2 of 2 · Madinah years · 2–32 AH · Madinah
'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf رضي الله عنه
The Wealth He Feared
'Abd al-Rahman became one of the richest men in Madinah. A report says that once a trade caravan of seven hundred camels entered the city and the city shook with the noise of it. He gave it all, with its loads, in the way of Allah.
He was also a man who feared his wealth. Once food was set before him while he was fasting, and he said that Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr had been better than him, yet when he was killed at Uhud all he had to cover him was a single cloak, which did not cover both his head and his feet. Hamzah too had been better than him. Then he added that the world had been spread out before them, and he feared their reward had been given early, in this life. He wept and left the food (Sahih al-Bukhari 1275).
Rather than hoard, he gave: reports tell of gifts of hundreds of horses, thousands of camels, and large sums to the poor, to the veterans of Badr and to the Mothers of the Believers.
The best use of wealth is to be afraid of it a little, and to keep it moving.
What would you give away today if you feared your comfort more?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1275 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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