Sunan an-Nasa'i 4679
سنن النسائي#4679Sahihأَخْبَرَنِي هَارُونُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّادُ بْنُ مَسْعَدَةَ، عَنِ ابْنِ جُرَيْجٍ، عَنْ عِكْرِمَةَ بْنِ خَالِدٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي أُسَيْدُ بْنُ حُضَيْرِ بْنِ سِمَاكٍ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَضَى أَنَّهُ إِذَا وَجَدَهَا فِي يَدِ الرَّجُلِ غَيْرِ الْمُتَّهَمِ فَإِنْ شَاءَ أَخَذَهَا بِمَا اشْتَرَاهَا وَإِنْ شَاءَ اتَّبَعَ سَارِقَهُ وَقَضَى بِذَلِكَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرُ .
Usaid bin Hudair bin Simak narrated that:the Messenger of Allah ruled that if a man found (his goods) in the possession of a man who was not guilty, then if he wished he could give the man what he had paid for it, or if he wished he could go after the one who had stolen it. Abu Bakr and 'Umar passed similar judgments
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave, each scholar counted once — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. When they judged only its chain of narrators (“Isnaad”), the label says “Sound chain”. Each scholar's own wording:
Our source also lists this ruling under Abu Ghuddah, the editor of the printed edition it was taken from. It is al-Albani's ruling printed again, so it is counted once.
In-book reference: 44:231