Category: Q n A

I went out one night (and found) the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) walking all alone. There was no man with him. I thought that he did not like anyone walking along with him. So I began to walk in the light of the moon. He, however turned his attention to me and saw me and said: Who is this? I said: It is Abu Dharr. Let Allah make me as ransom for you. He said: Abu Dharr, come on. He (Abu Dharr) said: So I walked along with him for some time and he said: The wealthy persons would have little (reward) on the Day of Resurrection, except upon whom Allah conferred goodness (wealth). He dispensed it to his right, left, in front of him and at his back (just as the wind diffuses fragrance) and did good with it (riches). I went along with him for some time when He said: Sit here. And he made me sit at a safe place and there were stones around it, and he said to me: Sit here till I come to you. He went away on the stony ground till I could not see him. He stayed away from me, and he prolonged his stay. Then I heard him as he came back and he was saying: Even if he committed theft and even if he committed fornication. When he came I could not help asking him: Apostle of Allah, let Allah make me ransom for you, whom were you speaking on the stony ground? I heard nobody responding to you. He (the Holy Prophet) said: It was Gabriel who met me by the side of the stony ground and said: Give glad tidings to your Ummah that he who died without associating ought with Allah would go into Paradise. I said: Gabriel, even if he committed theft and fornication? He said: Yes. I said: Even it he committed theft and fornication? He said: Yes, I again said: Even if he committed theft and fornication? He said: Yes, even if he drank wine.

I came to Medina and when I was in the company of the grandees of Quraish a man with a crude body and an uncouth face wearing coarse clothes came there. He stood up before them and said: Give glad tidings to those whom who amass riches of the stones which would be heated in the Fire of Hell, and would be placed at the tick of the chest till it would project from the shoulder bone and would he put on the shoulder bone till it would project from the tick of his chest, and it (this stone) would continue passing and repassing (from one side to the other). He (the narrator) said: Then people hung their heads and I saw none among them giving any answer. He then returned and I followed him till he sat near a pillar. I said: I find that these (people) disliked what you said to them and they do not understand anything. My friend Abu’l-Qasim (Muhammad) (may peace he upon him) called me and I responded to him, and he said: Do you see Uhud? I saw the sun (shining) on me and I thought that he would send me on an errand for him. So I said: I see it. Upon this he said: Nothing would delight me more than this that I should have gold like it (equal to the bulk of Uhud), and I should spend it all except three dinars. (How sad it is) that they hoard worldly riches, and they know nothing. I said: What about you and your brothers Quraish? You do not go to thein for any need and do not accept anything from them. He said: By Allah, I neither beg anything from them (from worldly goods), nor do I ask them anything about religion till I meet my Allah and His Messenger.

While I was in the company of the (elites) of Quraiah, Abu Dharr came there and he was saying: Give glad tidings to the hoarders of riches that their backs would be branded (so deeply) that (the hot Iron) would come out of their sides, and when the backs of their necks would be branded, it would come out of their foreheads. He (Abu Dharr) then went away and sat down. I asked who he was. They said: He is Abu Dharr. I went to him and said to him: What is this that I heard from you which you were saying before? He said: I said nothing but only that which I heard from their Prophet (ﷺ). I again said: What do you say about this gift? He said: Take it, for today it is a help. But when it becomes a price for your religion, then abandon it.

O son of Adam, spend. I will spend on you. The right hand of Allah is full and overflowing and in nothing would diminish it, by overspending day and night.

” Spend, I will bestow upon you.” And the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The right hand of Allah is full and spending (the riches) liberally during day and night will not diminish (the resources of Allah). Don’t you see what (an enormous amount of resources) He has spent since He created the heaven and the earth, and what is in His right hand has not decreased? His Throne is upon the water. And in His other hand is death, and He elevates and degrades (whom He likes).

I went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he was sitting under the shade of the Ka’ba, and the rest of the hadith it the same but for this that he (the Holy Prophet) said:” By Allah, in Whose hand is my life, no person on earth who dies and leaves behind camels, or cattle or goat and sheep, and does not pay Zakat (would be spared the punishment).”

Nothing is more delighting to me than this that Uhud should be of gold for me, and no dinar is left with me out of it before three nights pass except a dinar which I would set aside for the repayment of debt upon me.

I walked with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) on the stony ground of Medina in the afternoon and we were looking at Uhud. The Messenger of Allah (way peace by upon him) said: Abu Dharr! I said: Messenger of Allah, I am here at thy beck and call. He said: What I desire is that Uhud be gold with me and three nights should pass and there is left with me any dinar but one coin which I would keep to pay debt. (I love) to spend it among the servants of Allah like this and he pointed in front of him, and on his right side and on his left side. We then proceeded on and he said: Abu Dharr. I said: At thy beck and call, Messenger of Allah. He (the Holy Prophet) said: The rich would be poor on the Day of Resurrection, but he who spent like this and like this and like this, and he pointed as at the first time. We again went on when he said. Abu Dharr, stay where you are till I come back to you. He (the Holy Prophet) then moved on till he disappeared from my sight He (Abu Dharr) said: I heard a sound and I heard a noise. I said (to myself): The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) might have met (mishap or an enemy). I wished to follow him but I remembered his command for not departing till he would come back. So I waited for him, and when he came I made a mention of what I heard. He said: it was Gabriel, who came to me and said:” He who dies among your Ummah without associating Anything with Allah would enter Paradise. I said: Even if he committed fornication or theft? He said: Even if he committed fornication or theft.

This hadith has been narrated by Muhammad b. Isma’il with the same chain of transmitters.

I went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he was sitting under the shade of the Ka’ba. As he saw me he said: By the Lord of the Ka’ba, they are the losers. I came there till I sat and I could not stay (longer) and (then) stood up. I said: Messenger of Allah, let my father, be ransom for you, who are they (the losers)? He said: They are those having a huge amount of wealth except so and so and (those who spend their wealth generously on them whom they find in front of them, behind them and on their right side and on their left side) and they are a few. And no owner of camels, or cattle or goat and sheep, who does not pay Zakat (would be spared punishment) but these (camels, cattle, goats and sheep) would come on the Day of Resurrection wearing more flesh and would gore him with their horns and trample them with their hooves. And when the last one would pass away, the first one would return (to trample him) till judgment would be pronounced among people.