AbdulMuttalib ibn Rabi'ah ibn al-Harith said that his father, Rabi'ah ibn al-Harith, and Abbas ibn al-Muttalib said to AbdulMuttalib ibn Rabi'ah and al-Fadl ibn Abbas: Go to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and tell him: Messenger of Allah, we are now of age as you see, and we wish to marry. Messenger of Allah, you are the kindest of the people and the most skilled in matchmaking. Our fathers have nothing with which to pay our dower. So appoint us collector of sadaqah (zakat), Messenger of Allah, and we shall give you what the other collectors give you, and we shall have the benefit accruing from it. Ali came to us while we were in this condition.

He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: No, I swear by Allah, he will not appoint any of you collector of sadaqah (zakat).

Rabi'ah said to him: This is your condition; you have gained your relationship with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) by marriage, but we did not grudge you that. Ali then put his cloak on the earth and lay on it.

He then said: I am the father of Hasan, the chief. I swear by Allah, I shall not leave this place until your sons come with a reply (to the question) for which you have sent them to the Prophet (ﷺ).

AbdulMuttalib said: So I and al-Fadl went towards the door of the apartment of the Prophet (ﷺ). We found that the noon prayer in congregation had already started. So we prayed along with the people. I and al-Fadl then hastened towards the door of the apartment of the Prophet (ﷺ). He was (staying) with Zaynab, daughter of Jahsh, that day. We stood until the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came. He caught my ear and the ear of al-Fadl.

He then said: Reveal what you conceal in your hearts. He then entered and permitted me and al-Fadl (to enter). So we entered and for a little while we asked each other to talk. I then talked to him, or al-Fadl talked to him (the narrator, Abdullah was not sure).

He said: He spoke to him concerning the matter about which our fathers ordered us to ask him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) remained silent for a moment and raised his eyes towards the ceiling of the room. He took so long that we thought he would not give any reply to us. Meanwhile we saw that Zaynab was signalling to us with her hand from behind the veil, asking us not to be in a hurry, and that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was (thinking) about our matter.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then lowered his head and said to us: This sadaqah (zakat) is a dirt of the people. It is legal neither for Muhammad nor for the family of Muhammad. Call Nawfal ibn al-Harith to me. So Nawfal ibn al-Harith was called to him.

He said: Nawfal, marry AbdulMuttalib (to your daughter). So Nawfal married me (to his daughter).

The Prophet (ﷺ) then said: Call Mahmiyyah ibn Jaz'i to me. He was a man of Banu Zubayd, whom the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had appointed collector of the fifths.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to Mahmiyyah: Marry al-Fadl (to your daughter). So he married him to her. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Stand up and pay the dower from the fifth so-and-so on their behalf. Abdullah ibn al-Harith did not name it (i.e. the amount of the dower).