Sunan an-Nasa'i
Sunan an-Nasa'i 2533
Arabic hadith text
أَخْبَرَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ نَافِعٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ وَهُوَ يَذْكُرُ الصَّدَقَةَ وَالتَّعَفُّفَ عَنِ الْمَسْأَلَةِ " الْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْيَدِ السُّفْلَى وَالْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا الْمُنْفِقَةُ وَالْيَدُ السُّفْلَى السَّائِلَةُ " .
Translation
Qutaybah reported from Malik, from Nafi, from Abd Allah ibn Umar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while speaking about charity and refraining from asking, said: The upper hand is better than the lower hand. The upper hand is the one that spends, and the lower hand is the one that asks.
Translation notes
The source explicitly explains the upper hand as the spending hand and the lower hand as the asking hand.