Abu Rafi' said God’s messenger sent a man of the B. Makhzum to collect sadaqa and he asked him to accompany him so that he might get some of it; but he refused to do so till he went to God's messenger and asked him. He went to the Prophet and asked him, and he said,“The sadaqa is not lawful for us, and the clients of a people are treated as being of their number.”* Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud and Nasa’i transmitted it. * Abu Rafi’ had been a slave of the Prophet by whom he was set free. The point of the tradition is that the rules which apply to any people apply to their freedmen as well, and so Abu Rafi' was not entitled to receive sadaqa.