‘Abd ar-Rahman b. Ka’b b. Malik said that Mu'adh b. Jabal was a generous young man who could save nothing and was always borrowing, so that he expended all his property on his debts. He went to the Prophet and asked him to speak to his creditors, and if they would have remitted debts to anyone they would have done it to Mu'adh for God’s Messenger’s sake, but God’s Messenger sold them his property with the result that Mu'adh had nothing left.
Al-Bara’ b. ‘Azib reported God's Messenger as saying, "A debtor is bound to his debt and will complain to his Lord of loneliness on the day of resurrection.”
It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna. A mursal tradition is transmitted to the effect that Mu'adh was in debt and his creditors went to the Prophet who sold all his property to pay his debt, with the result that Mu'adh had nothing left. This is the wording in al-Masabih, but the only source in which I have found it is al-Muntaqa.
Ash-Sharid reported God’s Messenger as saying, ‘‘Delay in payment on the part of one who possesses the means makes it lawful to dishonour and punish him.” Ibn al-Mubarak said that “dishonour” means he may be spoken to roughly and “punish” means he may be imprisoned for it.
