with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. When the Messenger of Allah had completed the dawn prayer and turned to leave, they gathered around him on the way. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, smiled when he saw them and said, “I imagine you have heard that Abū ʿUbaydah has arrived with something from Bahrain.” They answered, “Yes indeed, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “Then rejoice and look forward to what will please you. By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear that the world will be spread out before you as it was spread out before those who preceded you, and that you will compete for it just as they competed, so it will destroy you as it destroyed them.”
Thus he informed them—peace and blessings be upon him—that he did not fear the trial of poverty; rather, he feared that the riches of this world would be opened up, that people would vie for them, and that such rivalry would bring about their ruin. This is the very “enjoyment of an allotted share” mentioned in the verse.
In the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections it is also related from ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, once came out
(1) Copy A omits the word lahu.
(2) Copy T reads: “fa-ibtasama” (“and he smiled”).
(3) Copy A omits the word thumma (“then”).
(4) The hadith is narrated by al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, and Ahmad in the Musnad. See: Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, Book of Jizyah and Amicable Treaties, chapter “Jizyah and Treaty-Making with the Enemy” (6:258), no. 3158; and Book of Maghazi, chap. 12 (7:319–20), no. 4015. Muslim, Sahih, Book of Zuhd, no. 2961 (4:2273). Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, Book on the Description of the Resurrection, chap. 28, vol. 4, no. 2461, where he remarks: “This hadith is hasan sahih.” Ibn Majah, Sunan, Book of Tribulations, “The Trial of Wealth,” no. 3997 (2:1325). Ahmad, Musnad, 4:137, 327.
(5) The printed edition reads akhbara al-nabi (“the Prophet informed”), unlike the other manuscripts.
(6) The printed edition reads ʿala ummatihi (“upon his ummah”).
(7) The distinguished Companion ʿUqbah ibn ʿAmir ibn ʿAbs ibn Malik al-Juhani was famed for his excellent Quranic recitation and his skill as an archer. He transmitted fifty-five hadiths, governed Egypt in 44 AH, and died there in 58 AH. See Usd al-Ghabah 3:412; al-Aʿlam 4:240.
(8) The printed edition adds: radiya-Allahu ʿanhu (may Allah be pleased with him).