A comparison between two hands
Given while explaining who should be asking whom.
The words
الْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْيَدِ السُّفْلَى، فَالْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا هِيَ الْمُنْفِقَةُ، وَالسُّفْلَى هِيَ السَّائِلَةُ
The upper hand is better than the lower hand. The upper is the one that spends, and the lower is the one that asks.
The full narration
Narrated Ibn `Umar:I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) while he was on the pulpit speaking about charity, to abstain from asking others for some financial help and about begging others, saying, "The upper hand is better than the lower hand. The upper hand is that of the giver and the lower (hand) is that of the beggar
Source
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī · 1429
Ṣaḥīḥ
- Recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, whose narrations are accepted as authentic