightfully yours, even when keeping it would be easy.
  • A dispute can be settled with good advice and goodwill, not only by winning an argument.
  • Lawful earnings are blessed, and the story ends with the gold used for a new household and for charity.

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

Sources