Sunan Abi Dawud 2865
سنن أبي داود#2865SahihNarrated Abu Hurairah:A man asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): Messenger of Allah, which sadaqah (charity) is the best ? He replied: (The best sadaqah is) that you give something as sadaqah (charity) when you are healthy, greedy, expect survival and fear poverty, and not that you postpone it until your death. and then you say: For so-and-so is such-and-such, and for so-and-so is such-and-such, while it was already for so-and-so
Scholarly Authentication
We show the most cautious grade (weakest-wins) as the overall label. Individual scholars graded it as follows:
Al-AlbaniSahih
Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul HamidSahih
Shuaib Al ArnautSahih
Zubair Ali ZaiSahih Bukhari (1419) Sahih Muslim (1032)
In-book reference: 18:4