Abu Hurairah says: I asked Sayyiduna Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): Do you remember any special thing from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: I remember that once I picked up a date from the dates of charity and put it in my mouth. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took it out from my mouth along with the saliva and put it back in the pile of dates. Someone said: O Messenger of Allah! What harm is there if this child takes one date? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: We are the family of Muhammad, and charity is not lawful for us. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also used to say: Leave that which is doubtful for that which is not doubtful; there is tranquility in truth and anxiety and disturbance in falsehood. Then Sayyiduna Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also taught us this supplication: Allahumma ihdini fiman hadayt, ... tabarakta rabbana wa ta'alayt. That is: O Allah! Guide me among those whom You have guided, and grant me well-being among those whom You have granted well-being, and befriend me among those whom You have befriended, and bless me in what You have given, and protect me from the evil You have decreed. Surely, You alone decree and none can decree against You, and whomever You befriend can never be humiliated. O our Lord! You are greatly blessed and highly exalted.

Rabi’ah bin Shayban says: I said to Sayyiduna Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): Do you remember anything special from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: Once the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took me to the storehouse of zakat. I picked up a date from there and put it in my mouth. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Throw it away, for it is not lawful for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) or any member of his household.

Abu Hurairah says: We were present with Sayyiduna Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), someone asked him if he remembered any special thing from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: Once I was walking with him (peace and blessings be upon him), he passed by a threshing floor where dates of zakat were lying. I took one date and put it in my mouth, but he (peace and blessings be upon him) took it out along with the saliva. Someone said: If you had left this date with the child, what harm would it have done to you? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Zakat is not lawful for us, the family of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Then Sayyiduna Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I also learned five prayers from him (peace and blessings be upon him).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: We were present with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was distributing dates of charity, and Sayyiduna Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was in his (peace be upon him) lap. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished his work, he lifted Sayyiduna Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) onto his shoulder, and his saliva began to flow onto the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his head and looked, he saw a date in his mouth. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) put his hand into his mouth and took it out, and said: Do you not know that zakat is not lawful for the family of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)?

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that when the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, saw Sayyiduna Hasan bin Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, pick up a date from the charity dates and chew it in his mouth, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said to him: Oh, oh, oh, charity is not lawful for us.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sleeping, and he found a date under his side. He (peace and blessings be upon him) picked it up and ate it, but later in the last part of the night, he (peace and blessings be upon him) became restless due to worry, so much so that some of his wives also became anxious. He (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the reason, saying: I found a date under my side and I ate it. Now I fear that perhaps it was a date from charity.

(Second chain of narration) In this it is stated: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ate that date, but he could not sleep the entire night. One of his wives asked: O Messenger of Allah! What was the reason that you suffered from sleeplessness last night? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: I found a date under my side and I ate it. There were also dates of charity kept with us, so now I fear that perhaps that date was from those charity dates.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) had this practice: when food was brought to him from somewhere other than his household, he (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) would inquire about it. If it was a gift, he would eat it, and if it was charity, he would say: "You eat it." He (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) would not eat it himself.

Sayyiduna Muawiyah bin Haydah (may Allah be pleased with him) also narrated a similar report from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

Sayyiduna ‘Abd al-Muttalib bin Rabi‘ah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: Sayyiduna Rabi‘ah bin Harith (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna ‘Abbas bin ‘Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him) gathered together and consulted regarding me and Sayyiduna Fadl bin ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), and said: By Allah! If we send both of them to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) so that he appoints them over the collection of charity, in this way both of them will collect zakat and charity from the people and, like others, obtain financial benefit, i.e., wages, this is a good thing. While they were still consulting about this, Sayyiduna ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived and asked: What are your intentions? When both of them informed him of their intention, Sayyiduna ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Do not do this, by Allah! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) will not do this. They said: Why are you doing this? You are saying this merely out of jealousy, see, you stay in the company of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and you are also his son-in-law, but we have never been jealous of you. Sayyiduna ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: After all, I am Abu al-Hasan, too. Send both of them and see. Saying this, he lay down. ‘Abd al-Muttalib says: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had performed the Zuhr prayer, we went and stood by the chamber before him. When he (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by us, he took our hands and said: What do you wish to say? Express whatever is in your hearts. With this, he (peace and blessings be upon him) went inside, and we also went inside with him. At that time, he (peace and blessings be upon him) was staying with Sayyidah Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her). We spoke to him (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! We have come to you so that you may appoint us over the collection of zakat and charity, so that we too may obtain financial benefit like others, and we too will collect and bring it to you (peace and blessings be upon him) like others. Hearing this, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent, he (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his blessed head towards the ceiling of the room, we intended to say something, but Sayyidah Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her) gestured from behind the curtain to stop us from speaking. After a while, he (peace and blessings be upon him) turned to us and said: Beware! Charity is not lawful for Muhammad and the family of Muhammad; it is the filth of the people. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Call Mahmiya bin Juz, who was appointed over the ‘ushr (tithe). Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Mahmiya (may Allah be pleased with him): Pay the dowries of both of them from the khumus (one-fifth share).